I think my kid knows too much

[Dymphna]

My 3-yo knows too much. He can count to 15 or 19, depending on the day and can recognize numbers written up to 10. He also recognizes most of the alphabet, even in random order. I'm not bragging, I'm just pointing out how this can be a problem, he's already a "know-it-all."

We play a game from time to time where I tell him something is the wrong color and he corrects me. He knows his colors well enough that this is a silly game for him. Now your typical 3-yo can general pick out red, blue, yellow, orange, purple and green. A little more advanced child can get black, white, brown, pink. But that's about it. He's got all these down.

So today, he holds up a crayon and asks me the color. (this is a variation of our game, where he expects me to tell him the wrong thing) The crayon in question was labeled by the Crayola people as "green." The wrapper is actually a light green color. So, I called it a couple different things finally labeling it correctly. "No Mommy," he says, "It's chartreuse."


For those who don't know, chartreuse is a yellowish-green.

 

[libragirl]

if hes to smart he might not be able to get into pre -k keep that in mind if you want him to go !!!!

 

[Kain99]

Personally I think Pre-K is a total waste. Better off at home with Mommy who can teach him all about the good stuff.

It's a joke... For the stupid kids.

 

[Kain99]

May I add... I have a friend whose daughter is in pre-k... This kid is smarter than the teacher and has been teaching the class for months!

 

[Chasey_Lane]

My daughter was the same way at a very young age. She'll be 7 next month, and I find myself in tears now that she doesn't have to ask for help when writing complete sentences. She's growing up so fast.




I think I'm ready for another baby...

 

[Nanny Pam]

WOW~! He is smart. Just wondering, when did he turn 3?
I have a little boy in my daycare who will be 3 in June. He is just learning to talk. I know, all kids are different, but I am concerned. I told the mother about my concern, as well. Every day I sit with him to try to teach him his colors, ABC's, numbers, but he just doesn't get it. He is potty training OK, but the rest....whew...lots of work with little results. Am I just old fashioned thinking he should be progressing better than he is?

 

[vraiblonde]

Originally posted by Nanny Pam
Am I just old fashioned thinking he should be progressing better than he is?

I dunno - my kids were real sharp, too, and I always thought that was normal. But I didn't work when they were little and that's what we did all day - learn things. And so did the Moms I hung around with.

Then I broadened my horizons and met some Moms who worked and their kids are all retarded. This kid next door just turned 4 and she's barely potty trained and you can't understand a single thing she says, let alone any ABCs or counting.

 

[Pete]

First I worry about any BOY who knows what chartreuse is. My boy was pretty quick, unofrtunatly I could not stay home with him. He has been a daycare baby since he was 13 months old. I potty trained him at 2, he was a late talked but went from silence to complete sentences in about 3 days. He knew colors, how to spell his name, blah blah. Then he started K and I was stunned that he was behind. They want them to know ABC's upper and lower case, numbers to 10 (he had that part) and a ton of other stuff. I had to start working with him everynight to catch up. It took us about 3 months and he was up on speed with everyone else. Not setting the world on fire but average. Then we moved here and he was a little behind again. Well we went back into our routine and got him back to where he needs to be. Long hours sitting at the table and redoing messy work. Listening when he sounds out a word for 5 minutes without losing my mind and screaming "It's POKE damn it !!" We still have to work on things. This week it is "focus". He is so social that he gets a worksheet and is more worried about everything else and misse the directions or just doesn't finish. Focus is the word of the month of March.

 

[vraiblonde]

Also, my niece is smart as a whip - just turned 2 in January. She can sing the Hokey Pokey all the way through with very little prompting, can tell you all the colors, counts to 10, potty trained except for at night. At Christmas I told her that our cat, Moose, was her cousin. When I saw her last month I said, "Hey, Sophie - Moosie says he loves you!" and someone else said, "Who's Moosie?" and Soph replied, "My cousin!"

Her Mom works two days a week, and on those two days Sophie is in the loving care of her Auntie. I think it makes a difference.

 

[Kain99]

It is true that kids are pressured to succeed way to much these days. I don't really see any way around it... Making learning fun is the key. Every kid is different. Wish everyone luck.

 

[vraiblonde]

Pete, I gotta tell you - I don't think it matters that much, really. By the time he's an adult, he'll know that it's "poke", just like every other adult. And I think that's what really matters, not whether he's some whiz kid at 5. It's fun to show them off for the folks but that's about it.

 

[Pete]

Yea, I was stunned and crushed that I let my little dude down by not preparing him better. When I went to K I was plain stoopid so I didn't know. Now he is in first grade and his weekly spelling words amaze me. He gets 10 and usually 3 are harder than the rest. This week it is counted, collect and hundred.

