 
| | Jade
is not a follower, but like every other infant/child, she is most interested in
toys/games that other infants/children are enjoying - while they are enjoying
it. This makes it a bit challenging to identify her true interests;
so, I must go a step further to pinpoint them.
Because I have yet to
discover her natural talents, I have drawn up a preliminary plan to help her
gracefully develop into the rare, beautiful jewel she is.
Hopefully, she can
enjoy doing some of the things that I do, like:
Realistically, I
believe that I can best guide Jade
through play.
Every child is capable of learning! My goal is to encourage Jade
to want to learn by tapping into her wonderfully vast imagination. Below
are a few ideas I would like to use in order to lure her into appreciating my
interests. The hyperlink above ("play") will take you to
a page that has ideas for any mother (of children between 8-12 months) that may
reveal their children's interest via play.
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Interest 1: Reading Reading
to her every night (or every other night) should give her an
academic advantage as her chances of reading at an early age
increases. As she listens to stories, she will recognize books
by their cover, pretend to read them on her own, understand that
they are read from front to back (in America), and point out
objects/characters in the books I read.
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Interest 2: Studying a foreign language "Scientific
research confirms that the prime time in life for learning an
additional language is from birth through the early years of
childhood." Currently, I am studying Japanese and plan to
teach her what I learn - as I learn. I refuse to stop
there. A child's mind knows no limits until the world places a
limit upon it. I recently invested in language learning
package which includes videos, audiocassettes, a script book, a
Parents' guide, and a CD-ROM program for the computer. This
language is Spanish and I plan to purchase more language packages
per year. Contact www.early-advantage.com
for more details.
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Interest 3: Operating a computer Jade
already has a natural attraction to computers for more than one
reason. First of all, I taught computer classes, nearly all
through my last trimester of pregnancy. Second, I often
have her play with interactive software packages (Jump
Start is my favorite) that either, inspire her to learn or measure her
milestones electronically (i.e., her voice).
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Interest 4: Traveling Jade
handled her first trip (at 1-week old) very
well. It was a 10-hour car ride and I haven't had the courage
to do it again. Although she is one year old, my instinct tells me that
I should not let her fly until she is older; some young children
have tragic accidents - like collapsing lungs. I will settle
for train/car/boat rides for now. We have a trip planned to
the Caribbean this Winter.
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Interest 5: Interacting with others Jade
deals with strangers in the most magnificent
way. If she is not wet/hungry, she will enjoy another person's
company (child/adult) as if she has spent every waking moment with
them. This makes it easy to keep a babysitter. :-)
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