Gakken Let's Create ages 2-4 yrs. 191pp, plus 4 pages of stickers and a "wipe clean board".
Who would like this book
--Parents of 2-4 year old children who want short, structured activities to do with their child
--Children who can sit still for 30 sec to 5 minutes, can grasp a crayon, and manipulate scissors
About the book
This is a workbook that introduces "educated world" skills, the kinds of skills that are useful for making teachers happy in school. (Parents may or may not think these are skills their 2-4 year old need to acquire at the moment.) The opening pages introduce drawing dots, straight lines, and curves; another section works on numbers 1-3. A final section combines life knowledge with cutting and pasting. This is an interesting section which offers opportunities to talk about animals, social customs, transportation, food, clothing, and school activities.
Thoughts and commentary
I got this book from Costco because it was inexpensive at $8 and because my daughter was newly out of preschool for the summer and I wanted something structured to do with her as I faced a big shift in our schedules. At the start of things, she was 2 years and 2 months old and young for the stated age range.
She really likes the activity book because there is a space for a "Good Job" sticker on every page. She also likes the graphics which are colorful and cheerful in an Asian cartoon style. Some of the pages call for using crayons, provided stickers, or scissors and glue. She likes all of those modes of interaction, but stickers most of all. As a parent, I like having simple pages to do with her, all in one place, with a bit of guidance on each page. I like the progression in difficulty and the variety of activities.
Cognitively, my daughter is a bit young for most of the book. It takes a lot of scaffolding to get through the activities. By scaffolding, I mean talking through the activity in advance and demonstrating what is going on. During the activity, she needs a lot of often literal hand holding. In the numbers section of the book, we did about a quarter of it before it was really beyond her ability to comprehend. I have currently stopped that section and will pick up later as she gets more comfortable with those concepts. Attention wise, she cannot pay attention for more than a few minutes. In the early part of the book, we could do a few pages in a session. But for cutting and pasting pages, 1 activity is about the limit. Mechanically, she needs help for everything other than putting stickers in place.
The build quality of the book is excellent. The paper is nice and thick. The icons are easy to understand. The short parent instructions are generally helpful. My only complaint here is that in the first section on drawing lines and shapes the gutter of the book gets in the way. The pages are not perforated, but I tore them out anyways so that she would have a flat page to work on. The wipe clean board is a black and white outline of a cake. I didn't see the point of it much, and we haven't used it much thus far. I cut that page out, again, because it is unwieldy to draw on while still attached.
Conclusion
Given that she enjoys the activities, I think that working a bit ahead of her abilities is fine. Sometimes frustrating for me because I like things lined up and tidy, but she's having a ball. And we have something to do together. However, I don't think these are particularly important skills for a 2 year old to pick up. Content-wise, I think I'd care more as she gets closer to actually starting school in a few years.
I'd be interested to see how she does with the same material next summer. And for that reason, I'm tempted to pick another one up for an apples-to-apples comparison.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
When you feel you don't fit in
Dear Children,
While it is on my mind, I thought I would address something I hope you will not have to encounter for another decade. I think most people at some point in their life feel they do not fit in. By virtue of your family history, you will actually not fit in. While there are more and more families with parents of different ethnicities, most of your classmates will not be in this situation. Certainly, we as your parents were not. But we both did grow up in a home culture that was different from the surrounding culture. And it is from that experience that I want to offer two truths that can be lifelines as you navigate these tricky waters for yourself.
1) God did not make a mistake when he made you.
2) You have an invitation to belong to God's household.
God did not make a mistake when he made you
As a young person, I often felt like a cosmic oops, that God had been distracted when he made me and that's how I ended up being a girl born to Chinese parents in the American South. Like wouldn't it have been easier if I had been born Chinese in China or White in America? Growing up, in the US I was never American enough, and in Chinese countries, I was never Chinese enough. You may feel similarly.
