Foreign Language for a Babe in Arms

It is not a problem for a baby to learn two languages at the same time in a bi- or multilingual family. But what if mum and dad speak the same language but still want their little one to study a foreign language as it is much easier to learn a language when one is little. I will share my experience of "teaching" our daughter English (Russian is native to her). Any second language could be taught like that.

When Soniya had turned 2 months old, I decided to buy a book of poems with colourful pictures in English. But I could not find such a book in our bookstores. I found some books with fairy-tales instead. And it was for the better as later I found out that the child is not interested in poems at all (these rythmic lines were like a noisy background for her) but likes to listen to stories when mummy is reading them for her.

From 2 to 4 months

I read 5 funny phrases about animals to our daughter - every day, with the right intonation and pronunciation. And the baby was really listening.

From 4 to 5 months

When she had turned four months old, I added 2-3 Read the rest of this entry »

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For the Toys Not to Fall on the Floor

A baby starts watching the falling of toys on the floor from 6-7 months. In fact, the toys are thrown out of the cot even earlier. First, I washed the toys and rattlers as soon as they met the floor according to the acceleration given to them by a child's hand. But during the dayone and the same rattler could fly out from the cot from 5 to 10 times. So, I started collecting all the "lucky ones" in a basin and then wash all of them the next morning. Our daughter had only 1-2 toys by the evening. Too few!

And one day our daddy made one simple thing which made my work much easier. He Read the rest of this entry »

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Breakfast Which Is Always Ready or How a New Mummy Can Manage to Have Breakfast

That's it - always ready! As both the mother who has a little baby and the mother who is "packing" her child for school and hurrying to work do not have time for cutting, boiling and frying! But malnutrition, as we all know, is not good for our health.

Natalie and I have worked out a list of products (with no semi-finished products!), which can provide a good breakfast being used together or separately:

* Oatmeal. Natalie's method: put rolled oats into the dish, cover it with boiling water and eat the dish in 3 minutes. Anastasia's method: put rolled oats into the dish, cover it with cold water, put the dish into the steam cooker together with the vegetables for the baby, add raisins and eat. The method of Anastasia's husband: put the oats into the dish, add cold water, put the dish into the micro-wave and add mashed banana - then you can eat it.

* Boiled buckwheat. Anastasia's method: put buckwheat into the saucepan, add cold water, leave it on fire for 10 minutes. Natalie's method: Read the rest of this entry »

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How to Thank for a Present?

The wardrobe of our newly-born Sonya was being filled up, basically, due to the presents of our relatives and friends. Everybody wanted to see the baby, to smile at her but how one can come without a "present"!

We, in our turn, wanted to thank the generous guests for the beautiful clothes (from crawlers to dresses) and entertaining toys (from rattles to construction sets).

Tea with sweet things was an ever-present attribute of the meetings. Of course, I had neither strength nor time for a substantial "feast" but why not have some tea?

And we also found the way how to express our gratitude for the present to each guest in such a manner that Read the rest of this entry »

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Developing Games on Trays or How to organize the Baby’s Space

Our Arseny and Soniya are only 1 year old but we are already studying developing games to play with them in the future. We are sharing a marvelous idea with you from the field of "early-childhood development", the idea of a mother of almost 3 kids already, Karisa.

"First, WHY Trays?

• Let me begin by saying that I am in NO way saying that my beliefs are right, they are just MY beliefs. I share openly about what I believe when it comes to educating young children, and yes I do have a college degree, but that in no way makes me any smarter than others out there. I just share what I believe!
• The TRAY itself: I believe the tray itself provides a sense of space for a young child. When all items are contained on a tray (or a mat, or something similar), it is easier for the child to visualize all involved with the activity and also how to CLEAN it up! Cleaning up is a huge part of this method for me.

• 

• The ACTIVITIES: I believe in providing simple, yet engaging activities that sometimes expose a skill and sometimes are just fun! I love the discussion times these trays provide. I love the concentration required. I love that Krash is developing perseverance, focus, and determination to accomplish tasks. I love the vocabulary alone that stems from the tray activities, it really is endless. I love that I can change up the activities easily without a ton of work each evening. I love that most of the items on the trays aren't *toys* so they are refreshing for Krash and engaging.
• The ENVIRONMENT: Trays provide Read the rest of this entry »

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How to organize a Home Playground for the Tots with One Year’s Difference in Age?

Today we are answering the question of Daria, a reader of our blog:

"So far, I have not been able to think out how to make table and a home playground for our elder daughter (24 months) for her to be able to make crafts and other creative things as we also have one ore baby (12 months) who will bother her. It is not possible to leave all the things like paints, pencils and plasticine on the table for them to be reached by he girl at any time as then you will get tired to collect all thi stuff about the room".

