Ever since I read this article in the NY Times, I've been semi-obsessed with the idea that the role of parenting is to impart your culture to your children. A lot of people think Americans don't have a culture, or that we're just a mix of different cultures, but let me disavow you of that notion. American culture is, in fact, quite definable and observable!
Take our relationship with time, for instance. Americans think of time as linear. You can see that in our verb tenses - we have distinct past, present, and future tenses. We also have additional tenses to use when describing exactly when two different things happened (I had been at work for an hour when my client called.)
From a scholarly point of view, American culture is monochronic. That means we tend to focus on schedules, our activities have a set start and end point, and we do one thing at a time. (If you're interested in the differences with polychronic cultures, check this out.)
Now obviously, not every American person views time exactly the same way, and we all have varying degrees of punctuality, but in general, this is how our society works.
Why do I bring this up? Because when the kids and I were watching Daniel Tiger the other day, the episode's theme was, "It's almost time to stop, so choose one more thing to do." (It's Episode 129, if you're interested.) Daniel and his friends were playing together. Daniel's dad showed up and told him it was time to go home. Daniel didn't want to leave, so his dad sang him the little song to encourage him to move along.
I was struck by just how American/Euro/Western this exchange was! I mean, in other cultures, the family wouldn't have such a strict schedule they kept to. They would not find it necessary to sing a song to their child giving them notice that "it's almost time to stop" because that is not how their brains have been acculturated to think! But in our culture, we do want our kids to follow our family schedule, so I appreciate that Daniel Tiger has such a catchy song to help teach this aspect of life.
That's actually my favorite kid show at the moment - I'm always humming their little jingles, and really, they can be pretty profound. One day I was feeling like I wasn't doing a very good job as a mom, and I was dwelling on everything I did wrong. Then the song came on, "Do your best - your best is the best for you." And I was just like, whoa, Daniel, you're right! I don't need to compare myself to other moms. I just need to be the best mom I can be.
Aha, that's another American cultural influence - valuing individualism! But that's a topic for another day :)
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
20 Months
Gus and Gibson are 20 months old now! I know, it's kind of passé to keep counting months once you've reached the 12th one, but what can I say, human development is interesting...to me at least!
Language
New words include balloon (ba-oo) and broccoli (bah-kee). They attempted to say guacamole the other day (ga-oh-ee)...I'll take it!
I tried to make a list of all the vowel sounds I've heard them say: short a (dada), short e (eh eh, pointing at what they want), long e (eeeee! squeal of excitement), short i (ih ih, when trying to accomplish a task), long i (nigh nigh, aka pacifier), short o (dog), long o (no), short u (uh oh), ow sound (wow), oo sound (moo), oy sound (ga-doy, Gus's favorite word which he repeats at least 10 times in a row. I don't know what it means).
Consonant sounds are kind of hit-or-miss. They can definitely say b, d, hard g, k, and n. Sometimes they get l, m, and t in the mix as well. I wouldn't call it a definite "th" sound, but they do like to stick their tongues between their teeth and kind of make a noise.
I'm trying to make sure DF teaches them how to roll their Rs, like rr in Spanish. Despite my many years of Spanish language study, I still can't roll the rr correctly in words like burro, though I can fake it relatively well. I remember learning once that below the age of 5, kids can learn to make any sound from any language. So as long as we teach them young, hopefully they'll be set.
Physical skills
Climbing on everything. Their latest activity is to make loops up and over the couch - we have a couch with a chaise cushion that sticks out, so they climb up one side and down the other in endless succession. I don't even have to catch them very often anymore, except when they are getting tired and wobbly.
Sleeping
We're in a solid one-nap-a-day routine. They generally nap from 12-3, though sometimes shorter depending on the day. At night, they sleep from about 8pm-7am if we're lucky.
Eating
They've been trying all sorts of new foods lately. They're doing better with dairy so I'm not as vigilant about avoiding all milk. In fact, they love Goldfish crackers (and the Aldi-brand-equivalent penguins). But they don't like mac & cheese, which I find strange because I thought all American kids were born with a genetic predisposition to love the stuff.
Since they have a couple molars now, chewing is getting easier. I gave them Veggie Straws the other day (like a semi-healthy chip shaped like a french fry), and they were big fans.
They still like fish, which I consider a win since I hated fish as a kid. Basically all our seafood comes from Costco and is the freezer-to-oven variety. We like salmon, mahi mahi, and panko-breaded tilapia. I try to feed them fish once or twice a week.
Overall
They are becoming more like little kids every day - as in, less like babies. They're getting more self-sufficient and can understand more language. Actually, that last part is kind of dangerous because I have to watch what I say now. For example, I can't talk about teeth or the brushing thereof unless it's actually time to brush teeth, because if I mention it they drop whatever they're doing and run to the gate at the bathroom door, clanging until I let them in and give them their toothbrushes...
Language
New words include balloon (ba-oo) and broccoli (bah-kee). They attempted to say guacamole the other day (ga-oh-ee)...I'll take it!
I tried to make a list of all the vowel sounds I've heard them say: short a (dada), short e (eh eh, pointing at what they want), long e (eeeee! squeal of excitement), short i (ih ih, when trying to accomplish a task), long i (nigh nigh, aka pacifier), short o (dog), long o (no), short u (uh oh), ow sound (wow), oo sound (moo), oy sound (ga-doy, Gus's favorite word which he repeats at least 10 times in a row. I don't know what it means).
Consonant sounds are kind of hit-or-miss. They can definitely say b, d, hard g, k, and n. Sometimes they get l, m, and t in the mix as well. I wouldn't call it a definite "th" sound, but they do like to stick their tongues between their teeth and kind of make a noise.
I'm trying to make sure DF teaches them how to roll their Rs, like rr in Spanish. Despite my many years of Spanish language study, I still can't roll the rr correctly in words like burro, though I can fake it relatively well. I remember learning once that below the age of 5, kids can learn to make any sound from any language. So as long as we teach them young, hopefully they'll be set.
Physical skills
Climbing on everything. Their latest activity is to make loops up and over the couch - we have a couch with a chaise cushion that sticks out, so they climb up one side and down the other in endless succession. I don't even have to catch them very often anymore, except when they are getting tired and wobbly.
Sleeping
We're in a solid one-nap-a-day routine. They generally nap from 12-3, though sometimes shorter depending on the day. At night, they sleep from about 8pm-7am if we're lucky.
Eating
They've been trying all sorts of new foods lately. They're doing better with dairy so I'm not as vigilant about avoiding all milk. In fact, they love Goldfish crackers (and the Aldi-brand-equivalent penguins). But they don't like mac & cheese, which I find strange because I thought all American kids were born with a genetic predisposition to love the stuff.
Since they have a couple molars now, chewing is getting easier. I gave them Veggie Straws the other day (like a semi-healthy chip shaped like a french fry), and they were big fans.
They still like fish, which I consider a win since I hated fish as a kid. Basically all our seafood comes from Costco and is the freezer-to-oven variety. We like salmon, mahi mahi, and panko-breaded tilapia. I try to feed them fish once or twice a week.
Overall
They are becoming more like little kids every day - as in, less like babies. They're getting more self-sufficient and can understand more language. Actually, that last part is kind of dangerous because I have to watch what I say now. For example, I can't talk about teeth or the brushing thereof unless it's actually time to brush teeth, because if I mention it they drop whatever they're doing and run to the gate at the bathroom door, clanging until I let them in and give them their toothbrushes...
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