Studies and also my observations suggest it can work this way – both for children and parents.
I would like to share with you what happened to me yesterday when returning home from a little fall walk in the nearby forest. My younger one (she turned 4 just weeks ago) after a silent observation of beautiful golden maple leaves she was carrying home and without any context surprised me. She said to me that she has just figured out how to translate into English beginning of her favorite song about a cat that she sings these days all the time.
With such a grace and self-confidence she announced in Czech. “Mom, I know how to translate it into English. It goes: The cat is going down“. I have never talked to her about the song in English or grammar that is used when the cat is just now going down but somehow she got it right. I was so pleased and surprised how proud she was of herself.
Then her older sister (6y) suggested if it should not be “The cat went down”. So for the first time of our English exploring I started to explain the grammar of verbs – present continues and the past.
Here are the roses we made out of those leaves we brought home. I wish to all of us more self-confidence for our children coming from realizing their abilities and more such positive surprises for us parents.
Nice fall time to all of you.
