‘What’s this letter? It’s ‘N’’, I say to my four year old. ‘N for nose, N for nangi, N, N, N’..tell Mummy what this letter is’..to which she replies ‘Two’. I sit back in a state of frustration as she runs off shouting ‘TWO TWO TWO’. How do these teachers do it? I think to myself, a mere teaching session with my toddler leaves me in a state of frustration and inadequacy. With many children around the island starting their school journey this month, parents are of course motivated to begin it off on the right foot. Let's teach and educate our children and who doesn't believe that they have little geniuses amongst their households, we are parents after all! 

Experts say that most children around the ages of 2 and 3 start to recognize letters and numbers and then by ages 4 and 5 are able to retain and identify them. So around 2 is a good age to start the slow process of educating your toddler. It doesn’t obviously happen overnight and not by you and him sitting down and putting pen and paper to use but instead through a variety of interesting and colourful ways can make the learning process a success. Here are some of the ways recommended by teaching experts. 

1. One of the first steps in getting your child interested in their letters is to read to them. As they get interested in stories they learn to understand that by learning and recognizing letters they are able to open the door to wonderful stories. 

2. There are lots of creative way to get your toddler to recognize letters. Initially start with their name, have it written in artwork, label their bag and bottle, their hook where they hang their bag. Get them to continually see these letters together and the fact that they make up their name. In this way they slowly start to recognize certain letters. 

3. Use toys, games and puzzles which are centered around letters to drive the message home. Get alphabet puzzles and help your child to figure out what letter comes next. There are also lot of learning toys on the market now that emphasis the sounds of letters. 

4. Through songs and music, sing the alphabet song till your blue in the face. But children are very clever at immediately learning rhymes as opposed to you sitting down and writing the letters out several times. 

5. Repetition is also important, I find that if we are learning a certain letter each week, then by continuously bringing objects that start with the letter to their attention throughout the day drive the message in. Make it fun and give your child lots of incentives. 

6. Of course if your child is less than four and does not seem interested in learning their letters then do not push them. For experts say that early learning has not showed any signs of later intellectual development. 

This exercise is not a walk in the park, but nothing in parenting ever is. There will be several hits and misses  and it will be a gradual process and of course the teachers at school do an excellent job at getting your children started. The most important factor to remember is not pressure yourself but to approach the task with patience and to keep things easy as …A, B, C. 

By Mayuri Jayasinghe