I receive many phone calls and emails from parents of children that are sometimes younger than 18 months asking what they can do to prepare for school and give their child some “EDGE”. They want to know if it is too soon to begin our Play Prep program. In today’s article I want to address some things they can do to start the journey with their child to be kindergarten ready, even from day one.

Narrate your child’s life – enrich it with vocabulary!

We learn about 60% of our vocabulary by the time we are 6 years old.

From the first day you bring your newborn home it is important to begin working on vocabulary. This is as simple as describing everything you do.

Imagine yourself trapped in a body you cannot control as we saw in the recent story made into a movie, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”. Tell your child what you are going to do then describe it as you do it. Picking her up (“let’s pick you up”), putting on her coat to go outside (“today you are going to wear your pink coat”), walking down the hall ( “isn’t that wall paper horrible, who picked that “greenish” color “) … saying hello to the doorman (“hello Mr. Smith in the gray uniform”), etc…  This does not have to stop when she starts crawling, walking or running – just make it more interactive, ask her what she might see when you walk into your home upon arrival, causing her to think ahead.

Talking and playing with your baby, focusing on what interests your baby, and using those interests to stimulate curiosity lays the foundation that will stimulate your baby’s brain to grow and develop. Educational TV, like Sesame Street or other videos are not necessarily a bad thing as long as they are in addition to, not a substitute for, interaction with the mother and father.

Stimulation filled with emotional content and human interaction is pleasurable and meaningful to your baby, sparking their curiosity and helping them to retain what they are learning. This is why the experts suggest reading with your child, but don’t just read to your child; read with them, turning it into an interactive experience. By changing your voice and tone and pointing out pictures as you read, you will engage their imagination and begin to build their vocabulary. This also means having them point to pictures they like and use them to help identify colors, shapes, and possibly animals. If they play the role of passive recipient (like in TV or video watching), they are going to get far less out of the experience than when they are engaged in the process.

2. Nanny No-No : The sad truth is children in NYC are spending far too much time with nannies with little or nonexistent English. They are at a greater disadvantage than those at a preschool or with a stay at home mother.

3. Human thesaurus : Look for new ways to say the same thing. Draw analogies through language (“you were running faster than a car or you can hop like a kangaroo”) – paint the picture you both see with words (“the river looks cold and icy because it is such a dark blue color today”).

4. Made-up Story Game : Start telling a story, get him to name the characters and describe what they are wearing, someone else takes over for awhile then he tells how it all ends that fateful night!

Importance of Vocabulary

• If your vocabulary is weak, you will understand less and struggle in most subjects.
• Your ability to express yourself is limited by your vocabulary -  if your vocabulary is weak, you will be understood less.
  
• Vocabulary words are on standardized tests for a reason – people with better vocabularies perform better in high school, college and later in life.
  
• If you make it a habit of using simplistic words, such as “cool” or “great,” people will be unimpressed.
  
• Even if you are a rocket scientist, other rocket scientists with better means of verbal expression will be hired and promoted ahead of you.If you improve your child’s vocabulary, your child will:
  1. Earn better grades and increase his / her base of knowledge
  2. Improve all test scores (including eventually the SAT)
  3. Get  into the best schools
  4. Perform better in anything he / she does in life

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our wonderful mothers. You bring so much into the lives of those youthful eyes that look up to you. In their eyes you can do no wrong.

We have been celebrating Mother’s Day in our home since Friday night – it has become Mother’s Weekend. Lucky Mom.

I once read that when you educate a future mother, you educate an entire family. I read this about 20 years ago and have often thought about its meaning. Now, this may sound sexist in today’s modern world, where women are “bringing home the bacon” on the same level as the men, but women still hold the most influence over their children’s lives and the direction of their education. We fathers, may think we have some say, but we all know that mothers have a gentle way of persuasion that renders fathers helpless in its wake.

 So today, as I reflect in celebration for my wife and my mother, I see in my daughter’s eyes future generations of children that will be affected by the choices made in her education today.  It is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. It is the reason why I chose to hold the separate sessions in the summer science camp for girls.

A couple of facts to take into consideration. NYC school science programs are lacking and only held about once a week. The goal I set for my program is to help motivate young students to take an interest in science and how it plays a part of our everyday lives. Once they develop the interest they can use that motivation to take them anywhere. Our philosophy is about motivation and overcoming the failures that prevent our children from reaching their potential. Our daughters, and future mothers, deserve our best efforts to help them achieve successful lives and homes.

Have a great day.

I have been a member of the Wall Street community for over 15 years. A past member of the American Stock Exchange, trading equity and fixed income derivatives for clients and my own account. I co-founded an investment strategy research group called The Alpha Generation (www.thealphageneration.com). I privately coach Wall Street traders to help them stay on top of their game and to help them master the risk – reward scenario.

 I have been involved in educational research from the time I was a graduate student working on my M.A. in Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, until today, helping children navigate the gifted and talented programs of New York.

My journey began many years ago, when my youngest brother showed signs of “special” talent. He could read at 3, taught himself Spanish at 4 and to play the piano by 6. He entered kindergarten and was labeled a trouble maker by first grade. He explained, to anyone that would listen, that school was boring. Our family did not know what to do. He was finally tested in third grade and moved into a special program 3 days a week. It was too late. He had already lost 4 years of motivation and viewed school as dull and unfulfilling. Over time, seeing my family’s disappointment in our educational system, I studied the academic research on “giftedness” and learning challenges for children. I saw the potential to apply these strategies as well as solutions for the problems of ADD (attention deficit disorder)to dilemmas affecting “adult” life challenges. I eventually used the literature to develop motivational strategies that I applied to my trading business. Trading is laden with disappointment and fertile ground for individuals in need of motivation. This approach proved to be successful and left me wondering what other problems could be solved in this manner.

This brings us to the present day. I now have children ranging from preschool to college and one presently in a G&T program in NYC. I almost lost this child to the boredom of the NYC school system. I applied the motivational program for traders to her. It was fun. She loved it and loved the challenge the program created. As a father to this pre-tween girl and having been through this process with a son a few years ago, I understand the challenge facing us as parents to help them balance their educational needs with those of being apart of the rest of the world. I mean, Miley Cyrus needs fans, right? They are growing up in an entirely different world than we faced or our parents dealt with when raising us. Being able to rely on our schools, public or private, to educate our children is a fictional story we read long ago. Which brings me to the reason I started this blog and this company. We are sharing this program with others to motivate them to seek success. I believe we need to give our children the best education possible for their skill set. The answer starts with us, as parents, to keep them motivated and to eliminate the negative thoughts that prevent them from reaching their potential. I am very passionate about this curriculum to motivate youth to reach that potential. I will be writing about some of my findings and thoughts on the challenges of educating our children that can help us all excel in life. I am a life long researcher on how we can use education to advance our life’s ambition and I will try to share as much as possible to those of you who care to improve your own lives, as well as those of your children.