But something that helped me a lot was a chapel when I was in 6th grade where the speaker said, "God does not make mistakes." I don't remember the verse she was speaking on, but here is one to offer you food for thought:
You have an invitation to belong to God's household
In your everyday life, you may feel like you don't fit in, you may be told you don't fit in, and you may actually not fit in. That's an awful feeling, I know. But this verse was huge for me when I was processing all of this. Listen to this:
Now, I hope that you have a few friends who are also hapa. That y'all laugh about the weird, awkward things that come with it. And I hope you have Uncle Jonny and Uncle Kevin around to show you the ropes. But iffn you don't, I think these truths can carry you a long way.
I love you,
Mom
While it is on my mind, I thought I would address something I hope you will not have to encounter for another decade. I think most people at some point in their life feel they do not fit in. By virtue of your family history, you will actually not fit in. While there are more and more families with parents of different ethnicities, most of your classmates will not be in this situation. Certainly, we as your parents were not. But we both did grow up in a home culture that was different from the surrounding culture. And it is from that experience that I want to offer two truths that can be lifelines as you navigate these tricky waters for yourself.
1) God did not make a mistake when he made you.
2) You have an invitation to belong to God's household.
God did not make a mistake when he made you
As a young person, I often felt like a cosmic oops, that God had been distracted when he made me and that's how I ended up being a girl born to Chinese parents in the American South. Like wouldn't it have been easier if I had been born Chinese in China or White in America? Growing up, in the US I was never American enough, and in Chinese countries, I was never Chinese enough. You may feel similarly.
But something that helped me a lot was a chapel when I was in 6th grade where the speaker said, "God does not make mistakes." I don't remember the verse she was speaking on, but here is one to offer you food for thought:
For you created my inmost being;The image here is one of God taking great care in crafting a life. God picked out your eye color, hair, nose, and mouth. And he built them on the genetic differences between Asians and Caucasians. Likewise, he knew you would have a particular cultural environment and has plans for that. Your ethnic background is not a cosmic mistake.
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
~Psalm 139
You have an invitation to belong to God's household
In your everyday life, you may feel like you don't fit in, you may be told you don't fit in, and you may actually not fit in. That's an awful feeling, I know. But this verse was huge for me when I was processing all of this. Listen to this:
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,When you accept that Jesus's death and resurrection was for your sin too, you get a new citizenship and a new family. The spiritual reality is that God sweeps you into his family and loves you perfectly just as he made you. You have a place to belong. And this is true even if there are people actively telling you that you don't belong. And this is true even if the people telling you you don't belong are people who say they are Christ followers.
~Paul's letter to the Ephesians
Now, I hope that you have a few friends who are also hapa. That y'all laugh about the weird, awkward things that come with it. And I hope you have Uncle Jonny and Uncle Kevin around to show you the ropes. But iffn you don't, I think these truths can carry you a long way.
I love you,
Mom
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Book Review: Introverts in the Church
I've been reading lately, so I thought I'd do some reviewing.
First up Introverts in the Church: Finding our Place in an Extroverted Culture by Adam S. McHugh, IVP. 222pp including discussion questions, further reading, and notes*
Who should read this book
Introverted pastors or lay leaders who feel like they are always out of steam or lagging behind.
Average Joe introverts who find many church ways alienating and difficult to connect with.
Extroverted pastors or lay leaders who have an uneasy feeling that some people are being sinfully anti-social.
About the book
The book starts off arguing that we live in an extroverted culture that prizes those abilities that come naturally to extroverts. Then it discusses characteristics of introverts, affirms those characteristics and then in response to the extroverted culture, calls introverts to healing.
McHugh covers a number of different aspects of introverted spirituality, from private devotions to community relationships to evangelism to church service. However, clearly the McHugh's heart is for introverted church leaders specifically pastors.
