Having fun can be educational too!

Captain America Shield. Made by the dad.

Our usual night time schedule is actually not too ideal for my son. He sleeps too late, and I feel that he does not get enough sleep sometimes. Unfortunately for him, both my wife and my schedule does not really allow for early sleep times like 8pm or even 9pm. I work till 8.30pm and my wife sometimes works even later. This is because she works for a transnational company and needs to have conference calls with her European and American counter-parts. Fortunately, these calls can be taken at home. As a result, he usually sleeps around 10.30pm; though sometimes it extends to 10.45pm. This is something we need to address next year when he enters primary one.

Even though the current situation is not good, I guess all of us have to adjust. We do try to let him sleep until the very last possible minute before waking him up for school. One of thing bad habits my son has is watching too much iPad. At least I think it is too much; though he obviously thinks it is not  - given his reaction whenever I stop him. How did he end up watching the iPad? What happens is that we allow him to watch the iPad on his way home from my parents' place (just 5-10 minutes drive), and he usually watches it for another 15-20 minutes. After that, I will usually stop him and we will play together, practise his spelling or do his homework.

Last week was quite good - he wasn't too upset when I told him to stop. And we managed to play some quite educational stuff. Now, I am not claiming that this stuff will really boost his cognitive ability or allow him to enter the gifted stream. In fact, we play rather mundane toys. But I thought I'll just share some of the things he does during this spare time he has with me during weekday nights.

Letter Land Cards formed up into a story

One of the things he plays with is this set of cards made by Letter Land. This company produces a series of books, multi-media and games to teach kids phonics, letter/word recognition and other basic English skills. The set of cards we have is quite good. Each card comprises of a set of noun phrases and verb phrases (paired with a conjunction). The kids can then create a story out of it and some of the stories created can end up quite hilarious. 

Another thing that he plays quite often is playdoh. To be frank, I do like playdoh. It is quite relaxing for me to squeeze and form shapes. (No, I am not stressed and I do not want to strangle my boss). I like to combine colours of playdoh and make stuff. Interesting, I did notice that my son actually learns from some of the things I do and creates stuff that are similar to mine.

Lucas' food for his mummy. He learnt the carrots and eggs from his dad!

I think I need to emphasise how important it is for children to play. I never liked how MOE schools emphasise academic study to the extent that play is basically impossible. I mean impossible in that there is a lack of balance. With the exception of the geniuses, I believe it has come to the point that if the average kid wants to be academically successful, he has to give up relaxation and play. Or if he has relaxation and play, then he be prepared not to get good grades. I guess that is life. But I rather real life not enter into the worlds of primary school children. But that's me. Anyway, I hope Lucas will be able to continue some form of play throughout his primary school. It would really be great. Am I asking too much?