On Momversation I was asked to share what I do to nourish Annie’s mind. I could blab for hours about this – I want her to have a huge imagination.
What do you do?
November 20th, 2010Comments: 19
On Momversation I was asked to share what I do to nourish Annie’s mind. I could blab for hours about this – I want her to have a huge imagination.
What do you do?
Elle says:
I read different kinds of books to my daughter. I really love art and got her some that are board books so she can’t rip them to pieces. It melts my heart when she’ll go quiet and I’ll turn around thinking she’s doing something she’s not supposed to. She’ll just be sitting there quietly, looking at her books.
We also play a lot of music and she’s just now starting to dance. It’s mostly her bending up and down but it’s so adorable.
Elle says:
I wanted to add that normally when she goes quiet, she usually is into trouble. I know that’s the first commandment of parenthood. If thou child is quiet, thou child is in a heapeth of trouble and is playing in thou toilet with a cell phone.
MamaCas says:
Yes…..good commandment. Let me also add this:
If thou child is quiet, thou child hath cut a large chunketh of her haireth from the front of her headeth and you’ll needeth to get her to the nearest hairdressereth asap-eth.
Jayne says:
My little girl (aged two and a bit) is really into play-doh at the moment and we can sit for literally hours making different things with it, she never seems to tire of it.
She’s also into any music with a good beat and a bit of bass, this morning we’ve been listening to a bit of brit-pop and she’s been dancing all over the house!
edenland says:
I love watching you talk. Is that creepy? Heh. Board books, huh? I think you need to post a pic of Annie reading a certain board book with, umm, “Bees” in the title.*ahems*
Island Mom says:
Island Boy: Books, books, books. He’s a bookworm already. I like it because it’s guaranteed cuddle time with an otherwise on-the-go toddler. Also, coloring. He’s so infatuated with it that coloring books and crayons are literally the only thing he has asked for for Christmas. He’s starting to get interested in helping in the kitchen, as well. Oh…and we all love music around these parts!
Island Girl: Babbling back at her when she “talks” to us, doing anything we can to get a smile out of her (she’s smiley, though, so that’s easy), teaching her “soooooo big!” and “pat-a-cake” games, singing to her, and letting her have time and (safe) space to explore the world now that she’s crawling.
Heather says:
We read. A lot. We are homeschooling our oldest because her sleep apnea makes it darn near impossible to function in a classroom. One of the benefits of this is we have less limitations on the things she gets to see and do.
A lot of her work is based on things she already loves (except math, there are very few ways to make math fun for a child who doesn’t like math.) We have a ‘story of the week jar’ filled with ideas and creative solutions for problems, she writes a story surrounding that idea, character or solution to a problem.
We don’t stop her from playing *some* video games, they do require some problem solving skills and this helps her push herself further.
Our youngest, we read to her also… a lot. We talk about her day, try to work in some of her school work in the evening to see what she’s doing during the day. To help her if she’s struggling to ensure that she can feels confident in class. She has a pretty crazy, silly imagination so we are doing something right.
For both of them, we try to seek out adventures. We remind them constantly that they are loved very, very much. We remind them that even if they feel like they have no one else in this world… they always have us and that’s important. We remind them how important and special they are and how hard I fought to bring them in to this world feeling safe and loved.
Nourishing your child’s mind is easy. You give them everything you had… and everything you needed but didn’t get.
Ellen says:
We tell stories. We started doing this when our oldest was 18 months old, and five years later, we’re still going strong. My daughter’s first grade teacher always remarks on G’s ability to write amazing stories.
I think this one thing, telling stories, has fueled our kid’s imaginations more than anything else.
Four Gambel Girls and A Guy ~ documenting the adventures we call life says:
TURN OFF THE TV!!!! and have lots of books and art/craft supplies around ALL the time. Suscribe to Family Fun and the rest will take care of itself!
Dawn @ What's Around the Next Bend? says:
I play along with whatever they are imagining at the time… being robots, dinosaurs, dogs, whatever.
We have a great time!
Rebecca says:
I did lots of crazy things to nourish my kids minds. Reading to them, rubbing their hands over different textures (once they got older I let them touch just about anything they wanted), taking them to the mall and going to Bath and Body works to test every lotion and wash our hands, going to the toy store to play with all the toys they have on display, going to the grocery store on free sample day and eating everything they offered, taking a walk barefoot, listening to different types of music…wide variety of music, participating in Parents As Teachers and going to every event that I could, going to the library every week and checking out 10 books every week…and reading every single book at least once…sometimes 10 times! (We read over 1,000 books per year!)
LisaJ says:
We do lots of books and music…chase her around the house on all fours (she loves this; my knees are OUCH), and recently we bought a pretend grocery cart that was on sale at Target. She loves taking out the boxes and fake fruit and pretending to feed it to us and eat it herself.
I love dressing her up. And I do the funny voice talk to daddy thing. She loves to pretend to drive the car.
Lots of snuggling, lots of pointing out all kinds of random stuff whether home or out and about.
In the summer we went to the fountain–that was so cute! She loved watching the water spurt up and loooooooves the shower and the tub, too.
With my older two, we often do this game where we list several random objects and they have to make a story using those things. Makes for some hilaaaaarious car rides.
Ray says:
I don’t have children but I think playing a lot of make-believe is very important for their imagination. And just the well being of a kid, and to childhood in general. Childhood should be as playful as possible: with costume making, role-playing and just a lot of dreaming and adventures. Also book reading (which was mentioned a lot in the vide0): you should read to your child as much as possible. Reading is so much fun.
But you already know all of this: Since you already do these things. ;o)
Colleen says:
I let her do whatever grabbed her attention. When she was a young girl, she had so many oars in the water I was going crazy, but she thrived on it. She loved to make things and create experiments. When she was 9, she developed a bone disease which required her to refocus and change directions. She cried for about an hour and then just set a new course. She had so many likes and interests, she was able to focus on acting and art instead of the athletic ones. She’s an amazing, creative and very talented 18 year old now (who gets A’s in AP Calculus).The best advice I can give is to let her seek out as much as she can and do whatever you have to do to support her. Don’t say no to something because she is too busy, just accomodate as best you can. Eventually, she will figure out her priorities herself. Enjoy!
Meredith says:
I agree. Gaga is the way to go for baby rearing.
OHmommy says:
Your home-made movies are are awesome.
Leslie says:
Lots of reading. Story time where we each make up our own stories. Lots of singing where we make up our own lyrics and painting, drawing, and dancing.
LibraryGirl62 says:
Talk to her, read to her, give her cool art supplies and most of all…give her attention. Let her explore, draw, make up new stories, put on plays and dabble in all kinds of things and be attentive when she includes you. You are both so imaginative I can’t help but think she will fit right in with all the funny cool stuff you will do together
Sloane Reed says:
He’ll be 3 in March so I like to quiz him on world capitals and ask his opinions on current events. =)
~ Sloane
http://cocktailswithhemingway.blogspot.com