Our own enrichment woes are about Chinese. Although I've tried to keep B's time free for play and bonding, this is one area where we need help in. I harbour no illusions that B will be a top scorer in advanced Chinese, but I do want him to be confident academically when he enters local primary, and not let poor Chinese be his Achilles heel in school, and later on in life. Currently, I haven't found the right program since B graduated from the parent accompanied playgroups at Chengzhu as the timing and method are not suited for my kinesthetic and auditory learning boy. We've tried 1-to-1 tutors at home but B's too young and lacks the focus to engage 100% with them - and besides, playing and interacting in Chinese with him is something I can do myself. I'm not ready to leave him alone in a brand new (fully Chinese!) environment as he just started half day nursery. So in the interim, we signed up for weekly mom-and-tots flexi sessions at Bibinogs till B turns 2.5 years, hopefully enabling us to enjoy our last few months in class together. Going forward, I'm still searching for a more structured yet interactive class that mixes outside and at home learning. Maybe we'll trial Berries or Hua near us in a few months when he's ready for another drop off. I'm also in the midst of sourcing more Chinese toddler books and DVDs, but the caveat is this banana-mama needs hanyupinyin to make any sense of the characters :( At the moment, the only time he willingly speaks Chinese is when he sings - a start, I guess :)
All that said, before you go tiger mom enrichment-crazy on your kid, watch this video - a reminder that too much of a good thing can be more harm than help. Let's not kill their interest before it has a chance to bloom!
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