Laptop Television Mom

Leapfrog Tag

While I blog about my obsession with television and random pop culture, I actually am a passionate reader who desperately hopes to share my love for books with my daughter.  (If you doubt me, I just finished 900-page Pillars of the Earth and quickly dived into 1000-page World Without End!)

Humor aside, I take reading seriously and quickly jumped at the chance to join the ladies of the Silicon Valley Moms blog for an afternoon event hosted by the good people at Leapfrog. I have always admired Leapfrog from afar, first as a non-parent and then the parent of an infant.  But now my infant is a toddler, and she is prime for Leapfrog products.  Needless to say, I was an eager participant in this meet-up.

The foundation of the afternoon was a Q&A session with Leapfrog Advisory Board member Dr. Anne Cunningham, University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Education.  Dr. Cunningham shared her ideas and research on how to help children learn to read… and how they can learn to love reading.  As an avid reader, I desperately want my child to love and appreciate books the way I do.  Thanks to Dr. Cunningham, I realize (or at least appreciate) how reading to a child is much more than a hoping for a lifelong hobby, rather setting the foundation for a life of education and success.  Here are highlights of the conversation with Dr. Cunningham and my blogging mama friends (in my words):

• Expose your children to “rare, rich and extensive” language from 0-3 years.  The results have a huge effect on your child’s language development and reading skills.
• Developmental milestones for literacy must be acquired at home or Pre-K to succeed in Kindergarten.
• This can easily be achieved by talking to your kids and exposing them to multi-syllabic words and complex subjects. Just talk, don’t worry about them “getting” it all… they are absorbing words and concepts which are so important for language development.
• Read out loud to your kids every day… they learn new words, and equally important, they learn the meaning of language and the structure of language.
• The key to success is phonics… teaching kids how to sound-out and decode words.
• Intelligence is not what you’re born with, but what you do with it.
• Studies show that avid readers can trump people who are considered “smarter.”
• The goal is a rich vocabulary by 3rd grade; if that does not occur, the delay becomes a bottleneck in 4th or 5th grade academics.
• Teachers agree that most “overachievers” are the result of parental involvement with school.

Thank you, Dr. Cunningham, for your time and wisdom. I walked away feeling empowered and (quite honestly) more equipped to help my child read.  What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Of course, the huge bonus of a Leapfrog event is receiving Leapfrog gear to try at home. I came home with a Leapfrog Tag reading system for my 4-year-old daughter, and she has not put it down since we opened it.  She works with it (literally) every day, and I highly suggest it for other moms who want to help kids explore reading. 

If you want to learn more about Leapfrog, please explore the Leapfrog Community which can be found HERE. If you need smart holiday presents, go HERE and feel free to use the blogger discount code HY8BHPR at check-out!

– LTV Mom