I laugh sometimes at how different my boys are from me. If I had to put myself into a category, I would definitely be the "creative" type. I have instant access to my creative side, and writing stories, poems, songs, music, etc., has always been second nature. As my oldest boy is growing up, I am finding that his brain works in ways that are a mystery to me.
Yesterday was Luke's first piano lesson. We decided to put our young five year old in piano at this particular time to see if it would push his budding brain to think in ways that he's not accustomed.
For example, yesterday the baby was crying in the crib. Luke heard him, checked on him, and went to tell me."Mom," he said, "Michael is crying. His face is pressed against the parallel lines in the crib."
Yup. The parallel lines. Luke is just...just...literal. He colors, puts together jigsaw puzzles, and builds with blocks and legos. And.that.is.it. For all the storybooks he's been read, for all the free time to play, he has little to no imagination. For him, all he knows how to "play" is building and solving.
What?????
So, to spark a little right-brained action, I thought piano would be the perfect challenge. I should have expected it out of him, but he seemed most impressed, looking at the keyboard more thoroughly, at the patterns the keys made on keyboard. Three black, two black, white, etc. And to think I thought piano would work the OTHER side of his brain, here my kid is looking for patterns. I should have known.
This is all confusing and new to me. My mind doesn't work this way, and I definitely get frustrated at times with the lack of "play" that my oldest should be able to do. But, we're trying, and maybe this will be a step in the right direction. Get it? Right Brain?
What type of learners do you have in your home?
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5 comments:
Hayden is the same way. He solves. He isn't so great at pretending (super hero pretend is fine) or imagining either. But he loves hard work, physical sports, building/taking apart, and figuring out how things work.
Yvette is uber creative, always pretending, has an eye for detail, and loves the arts.
And Wyatt is just plain loud and rambunctious. I'm not sure how he fits in yet.
I don't know. I'm just going with it at this point. They both know colors, shapes, letters, numbers, and learning to read. They follow directions and are fantastic in social situations. We praise them in the things they excel in and encourage new ways of doing/learning/seeing things. Other than that......I'm not too worried right now.
I think "going with it" is a good choice :) . I deleted it before I posted it, but I had a few sentences about how regardless of if the kids have a "knack" for it or not, that we want them to have a basic understanding of music, piano, note-reading, etc. So, we a few objectives for the activities the kids will be in. But, when my first asks all day, "Is this true, or not true?" and things like that, I just end up thinking that a little streeetching of his brain would be good. I'm not worried, but maybe I want to imprint some of my interests on the kids ;-) .
Even Oppenheimer loved poetry ;-) .
When it comes to music and note reading, some people just don't read notes. Justin was like that. He took both piano and guitar lessons because he could hear a song and sit down and play it without music. He thought learning to read music would help enhance that. He only got frustrated with it. Though he was in choir all through high school, he was never able to read a note. He'd listen to his part and then be able to sing or play it almost perfectly after that.
Another music prodigy friend of mine was similar. He can play the guitar like no other!....but he doesn't read music because it only frustrates him limits his creativity (as he says).
Me? I can't play anything without the music in front of me. Go figure that one!
Anyway....we are the same. We are encouraging different activities, but if there really isn't any interest in continuing, we probably won't push it. Granted, they have to finish what they start so quitting in the middle of a season is not an option. They can tough it out until the end. ;-)
Claire could spare Luke some of her imagination. You spend the day with her and you will see, she talks nonstop. When there are no actually people listening, she talks to her "friends", or her "class", or her toys, or she sings and pretends she is Taylor Swift. From the moment that child gets up until she goes to bed she is nonstop chatter box! If you'll remember this behavior goes waaaay back for her. Remember how when I was potty training her I was also potty training her "class" and I had to wait in the bathroom with her after she went so everyone could have a chance?
Maybe we should kid swap for a day once I get my Christmas jigsaw puzzle out so Luke can help me! Maybe we'll actually get it finished this year!
Oh Erin, I LOVE that! I hear very little pretend play around here, although #2 is showing promising signs when he brings me pretend food to eat, etc. I have to say that I envy you just a tad. I have such a difficult time getting my #1 to stay busy with an activity since he doesn't really get absorbed in his toys, which means that I end up always needing to direct to find things to do.
Which reminds me...yes! He's up for a good puzzle partner any time! And I'll braid hair for your girls ;-)
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