Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Feb 7, 2014 12:22:43 GMT -5
Gira--what string instruments do you suggest for kids of that age? I don't think I can handle a violin... Piano!
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Feb 7, 2014 12:24:31 GMT -5
Gira--what string instruments do you suggest for kids of that age? I don't think I can handle a violin... Actually, violin is a fine choice. If you get a good teacher who knows what they are doing, the kid really doesn't sound bad. The parents I work with are pleasantly surprised. Violin though, takes lots of patience. The way I teach, I don't let the kids make a sound for about the first month or so of lessons. (Maybe that's why the parents never complain.) It really does take a month of getting the bow and violin set up properly. Then you do open string work. If everything is good, at about the 6 week mark, you put down one finger on the strings. That's a big day (actually, I'm being quite serious). All in all, depending on the kid it's a good 3-5 months before twinkle is mastered. If a kid wants to make sound, like yesterday, guitar might be a nice choice. I don't know that I'd look for a teacher that does more strumming of chords over playing mary had a little lamb. The sound on an individual guitar for a young one isn't all that big when they are picking one string at a time. Otherwise, I'd look into cello. I'm sure they can make mini versions. I'm also very fond of learning by ear in the beginning (the Suzuki approach). Otherwise, the amount of "stuff" to learn is very overwhelming. Also, if you can fit a program in that offers both individual and group lessons, it's worth it to do that. One of my kids wants to do an instrument. I've said no, because we don't have time to practice with her. I don't know how your schedules are, but, the success of stringed instruments at that age rely heavily on parental involvement. You don't have to know how to play the instrument. A good teacher will tell you what to look for while you are observing the lesson . You will need to watch your kid practice, and make sure they do practice. It's rare that a young child is going to want to practice all the time on their own. You can PM me if you have any other questions.
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Feb 7, 2014 12:33:49 GMT -5
Gira--what string instruments do you suggest for kids of that age? I don't think I can handle a violin... Piano! They take up too much space! Violin is quite nice.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Feb 7, 2014 12:36:20 GMT -5
Gira--what string instruments do you suggest for kids of that age? I don't think I can handle a violin... Actually, violin is a fine choice. If you get a good teacher who knows what they are doing, the kid really doesn't sound bad. The parents I work with are pleasantly surprised. Violin though, takes lots of patience. The way I teach, I don't let the kids make a sound for about the first month or so of lessons. (Maybe that's why the parents never complain.) It really does take a month of getting the bow and violin set up properly. Then you do open string work. If everything is good, at about the 6 week mark, you put down one finger on the strings. That's a big day (actually, I'm being quite serious). All in all, depending on the kid it's a good 3-5 months before twinkle is mastered. If a kid wants to make sound, like yesterday, guitar might be a nice choice. I don't know that I'd look for a teacher that does more strumming of chords over playing mary had a little lamb. The sound on an individual guitar for a young one isn't all that big when they are picking one string at a time. Otherwise, I'd look into cello. I'm sure they can make mini versions. I'm also very fond of learning by ear in the beginning (the Suzuki approach). Otherwise, the amount of "stuff" to learn is very overwhelming. Also, if you can fit a program in that offers both individual and group lessons, it's worth it to do that. One of my kids wants to do an instrument. I've said no, because we don't have time to practice with her. I don't know how your schedules are, but, the success of stringed instruments at that age rely heavily on parental involvement. You don't have to know how to play the instrument. A good teacher will tell you what to look for while you are observing the lesson . You will need to watch your kid practice, and make sure they do practice. It's rare that a young child is going to want to practice all the time on their own. You can PM me if you have any other questions. I would love, love, love cello! But that is 100% more for me than the kids and hopefully I will take lessons on that myself soon just for fun. Good info on the violin. That sounds like a much better plan than the kind of stuff I've seen. I'll have to start putting feelers out for what is in our area. Sam--I'm sure we'll offer piano if the kids want to, but I hated piano lessons. My parents actually paid me to practice for a while which was the only time I really excelled at it... Although I was very grateful for the foundation because it helped me so much when I started band.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 12:36:22 GMT -5
If you like the sound of cats being tortured.
