to think that a 3 year old doesn't need to recognise Shakespeare and Tutankhamun?

[SequinsAndSparkles]

I took my DD to a playdate today at my friends house (I say friend, I know her from toddler groups etc), there were a few of us, and it was at her house today ( we have been taking it in turns to host!)

This woman's DS turned 3 in June. When we got there she was clearing away his flashcards and games from the dining table. All of the flashcards were in their own neat little envelopes (which I admired, actually, I am an organisation/stationary nut!)

They were labelled things like 'Number Cards' 'Fruit & Veg' 'Farm Animals' etc, but I saw one of the envelopes was labelled 'Important People' and said ooh what's this one? She makes them all you see - I do it too! She showed me, and it was laminated pictures of Shakespeare, Tutankhamun (she said she doesn't expect him to remember the full name, but he says Egypt!) David Cameron, Barack Obama etc.

She said she wants to give him a headstart on things, and just plant the seed. Now, to be fair, he is a very fast learner. One of those children who just has to see/hear things once and will pick it up straight away. But surely, this is all just for show? Right? Slightly unnecessary perhaps?

Don't get me wrong, I was mocked a while ago for keeping an activity scrapbook for DD, and I also make my own flashcards for her, so it's not that I don't understand the idea behind it. But is this really useful at this age? Surely those kind of things will just go over his head? OR will it be useful? Shall I do the same for my DD??

When me and my brother were little my Dad trained us, parrot fashion, to answer these questions:

Q: "Who was the only prime minister of Nigeria?"
A: "Abubakar Tafawa Balewa"

Q: "Who was the first president of Zimbabwe?"
A: "Reverend Canaan Banana"

The thing is. My Dad was joking. Is that what your friend was doing maybe?

I did some peculiar PFB-ish things.

One was to teach DS abstract colours

For example "look DS here is a buff (coloured) piece of fabric"

Or "yes,DS that flower is a pinky beige" he wasn't even 2!

He did learn them ,but hardly uses any descriptive words to explain anything at all now! (at 12)

string I can totally see how that would have come about!

Is your friend Gwyneth Paltrow ?

I have made sure my DC can name the artists of most big hits of the late '8O's/early 90's. We do it all in the car.

Frustratingly DS2 still confuses Micheal Jackson and George Micheal.

My DS is 4 and can recognise quite a few Tory MPs, for I have taught him to boo at them when he sees them on TV. It really backfired when he was introduced to the local Tory MP.

Flashcard are ridiculous.

... makes not a jot of difference years on ... flash cards, lego, long lectures etc etc

My son was great at putting together (when he was about 5) Transformers, Lego, Bionics , Rubik Cubes ... in a few minutes if not seconds (at most) all of them where complete and re-assembled.

He could identify cars from the logo or wheels on most makes of cars - plus identify the signage of the major supermarkets on lorries on the motorways when he was 3 years old..

Today - I presented him with a box full of his "vintage" toys (11 years later... OK so I was bored and felt like clearing out some crap) and said put them together so I can sell them on E-Bay and he was gob-smacked....

He said that he remembered them all and how they should look but couldn't work out which bits went where...

So there goes my detailed descriptions on E-Bay and profit ....

YABVVU. By the age of three, children should be able to recognise, at the bare minimum, at least 237 historical figures, recite at least 6 of Shakespeare's plays verbatim and perform differential calculus.

Kids need to be stretched, not mollycoddled.

Flashcards and the parents who use them make my teeth itch.

Naming objects/ associating symbols or pictures with sounds or labels is an important pre-reading activity but you don't need flashcards for it. One picture is as good as another where the recognition of symbols goes, however. There's nothing inherently better about showing your child a picture of Shakespeare as opposed to, say, the rear end of a rhinoceros. The point is that the child comes to associate a label with an image or an abstract symbol and can recall it easily. A child of 3 is not going to have the intellectual capacity to appreciate what is so great about Shakespeare.

Better off by far reading books to your child and pointing out signs and symbols in your environment and forgetting about the force feeding of flashcards. That way there will be a context for the symbols and labels, and in the case of reading, the cadence of the language, plus lots of extra vocabulary, will be picked up, as well as a sense of narrative. And it's not dull.

Having said that, though, how many women were there in that folder of Important People? If these people are being presented as 'Important' and the child knows what 'important' means (again, this is a bit of an intellectual leap for a 3 yo because Important People to most 43 yos are mum and dad and grandparents, with seasonal popularity accorded to Santa Claus, etc) I think there should be women there too. Even though the gist of the message is going to go right over a 3 yo's head, the subliminal message that women are important might somehow stick.

ehem, not 43 year olds.

Hahahahahahahahaha that is BRILLIANT.

I remember your scrapbook thread, I had a different name then but I was one of the few who was jealous of your organisational skills thought it was a good idea. So I do understand the activities etc (not too keen on flashcards though really - my DCs never learnt anything from them, it's just not real IYSWIM? They learn better with something physical - why learn fruit and veg from pictures when you can touch and taste real ones? :))

That is really funny though. Possibly sad, if she insists the child does it, and doesn't realise that child led play is the best form of learning, but hopefully that's not the case.

Mind you my DD would recognise characters from Greek mythology anywhere - shortly before turning 4 she astounded tourists at the Natural History Museum by running up to a statue saying "look mummy, a cyclops! Where are the other titans? Is Zeus going to send them away?"

It's only because she's obsessed with the Disney movie Hercules though, she was watching it every day quite a bit

Conceptually her DD won't have a clue who Shakespeare was. Yes she can say Egypt for Tutankhamun, but what does Egypt mean to her? She would be better off doing flash cards of friends and family they don't see very often so that Great Aunty Maud was thrilled when her DD recognised her.

Activity scrapbooks ? Flashcards in their own envelopes? I feel very inadequate (gazes in wonder at my slackjawed dcs currently slumped in front of Milkshake eating white toast)

We only have number and letter flashcards. But my daughter (age 4) can recognise Michael Jackson, Peter Andre, Justin Bieber and Jedward - ha ha. I'm hoping she won't need to know about Shakespeare for at least another 6 years.

I immediately thought of parenthood too. I love that film.

my dd at three ould have loved flashcards... and she would not have eaten them just ripped them to pieces and ds would love them too and post them into anything he could find

All of mine had Sesame Street instead of flashcards, and they loved Wheel of Fortune, learned a lot.

'Konichiwa Toyota-san' ... had me laughing out loud!

I doubt Mrs Shakespeare forced flashcards on 3YO Will, and he turned out alright...

I'd rather a child be exposed to important people flash cards than video games.

Oh, I wouldn't. I'd rather they were exposed to video games.

There are some nice puzzles of numbers, letters etc. Surely more fun for a 3yo than flashcards?

mine had countdown for the their letters and"give us a break" for their colours.

Awful. My dad did this with me, teaching me the names of every aircraft, including hellicopters and setting me to 'perform' when we were in public, looking around for approval. I hate that kind of pretentious shit. :(

Fairies... I liked fairies when I was little, I wanted to learn about those.

I like breatheslowly's idea... meaningful flashcards if you're going to have them. Sounds great.

Right well if he is so good can he tell me who that blonde woman is on Big Brother?
Not Pamela, Kerry or Amy but the annoying American one who looks like Gwyneth Paltrow?
Disclaimer: only saw it because dd was watching it.