I am trying to teach my three year-old daughter and niece their ABCs and numbers and various things but they will not sit still and listen. They only want to run around and play. I guess that's typical. Should I give up on teaching them? The only way they listen to me is if I threaten to take away things or call their fathers at work. Please help.

First remember that they are three and may not be conceptually ready for ABCs and numbers. Some kids are ready to set still at this age others are not. Learning should be a fun experience for a child if the child is to become a life long learner. Also struggles over learning degrade at the relationship that you have with your child. If you get in a Power struggle with a child you can count on loosing, be it the child’s motivation, self concept, your relationship, or your position as a confident, controlled parental authority figure. Instead of requiring the child to set still for a lesson incorporate the lesson with daily activities and play. Model counting in front of the child. Count at the store; count cars, animals, and toys. Say the ABCs and sing the alphabet song. Children cannot learn new information unless a foundation of background knowledge is first created. Children love to imitate the magic people in their lives by doing this they develop an interest in learning and a background knowledge and experience. Also capitalize on emergent interest of the child, let the child decide what it is that they want to learn. It may not necessarily be what you wish to teach the child but it is what the child is interested in learning therefore learning is more enjoyable for the child and teaching is more enjoyable for you. Be patient and have fun. Good Luck.

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Replying to:

I am trying to teach my three year-old daughter and niece their ABCs and numbers and various things but they will not sit still and listen. They only want to run around and play. I guess that's typical. Should I give up on teaching them? The only way they listen to me is if I threaten to take away things or call their fathers at work. Please help.

Have you tried making a game out of it? Tried singing the ABC's and 123's?

I think that the biggest thing with kids that age is, if they aren't interested you can forget it. If your not making it "3rd old fun" then they are not going to want anything to do with it. They are still a little young too. I know that alot of kids learn their ABC's really early but some of them just don't. It doesn't mean that anything is wrong with them, they are just not ready yet. They will get it when they are ready and if you put on an educational show such as Sesame Street (I don't know if you have that or not) they will pick it up through that. They also have videos that all the kids like and they will learn alot from that. It will happen, don't rush them, they are individuals and will get it.