Tooth brushing "techniques" 

"This is the way we brush our teeth"

I made these colorful tooth kits for children who love to brush their teeth. What can we teach with them? 

- good tooth and hair brushing techniques

- colours

- numbers 

- opposites like soft and rough, dark and light

- times of the day (morning, evening, night) 

- roll playing

 An excellent song

"This is the way we brush our teeth

brush our teeth, brush our teeth.

This is the way we brush our teeth

Each and every morning."

Each toothbrush and hair comb can be attached to magnetic surfaces. They have lots of magnets hidden inside. It makes these little colorful items even more appealing for kids. 

They are practical for teachers because they can be hand washed. 

They are mainly made of felt. 

Here are some pictures

some have the verse sewed on

toothbrushes and hair combs

and a video how my older daughter played with them:) 

Teaching is FUN! 

What and how do I teach? 

I love soft materials. And because children like to touch everything I decided to sew some "teaching materials" that I can use at home with my daugthers and later on with my "little toddler-students":) 

I made this play mat for my daughters (3,5). I have been teaching them English since they were born. We 

use English in our everyday conversations. However, it is not a must. They can decide when they want to use Hungarian and when they want to use English. It depends on the situation. The main thing is that they use more than one language at a time. I try "not to teach" them but play with them all the time. Meanwhile playing we gain new vocabulary and new experiences. 

Here you can see some pictures of my "teaching materials": 

I use this one for teaching the nursery rhyme called "5 little duck went out one day" 

And here you can watch how they first played with the mat: 

If you want me to make anything for you to teach with please let me know on the following email address: 

gyulaibernadett@yahoo.de 

Thanks for reading this post! 

A great weekend - Early language acquisition 

I have some very exciting and meaningful days to look back on. I had the opportunity to meet new people with whom I share a common interest; this is "Early language acquisition". As many of you know, we are bringing up our kids to be "bilingual". We are both of Hungarian origin but use English most of the day. English is part of our everyday life. I could write more about that, however, I would like to share some positive thoughts about the recent course I attended.  

Acquiring English at an early age: I find early language acquisition the most fascinating topic at the moment. My children use English happily and effortlessly. It is not a ‘must’ for them as it was for us in school.

Course in Budapest: I was over the moon when heard about a course organized in Hungary, focusing on teaching English to the most challenging age group (3-10). First, I asked myself: Are people open to exploring something new? Could I be part of a group who think the same way as I do? Amazing! Yes, there are not many of us but we are enthusiastic and committed in what we are doing. Many teachers, participated in this course. We shared ideas on the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’

Well done, teacher trainer! We had an excellent teacher trainer who was there with and for us! She put her whole heart into those 3 days. Every one of us felt comfortable and at ease. We mainly used English but it was not compulsory. We enjoyed discussing good teaching methods, writing a rap song on developing our teaching and many other things that I am not able to share. I keep them deep inside my heart. I felt very much encouraged by her thoughts and comments and can only congratulate  her on her attitude and proficiency. A good teacher trainer shares his/her whole "inside word" with his/her audience. That's what she did :). 

And finally, some facts that I now understand about a being good teacher/good parent:

- the need to be confident and enthusiastic

- the need to love children a lot

- the ability to stay calm and patient even at hard times

- the confidence to follow your instincts

- the need to dream

- the desire to learn from others

- the willingness to be open to new discoveries

The list is not complete...

What would you add? Please share your thoughts with us here! 

After 2 years back on the blog again

Blogging again:) 

I have to apologise again for not being back on the blog since 2011. More than two years have gone past ever since. Today is 26/03/2013 and I decided to write again.

The main reason this time is that some new friends urged me to carry on blogging.

I am thankful for their encouragement and promise to be a better blogger this time.

I have a lot of things to tell you! give me some time to sum up my thoughts and I will be back with ideas, stories and lots more.

Bye for now!

EC-God's practical and unexpected blessings

Another little note for today. This is a totally different topic. This will be about early toilette training practice. If you heard about EC (Elimination Communication) you will know what my happiness is about.

Shortly: It means that you watch your baby's signs for pee and poo. They do funny faces or show other signs. I think babies are all different in showing these signs for mummies/daddies. I read about it before our second daughter was born and decided to try it at an early stage. And I truly did so.

She was only about 3 weeks old when I put her above the sink (it's cheaper than a special potty design for little bottoms:) and said Psh..psh...at that time I only did it before going to bath and after getting up in the afternoon. (3 times a day) I experienced that running some warm water on her feet brought more success. I kept on doing this for another month this time only every 2 or 3 days. You can be more consistent of course but I was not especially consistent to be honest.

We had times with and without success. Then I let her and myself "rest" for another 2-3 month and did not do anything at this "battle field". Then about 2 month ago, when she was around 6 month old I tried it again before bath times and getting her up. AND ................. SHE did it.