Thoughts and commentary
Well, turns out that I'm not the target audience for this book even though I am an introvert and a member of the church universal and a local church. I'm not the target audience first because I have embraced being an introvert. I have spent the better part of a decade and a half thinking about and working out how to be an introverted follower of Christ. I have no problems telling extroverted pastors to pound sand. I'm also not the target audience because I am not and do not desire to be a pastor. You can just tell that the pastorate is what jazzes McHugh. That's fine, that's just not me.
I was interested in the introverted spirituality chapters and I think these are the chapters that would interest the average Joe introvert in the church. The chapter on evangelism was particularly good.
Despite both being introverts, my husband and I didn't completely connect with some of McHugh's experiences as an introvert, nor do we completely connect with one another. And while McHugh does mention this, I think it must be stressed that introversion isn't the only reason a person responds in a particular way. There's a lot of diversity across introverts. For example, in the chapter on introverted evangelism he encourages introverts to leverage listening well to people to connect with people and walk with them on their faith journey. First, just because an introvert isn't talking doesn't mean that they are listening. They might be talking to themselves. Second, everyone including extroverts should work to listen better.
Conclusion
I was personally disappointed in the book because of the various points of disconnect. However, I am tempted to buy a bunch of copies and give them to various leaders in my life. Heh. Introverts new to this stuff--sure, check it out from the library.
*Not an affiliate link
First up Introverts in the Church: Finding our Place in an Extroverted Culture by Adam S. McHugh, IVP. 222pp including discussion questions, further reading, and notes*
Who should read this book
Introverted pastors or lay leaders who feel like they are always out of steam or lagging behind.
Average Joe introverts who find many church ways alienating and difficult to connect with.
Extroverted pastors or lay leaders who have an uneasy feeling that some people are being sinfully anti-social.
About the book
The book starts off arguing that we live in an extroverted culture that prizes those abilities that come naturally to extroverts. Then it discusses characteristics of introverts, affirms those characteristics and then in response to the extroverted culture, calls introverts to healing.
McHugh covers a number of different aspects of introverted spirituality, from private devotions to community relationships to evangelism to church service. However, clearly the McHugh's heart is for introverted church leaders specifically pastors.
Thoughts and commentary
Well, turns out that I'm not the target audience for this book even though I am an introvert and a member of the church universal and a local church. I'm not the target audience first because I have embraced being an introvert. I have spent the better part of a decade and a half thinking about and working out how to be an introverted follower of Christ. I have no problems telling extroverted pastors to pound sand. I'm also not the target audience because I am not and do not desire to be a pastor. You can just tell that the pastorate is what jazzes McHugh. That's fine, that's just not me.
I was interested in the introverted spirituality chapters and I think these are the chapters that would interest the average Joe introvert in the church. The chapter on evangelism was particularly good.
Despite both being introverts, my husband and I didn't completely connect with some of McHugh's experiences as an introvert, nor do we completely connect with one another. And while McHugh does mention this, I think it must be stressed that introversion isn't the only reason a person responds in a particular way. There's a lot of diversity across introverts. For example, in the chapter on introverted evangelism he encourages introverts to leverage listening well to people to connect with people and walk with them on their faith journey. First, just because an introvert isn't talking doesn't mean that they are listening. They might be talking to themselves. Second, everyone including extroverts should work to listen better.
Conclusion
I was personally disappointed in the book because of the various points of disconnect. However, I am tempted to buy a bunch of copies and give them to various leaders in my life. Heh. Introverts new to this stuff--sure, check it out from the library.
*Not an affiliate link
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Fact Family, Faith Family
Yesterday, I asked in passing what the unit for capacitance was fully expecting my husband would know. He did; it's the farad.
We are a fact-y kind of family. We like numbers, trivia, and random details that tend to fall in the nerd/geek realm. This is the environment our children are being raised in. Whether they pick up on this themselves in unpredictable, but they will know that some people, their parents specifically, play with these sort of ideas and trivia. I guess in other families it might be baseball or music which have the advantage of being more mainstream.
