at 2.5yrs

engee

Registered User
Hello,

I am a SAHM of a 2.5y old son.I wanted to know what all should a child of 2.5 know?
i mean other than the upper and lower case alphabets and numbers,months of teh yr ,days of the week or rainbow and colors....
being a SAHM i think i am responsible to do anythn in my capability to teach him all that is needed.
What else do you mums suggest?
he hates the addition and subtraction stuff.i tried the solar system nd telln the time but it din seem to click.
nope i am not the mum expectn miracles or anythn like that.i just tot that i shud be able to do/teach somethn gud.thats all.
please fill in ur comments.
engee
 
my brother and his partner never "taught" their son anything. he hated "learning" BUT they talked to him all the time. and used the proper words for things, NOT baby/children's words...

by the time he was 3 he had the vocabulary of a 12 year old.

he'd say things like,

upon getting out of the shower, he put his foot up on the counter
"look at me grandma, i'm very AGILE!"

"WOW! your garden is ENORMOUS!"

"that dog is quite OBESE, isn't it?"

"don't say things like that, it shows you're IGNORANT!"

"building that lego house was a GARGANTUAN TASK!"

"i like VIOLENCE....when it's used to fight EVIL!"

you can see, that not only did he know the words, but he knew how to use them properly!!

the best way to teach your child is to talk to them, when you go for a walk, point things out to him. ask him questions about what he can see. if there is something that he enjoys (ie dinosaurs etc) make sure he has these things around to stimulate him. also, buy LOTS OF books! and read to him! take him to the library, so he can choose his own books.
 
Hey Carang,thats excellent!
thanx for sharing!
yes i read to him everyday but he is too busy running around the libraray so he doesnt take his own buks or anythn.

thanx!
 
I think the best way you can teach a child that age is to play with them and expand on what they are interested it. I would skip any book type work. Read books of what he is interested in. Children that age learn by doing and experiencing.
My son just turned 3. He knows most of his colors, can count to 15, which he mostly learned by counting when we go up and down stairs, he likes that and thinks it is fun. He is no where near understanding the concepts of addition and subtraction. I think it pretty unlikely a 2.5 year old will understand that. He knows the alphabet in song form. He likes to be read stories or look at books by himself. He knows what a word is, but has no interest in learning the individual letters and certainly doesn't understand upper vs. lower case. Learning time will take a long time. Preschool children don't really have a good understanding of time yet. he is starting to learn that there are different days and they have names (tuesday, etc) but he doesn't know the order yet.

Don't worry too much about what other people tell you what they think your child should know, every child learns at his own pace. Baring any major developmental problem, your child will be just as smart as his classmates in the future.
 
Please don't take this the wrong way but when I read the first post in this thread, I actually thought it was a joke - then realized it must be serious. IMO, if your child can do all that at 2.5 years, s/he is absolutely amazing (my one is 20 months and can barely say a few words, and I'd be astonished if he knew many numbers, the entire alphabet, etc. by even 3 or 4).
The only thing you may have to worry about is about "over-teaching". I didn't even start adding and subtracting until I was at least six, but I'm sure my parents weren't the least bit worried! I ended up with a first-class honours degree from Oxbridge and an Ivy League masters degree - this is something which I normally don't bring up and is generally irrelevant to a kid's forum - I only mention it here because I wanted to say that it is possible to do "well" in one's later education (in a mainstream way of thinking) even without reaching the traditional milestones early on in life! My parents both had full-time jobs and I had an illiterate amah, but I do remember my mum reading me fun books every evening when she got home from work, and I never lost the love of reading. By contrast, a second cousin of mine was a star primary school student who was heavily tutored but then just got sick of learning later in school and didn't go to university. Just food for thought...
I think you are doing brilliantly as it is in raising your child, so don't worry about exactly what how much s/he's picking up. As another poster indicated, just try to keep learning low-key and a lot of fun.
 
Dear Capital and Elephantine,

Ur posts made me feel at ease and am glad there are people out there who appreciate and point out all that is necessry.
Both of u r right.
Thanx a lot friends!

sincerely
engee
 
i totally agree with elephantine. i usually put a reply post on the interesting threads, this one is sure interesting, but i just didn't know what to reply. i didn't know a 2.5 yo is suppose to know the upper & lower case & the numbers. i felt so out of place here cos i never taught my daughter to read the alphabets/numbers yet (she'll be 2 next week). it's only recently that she started talking & counting, it's only because the previous nanny left, & the new one teaches her how to count.

but i'm proud of my daughter who can kick a ball forward, put puzzles together, jump & climb, knows how to break a fall by balancing herself with open arms, dress herself & feed herself. she's starting to try to put on her shoes. plus she picks up after herself & behaves well in public. to me, these are important for such a young child. they learn their letters & numbers at school anyway. i think out role is to teach them things that they probably can't learn at school.....
 
I too dont think a 2.5yr old kid is "supposed" to know alphabets etc etc.I just wanted to make sure that i am movn on the right track especially as am staying home all day with him.i am not sendn him to a playschool so i din want him to miss anythn.We are sort of lonely here ,no friends and being a mom for the first time guess i am just anxious
Anyway i was never sittng down and teachn him ABC etc.Its all play and fun.Counting as we count the stairs or stick pictures,read books....

And when u say "to me, these are important for such a young child",i am sure thats how all moms and dads feel,including me!!!
 
