An Apple a Day - How to raise secure and intelligent children

How to raise secure and intelligent children - Putting baby first

Studies by Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson have shown that the early developmental stages of children are crucial to how the brain is wired, and that the environment provided by parents and caregivers affects their sense of security, how they view the world, and their intellectual development.

               As a biological parent, foster parent, and adoptive parent, I have seen first-hand how true this is. The very first building block to a healthy child, intellectually, socially, and emotionally is for baby to feel that his or her needs are being met. 

This is why the currently popular doctrine of “self-soothing” is so damaging and wrong. I have found that children who are held often are much more secure and independent as they get older than children who are not. You cannot spoil a child with too much holding. That is nonsense. Nothing seems to make up for damage done in the first two years.

               Even as a working mother, my main priority when I got home was to nurse and hold my babies. The house could wait. All other activities could wait. Even though I had excellent childcare from a provider who parented similar to me, my main goal was to make sure my babies felt loved and secure. Next came helping the older children with homework and attending their activities, but taking the babies with me wherever possible.

               It is also wrong to make a hungry baby wait to be fed. The doctrine of forcing a child to wait four hours to be fed is wrong. It creates children who do not trust and may later self-soothe with food. What about overweight babies, you ask? This is much more a risk with bottle-fed babies than breast-fed babies. A nursing baby should eat every 1.5 to 2 hours, as desired. A chubby, breast-fed baby is healthy with brown fat, which goes away as the child learns to walk and run around.

               I am not talking about over-feeding a baby, just common sense. Use some wisdom. I also do not agree with putting baby to bed with a bottle. Never do that. But a forced schedule, where baby feels hungry a lot, is pure evil. Hunger is a real pain to a child. Abuse and neglect rewire a child’s brain.

               Even a bottle-fed baby should be held while being fed. This is key to a child’s emotional development and self-esteem. Do not prop the bottle up and walk away. No one was busier than me with a large family, so no excuses. Take the time. Make the time.

As far as bottle-fed babies getting too fat, use a pacifier between feedings to appease a baby’s natural need to suck. Pacifiers are easier to throw away later (about 2 years) than a thumb. Formula digests slower than breast-milk, so maybe put 3 hours between feedings, but never 4 hours. If the child is truly hungry, feed him or her on demand. Be wise. There is a balance between meeting the child’s needs and over-feeding. If the baby’s emotional needs are being met, he or she will have less need for comfort from a bottle when not truly hungry.

http://thegodfreymethod.com

8 ways to develop your baby's mind

What 8 things help develop optimum intelligence in your baby?

 

(What's next in our discussion of a good foundation from the last two weeks?http://thegodfreymethod.com/blog/catching-humpty-dumpty-good-foundation) 

• Breastfeeding,
• Holding your baby often,
• Reading to baby often,
• Limiting baby’s exposure to TV,
• Limiting radio, and
• Constant noise,
• Giving baby some quiet time.
• It is also important for baby’s eye development to have some dark time at night without a night light.

But first, the feeding:

 

Breast-feeding and Nutrition

 

.      Hurrah for breast feeding! September is Breast Feeding Month, which honors this amazing phenomenon. My mother breastfed all eight of her children. I have 14 children including three step- and 4 adopted- children. I was able to breastfeed all seven of my natural children plus my son adopted at birth. The last three were breastfed while I was a working mom and had to pump breast milk during breaks. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.

 

    If mothers want to raise smart children, then they should from the very beginning with breastfeeding. Fathers should support the mothers in this very important part of optimizing their child’s mind.

 

The website http://www.breastfeeding.com/all_about/all_about_iq.html says, “...there is a demonstrated direct relation between a child's intelligence and cognitive ability and how long that child was breastfed.  Some studies show an increase in intelligence for each additional month the child was breastfed.

 

     Could you give your child a more important gift than a better brain and healthier body?  The findings are hardly surprising when we consider that the brain is only 1/3 formed at birth, and that breast milk has been [designed] to complete building the brain during the first two years of life.”

 

     Even after the differences in socioeconomic status were accounted for or eliminated in these studies, breastfed children still clearly come out ahead. This even holds true for preemies. On http://www.intelligencetest.com/articles/article10.htm it reads, “In fact, one study showed that premature infants who were breastfed had significantly higher IQs than formula fed babies, and when babies were fed a combination of breast milk and formula, their cognitive scores were directly related to the amount of mother's milk they received.