We're fact-y, but are we faith-y? Do I have equal confidence that our children will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their parents love and trust God? We don't tell them we're nerds; we just are. Do we need to tell them we follow Jesus, or is that also simply part of who we are?
In case it isn't obvious, I'm in a phase where I'm thinking and reading and praying about what it means to "parent toward the cross". Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (The good news according to Luke, chpt 9). This saying is hard and fights against my sense of self-importance, but I have found following Jesus to be deeply life giving.
I want our children to not just enjoy facts about the world or even facts about the Bible. I want them to experience living water that comes from Jesus through his death and resurrection through taking up their own crosses and following Him. What will they learn from how we live?
We are a fact-y kind of family. We like numbers, trivia, and random details that tend to fall in the nerd/geek realm. This is the environment our children are being raised in. Whether they pick up on this themselves in unpredictable, but they will know that some people, their parents specifically, play with these sort of ideas and trivia. I guess in other families it might be baseball or music which have the advantage of being more mainstream.
We're fact-y, but are we faith-y? Do I have equal confidence that our children will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their parents love and trust God? We don't tell them we're nerds; we just are. Do we need to tell them we follow Jesus, or is that also simply part of who we are?
In case it isn't obvious, I'm in a phase where I'm thinking and reading and praying about what it means to "parent toward the cross". Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (The good news according to Luke, chpt 9). This saying is hard and fights against my sense of self-importance, but I have found following Jesus to be deeply life giving.
I want our children to not just enjoy facts about the world or even facts about the Bible. I want them to experience living water that comes from Jesus through his death and resurrection through taking up their own crosses and following Him. What will they learn from how we live?
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Stewarding what we have: Children
I have occasionally written about stewarding what we have and have always considered financial resources. But recently our daughter had another asthma attack that got so bad so quickly, I really feared for her life. It was a complete wide-eyed-mom moment at the medical check-in counter with a "Dear Jesus help them help my baby." She's fine now, but the incident brought me face to face with the mortality of our children.
As I've documented on this blog, I was slow to warm up to being a mom, but two years in, I'm all in. I am in the guts of mother-child relationships. Bowels might be more appropriate since this week we're back to potty training. This stage of parenting is so physical. There's a lot of hands on wrangling which inhibits abstraction. The diaper is wet or it's not. The spit up stinks or it doesn't. The plate of food is going in the stomach or on the floor or in the hair. Tickles result in full throttle laughter. Items are banged, slammed, and torn. I think this close physicality made me forget how thin the line between life and death is.
Being awakened to that reminds me that whether I spend a few more days and weeks with my kids or decades, their whole existence from before time into eternity is wrapped in the hands of God. In our overlapping time, however long that may be, I've been entrusted to take care of them as beloved children of God. On the one hand, this means that we've a much higher calling than to make sure they stay alive and learn not to be embarrassments to the family. And on the other hand, this means that God is particularly interested in each of them and active in their care and nurture so we don't have to bear the burden in our own strength and wisdom.
So the first step in parenting toward the cross is to remember that God is the ultimate creator and designer of these little lives. It's not about us creating our own little kingdom and our own family name. It's about realizing that like money, our children have been entrusted to our care for a short while.
As I've documented on this blog, I was slow to warm up to being a mom, but two years in, I'm all in. I am in the guts of mother-child relationships. Bowels might be more appropriate since this week we're back to potty training. This stage of parenting is so physical. There's a lot of hands on wrangling which inhibits abstraction. The diaper is wet or it's not. The spit up stinks or it doesn't. The plate of food is going in the stomach or on the floor or in the hair. Tickles result in full throttle laughter. Items are banged, slammed, and torn. I think this close physicality made me forget how thin the line between life and death is.
Being awakened to that reminds me that whether I spend a few more days and weeks with my kids or decades, their whole existence from before time into eternity is wrapped in the hands of God. In our overlapping time, however long that may be, I've been entrusted to take care of them as beloved children of God. On the one hand, this means that we've a much higher calling than to make sure they stay alive and learn not to be embarrassments to the family. And on the other hand, this means that God is particularly interested in each of them and active in their care and nurture so we don't have to bear the burden in our own strength and wisdom.
