Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Living Well

Are you worried that your child might not be ready to start to school?

As a parent you may be your child's best teacher. You can teach your children new words, basic ideas and problem-solving skills at home as a part of the daily routine. Here are some suggestions.

Include pre-school age children in chores at home. The children will do these chores over and over again, and they are good learning activities. For example, show your child how to set the table for dinner. From doing this chore, your young child will learn one-to-one relationships, such as one fork for each person. The child can also learn ideas such as next to, beside and above. Another important learning experience gained from setting the table is learning to look from left to right. This will help them when they begin to read.

You have heard about spending quality time with your child. You may have worried that you weren't spending much of that quality time together. Relax. Quality time also includes the time that your spend teaching your child how to set the table and do other chores.

Everyday routines are also good times to teach colors and numbers. Help your children learn colors by pointing out the different colors of food. Or, have them help you sort the laundry by colors. After you have sorted by color, you can always count the piles of laundry. Help the child learn how many sheets and blankets are on his bed. Help him learn how many clean sheets he will need to replace the dirty sheets. As the child helps make the bed, it is a good time to learn the concepts of smooth, soft, hard and corners.

If your child spends time in the care of a child care provider, be sure to work with this person to support the learning that your child gains while away from home. For example, have you appreciated what the child care provider is teaching when she shows the children how to set the table for snacks? Have you noticed that the provider takes time to read to the children? Have you noticed that the child care provider is teaching your child safety and cleanliness habits? Be sure to work with the person who takes care of your children. After parents, child care providers may be young children's most important teacher.

If you are a child care provider, you may be interested in ways that you can work more closely with the parents of children in your center or family day care home.

Contact the Nevada County Extension office at 887-2818 for more information on its child care provider training program.