Dream of Numbers

Posted by mamas

Posted: July 7, 2008 - 11:23 pm

It just so happened that my mother was over visiting, when it came time to put my son to bed. So mommy, and daddy and grandma were all saying their individual goodnights to him. She is a teacher and has been for a long time, so I should have expected what she said to come out, but it still took me by surprise to hear her say “…and dream of animals, and whales, and NUMBERS!”. She said it so exuberantly and with genuine sincerity. I just burst out laughing. We were all calming this child down for bed and saying soothing words and it sounded so odd to hear grandma exclaim “dream of numbers!”

I guess I can easily understand a 20 month old boy dreaming of animals and whales, but numbers??? I don’t know maybe I’m just not the kind of person to ever dream of numbers. However, it’s not a bad idea. I should probably tell him to dream of his alphabet too while he’s at it.

People are so unique and different. Dreaming of numbers would probably still be a pleasure to my mother, where as it would never enter my mind at all. There is a saying that “it takes a village to raise a child” and I definitely agree. So don’t be afraid to let other people that you trust speak to your children and provide different insight and perspectives. Even in the little matter of dreams.

Many parents experience frustration because they expect their children to organize information and to process thoughts the way that they do. However, although children share our genetics, they are not born with our same tendencies when it comes to sifting through information.

Having studied individual learning profiles, I have come to realize that we all learn and process differently and our children may be the complete opposite of us. People generally organize information by being random, concrete, abstract, or sequential. They also take in information through different methods primarily auditory, visual, or kinesthetic. Of course as a child grows, they form values (volitional system) that will affect each area of their life and their choices.

Even as a child, I was primarily auditory in how I took in information and my mother was primarily visual. Neither of us realized that we had these dynamic differences, and it caused quite the number of misunderstandings in our house. She would leave lists for me about what should be done, and then wonder why I wouldn’t get things checked off the list. I would need to talk through and verbalize dilemmas and she thought this was in-effective and preferred to write down her thoughts. I kept instructions and “to do” lists in my head, and she felt that if she couldn’t see them, they were not there. Eventually we made the connection that I processed things differently and we’ve not had a problem communicating since. We respect each other’s differences and see them as strengths.

I have observed children that need directions given to them in an orderly one, two, three format and those who prefer to have all the information at once. Some children have to group all the same colors together or will line the toys up just so, while others have chaotic looking ways of organizing colors and toys. Certain children can not be told how to do something, they need to be shown, or need to perform the task themselves in order to understand.

So be careful that you are not unintentionally putting your child “in a box” regarding how they learn and think. Be open to trying other methods of communication that you would not ordinarily use and be patient as you experiment with what works well with each child.

Do you see differences in the ways that your children learn or think? Did you notice differences in your own home when you were a child?

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