ECFE Parent Discussion

After most of December and all January off of ECFE, we resumed class today. The theme today was groundhogs. The story, song, art project, and even their play time was all about groundhogs. Then the parents meet while the children play. The children, especially Lamb 3, but other children too, seemed to have forgotten the routine and didn't want to leave their parents for the meeting. I'm hoping to get back to the routine soon where all the Lambs play while I go to the meeting.
At this first session, we brainstormed topics for the next 7 weeks for parents to talk about. It has been the same parents for the last few years so we've already done most of the normal topics of potty training, bedtime routine, discipline, etc. We decided to repeat discipline because we can always learn more about that.
The leader had a few interesting ideas for topics.
1. What do we want to teach our children to be prepared for the future? Some ideas given were-be respectful, keep their priorities straight, not give in to peer pressure, etc. When I discussed this with Ram, he said we want to train up a child in the way he should go... (Proverbs 22:6) and nothing else is as important as that. He also said we want to teach our Lambs to do problem solving and do simple math etc. in their heads and not rely on technology. I agree with the parent that said teaching them to keep their priorities straight is so important. Anyway, I'm going to be thinking more about this question as I think it is important.
2. The next topic she suggested was teaching your child to use technology wisely. She gave the example of college students giving up their cell phones for one week and they thought they were going to die. Another example was 4 out of 5 students don't watch the basketball game-they text during it. How ridiculous to go to a basketball game and not watch it! Last, sadly many couples sit in the same room and text each other instead of talking to each other. I can't even relate since I don't own a cell phone, or a laptop, or a mp3 player! I have never sent a text message on a cell phone. But I did really miss our computer when it was down for 18 days! I think this is a good topic and I look forward to our discussion.
3. One mom suggested how to talk about the birds and the bees with your child on an age appropriate level. I kept my mouth shut but I was so tempted to say that she should get pregnant as it is much easier to talk about this with your children when you are pregnant and when you have a new baby-Mama's breasts are for nursing, etc. After the meeting she stood up and she is obviously pregnant-and she told us then that she is expecting twins! Problem solved!

I'll be thinking more about topics for us to discuss. I try to take the Lambs every week so I may as well have an interesting topic that I would learn something from.