Wednesday, January 3, 2007

WFMW: toddler memory verses

welcome to Homemaking Through the Church Year! I've decided to start this new blog off with a bang by participating in Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Shannon at rocksinmydryer.typepad.com.


Here's the tip: you know how your two-year old toddles 'round the house all day, singing pieces of nursery rhymes and old folk songs? That means that she's just old enough to memorize, and just young enough to find anything - from TV ad to holy writ - fascinating.

So my tip is: take advantage of your toddler's propensity to repeat anything - and everything - over and over and over. Start by having her repeat the verse you want her to learn after you, and do it with enthusiasm. My favorite so far is "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Short, sweet and - grin - such a USEFUL moral. Around our house it sounds something like this:

Me: CHILDREN!
Bess: CHILDREN!
Me: Obey your PARENTS!
Bess: Obey PARENTS!
Me: In the LORD!
Bess: In the LORD!
Me: For this is RIGHT!
Bess: For this RIGHT!


To make it stick better:
1) Start with something short.
2) Break up that short verse into even shorter bits.
3) Give it a nice rhythm when you recite it.
4) Recite it first, then have her repeat it in chunks, then have her recite it herself. Start a phrase and let her finish it.
5) Add actions; we point to emphasize "this is RIGHT!"
6) Recite it often, say after each meal and snack. Or before naps and bedtime. Or whatever works for you.

And that's what works for me! For more Works for Me Wednesday, visit rocksinmydryer.typepad.com.


-Jess

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Good tip - I know I need to work on this with my littles, heaven knows they remember everything else!

Welcome to the blogging world!

Overwhelmed! said...

Sounds like a good idea to me. :) I'll have to try this with my toddler. Thanks for sharing.

GiBee said...

Good idea! Thanks for sharing this tip!

I've moved said...

I found a poem my 2-y-old loved to hear at bedtime, and started to add a spoken section to the ritual, along with bedtime singing. It became a natural place to present verses.

But I didn't count on the strong toddler desire for ritual and same-ness to be such a stumbling block to introducing new verses at bedtime.

They've been *quite* unwelcome.

Sometimes they'll take them if they're already familiar from a song, or hearing mom and dad practice. And sometimes not.