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milee
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Post by milee on Feb 7, 2014 12:39:53 GMT -5
They take up too much space! Violin is quite nice. If your goals are to have your child learn the instrument and learn the associated skills of reading music, etc., then you don't need a traditional piano. Not only is a simple keyboard more portable, kids think it's cool and later they like being able to use the sound effects.
Of course, if this is more about what the neighbors and other parents think, then yes, you'll need a full sized grand piano and that will take up space.
And Arch is right, the sound of small children playing stringed instruments is not nice. Not at all. They get better, but it can be a torturous time while it's happening.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Feb 7, 2014 12:43:53 GMT -5
If you like the sound of cats being tortured. Not if you get a good teacher. <sigh> And again And Arch is right, the sound of small children playing stringed instruments is not nice. Not at all. They get better, but it can be a torturous time while it's happening.Not if you get a good teacher. <sigh> I've been teaching for 20 years now. My kids don't sound awful. If the kids sound bad, the teacher isn't doing their job well.
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Feb 7, 2014 12:51:57 GMT -5
rainyday - I'm not saying you have your kids in a million activities, or even that it's wrong to have her in language tutoring in your mother tongue. I am saying that I do not agree that she is at a disadvantage if she's not going what all the other kids are doing. Why do you want her to speak 4 languages by the time she's 16? For her or for you? What if she's a jock who has no talent for languages? Is that extra 4th language going to help her or frustrate her to no end?
Look, I'm a smart person, and my husband is a smart person. Our kid will probably be pretty smart too. We will have high expectations of her for school. We plan to expose her to many different things - activities, travel, volunteerism - languages, cultures, sports, science, arts and music. But it's up to her to figure out how to use that to her advantage. Because I don't want to push her only to have her drop out of college or grad school and end up living a life she doesn't seem to want many years down the road... Here is the breakdown of the four languages 1) French- official language in Canada (Father's native language) 2) English-official language in Canada (Do I need to explain why knowing English is a good thing in this world even if it wasn't an official Canadian language and the majority language of my country of citizenship (USA), if you don't count Spanish?) 3) My mother tongue. Sure it's not very helpful. But considering my family do not speak English or French, if my children ever have any desire in the future to get to know my family, it would be nice if they spoke some of it. And it is still the language that I speak when I am truly, truly emotional. 4) Since both my children have been raised bilingual from the womb, the second language option in school of either French or English will not be very helpful to them, as they will be already completely bilingual. So they will learn another foreign language, hopefully the other language that my husband and I, and other family members speak. I'm not some super mom in Kansas trying to get her kid into Chinese immersion school so that her kid can do whatever it is that kids will do in Chinese immersion school. The four languages are either required to live in the country that we live in, heritage languages or for school (as in the 4th language). The language tutoring is part of me wanting to keep my children linked to my history. It figures into my values. And when I say tutoring, it's just some lady that comes to my house to speak to my children in my mother tongue and play with them, so they can understand that it's not just mommy that speaks that funny language. here are examples of classes that other mommies have taken their kids to that I HAVE NOT participated in: Swimming with mommy (from like six months onward) Ice skating Ballet Gym for tots Kindermusik Sensory baby class (birth to toddler) Art appreciation class Do I feel like my kids are missing out? Yes, sometimes. Did I still sign them up because I felt bad? No. Do I feel more pressure now that my children are getting older and no longer babies. Yes. Will I eventually cave? Probably.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Feb 7, 2014 12:52:15 GMT -5
I would love, love, love cello! But that is 100% more for me than the kids and hopefully I will take lessons on that myself soon just for fun. Good info on the violin. That sounds like a much better plan than the kind of stuff I've seen. I'll have to start putting feelers out for what is in our area. Rae- Ideally, you want someone with a blended approach: Suzuki, plus other pedagogs like Paul Rolland and Mimi Zweig. Also, you should try to find a teacher that does music other than dead white men music. Fiddle tunes carry quite a technical punch.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Feb 7, 2014 13:00:35 GMT -5
There really is no "division of labor." I live alone, and if I don't do it, it doesn't get done.
