The one where I babble on and on and don't really get to the point... if indeed there is one

Right. Having a major U-Turn here. I don't know if it's my hormones or what but I have decided to halt all "learning". I don't want to teach him to read yet. I don't think I'm going to start any maths yet. I am not going to get any workbooks. I couldn't care less if he finishes off the alphabet. WHAT WAS I ON?

In my (subconscious) quest to "prove" to people (and myself) that I *can* teach my son, and that he *can* learn, and that I am *not* useless (... still working on that ... hm... what exactly does one have to do qualify to be placed in the "useful" bracket given that I don't cook, my house is a mess and I scream at my kids all day??!) and life *has* a purpose I have been intent on getting him reading (WTM) and counting with a maths-readiness push-cum-shove type approach. As a result he knows the sounds of most letters nad is eagerly trying to blend words; he can count up to twenty - OK some times when he is tired we get "onety-one" or "five-teen" but he can count. He can count in Arabic and knows some Arabic letters too. We do rod work. Tangrams are impsy. But so what. What exactly is the point to all this? Has our life improved because of these great accomplishments? Is he happier?

It hit me after I read this article (thanks Khadijah):

In the Waldorf approach, reading and writing are introduced in first
grade, starting with the letters; then children learn to read at the
end of first grade, from what they have written. The letters are
introduced imaginatively, through a story and a drawing in which the
letter can be found in one of the figures that starts with that sound
(for example, the letter "k" might be illustrated by a King who is
standing sideways, with scepter raised, blessing his subjects.).

Sitting children down and teaching them to write the letters and to
read when they are four or five uses a kind of intellectual energy
that Steiner indicates is still needed in early childhood for the
healthy formation of the internal organs. The baby teeth are the last
to be "re-formed," and when they are pushed out by the adult teeth, it
is a sign that this process has reached a point where the energy is
now free for learning—although still imaginatively, not in a dull,
rote fashion. Neuropsychologists also recognize this same rapid
proliferation of brain cells around age 6-7 (as reported by Jane
Healy, Ph.D. in Your Child's Growing Mind).

In addition to potentially weakening a child's later health, early
academics also wake the him or her up prematurely. This awakening
comes naturally around age 7, but when it is rushed—as it can be with
bright children—they lose a couple of years of the imaginative,
creative realm of early childhood without gaining anything in terms of
being better readers at grade 5. And many children simply lack the
eye-hand coordination and the ability to sit still for lessons, so
they are labeled as having learning problems that wouldn't exist if
teachers waited until the children were developmentally ready for
reading and writing.

What about the bright child, who is eager to learn? My suggestion is
always to relate with enthusiasm and anticipation ("When you go to the
big school, you'll learn that," or "Next year we'll be studying all
the letters and their stories at home."). But I wouldn't sit down with
a five-year-old and start lessons just because she wanted to learn to
write. Many times teaching a child to write his or her name is enough
to satisfy their desire, before they are on to other interests. And
the really smart ones will learn to read from the STOP signs while
driving or through osmosis from being around an older sibling.

The guiding principle according to Steiner is not to address the
intellect directly in early childhood. Children up until the age of
six or seven need to be in movement, learning through movement games
and through play and expressing themselves through the arts, not
sitting at desks tracing letters and numbers, memorizing math sums, or
learning to read. This makes Waldorf out of step with the mainstream
push to teach reading and writing at ever younger ages, but the
results are fewer reading problems and children who love reading real
books, rather than becoming burnt out on years of simple readers.

that I'm getting it all wrong. He doesn't play with imagination and I don't encourage him to because I've been so programmed into thinking that something worthwhile is quantifiable, verifiable, solid and progressive that I've gone down the road I swore I'd protect him from - I've subconsciously inculcated school-at-home. Argh! It's consumerism at the learning level. Bits of plastic and paper to "learn" everything from. Why don't I just buy him a uniform and make him wear it everyday?

So we've done an abrupt stop. The plastic is going OUT. No more closed-ended toys which dictates the play. Going for natural products, obviously wood, and things which involve the imagination as the vital ingredient to bring it to life - replacing the battery. We have leaves and twigs, and stones and scarves. Yes it sounds poncey doesn't it. Well guess what. It doesn't matter. Yellow hexagons are bananas - and you don't need to buy him bananas to make the point. A twig can be a sail or a barrier or a gate or anything. A car can only ever be a car. He's using his imagination.

We are not bothering to "learn" anything. So what. He has his entire life to read but only a few years to enjoy being a child. I do not want to have a forty year old midget for a son - I want a four year old boy who does all the things four year olds are supposed to do, and up yours if you don't like it. One more dirty look from a Next-clad lip-glossed uberbabe in a John Lewis lift because Boss had the audacity to jump, make a noise or try to tickle your child with result in me speaking my mind. I am fed up of having to say "sorry" that my son isn't a middle-aged man; "sorry" he is four; "sorry" he thinks pulling hair is funny. Get over it. He is four - let him enjoy it.

And wood - do you know, I noticed yesterday that even when our wooden toys are all over the floor it just makes the floor look so beautiful. Which cannot be said of the plastic crap currently discolouring on the shelves.

Didn't really have a point all that did it?