Toddlers Learn Organically

 

Last spring, I was kind of concerned.

S could count to ten {and had a vague grasping of numbers up to 20}, recognize a few letters, quote a few Bible verses, and sing her ABC's.

But she didn't know her colors. *Gasp!*

Other kids knew their colors. A lot of kids her age, and even younger, knew their colors extremely well.

Though I knew better, I semi panicked. We worked on those colors every day as we read books and played, yet she made zero progress. Oh my!

Guess what? Six months later, S has her colors well in hand. She got it long after I gave up trying, so I know her finally getting it has *nothing* to do with my stressing and over-reiterating.

I didn't teach her how to count either. One day in the car {at 18 months-ish} my husband and I were completely caught off guard to hear her count from 1-8. We'd never heard it before, and I hadn't even started working on it with her. She had a toy maraca that counted, and picked it up via simple daily play and repetition.

I'm constantly amazed at the lyrics my child spouts off from memory. How she parrots what she sees and hears in real life. How she quotes word-for-word the stories we've read time and time again.

Kids are wired to learn. They just do.

And while I know I shouldn't stress about milestones, and we've all heard a million and one times that we should never compare... I still do.

Bleh. I am so over it. No more!

I'm making the conscientious decision to just relax. To accept whatever pace my children set, and to not worry about the "whens" of each achievement.

I'm just going to keep reading to them a lot, and talking to them a lot, and playing and working alongside of them.

I think the rest will just sort itself out.

 What's your childhood learning philosophy? Have any major (or minor) milestones stressed you out as a parent?