Child rearing and mental stimulation
11/06/2006 by Connie Veneracion · Filed under The Mommy Journals
Some parents dismiss such questions with indifference. Just because is a common answer. I suspect that it is more out of irritation at being told, innocently and indirectly, that he is an ignoramus about some things. But the conscientious parent will take the time to think of the correct answers and explain to the child in terms that he will understand. As the child explores his world, then, the parent can learn along with him.
Does the opportunity to learn with one’s child stop when the curiosity stage is over like when a child starts school? Okay, I’ll give you an example. My daughters are in second and first year high school, respectively. A few weeks ago, my younger daughter needed to do an essay for her Biology class. She had done her research but the materials were too complex for her to really understand. She came to me and asked me to help her.
“What about?” I asked.
She said, “The human genome project.”
“The what?” Okay, the way I said it may have been more like “The huwaaaaat????” You get the drift. I hadn’t the foggiest idea what she was talking about.
But I didn’t send her out of the room with a dismissive, “Write your essay the way you understood what you read.” I read what she had on the human genome project. I looked for more sources and cross referenced terms I did not understand. Then, I sat down with her and we discussed. I’m sure we didn’t understand all of it completely but we learned. Would I have learned about the human genome project had it not been for my daughter?
Is staying at home to raise the kids nakaka-bobo? LOL Far from it. Far, far from it.
FatherFigure on Mon, 6th Nov 2006 8:21 pm
May I add my observation to this blog?
First, being a nurturing parent, being a kind who is close to their offsprings ( in my case I have a son and my wife is carrying another ), is a different high.
I have experienced floating by the clouds when I graduated with Honors ( from the municipal school in the south to my college degree in Diliman ). I also experienced extreme bliss when I got my dream job, drove my first car, traveled far, and so on and so on.
But beingphysically close and metaphorically connected with y 3-year old son - biking ,running, swimming with him - I feel like nirvana clings to me. Lalo na pag kantahan. He can sing Josh Groban and cuppy cake song with ease! And he does it because I am there at his side.
Cheers to fatherhood! No other worldy joy can come close.
Xiao on Mon, 6th Nov 2006 8:37 pm
I don’t think mothers become bobo… I think we just have a different brain “tuning”…
Just would like to share with you an excerpt of what I read from Babycenter.com. It is an interview of Katharine Ellison, author of “The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter”….
Were you afraid your brain would suffer after you had children?
Yes, I was concerned I’d lose my mind to a world of diapers and baby bottles. ….. But sometime later, I read an article about two researchers who discovered that mother rats were smarter — specifically in learning and memory capacity — than rats that never had babies. And it got me thinking maybe there’s more to motherhood than I’d thought.
In what ways did motherhood make you smarter?
I found motherhood tremendously stimulating, like getting a crash course in human nature. I also got much better at time management. Because I’d been a newspaper reporter, I thought I was good with deadlines. But when I had a baby, the deadlines got a lot less flexible. I was forced to manage my days in a whole new way.
Anyone who is interested to read the whole article, I can email it to you.
Connie on Mon, 6th Nov 2006 9:51 pm
Wonderful! Bravo! We gotta propagate our breed, FatherFigure and Xiao.
pinayhekmi on Tue, 7th Nov 2006 2:21 am
I’m back!!!!
I bloghopped a little during the mornings before going to work.
I wanted to bring up a study done recently wherein experts have supposedly found that mothers’ IQ do drop by some points after having a baby. Interesting no? I believe this is only temporary and has a host of physiological factors. As for the long-term, for anybody who doesnt’ cultivate or pursue mental stimulation, their little grey cells will certainly get rusty.
I know of plenty of stay at home moms who still lead c challening lives. They homeschool, they are involved in book clubs, community volunteer work, etc.
Connie on Tue, 7th Nov 2006 3:08 am
Interesting indeed! I wonder if that is related to the change in hormonal balance after the baby is born.
julie on Tue, 7th Nov 2006 8:30 am
Stay-at-home motherhood or working mom. It really depends on how parents, or women-mothers, particularly SAHM, weigh their priorities. If they are bored staying at home looking after the children and managing their household at the same time, they ought to think over what they really like. If they think interaction with others plus raking in a few thousand bucks for household expenses is better that being at home, making sure their children are growing up and being brought up properly, meeting their own standards, they really have to choose. Maybe this is easy for me to say because I can work from home, manage three children and the household without a helper. (I also work from home two days a week and can bring my preschool children with me. When they have to go to school next year, we will have to adjust the way things are right now.) Being in this situation taught me not just about time management, work simplification, being organized. This made me know myself better. I learned too about my children: their strengths, weaknesses, fears, triumphs, and so much more. I may not be the supermom and superteacher at all times but then, somehow, I am able to manage and cope.
There are so many things to do in different ways that will not make life boring. There are also different ways to earn a living while staying at home. It takes creativity, common sense as well as perseverance to do the things we think can help us become better.
Connie on Sun, 12th Nov 2006 3:17 am
I agree, Julie. If a mother has no initiative for learning, she won’t whether she’s at home or outside. All a matter of attitude.
Nicci on Mon, 13th Nov 2006 8:24 am
Child rearing and taking care of a household for me is much more challenging than a regular career. Quite fulfilling too, in a way, depending on how your child will turn out academically and personality wise.
My experience as a mother of 2 teenagers and a toddler helped in maintaining what I have achieved in school years ago. I always get compliments like ” Mommy, always knows the answer better than daddy” and “Because we thought you know everything” (when I ask them why do I always get asked ). Little did they know that sometimes I’m struggling to dig parts of that old knowledge I have learned long time ago.