To stop DH teaching DS about countries/the world?

[NewNameEveryWeek]

DS is 16 months old. He seems pretty bright for his age (he can say 20+ words already) but DH seems to think that DS is a genius.

We've already had arguments because DH was trying to teach DS colours at 14 months old. DH would ask DS to bring him something red, and DS would usually look confused and fail, or sometimes randomly choose something that happened to be red and DH would take this as conclusive proof that DS knows colours now. It was frustrating to watch as DS looked so bewildered most of the time. I actually thought the way DH was going about it could be bad for DS's development, eg DS can understand what a dog is and will point them out and say "dog" and trying to get DS to associate brown dogs with the word "brown" as well as "dog" is a bit much at this stage if that makes sense.

Now DH is asking me to look for a globe or atlas for DS. He wants to teach him to eg point at Australia when DH asks him to. I haven't bought one yet as I think it's a pointless thing to teach DS at his age. With enough practice he probably could learn to point at the different counties/continents but it won't mean anything to him and he's be better off learning useful easy words first.

AIBU to tell DH we're not buying a globe?

Or should I just let him get on with it? He seems to want me to buy the globe though as he expects me to do all the shopping which is frustrating. I suppose it won't be as bad as the whole colours fiasco anyway.

Yy Lisasimpsonsbff.

The type/manner of boasting on here I find quite fascinating too. To me, the phrase 'top of the class' belongs in Enid Blyton, but on MN people use it without irony (alongside 'flying academically' and, for the high-powered, very senior husbands, 'at the top of his game').

@flower1994 Are you being deliberately obtuse? No one thinks saying the names of countries or colours to your child shouldn't be allowed. They're talking about the kind of high-performance parenting some people do where they turn their child into a performing monkey and pressure them into learning things so they can show off to others, so repeatedly hammering home 'learning points' even if the child is getting a bit anxious or unhappy because they don't understand what's being expected of them.

If the child is happy then there's no issue. But OP obviously thinks her child isn't enjoying it or is finding it a bit much, or she wouldn't have posted here 🤷🏻‍♀️

Please don't hot house your preschool child. It's not at all good for them, they don't retain it and it damages their MH and enthusiasm for education. Not least because if they have prelearnt the full curriculum then they will be bored and precocious in school.

Yes. Until they are in Child Genius or something then everyone praises them.

If they're bored in school then surely the teacher should give them work appropriate to the standard they are at?

I wonder if this attitude doesn't explain why we are constantly outscored on the education league tables by children in Estonia, Singapore and China in reading and maths!

I would be saying 'You get the globe dear, you'll know exactly what design you want and I wouldn't want to get it wrong'. Reasonable chance it'll never be purchased without his domestic helper to do the legwork.

(X post) and I also agree on the veneration of a dad being 'involved' , which seems to render the quality and nature of the 'involvement' irrelevant.

It really is as if people think that men can't possibly be expected to routinely lower themselves to engaging with their children and if they do the only appropriate response from a woman is gratitude.

I think it's a nice thing to do, imparting knowledge is one of the most enjoyable parts of parenthood. I taught my DD the name of lots of different dog breeds. Now she's a teen she's forgotten all of it and now just memorises tic toc dances .

but on MN people use it without irony

Wasn't it only one pp on this thread?

‘I wonder if this attitude doesn't explain why we are constantly outscored on the education league tables by children in Estonia, Singapore and China in reading and maths!’

I always find this kind of thing strange too. Do we need to be the best in the world? We’re doing okay.

My DH taught our DCs to burp the slphabet, so being taught colours and countries sounds wonderful to me!

He seems to want me to buy the globe though as he expects me to do all the shopping which is frustrating
This is the real problem, I think.

But do please teach DS to recite dictators' names

I'd just get the globe then put your feet up and MN while your DH tries to turn your son into Marco Polo

Would totally do the same.

I don't think top of the league countries teach toddlers countries and capitals. Could be wrong...

In any case, the type of skills involved in memorising countries have nothing to do with math skills.

Your child would probably benefit more from learning a second language now than countries. Or music.

@DesLynamsMoustache do you understand what the word obtuse means? can you point out where I've been slow of understanding please? have I not already said that it would only be an issue if parents were to get cross with their kid for not knowing it. please read what people write before trying to be a smart ass.

and to those saying why is the dad getting praised for interacting with their kid, as a person who's dad was the absolute worse, just pointing out that its nice to actually come across parents who do bother with their kids, male or female

Buy him wife work, teach him about casual sexism and let him get on with it. I am referring of course to your dh, but never too young...

If you want to you could get him a world jigsaw puzzle.

Yes, I learned what the word 'obtuse' meant at three months old like any self-respecting human being

You've made various comments on this thread about not understanding how someone saying words to their child is a bad thing, which is clearly not what the OP was meaning or indeed any of the subsequent posts 🤷🏻‍♀️ So either you've misunderstood or you're being deliberately antagonistic for some other reason.

Let your DH buy the globe and crack on. Don't buy it for him though!

This.

This thread is hella weird btw.

But globes are fun for all ages. Even if he's just spinning it around. There are some lovely kiddy friendly ones out there.

I think it's fine as long as he's not getting angry or aggressive with your son. My DH was taught all the capitals at a very young age and still remembers them now! Their brains are like little sponges.

I would agree with those to just let DH get on with it. As long as he doesn't get frustrated and is only trying to do his best to make sure the child get the best education. You'll thank yourselves when your children starts school. DH has always been much more into getting DC to learn. Now the children are in primary school, he's in complete charge of making them do their homework. He gets the kumon exercise books, the older one has the singapore maths book, the younger is doing letter tracing, etc. He researches phonic methods. He just gets a kick out of this. It means I can just make dinner when he gets the kids to do homework!

chill out moustache, I also said I didnt understand what was wrong with a child looking at countries on a spinning ball too if you really wanna give yourself grey hairs over it

DS learnt the Fifty Nifty song about the US states when he was 3.5. His Montessori teacher was American. It was really fun to hear him go through them all. But I'm not sure how much he would remember 2 years later (makes a mental note to check later).

@CatherineOfAragonsPomegranate you know in other countries that rate higher than the UK countries children start formal schooling later?

Why can't you say "alright, DH, if you want him to have a globe, buy a fucking globe, and by the way you are going to be That Parent who everyone else pisses themselves laughing at"?

My dad, bless him, swears I could read the Guardian age three. My mum points out we never bought the Guardian anyway.

Seems a bit of a pointless exercise for a 16 month old, who presumably will have no conception of what a ‘country’ is, and will likewise have no notion of the globe representing the planet where we live.

At about 3 and 4 my Gdcs did become interested in a globe, since they had visited a couple of different countries, so we were able to show them where they’d been - it did mean something by then since they’d had to go by plane - and the places where Mummy sometimes had to go away for work ‘a long way on a big aeroplane’.

As pps have said, nursery rhymes and simple stories, singing to/with them, and just talking to them are surely best at well under 2.

A friend's DH used to teach his toddler latin. I remember the poor lad being dragged out at a party to perform. "Come on Oscar, you do know the latin for the hoopoe bird'

A friend taught her insatiable toddler to name skeletons, and used to show up undergrads by having him stand there pointing out 'tibia, fibb-er-la, feeemur...'

He didn't grow up to be a biologist.

Seems a bit of a pointless exercise for a 16 month old, who presumably will have no conception of what a ‘country’ is,

but that's the point isn't it? I don't see the harm as long as it's fun. Is the ELC still a thing in the UK? they used to have fabulous map jigsaws and games and so on.