 

     Breast milk contains the ideal ratio of fats, amino acids and other nutrients that the baby needs for brain and nervous system development. These ingredients provide the ideal basis for the ‘hard-wiring’ component of a person's intelligence.”

 

     Also, http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-breastfeeding-benefits-you-and-your-baby_8910.bc writes, “Several studies have found a possible connection between breastfeeding and higher IQs. Babies breastfed for six months or more seem to have the most advantage. Experts say that the emotional bonding that takes place during breastfeeding probably contributes to some of the increase, but that the fatty acids [DHA and also Taurine - amino acid] in breast milk may play the biggest role in a baby's brain development.”

 

     Infant formulas are now trying to add Taurine and DHA, but they don’t compare to fresh ingredients in breast milk (I guess they’re better than nothing- if bottle feeding is necessary). I liked to breast-feed for at least one year when I was an at-home mom, but could only pump for six months at work as a working mom. Then my milk dwindled. Your experience might be better. At least I was able to give my last three babies 6 months worth of the best nutrition, as well as nurse them when I arrived home.

 

     Did you know that the thyroid of bottle-fed babies can be up to 20 times smaller than that of breast-fed babies? A smaller thyroid severely decreases the immune system. And if you must bottle-feed your baby, hold her while feeding. Resist the temptation to prop the bottle with a blanket or let her hold it herself. Whatever you need to get done is not as important as holding your baby. Such bonding develops her mental, emotional, and social growth to their fullest.

 

     What are the other benefits for baby and mother from breastfeeding? The site lists several unexpected pluses:

 

     “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. And scientific studies have shown that breastfeeding is good for your [mom’s] health, too.

 

• Breastfeeding protects your baby from gastrointestinal trouble, respiratory problems, and ear infections.

• Breastfeeding can protect your baby from developing allergies.

• Breastfeeding may boost your child's intelligence.

• Breastfeeding may protect your baby against obesity later in life.

• Breastfeeding may protect your baby from childhood leukemia.

• Breastfeeding may protect your baby from developing type-1 diabetes.

• Breastfeeding may protect preemies from infections and high blood pressure later in life.

• Breastfeeding may lower your baby's risk of SIDS.

• Breastfeeding helps you [mom] lose weight. 

• Breastfeeding can lower your stress levels and reduce postpartum bleeding.

• Breastfeeding may reduce your risk of some types of cancer.

• Breastfeeding may protect you against osteoporosis later in life."

       Wow. I am so grateful that my mother breastfed all her children and gave such a good example, which was learned and passed on to the next two generations, so far. For help with breastfeeding issues and questions, the La Leche League USA is the best source. All the chapters and contacts can be found at this website: http://www.lllusa.org

 

The LLL philosophy can be found on the international site: http://www.llli.org/ which quotes,

 

“The ideals and principles of mothering, which are the foundation of LLLI beliefs, are further developed in THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING, the most comprehensive handbook on breastfeeding and parenting ever published. It has provided needed answers to three generations of nursing mothers on every aspect of breastfeeding. (From LLLI publication No. 300-17, "La Leche League Purpose and Philosophy.")

       It's the Law of Eventuality: thousands and thousands of times, nothing, then wham! It gets you. Too often we hope the exceptions are the rule, but usually they're not. Nutrition is a very important building block to utilize, even when the adverse affects of some foods are not obvious until it's too late.

 

To protect your child against the time-bomb of bad nutrition, follow these guidelines:

 

·         No caffeine or caffeinated soda pops,

·         No fake sugars, except stevia extract,

·         No diet soda pops,

·         Limited sweets,

·         Limited fast foods,

·         Plenty of protein,

·         Fresh fruits and veggies,

·         Vitamin and mineral supplements,

·         Whole grains,

·         Dairy foods, and

·         Plenty of water, but not excessive.

            Unless your child is specifically allergic to lactose in dairy or gluten in wheat, don't worry about these foods. Those are rare allergies, and the benefits of nutrition from these foods far outweigh the minimal risks. You can have too little water and you can have too much water. Be reasonable.

             Good nutrition is important for infants and children. Enough protein in the first 18 months is critical. Children who don’t get enough protein for brain development in the first 18 months of life are unable to make up for it later. The damage is permanent. However, children who get enough protein in the first 18 months have developed enough that their brains can recover if they suffer from malnutrition and protein deficiency later.

             When children transition from breast milk (or formula) to solid food, good nutrition means eating a varied and well-balanced selection of the four food groups (proteins, grains, fruits and veggies, and dairy) in as near their natural state as able. The less processed, the better. Have fresh fruit and veggies in the house. Adding vitamin and mineral supplements are a good idea, but shouldn’t replace fresh fruits and veggies in your child’s diet.

