Long before we had children, Kyle and I knew that we wanted to give them every opportunity to succeed in whatever areas they chose. We weren’t set on particular schools or activities or athletics; instead, our goal was simply to support them in whatever manner best suited each child. But we didn’t consider how we would accomplish that goal, other than by observing and listening to our children, and then offering them opportunities in accordance with their interests and talents.

Turns out, it’s a little more involved than that. The exhaustion of everyday life gets in the way of those observations, and it becomes difficult to sort out the salient points from all the endless chatter. While we’re doing our best to be mindful of our kids’ feedback, we could use a little help making sense of it.

Jenifer Fox’s book “Your Child’s Strengths” is going to provide that help - now and for years to come. Fox helps parents (and teachers too) identify children’s strengths by observing their actions and behaviors, and then use those strengths (and help children learn to use them too) to improve their learning and their relationships.

I have to admit that I flipped directly to the final section of the book - the strengths workbook. Even though my children are still quite young, I’m ready to start educating myself. I want to know how I can turn my everyday observations into opportunities to help my children (and in turn, help myself). Fortunately, although the workbook is geared toward somewhat older children, Fox has included boxes titled “For Young Children” that give suggestions as to how to modify the exercises accordingly.

The workbook starts with Activity Strengths. An activity strength is “something that makes a person feel good while he or she is doing it.” My kids are big bundles of activity, and they often play together despite their age difference, but I do notice which activities they prefer. Tacy loves to create and experiment, putting together old things in new ways. Disorder doesn’t bother her in the least. Meanwhile, CJ prefers routine and order, being able to predict what will happen. Although Tacy is more likely to agree to clean up, CJ actually seems to enjoy doing it - on her terms.

One exercise in the Activity Strengths section that I will try with the girls involves giving them a choice of three chores to complete, then noting which one is chosen and how easily it’s accomplished. I’m already a fan of choices - although lately I’ve been too exhausted to offer choices and have been giving orders instead - and I expect this exercise to be both interesting and telling. I also hope it will help me assign chores that will be done more cheerfully and with less nagging, which I know the whole family will appreciate.

The next section (to be completed AFTER the Activity Strengths section) is Relationship Strengths - “innate strengths to contribute to our relationships to make them more effective and rewarding.” This area is of great interest to me, as I know from experience that a large part of a child’s enjoyment of school is the social aspect of it. That is, even if they excel at schoolwork, recess can be hell. This section looks like it will be helpful in identifying why we pursue relationships, why we keep some and relinquish others, and what characteristics attract us to other people (and vice versa).The exercise in the Relationship Strengths section that caught my eye was one in which the child chooses a famous person - real or fictional - and brainstorms reasons why she “likes” that person. I think that’s a fantastic way for a child to begin understanding what characteristics attract them to a potential friend, as well as for them to consider which characteristics they’d like to emulate themselves.

The final section (to be completed after the first two - sequence is essential) is Learning Strengths, which are “the ways in which we prefer to learn and the mode in which we learn best.” This section was actually the easiest for me in which to see my kids. I immediately focused on the three modes of learning - kinesthetic, visual, and auditory. Kinesthetic learners learn best through movement and manipulation, visual learners learn by watching, and auditory learners learn by listening.

Tacy is definitely a visual learner, but she has kinesthetic leanings. That is, she is extremely observant regarding the world around her and remembers details of what she sees (such as what I was wearing on a particular day when we were engaged in a particular activity). But she’s also extremely interested in how things work - she’s not content to merely observe.

Conversely, CJ is definitely a kinesthetic learner, but I believe she has auditory leanings. She is very active - loves building and doing puzzles and touching absolutely everything. While I have to tell her “no touch!” more often than I’d like, I realize that’s how she prefers to explore. But I’ve been surprised by how closely she pays attention to what we say, given her speech delays. She understands quite well, and she’s beginning to verbalize the connections that she’s made.

Considering how different my girls are (and how different I’m sure their younger brother will be too), I’m especially glad to have “Your Child’s Strengths” as a resource to help me identify and address their individual strengths. Even though they’re still young, I’m excited to begin exploring the exercises in the workbook.

I would recommend this book to any parent of a child still living at home. It’s never too early to begin doing your homework, and it’s never too late to begin helping your child learn how to help himself by using his own unique strengths.

To get your own copy of “Your Child’s Strengths”, click here. To learn more about Jenifer Fox, check out her website.

Some of you may be familiar with my friend Jenn’s gaming blog, Aggroqueen. Basically, Jenn’s whole family was heavily involved in the online game World of Warcraft, and since she couldn’t beat them, she joined them.

My husband is also a WoW disciple, and now that my older daughter is reading, he has introduced her to the cult community. I’ve joked about how if she had a gaming blog like Jenn’s, it would be called Aggrotot. But while I like it that she can follow the game and understands the concepts of completing quests and exchanging currency for goods, I’m still a little put off by some of the adult themes (read: violence) in the game.

So when one of my fellow PBN bloggers was unable to try out the new Knowledge Adventure game - JumpStart World - because it’s unfortunately not Mac-compatible, I have to admit I was excited to become her stand-in. She mailed her CD to me, I received it yesterday, and it went directly from mailbox to CD-ROM drive. Other than a brief overnight respite, my daughter has been glued to the PC, and instead of killing mythical creatures, she’s completing learning games and missions. She LOVES this game.