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it's tough to be a 1st time mom..... cos i am one too....

so you don't have any friends who have small children? you will soon when he starts going to kindy... are you gonna send him to kindy?

and don't be so tough on yourself... every child develop at different pace, and i'm sure they all eventually end up knowing the same things at 10.
 
You *are* joking, right?

Hello,

I am a SAHM of a 2.5y old son.I wanted to know what all should a child of 2.5 know?
i mean other than the upper and lower case alphabets and numbers,months of teh yr ,days of the week or rainbow and colors....
being a SAHM i think i am responsible to do anythn in my capability to teach him all that is needed.
What else do you mums suggest?
he hates the addition and subtraction stuff.i tried the solar system nd telln the time but it din seem to click.
nope i am not the mum expectn miracles or anythn like that.i just tot that i shud be able to do/teach somethn gud.thats all.

You *are* joking right, talking about a child who is not yet THREE years old?

Let's see, when my kids were 2 1/2 they could say their names and other people's names. They could ask for food and drink in English and basic Cantonese. They probably knew colors, they definitely knew what they liked and disliked. :)

Numbers? I doubt they could recognize them written down.

Letters? Maybe a few from looking at pictures when we read books together.

Rhymes? They could recognize my singing some songs and rhymes. They could do the hand movements and sing along with "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and similar songs.

The could use the toilet & feed themselves. They were good at climbing and playing and liked playing with and watching animals.

If you are expecting to teach a child of 30 months addition and subtraction, I really recommend that you learn more about children's development.

This web-page would be a good place to start.
http://www.zerotothree.org/brainwonders/parents-24-36.html
 
"If you are expecting to teach a child of 30 months addition and subtraction, I really recommend that you learn more about children's development."

Hey hey Loupou now that mail pissed me off a bit.I am not expecting anythn from my little bundle of joy,okay?
i have very clearly written in answer to Joanne what my post was abt.
and as i see she and the others have understood what i meant.And i thank them for understanding and being supportive.

i have read that link before but thanx anyway.
 
Didn't mean to get you upset

Hi Engee,

I didn't mean to get you upset. It's just in HK & S'pore there are so many parents out there w/ quite unreal expectations of their kids and getting nervous about needing to do the flash-card sessions w/ the toddlers, and you wrote:

"...other than the upper and lower case alphabets and numbers,months of teh yr ,days of the week or rainbow and colors...."

That kind of set my alarm off - because most kids will not be able to recognize upper and lower case of the alphabet until they are over 5 years old. Same w/ memorizing the days of the week, months of the year, etc. Seems more like stuff for kindergarten than a child who is not yet 3 years old.

So, I was concerned that you did not know what was considered "normal" and that you might be anxious that your toddler could not do those things, and might be feeling frustrated.

You also wrote:
"he hates the addition and subtraction stuff.i tried the solar system nd telln the time but it din seem to click."

This is also way above what normal 2.5 year olds can understand; or even a 4 year-old. That's why I thought more information about child development might help. Again, I'm sorry if you felt put-down; I was sincerely offering help and suggestions.
 
my boy will be 2 tomorrow. we bought him the playdough set with the letters. he can pick out about 5 or 6 of them... the first one was "m"... this is because his favourite treat is M & M's... so he sees the letter quite frequently. he's also interested in the writing on our t-shirts, so if he points to a letter, i tell him what it is... i don't push hime to learn it.

for counting, if he goes wee in the potty he gets 2 treats, if he goes poo he gets 5... so he learns to count up to five in english and cantonese. it's the same when we get into a lift, i always point out the numbers as we go up or down...he's starting to pick up on them, but often gets the english and chinese mixed up. we also count down from 10 every time we go through a tunnel. first we do it in one language as we approach the tunnel, then in the other language as we get close to the end of the tunnel.

he's now helping with our new bundle of joy and helps us get the nappies/wet wipes out. we tell him how many wet wipes, then help him count them.

when we play with puzzles, we always talk about the pictures on the pieces so that he can point out the different objects when i ask him. he's just starting to say the names himself though.

when we watch tv or movies, he names everything he sees and so do we. we were watching "lady and the tramp" last week and at the beginning lady is a puppy and is howling by the door. my son pointed to the dog, and said, " dog, no, no, yai yai, shhhh!" which i was quite impressed with.

i too agree that at this age, learning about your surroundings in a fun and natural way and being given the proper names for things rather than the "baby" names is the best way to teach your child.

i've know 6 year olds in Hk that have suffered from "burn-out"... so just relax and enjoy this time with your child.

it's not like your child is 10 years old and still unsure of his/her name (THAT would be something to be worried about!)
 
so, carang you had your baby already? congrats. & happy bday to your son tomorrow. mine just turned 2 last wed =)
 
Thanx

Thanx Moms and its alright Loupou.
There is however one important thing i wud like to say.My son loves all this stuff and there is no fact in sayn a child has to be 5yrs to know the alphabets and all.As far as i have read kids learn a lot of things at small an age.I dont recommend Shicida method or anythn but parents practise that too and that also involves fun.Nothn is being thrusted upon the little ones.Learning shud be fun at home especially.
Thanx again for the posts.
I hope this winds up this topic !!
engee
 
I totally agree with CARANG.. i do the samething with my daughter..just talk about anything and talk to them as if they were older than what they are. they can surprise you about how much they can actually learn just by that..:tmi
 
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