            Keep sweets to a minimum. Everyone needs a treat now and then, but too much sugar lowers a person’s immune system. This includes limiting juice to once a day and serving water throughout.      Sodas should be saved for special occasions like birthday parties, and should never be caffeinated. Keep kids away from fake sugars and diet drinks, too. The only healthy sugar-replacement is extracted from the stevia leaf of South America.

             There are books and books written about nutrition, so I’m going to stop with these simple guidelines. Do your best. I know it’s a fight when the kids always want fast food and candy, but reserve those for certain occasions and not every day. You can do it!

              As I mentioned in the previous article, without these preventatives, the cracks in your child may be malnutrition and stunted growth, a weakened immune system, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), lower IQ, slower learning capacity, poor decision-making skills, and/or physical health issues. You are the key. It’s not rocket surgery!

http://thegodfreymethod.com/blog/good-foundation-8-ways-help-develop-your-babys-brain

Do not use Your Baby Can Read

Do not use Your Baby Can Read. It is sight reading in the worst way. It wires the brain in the wrong place for proper reading later.

http://godfreymethod.com/default.aspx

Phonics improves brain function

Phonics improves the structure of the brain

A research team headed by scientists from the esteemed Yale School of Medicine announced in 2004 a particularly significant finding for children who have trouble learning to read. It was reported by Gilbert Zarate in the Brownsville Herald: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/opinions_more.php?id=61072_0_11_0_C

The focus of this study, as much of the writing on this topic, is on how to assist struggling readers. While struggling readers show us what the critical issues are, children who are not struggling will be able to learn much more, much quicker, if they are also given exposure to the best teaching practices. Unfortunately, as is commonly the case, teachers leave good students to fend for themselves on the mistaken assumption that they don’t need help. Mom and Dad can and should do things at home to enhance their child’s learning and intelligence.

In the words of the reporter:

“The study reported that the brain function of poor readers actually changes to resemble the brain function of “good” readers when they have been taught to read through instruction that is direct, systematic, and focuses on the sounds and letters that make up words, the meanings of words, and helping children read accurately and quickly.

Using functional MRI scanners, researchers were able to document that effective reading instruction not only improves reading ability but actually changes the brain’s functioning so children can read more efficiently. These struggling readers were taught to read using a comprehensive reading program that focused on systematically teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary and spelling and, as a result, formed new and lasting neurological connections and pathways in parts of their brain that regulate reading ability.

We know that almost every child in America — whatever race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic level — can become a strong and confident reader when taught through a comprehensive approach grounded in systematic, research-based instruction. And we know that scientifically based reading instruction can be successfully implemented in all schools — whether urban, suburban, or rural.

Unfortunately, the reality today is that nearly 40 percent of fourth-grade students are unable to read at grade level. While many policymakers, educators and parents are enthusiastic about teaching children to read, not all schools and school districts are implementing instruction grounded in scientific approaches that have been proven to increase reading skills. Despite what we know works, not all schools have put in place carefully developed, comprehensive reading programs that include research-proven instructional practices. This is a travesty.

We know that reading instruction for struggling readers must be explicit, systematic, and allow sufficient time for student learning. We also know that the reading curriculum should include the five critical components that are fundamental to learning to read — phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension.”

So if the scientific evidence strongly proves that phonics instruction re-maps the brain for the better, why does the educational establishment, for the most part, continue to ignore the data and teach ineffective reading (and math) methods? Part of the answer may be found in the lobbying and monetary influence of textbook publishers, who follow fads for personal gain rather than true research results. Part of the answer may be found in the egos of some educational people pushing their own theories and agendas. Part of the answer can be found in the inertia and ennui of large government entities, schools, to resist change.

Whatever the factors, it is clear that parents must not let their gifted children be left to fend for themselves in school. Parents can follow the best practices of phonics reading instruction (and math instruction) with their children at home to ensure a great foundation for success.

http://godfreymethod.com/default.aspx

Parents paying to fix school's reading failures

I was listening to the radio the other day when I heard a commercial from two sports heroes who are starting a fund raiser to help children learn to read better. They wouldn't have to jump into the fray to save our children if the universities would teach the teachers to teach right!

This reminded me of a story from my friend, Donna. She went to the junior high with her daughter for a meeting and heard several other mothers talking and complaining that they were having to take their kids to Sylvan Learning Center to bring their reading up to grade level.