Even more impressive, the version we received is the second grade one (she’s in kindergarten), and while she’s run into a few hurdles she couldn’t quite leap on her own, she’s (forgive the expression) kicking ass and taking names - which makes her feel like a real big shot. I honestly can’t even tell you how far she’s progressed because she won’t stop playing long enough to let me check out the game for myself, but she and my husband have already told me that we need to subscribe so that she can get more adventure packs*.

While I love that she’s taking a break from WoW, I’m even happier that she’s showing such excitement for learning. She loves going to school and loves asking me millions of questions on every topic from human anatomy to world history. We’re thrilled to encourage her natural curiosity outside the context of formal education, and JumpStart World is one more great way to do that. It’s going to be a perfect diversion for her over the upcoming holiday break, which makes it an ideal holiday gift too.

*The CD and first two adventure packs are $19.95, available for grades K-2. But if you’d rather give it a test whirl before buying, check out the free trial option instead. I’m betting you and your child will be hooked.

I’m in the minority at my house; TV is not my idea of a good time.  Naturally, my kids love it.  So we work to find compromises - shows that entertain and educate them, but that don’t make my ears and eyes bleed.

Thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network, I had the chance to introduce them to a show that isn’t yet airing on our local PBS station - The Zula Patrol, all about astronomy, biology, and geology.  Being a science geek myself, I’m thrilled to find new ways to expose my girls to science in ways that are fun and kid-oriented.

In The Zula Patrol, a team of aliens solves science-based problems.  The theme song is catchy and the characters are engaging, although I can’t help thinking that one of them (Zeeter) sounds like a female Bobcat Goldthwaite.  The first episode we watched was about the three types of rocks - sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic - and the second one focused on volcanos.  Tacy seemed to absorb the storylines more than the scientific facts themselves, but after several viewings, she’s starting to remember those three types of rocks.

For my part, I didn’t mind the storylines (obviously I’m thirty years old than the target demographic), but I did think the personification of the volcano in the second episode bordered on silliness.  I like that the creators want to include positive interpersonal relations in the message of the show, but a volcano that doesn’t want to erupt because his neighbors think he’s a nuisance?  Let’s stick with the science of it instead.

The Zula Patrol is a big hit at our house.  It’s been Tacy’s top viewing request since it arrived, and even though she hasn’t asked me to find new episodes, I’m going to place a call to Rocky Mountain PBS to let them know we’d like to see it added to their fall lineup.  Kid-oriented science shows are few and far between, and I’m glad to have found The Zula Patrol to help me foster an interest in science in my girls.

As I posted in my first review of “Your Baby Can Read”, I’d be thrilled if my younger daughter could learn to read, but I’d settle for her learning to talk. And as I posted on my personal site, my younger daughter had her first speech therapy session yesterday. Even without therapy, she’s been making great strides. What a difference six months can make!

Likewise, her response to the Introductory and Volume 1 DVDs of “Your Baby Can Read” was impressive - suddenly she was not only clapping, but saying the word as she performed the motion. But I’ve really been impressed by how Volume 2 has helped her comprehend action verbs - a point of weakness that the therapists observed at her initial evaluation a couple months ago. She’s beginning to use those words now, whereas she previously stuck to the nouns-as-descriptors.

(And “NO!” That one’s always a favorite.)

Of course, she adores seeing the children on screen and pointing out what they are doing. And she does recognize that words are made up of letters and those letters mean something. Is she reading? I don’t know, but it actually doesn’t much matter to me. Because although I may be using the DVDs and cards for a purpose other than their original intent - teaching little ones to sight-read - when I see the ways in which they are helping her learn, I know she’s benefiting from them.

Both of my girls seem determined to buck the system.  While Tacy was talking up a storm by her first birthday, it’s only now that CJ has turned two that she’s begun to say more than just “No!” and “Bobby!” (aka SpongeBob).

Meanwhile, although I know Tacy is fully capable of sounding out words, she stubbornly resists our encouragement.  This was her MO during potty training too, so on one hand, I’m not too surprised.  But while both Kyle and I couldn’t wait to learn to read on our own (or so our parents tell us), our children seem perfectly happy to allow us to read to them.

Kyle and I (and Tacy too) are quite skeptical, so I was really interested in the “Your Baby Can Read” DVDs.  Could these DVDs spark interest in reading where little to none has existed so far?

While I don’t think that either of these DVDs (the Starter or Volume 1) - particularly in the short time that we’ve been watching them - have taught my girls to really READ, I can confirm that they’re engaging and interesting.  Simple without being infantile, descriptive without being overly dramatic - they’ve struck a balance that seems nearly impossible to achieve.

They’ve helped Tacy to recognize some basic words - connecting the letters to the word itself to the associated action or object.  Words like “eyes”, “nose”, and “mouth” - which even most toddlers can understand and identify by pointing - and “dog”, “cat”, and “gorilla” - again, which even most toddlers can recognize on sight, even if they can’t identify them verbally.

Likewise, they held CJ’s attention and elicited responses from her like no other educational program has done so far.  For example, she touched her nose when the word “nose” was shown on the screen.  And when a picture of a cat was shown, she said “cat” for the first time.  Granted, she’s saying new words every day now (thank goodness), but each one is significant - for her and for us.

I don’t expect my toddler to read (although I’d be thrilled if my nearly-five year-old showed more enthusiasm), but I still think these DVDs are a great tool.  Basic concepts and connections are presented in a way that kids can appreciate and parents can tolerate.  Very few DVDs can make the same claim.

Check out more reviews of “Your Baby Can Read” from the Parent Bloggers Network!