Stop. Turn off the TV. Step away from the kitchen. Put the sock down. Randomly start singing "Old MacDonald" (Or any cultural rhyme of your choice). Are your kids old enough to sing back? Old enough to at least crack a smile/coo/kick their feet when they hear it? ARE THEY?
If the answer is anything but yes, you need to unplug your TV, put your phone down, get off the damn internet, and teach it to your kids. Seriously.
The thought came to me randomly while I was getting spaghetti made for dinner. I turned away for a minute, looked at the kids, and started singing. To my utter relief AND delight, they both started singing back. Even Jason (23mo) was singing along, even if it WAS simply "I-O-I-O-OOOO!"
Why did I do this? Because I realise I had spent the majority of my time on my phone as opposed to talking to the kids like I usually do. And I'm sure I spend entirely more time plugged in than I should. I think we all do. But that's just the world we live in.
We might as well start genetically-engineering humans with a smart phone built into their palms because that's basically how things are going. We live in a world so full of technology that people like the Amish seem like cavemen. Books are on the out. Your car insurance drops if you go paper-less. Banks are dropping free-checking with the rise of online banking. How much longer before our food is being replicated?
Hell, if you weren't plugged in so fully you wouldn't be reading this now via computer, phone, or PADD. And I wouldn't be writing it if I weren't!
My 23mo can work my old phone (now expensive toy!) well enough to pull up his favorite APP: Baby Flash Cards. Yeah. And I'm sure of you have little ones that can work Tablets like a pro. In fact, there's even baby products on the market to help keep your tech toys safe from tiny hands WHILE tiny hands are using them!
There's nothing wrong with giving your kids a head start. In fact, schools are dropping cursive writing courses and replacing them with keyboarding classes. I learned both in grade school but I was taking Reading Counts! surveys on 5" floppy discs. A floppy disc is an old-school flash drive for those of you out there younger than 20.
My 4.5yo is at a disadvantage technologically. She doesn't know how to work the computer and only has a basic knowledge of working my phone. But on the other side of that coin, she's been reading for the better part of the last 6 months and can not only write a fair amount of things but can also phonetically spell things. And, for the most part, these were self-taught on her own part.
It may seem a little silly at some points but nursery rhymes are one of those things that get stored in their brains for 20-some years until they have children of their own. And, suddenly, everything comes out again and they smile and silently thank you for teaching them those silly songs.
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