When you come across something like this:
it’s not always what you first think it is.
What you first THINK it is, is a sign that your 4-year-old is not only ready to read, but has already mastered reading itself, and just can’t get enough.
But then you ask your 4-year-old, “What’s this, honey?” with a cajoling sweet tone that says: Oh darling, Mommy is so happy you love to read! and she says:
“Oh, I was just trying to get the globe down.”
“The globe?”
“Yeah, the globe,” she says, all matter of fact and cheerful.
“You mean…that globe up there?”
“Yeah, that one,” she replies.
So you get the globe down and give it to her, and later on you remember that you spent maybe ten bucks at Target on that damn thing, so why in the blue hell do you store it way up there on top of the bookshelf where no one can touch it, as if it were some priceless heirloom?
Like, God forbid they actually get their hands on it outside of a regularly scheduled history (or geography) lesson and use it for a bowling ball and cheer when Iceland knocks down the plastic empty spring water pins.
Because if it broke, Good Lord, how would I EVER replace it? Because spending another ten bucks on a cheap globe would surely tip our financial scales into utter ruin.
Right.
The globe lives under a coffee table now. And so far, they haven’t broken it.
We don’t even have globe. I had no idea I could get one so cheap. There’s a huge HEAVY globe at the library all framed in oak and a little plaque on it with “Donated in memory of..” stamped on it. The kids always want to see how fast they can whirl it around and because of this, they’re forbidden from touching it. I would feel much better about them breaking one from Target than that one.
Oh and they might look at it once in a while. Maybe locate a country ocean or something, which would be nice.
Yep. A globe like the one your library has is Just Too Tempting. Even I’d want to give it a spin or two.
I did the same thing with the abacus and the scale. For heavens sake, playing with math things on a Saturday should be forbidden.
Oh yes! THE SCALE! My kids love that thing! I keep it locked up mostly because I just know that if I give it to them they’ll lose interest in it. Most of the math manipulatives are like that. I keep them put away in a cabinet so the pieces won’t get lost, but then all the kids want are the math toys. It figures.