We have asked mums who have also got toddlers with 1-1,5 year's difference of age between them what solution they've got concerning this issue.

Vera, the mother of Bazhena (4,5) and Kyrill (almost 3):

«Kyrill started crawling late, when he was about 8 months old. Till some certain time, we could play (study) peacefully with our daughter. But I decided in the very beginning: the things which are really not to be touched (by both the children) should always be in boxes on the refrigerator in the kitchen: everything for plasticine modeling, puzzles, pencils, brushes, watercolours, etc. I bought these boxes in "Ikea" but you can also

Read the rest of this entry »

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Back to the Past or Mother’s Diary for Her Daughter

Starting from the age of 7, I used to look through the album with the pictures of me as a baby and my "sayings" which my mother had made. I studied how I had been changing while growing, how "wise" my comments were when I was 3,4,5 years old. I remember the album to make me joyous when I was not allowed to leave my bed because of a cold or flu:

"A TV set is working in a dark room.
- Mummy, I like this light so much. And I can say that this light is state*!" (4 yrs. old)

* "state" here means "belongs to the state"

"-Mummy, let's start keeping a dog.
- When we have a bigger apartment, then we will get ourselves a dog.
- When I am a grown-up, let's start keeping a dog?
- OK!
- What is OK, mummy?
- We'll start keeping.
- Who will we start keeping?" (4 yrs.old)

«-Anastasia, how long will it continue?**
- I do not know. Think yourself, long or not.
- And what do you think?
- I do not think. I have a day-off». (5 yrs. old)

** about my misbehaviour

When a daughter arrived in our family, I wanted to make something similar for her.

And at that time, Natalie, whose son Arseny was born only 3 months before our Soniya, suggested an idea. She turned out to have bought a thick writing pad and to be writing down some notes about the development of their baby by hand there. And, the main thing, she was drawing sketches there. Moreover, she also had photos and video. It was she who told me about scrapbooking.

But my approach to making the book differed from Natalie's one. I decided Read the rest of this entry »

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Mother’s Diary or What to Present the Baby with?

A baby arrived in the family… He has not turned 1 yet but you are already thinking what he will be in 5, 10, 15…

Would you like to know right now what to present your little one with for his future full age (which seems so far now) ? The most touching and unforgettable present for the grown-up "baby" is your book with the recollections about him during his first (second, third…) year of life.

No, I do not encourage you to buy a thick notebook and writ? down something in it daily (especially during the first months of your baby's life ).

If you've got a little one and you are reading this article now, it means, most probably, YOU ALREADY HAVE SUCH A BOOK! Read the rest of this entry »

Del.icio.us : Creative Work, children, diary, do-it-yourself, home, ideas, parents, presents

Rocking Chair – the Best Friend of Parents

I picked up this idea from the book "The Baby Book" by W. and M. Sears when I even was not pregnant yet. Rocking chair! It was mentioned in the book a couple of times as a good means helping worn-out parents and overexcited children to relax.

At that time, the idea of the rocking chair was put by somewhere at the periphery of my consciousness and came to life again in some months when baby-twins arrived in the family of my sister. Exhausted by constant rocking, the parents decided to try a rocking chair and immediately bought two. "It was the best investment for all the period of my fatherhood", later said Paskal, a Swiss husband of my sister.

So, the idea was tested. But when our son was born, we did not use it at once. First, Read the rest of this entry »

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How to Master a Foreign Language in Unconventional Circumstances?

The first year of the baby's life is a great opportunity for his mummy to do what she has always wanted but never had time for. For example, it can be creative work and/or mastering of a foreign language. Not possible? Just the opposite! Natalie and I have shared our experience where to find time for it on the pages of this blog. But besides time, one should be able to accommodate him/herself to the circumstances. How? I will explain it by giving an example. The language being learnt could be any language.

Have you paid attention that there is also a little one in the picture?

How to master a foreign language when you have a baby?

When one of my acquaintances had returned after her visit to Italy, she had a dream - to learn Italian. In a year, a daughter arrived in their family. It was then when she bought an Italian textbook, audio-tapes being a very useful supplement to it. Walking for hours along the embankment with her daughter sleeping in the pram, my friend was learning the language (keeping the Walkman in her pocket). Taking into consideration that a little baby should walk every day month after month, she has really moved forward in learning that Romanic language.

One of my students decided that she should learn English when her baby-son was 2 months old. It was September which was very close to October already (zero degrees Celsius). Her tutor (me) agreed Read the rest of this entry »

Del.icio.us : Creative Work, children, home schooling, ideas, kids, language, lifehack, parents, personal development

Where to Keep Children’s Books?