So I shop, bring the food home, put the food away, cook the food, do the dishes, and take out the trash. I clean, pay the bills, do my laundry and handle the odds and end stuff that comes up like oil changes and taxes. And I work about 40 hours a week.
It's not too bad. Bill paying is 1 hour a month at most, most of it's automatic anyway. I also have the advantage of having only to meet my own standards as far as clenliness. I spend maybe 2 hours a week doing various cleaning tasks. I also usually don't make complex meals, so maybe 2-3 hours of cooking a week. Laundry is pretty automatic too, and I don't really need to sort and fold the clothes since they're all mine anyway.
I suppose the only "division of labor" that exists is I don't have to mess around with any outside work like lawn mowing or shoveling snow, since the apartment folks take care of that. The same goes for repairs around the place.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 13:14:49 GMT -5
Gira--what string instruments do you suggest for kids of that age? I don't think I can handle a violin... My harpist friend says I can get DD a cheap harp at age 2-3.
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Feb 7, 2014 14:06:10 GMT -5
OK, not to get OT, but every time I hear "sensory play" I throw up just a little.
Whoever decided to make it a class, a study, a "thing" was FREAKING BRILLIANT!!!! bc he is making shit load of money out of NOTHING
And yes, I feel the same way about "gym for tots"
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Feb 7, 2014 14:10:44 GMT -5
OK, not to get OT, but every time I hear "sensory play" I throw up just a little. Whoever decided to make it a class, a study, a "thing" was FREAKING BRILLIANT!!!! bc he is making shit load of money out of NOTHING And yes, I feel the same way about "gym for tots" Please get off topic! This entire thread is off topic on the off topic thread. I tried to get back to this thread yesterday, and I kept scrolling down for "Kids and extracurricular activities" thread, and couldn't find it. Oh, division of household labor! Was that the original topic?
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Feb 7, 2014 14:12:29 GMT -5
Rainy, you KNOW that all I can think about now is what 4th language are your kids learning - you mom's language. And yes, I know you are not volunteering this info, so I am making up all kinds of things in my head
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Feb 7, 2014 14:25:11 GMT -5
We have ds in 'tumble bugs' which I consider to be the best freaking class ever! It is a parent/tot class so ds gets one on one time with dh (dd stays with my folks), and he gets 20 minutes of unstructured run around like a fool with all kinds of crazy cool things we don't have at home, and 25 minutes of somewhat structured, but still crazy fun play time. He's so tired on nights after tumble bugs and he thinks its the best thing ever, so win/win.
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Pants
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Post by Pants on Feb 7, 2014 14:29:55 GMT -5
We have ds in 'tumble bugs' which I consider to be the best freaking class ever! It is a parent/tot class so ds gets one on one time with dh (dd stays with my folks), and he gets 20 minutes of unstructured run around like a fool with all kinds of crazy cool things we don't have at home, and 25 minutes of somewhat structured, but still crazy fun play time. He's so tired on nights after tumble bugs and he thinks its the best thing ever, so win/win. More importantly, does it give him a competitive advantage over the other kids who aren't in tumble bugs?
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Feb 7, 2014 14:37:57 GMT -5
Rainy, you KNOW that all I can think about now is what 4th language are your kids learning - you mom's language. And yes, I know you are not volunteering this info, so I am making up all kinds of things in my head There are so many languages in the world. Have fun guessing. You can probably rule out two of them though.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Feb 7, 2014 14:39:01 GMT -5
No most important is can he do a somersault?
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Feb 7, 2014 14:40:19 GMT -5
We have ds in 'tumble bugs' which I consider to be the best freaking class ever! It is a parent/tot class so ds gets one on one time with dh (dd stays with my folks), and he gets 20 minutes of unstructured run around like a fool with all kinds of crazy cool things we don't have at home, and 25 minutes of somewhat structured, but still crazy fun play time. He's so tired on nights after tumble bugs and he thinks its the best thing ever, so win/win. More importantly, does it give him a competitive advantage over the other kids who aren't in tumble bugs? Well, there is an argument for raeoflyte's kid having more social interaction, improved gross motor skills, and just spending quality time with daddy that might give him that competitive edge over a kid who spends all day picking his nose in front of the TV. It's a slow work day. I can do this all day, until 4, when I have to go pick up the kids!