And ever since EVERY DAY (now she is 8 month old) she is peeing or pooing when I take her to the toilette and say Psh-Psh. I hold her 2 legs tight and her back is facing me. I usually do not have time to watch her face for the special signs so I decided to take her every 1-2 hours and we experience success every time!!!!

I guess it is like learning languages. The Baby's brain is like a sponge, they say, and my experience proves this theory. Her brain must have stored the tone (Psh-psh), the special sitting position and she must remember every time now when I take her to the sink or hold her above the toilette. Isn't it fantastic? God is gracious.

This is cheap and hygienic! (We use one diaper for day and one for night time.)And it brings you joy each day!

You can read or watch videos about it online. Just write Elimination Communication into Google!

Ps.: I wanted to share this with you because lots of Hungarian mums may not have heard about it before.

Gardening...

Hello everyone! I haven't been writing here for a long time, so I deeply apologize. I am in the middle of translating a superb book written by a mum of 10 children so far. I am working on it every day hand in hand with the Holy Spirit which is an awesome experience. I would like to finish the translation as soon as possible. My thought was, if such a busy mum like, Elisabeth, had time to write this godly book, I should have time to translate it and God always makes it possible for me to translate just a bit each day. This book is so precious that Hungarian mums urgently need to have it in their homes, I believe. 

The title of the book is "Raising Godly Tomatoes". Isn't it funny? Raising our children is like "tomato stacking". In a nutshell it means that you must keep your children near to you, be consistent, have something to stack to, which in our case is God's Word,  and you should teach, train and nourish them all day every day. If you are an experienced gardener or has ever stuck tomatoes, you would know better than me what stacking means. I shall write more about this a bit later. I want to give details, too.They will be practical enough to do them!

While translating each chapter I am practicing the things in my home. AND...I TRULY CAN SEE the changes. My 2 years old daughter became so obedient so quickly that I can't be thankful enough to the author for enlightening some biblical basics and views which make child rearing easier for us, parents. 

Today's little experience: Today we went to the doctor. we had an appointment for both of our girls for 2 injections. I felt a bit apprehensive about it but remembered what I have just read in the evening (see below) we prayed with them and went off to the pediatrician with peaceful heart.
 

"Once your child understands obedience, everything else is pretty much taken care of.  Henceforth, you can simply ask him to come to you and he will.  You can ask him to pick up his toys and he will.  You can ask him to get ready for bed and he will trot off and do so.  You can even ask him to “stop crying,” and he will stop.  Simple. Obedience is really all you need to teach a little one.

  

In the waiting room my 2 years old said: Mummy, I know well, that Jesus loves me. He will take care of me, won't he? It will only be a bit painful." I was so glad that she remembered Jesus in this situation and she trusted HIM, too. She totally believed what she said. And when she started crying a bit I whispered into her ears: Jesus is with you! You are a brave girl. Well done. I am proud of you! And she stopped. Just as it said in the book. I was amazed, thankful and proud as well. She was always crying... so far.

Well, I must be off now and do the translation again but I will be back soon with some encouraging advice and news.

All in all: start with teaching them obedience!

Obedience shall be a heart issue

I promised to write some "hows" in accordance to training our children. First let's set a goal. One at once. I want my daughters to have the right attitude.  Therefore, my practical goal is to teach them obedience. Without this I won't get anywhere. Let's go back to the Bible first. I do this since I have experienced that with the Lord's guidance I can achieve things. When I tried it with my self created thoughts it either went wrong or my daughter did only applied it at that occasion and next time everything was the same. She forget what she should have done. Collossians 3:20 is a clear guidance in this.  

"Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord."  

It will take time for them to learn and understand the importance of being obedient. First they will obey because you tell them so and only after that they will see that this will please the Lord. I am convinced God helps us when we are stuck. He talks to our heart,  reminds us of verses and pours creativity into our minds, too. We are in need of all these when our little one is testing our nerves.
How do I  teach obedience? This question can only be answered if we think about how God teaches this. You never go wrong if you ask Him. He says: "let your heart keep my commandments" (Proverbs 3:1) and love the Lord your God and served Him. (Deuteronomy 11:13) Therefore, I shall expect my daughter to do what I ask her to do but love me at the same time. This can be hard sometimes. My daughter usually does everything I ask her but my question is whether she is doing that with a kind and cheerful heart. When I see groan on her face I think again. Is this right? No. She shall do what I ask because she loves me ant not because she is afraid of being spanked. What a big difference. We love the Lord therefore we obey. So this is what we shall look forward to when teaching our children obedience. This is for today. I pray now and ask God for teaching us His words and obedience so that we will be able to teach our beloved children the same.