"I recently got asked how I store all of our children's books. This was a very simple answer so I thought I would put it in a Behind the Scenes post! This issue haunted me at first as I had TONS of children's books even before I began homeschooling. I used to teach Kindergarten and had kept all of the books I purchased myself over the years. Finally I came up with a solution!

I bought cardboard magazine boxes, made labels for them and sorted the books by the general themes or concepts. Specifically I have these boxes from Ikea, and I used my printer to make the labels, you could use a label making machine or just hand write them! This makes it so much easier for me to find what we are studying at a particular time, or just to find books we want to read!

As for my categories of books, I made Read the rest of this entry »

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Handmade Visual Aids for babies of 8-36 months old. Tips from our Readers

How to make developing toys from the things at hand for a small baby? A reader of our blog has shared her ideas with us:

What to Do with Diapers?

The pictures on the diapers are very bright. You can make a game using them. To do it, cut the picture out from the diaper, collect two pictures of each type, stick them on (colour) cardboard, laminate the cardboard (or cover it with sticky tape) and cut it into pieces. The game is ready! So far, with a tot of 18-24 months old, we are just looking for the pair pictures. You can also gradually add more pairs of pictures into the game and when the child is older you can already follow Read the rest of this entry »

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Where to Find Time for Creative Work (a mother’s experience) - 2. Continuation

How to become more organized? How to have time for everything if you care for a little baby? Where to find time for everything besides household chores? Several ideas from a mother of a 1-year-old tot. (Continuation. The beginning is here.)

Feasible Tasks with a Floating Date

The best way for me to secure the accomplishment of some task is to set a deadline. It can be next week or the following weekend, or the two hours when my hubby or mother are ready to spend time with our son.

But if I failed to fulfill what I started doing during that time, I am glad that at least a part of it is done (after all, I am an extremely busy mother ). In such a way, an arrival of the baby freed me from the illusion that I should have time to do tons of things and accomplish everything quickly. Now I just enjoy the process not worrying that the process can be dragged out . As a result, I manage to do more!

To do more not getting tired it is also useful:

• to divide large work into many parts;
• to work for 10-20 mins (or until you are tired) at some task and then move to another one;
• to do what your soul desires (a certain part of large work) at each certain moment;
• to try to restrain your perfectionism, i.e. to enjoy any, even the tiniest, results and not to long for reaching an unreachable ideal.

*

Not the most favourite activity, to tell you the truth…

«To Turn the World Upside Down»

One more secret of high productivity and good mood is to always do only Read the rest of this entry »

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Where to Find Time for Creative Work (a mother’s experience) - 2

After I had read the article "Where to Find Time for Creative Work" by Anastasia, I was full of admiration and - I was surprised by myself.

Full of admiration - because I would fail to live in such a way. I am not so organized and disciplined to keep such a rhythm. It is fine for the one who has got self-discipline in his blood. But a clear-cut plan scares me and a rhythmical lifestyle makes me desire to break it. As if I were imprisoned by myself.

*

Of course, not everything is so bad…

And what? Does it mean I always have lack of time to do everything? And what about huge plans? What about the renovation of our apartment? What about our project "Parents' Ideas"? Quite surprising but already for a year (since the birth of our son) I have been successfully combining all that. How?

Desire - That is What Matters Most

As we all know, one wants what he/she does not have. As soon as the baby comes to this world, he starts absorbing all his mummy's time. It seems she does not have time for anything else. But her desires are still there! To entertain oneself a bit, to read favourite blogs and to do something, creative, with that old granny's chandelier… There are tons of ideas but minimum time. And the less time you have the more things you want to do. And the surprising thing is that you really manage to do it - just have a desire…

Listen to Yourself

To feel good and manage to do many things one should not forget to listen to himself. Everybody has periods of high capacity for work. The secret is Read the rest of this entry »

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If the Head Does not Fit the Neck of the T-shirt. A Tip from our Readers

We were presented with two wonderful T-shirts. But… we failed to put them on our baby - his head did not go through, the little one was crying. Looking at other factory-made T-shirts, I saw snap fasteners on one of their shoulders. So, I unripped a side seam, edged it, sewed on a button on one side and made Read the rest of this entry »

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A Holiday Cake in the Design of an Apartment

There have recently been several articles on holidays and cakes in our blog. We suppose the look of pies and cakes already irritates the eyes and makes the stomach heavy :). So, what one can do with annoying cakes? If you are occupied with such a question, the article below is for you! We, the authors of the blog "Parents' Ideas", would like to share our good mood and smile with you through this post!

Actually, eating that holiday fruitcake is out of the question. But instead of tossing it you can turn that traditional holiday treat into Read the rest of this entry »

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