One mother was furious because while she was signing her son up at Sylvan, the registrar said, "We see this all the time. We're getting a lot of students in for this problem. Everyone who went to this school district was taught the wrong way, and we're having to fix it." (Ad-libbed)

The mother was so angry to find out that the schools were using a "discovery" type of learning model that didn't believe in teaching spelling or correcting children's spelling. They let the children write whatever they wanted however they wanted. The result was years of illiterate children.

At the time this mother took her son for tutoring, the school district had been using this "innovative" method for a decade and was still using it. (It was probably another failed program from Project Follow Through and the Whole Language fiasco.)

So I'm thinking, if we know what the research-proven best reading method is, phonics, why are schools sticking to failed methods, requiring parents to pay for expensive remedies? Something is definitely wrong here. Must be political. Doesn't purposely-failing our children, year after year, border on evil?

Ciao

http://godfreymethod.com/default.aspx

No child left behind means all children left behind

Are you kidding me?! At the end of each school quarter, the teachers in many school districts get a whole or half-day off for "professional development" days. I thought they were learning better teaching skills or something. Not so! Guess what they do on those days?

They all get together and re-evaluate the performance of their class from the last quarter, and readjust the curriculum down to fit the lowest achiever in class.

Are you kidding me?! They are in effect dumbing down the whole class so that one or a few aren't "left behind." Isn't this the same as leaving them all behind? I don't think this was the intention of the No Child Left Behind Law. Why can't the schools just get a tutor or aide or resource person to help the slow kids, and stop holding everyone back?

It makes me just about ready to home-school my kids. First, Project Follow Through ruins over 3 generations of US kids, then NCLB is mis-interpreted to mean that the whole class has to learn on the level of the most-challenged student.

What is the real political goal, here? To have citizens too stupid to vote with any intelligence? To make sure that all our technology jobs keep going to India and China? Do we enjoy talking to a help desk half-way around the world whom we can't understand? Why promote this?

Any parent who cares anything about his/her child's future would not depend on the schools to do the teaching. Even if you can't afford public school or to home-school, you can supplement at home. You can teach your child to read by phonics before kindergarten. You can find math systems to do at home. And you should!

Why teach your child to read early?

1. Why should parents teach their children to read before kindergarten?

There are many good reasons, such as:

To increase their child’s IQ, by catching the child’s optimum developmental window for reading, as proven by Dr. Glenn Doman and Dr. Michael Merzenich.
This will increase their capacity for learning for the rest of their lives.

To prevent dyslexia and other learning problems, because prevention is much better than remediation.
Yes, gifted children can have hidden learning disabilities.

To reverse the downward educational trend, because parents are their child’s best teacher, as proven by Dr. Glenn Doman and Ms. Glynne Sutcliffe, M.A. Dip. Ed. Only parents doing something at home can reverse the whole language fiasco of public education.

To feel confident and have a good self-esteem at school, by staying ahead of the class.

To create a joyful bedtime routine, giving children the 2 most crucial things they need – parent time and reading skills.

To help children excel in the technology workforce of the future, because reading is the foundation of everything else.

2. Why should parents teach phonics instead of sight-reading?

Phonics wires a child’s brain properly for reading. Phonics is the only proven cure for dyslexia.

Sight-reading limits a child’s vocabulary and can cause reading problems later in life. Sight-reading requires memorizing the shape of about 4,000 words, while phonics only requires memorizing 42 sounds.

Phonics allows a child to decode an unfamiliar word, avoiding embarrassment as an adult.

3. How is the Godfrey Method different?

The Godfrey Method, as found in A Pretty Girl Was Alpha Bette, helps all children learn easier and faster.

And it helps those who are struggling to come up to speed.

TGM connects the letters to their sounds in a child’s mind in a way that makes sense to her.

TGM has two important components: picture-letter phonics cards and the way to teach them properly.

TGM allows children to learn phonics at younger ages.

TGM easily fits into any busy family schedule, and makes a great bedtime routine.

TGM is affordable, and costs less than you’ll spend at the convenience store next week.

TGM purposely does not use electronics or video to teach- since television, video, and radio noise can be precursors to autism and dyslexia in young children. Its book and cards help parents give their children the one-on-one attention they need.

TGM, as found in APGWAB, provides both the phonics tools and the method to teach them properly.

TGM guidelines are easy to understand and fit on only one page.

Anyone can do this. You don’t need a teaching certificate to teach your child to read.