You know, as a new Mom, you were your child's first teacher. I know some of you probably had your baby on a schedule, but many of you let the baby decide when they wanted to eat, how much and what they want to eat (to a certain extent). You allowed your child to walk when they were ready, and were content if they just crawled for a few minutes at first, then half an hour, then you ran across the living room as they were about to pull down something from the table. In all of this, you were a Mom.

It's no different in teaching your child to read or do math. You let them work on it at their pace, some days they will want to go over it again and again, others, they won't want to even discuss any type of *school*.

You know, formal education has only been around for 150 years. For millenniums before that, people taught their children as they worked the field, worked in their homes, worked in their shops just below their homes. Children learned by being with the adults in their lives.

So really, structures of lesson plans set out in individual subjects, 50 minute lessons and grids of time are artificial to the human experience of learning and growth. Just as physical growth has plateaus and spurts, so will your child's intellectual growth. There will be times when they don't want to do anything (pbs helps during those days) or times when all they want to do is their Lego's over and over again. Then there are times when you cannot get the books fast enough from the library because they are reading one or two a day. spurts and plateaus.

And in all of this, you can be a Mom, who encourages, praises, cuddles and loves, and brings good educational experiences before your child just like you prepare dinner. They have to feed themselves once they are a certain age. Your responsibility is to have good things available to keep a balanced diet.

copyright 2003 Jube Dankworth