 

[Pete]

Originally posted by vraiblonde
Pete, I gotta tell you - I don't think it matters that much, really. By the time he's an adult, he'll know that it's "poke", just like every other adult. And I think that's what really matters, not whether he's some whiz kid at 5. It's fun to show them off for the folks but that's about it.

I know, but we can all wish for a Mensa member as offspring. I am not the best peron in the world to be teechin speellin ither.

 

[Kain99]

Originally posted by Pete
Yea, I was stunned and crushed that I let my little dude down by not preparing him better. When I went to K I was plain stoopid so I didn't know. Now he is in first grade and his weekly spelling words amaze me. He gets 10 and usually 3 are harder than the rest. This week it is counted, collect and hundred.

I hate elementary school... They make parents feel like such losers! Just hang in there, it gets better.

 

[Dymphna]

Wow, I posted this almost a week ago, and no one read it. All of a sudden, there are more then a dozen posts.

 

[justhangn]

Originally posted by cmcdanal
Wow, I posted this almost a week ago, and no one read it. All of a sudden, there are more then a dozen posts.

It's all about C day.......tonight......

to your kid......

 

[Dymphna]

Originally posted by Nanny Pam
WOW~! He is smart. Just wondering, when did he turn 3?
I have a little boy in my daycare who will be 3 in June. He is just learning to talk. I know, all kids are different, but I am concerned. I told the mother about my concern, as well. Every day I sit with him to try to teach him his colors, ABC's, numbers, but he just doesn't get it. He is potty training OK, but the rest....whew...lots of work with little results. Am I just old fashioned thinking he should be progressing better than he is?

He turned 3 in January. My 5 yo didn't say more then about 50 words until he was 37 months. (average 24 mo old has about 200 words) Now, he won't shut up, even talks in his sleep. My 3-yo isn't interested in potty-training. So if your daycare kid is concentrating on that, maybe that's taking all his attention :shrug:

 

[Dymphna]

Originally posted by Pete
First I worry about any BOY who knows what chartreuse is. My boy was pretty quick, unofrtunatly I could not stay home with him. He has been a daycare baby since he was 13 months old. I potty trained him at 2, he was a late talked but went from silence to complete sentences in about 3 days. He knew colors, how to spell his name, blah blah. Then he started K and I was stunned that he was behind. They want them to know ABC's upper and lower case, numbers to 10 (he had that part) and a ton of other stuff. I had to start working with him everynight to catch up. It took us about 3 months and he was up on speed with everyone else. Not setting the world on fire but average. Then we moved here and he was a little behind again. Well we went back into our routine and got him back to where he needs to be. Long hours sitting at the table and redoing messy work. Listening when he sounds out a word for 5 minutes without losing my mind and screaming "It's POKE damn it !!" We still have to work on things. This week it is "focus". He is so social that he gets a worksheet and is more worried about everything else and misse the directions or just doesn't finish. Focus is the word of the month of March.

There's a "Blue's Clues" episode which he has on tape which talks about some off the wall colors.

I'm taking a class, the teacher is the supervisor of early childhood for Calvert County (she supervises the Kindergarten teachers). She said she gets at least 10 calls a year from parents asking what their child needs to know before they start kindergarten. The answer is they have to be 5 by whatever date. That's it. They take them all and deal with the whole spectrum, from kids who don't know diddley to kids who can read fluently. There is no such thing as "behind" when they start kindergarten.

 

[Kain99]

Originally posted by cmcdanal
There is no such thing as "behind" when they start kindergarten.

I totally agree with you! Unfortunately, there are those teachers out there who have nothing better to do than look down their noses at kids who struggle. I was lucky but my SIL is not. She has a 6 yr old son who struggles with language. He's been to every specialist on the planet, been in speech therapy since he was two and yet his teachers look at her like shes a complete and total failure.

 

[Dymphna]

Originally posted by Kain99
I totally agree with you! Unfortunately, there are those teachers out there who have nothing better to do than look down their noses at kids who struggle. I was lucky but my SIL is not. She has a 6 yr old son who struggles with language. He's been to every specialist on the planet, been in speech therapy since he was two and yet his teachers look at her like shes a complete and total failure.

That's just a bad teacher. My kid started out the year totally average, according to my first teacher conference. Now he's a little behind and she's getting volunteers to work with him, and sent extra work home, once she determined I was the type of parent to actually try and do something. A lot of Kindergarten is about social interaction, sharing, listening, following directions, things like that. My kid has got that part down, the academic part just hasn't clicked with him. His teacher recognizes that.