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Feb 7, 2014 15:02:28 GMT -5
My parenting 'goal' is to have the kids tired enough to not fight going to bed. Oh, and you know to grow up to be a happy, healthy, productive member of society. But most of that's a crap shoot, so I'm just going to focus on #1. I think that Rainydays definition of competitive is different than how it came across in her first few posts. I probably come across like the parents she is talking about too, but I've never looked at it as being competitive. I just have a very shy kid who we really, really try to expose to new fun things.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 15:06:05 GMT -5
I think ALL kids need to start getting comfortable with a pool/water starting at 6 months.....and as soon as possible they need to get some basic swimming lessons. I consider it a necessary life school just like potty training. I am astonished at the number of adults who are afraid of the water.
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Chocolate Lover
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Post by Chocolate Lover on Feb 7, 2014 15:07:39 GMT -5
More importantly, does it give him a competitive advantage over the other kids who aren't in tumble bugs? Well, there is an argument for raeoflyte's kid having more social interaction, improved gross motor skills, and just spending quality time with daddy that might give him that competitive edge over a kid who spends all day picking his nose in front of the TV. It's a slow work day. I can do this all day, until 4, when I have to go pick up the kids! Which time zone?
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Feb 7, 2014 15:09:37 GMT -5
I think ALL kids need to start getting comfortable with a pool/water starting at 6 months.....and as soon as possible they need to get some basic swimming lessons. I consider it a necessary life school just like potty training. I am astonished at the number of adults who are afraid of the water. I hated swimming classes as a kid. I still hate it, but boy, am I glad I know how to swim now.
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Feb 7, 2014 15:11:25 GMT -5
Well, there is an argument for raeoflyte's kid having more social interaction, improved gross motor skills, and just spending quality time with daddy that might give him that competitive edge over a kid who spends all day picking his nose in front of the TV. It's a slow work day. I can do this all day, until 4, when I have to go pick up the kids! Which time zone? This thread has made an otherwise very boring day fun. I like it when other posters play with me. EST btw.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Feb 7, 2014 15:11:49 GMT -5
I think ALL kids need to start getting comfortable with a pool/water starting at 6 months.....and as soon as possible they need to get some basic swimming lessons. I consider it a necessary life school just like potty training. I am astonished at the number of adults who are afraid of the water. I hated swimming classes as a kid. I still hate it, but boy, am I glad I know how to swim now. I loved swimming. I still love to swim. I make my kids take swimming.
I will make them love to swim!!!!!!
But seriously, they do love to swim.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Feb 7, 2014 15:13:42 GMT -5
Any recommendation on activities for a 10-week-old to get her tired enough to not fight going to bed? Re: swimming - my college required all students to pass a swimming test before they could graduate (apparently a very wealthy alum's daughter drowned in the early 1900s, so he donated a ton of money with the caveat that all students must learn to swim). I was shocked at the number of twentysomethings who had never been in a pool before.
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Feb 7, 2014 15:14:27 GMT -5
We haven't done swimming lessons yet. I know we need to, but last year, we didn't once make it to the pool...same with the year before. The year before that we went a couple times.
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Sunnyday
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Post by Sunnyday on Feb 7, 2014 15:15:31 GMT -5
I think you live on the water. If I lived on the water, I would FORCE my children to take swimming lessons.
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Feb 7, 2014 15:16:21 GMT -5
I need to get ds back into swim lessons. We switched to a fancy swim class for dd. Ds' teacher at the new place pushed way too hard and ds just completely freaked out. 7 months later though he says he's willing to go back to the rec center swim lessons.... le sigh. Parenting is tough.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 15:18:46 GMT -5
I never took an actual swimming lesson but my first time at the beach was 4th of July weekend right after my parents adopted me (at 5 weeks old)....I then spent every day, from memorial day through labor day, at a beach club until I was 17 and had a summer job. I swam my first race when I was 6 - was told to dive in and swim to the other side of the Olympic sized pool. My kids all started swim team when they were 5/6 and they did take some lessons but that was mainly to improve their stroke.
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