Last month, My daughter and I were sitting in the stands watching my son practice football. Several parents were doing the same. My daughter loves math, so she asked me to quiz her on some math problems to pass the time. I challenged her with addition, subtraction and multiplication problems. She answered every problem correctly.
An impressed parent turned to my daughter and said, "Wow, you're one smart little girl. What grade are you in?" My daughter replied, "kindergarten". The women turned to me and said, "Really?, wow my kid was just learning to count in kindergarten and I am not even sure that she's learning multiplication yet and she's in third "
I replied that my daughter is a special little girl. But what I was really thinking. Lady, if you don't know if multiplication is or is not a part of your kid's curriculum you're not that engaged.
My daughter is smart for sure, but she's no super genius. The difference between my daughter and that other parent's daughter is that my wife and I take the time to teach her and practice with her. We never let the limits of society dictate what she should be learning, especially if the limits are set low to make sure Johnny's self esteem remains high. We let our daughter's interest dictate if she will move ahead of the class. Nothing more, nothing less.
Similarly, I was recently reading about a smart little 12 year old boy in the UK who's a problogger making $500/month talking about technology. His blog is called Techzi Technology. Gadgets. Internet. And Breaking News by a 12 year old kid. The kid can write.
This kid obviously has parents who doesn't let society norms dictate what he should and should not be striving for or achieving. Blog on young man.
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4 comments:
If it takes a village to raise your kid, you’re not doing your job as a parent...
Conservative Dad,
I've been reading your blog and I think you need to relax a little and loosen up the BVD's. They're kids for Gods sake.
Each of my kids are very different. My older son hated math always will. He has other strengths. My 9 year old is a whiz at math, but is not interested in doing more than what the school has him doing. My daughter is entertained my math. We recently drove 10 hours to visit grandparents. My daughter was driving us crazy asking for math problems to do in her head, while the boys were in video game heaven. We do not push our kids we merely guide them in their pursuit of happiness, whatever that might be even if it would be liberal politics. I have seen psycho parents, I know what you are referring to and I think that that is wrong. Thanks for your concern.
David Wilkinson here. I know I'm a bit late on the scene, but I wanted to make it clear that I choose to do this. My parents don't make me. I enjoy what I do. I enjoy blogging. (I even enjoy the money making bit!) ;) It's a fun ride, but it's very time & energy consuming. Send me an e-mail at David@Techzi.net if you've got questions. By the way, could you update the linkback? We've moved to Techzi.net!
Thanks,
David Wilkinson
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