So the first step in parenting toward the cross is to remember that God is the ultimate creator and designer of these little lives. It's not about us creating our own little kingdom and our own family name. It's about realizing that like money, our children have been entrusted to our care for a short while.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Smiles
I'd say that I'm out of the physically miserable part of newborn care--the phase of truly wretched sleep deficiency, engorgement, and gas-induced baby wails. This happens to coincide with magnificent smiles from little DW. He beams from the core of his being. It's fabulous and frequent. So while there are plenty of bumps and humps in family life right now, this is one thing I'm really enjoying.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
On clothing--Apropos nothing
Timed well with On Expecting's post on body image I suppose.
I finally went through my dresser and pulled out the winter clothes and the maternity clothes! Woohoo. I surprisingly fit back into my pre-maternity unmentionables which feels like a huge win, so I put the maternity ones away too. I also thinned out my closet of old stuff and stuff that never fit well.
At this point I have about three-and-a-half sizes of clothes. Maternity stuff for when I'm huge; big stuff for when I'm bigger than normal but not huge; normal stuff; and skinny stuff. There's not a ton of skinny stuff but I have a few items from when I inadvertently lost a lot of weight before my wedding. I'm currently wearing big stuff, but they are starting to be noticeably big. So I think I'll soon be back into my normal stuff. Hooray!!
Since things have calmed down with the baby, I'm willing to consider a third kid and I haven't got rid of all the big and maternity stuff. However, that'll be it's own day when all that stuff finally goes to goodwill.
I found a lot of t-shirts from college that I have a hard time parting with. And it reminds me that I need to "grow up" with regards to my clothing. And I fear that I'll go from a slouchy grad student right into a sloppy housewife. I definitely dressed better when I was teaching, so I'm trying to figure out where to land at this point.
I would like to eventually have a minimalist wardrobe of classic, quality clothing for summer and fall/spring--the two primary seasons here. But there are several obstacles: 1) a deficient fashion sense 2) a loathing of shopping 3) an aversion to spending money and 4) an unstable body size and shape. Currently, I'm using #4 as an excuse to not figure out ways around #1-3.
Anyways, we'll see. Right now I'll just revel in the prospect of fitting back into my old jeans soon.
I finally went through my dresser and pulled out the winter clothes and the maternity clothes! Woohoo. I surprisingly fit back into my pre-maternity unmentionables which feels like a huge win, so I put the maternity ones away too. I also thinned out my closet of old stuff and stuff that never fit well.
At this point I have about three-and-a-half sizes of clothes. Maternity stuff for when I'm huge; big stuff for when I'm bigger than normal but not huge; normal stuff; and skinny stuff. There's not a ton of skinny stuff but I have a few items from when I inadvertently lost a lot of weight before my wedding. I'm currently wearing big stuff, but they are starting to be noticeably big. So I think I'll soon be back into my normal stuff. Hooray!!
Since things have calmed down with the baby, I'm willing to consider a third kid and I haven't got rid of all the big and maternity stuff. However, that'll be it's own day when all that stuff finally goes to goodwill.
I found a lot of t-shirts from college that I have a hard time parting with. And it reminds me that I need to "grow up" with regards to my clothing. And I fear that I'll go from a slouchy grad student right into a sloppy housewife. I definitely dressed better when I was teaching, so I'm trying to figure out where to land at this point.
I would like to eventually have a minimalist wardrobe of classic, quality clothing for summer and fall/spring--the two primary seasons here. But there are several obstacles: 1) a deficient fashion sense 2) a loathing of shopping 3) an aversion to spending money and 4) an unstable body size and shape. Currently, I'm using #4 as an excuse to not figure out ways around #1-3.
Anyways, we'll see. Right now I'll just revel in the prospect of fitting back into my old jeans soon.
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