Sombrero Time

Category Archives: Rescources

Parent Education Series at Sombrero Time

Posted by admin on May 10, 2012 None comments

You are highly vested in your child’s well-being, education and success.

Why? Because you have been entrusted with a most sacred thing – a life.  A life to guide, nurture and care for as he/she grows. This is no small task.  After many conversations with parents and educators, it is clear we all face numerous parental challenges. Our intentions are good, but may not be enough.  We might think we are prepared to help our kids with social dynamics, based on our own childhood.  But do we understand how the changes in media are impacting their relationships?  Their world is very different.  Further, did you know that marijuana has a different chemical composition now than it did 20 years ago? How does this impact our children and their development?

This summer we are launching a Parent Education Series to address these and other challenging topics. We have scheduled engaging and dynamic speakers that will present at Sombrero Time starting in June. In the video below Ruth presents her passion behind the summer series and introduces our first two speakers.

Check out the video and details below:

 

 

Join us for the first two presentations.

Dr. Ken Logan – “The Mind of the Adolescent”
Dr. Logan will present on understanding the mind of the adolescent, how their brains are developing, how development impacts behavior and how to parent them.

Date: Wednesday, June 20th
Time: 7-8:30pm
Location: Sombrero Time Granite Bay
Cost: $25 per person

Patty Ingram – “Drugs and your Child”

What drugs are on the street, how to talk to your child about drugs, the progression of addiction, how drugs and the law has changed since we were kids.

Date: Wednesday, June 27th
Time: 7-8:30pm
Location: Sombrero Time Granite Bay
Cost: $25 per person

Space – Limited to 50 seats for each session.

Register – On Eventbrite.  Click HERE to reserve your seats!

 

 

The Impacts of Early Language Exposure

Posted by admin on October 13, 2011 None comments

Ruth and I are routinely asked by parents with toddlers, Pre-K & Kinder students, who are concerned about the “negative” impacts of their children being exposed to multiple languages too early.  While these concerns are valid current research actually supports very early exposure to multiple languages and shows positive impact on neurological development.  Babies actually seem to have an amazing capacity to adapt and recognize pattern and show accelerated cognitive skills very early on.

Today I read an article from the Seattle Times that underscores this point.

What I found even more intriguing is that research is supporting the idea that language learning happens in a social setting, ie, a class room or between groups of people.  Put babies in front of TV  or even recorded langauge and they learn nothing.  Dr. Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, a leading researcher on the formation of language in babies was referenced in the Seattle Times article:

“Previous research by her group showed that exposing English-language infants in Seattle to someone speaking to them in Mandarin helped those babies preserve the ability to discriminate Chinese language sounds, but when the same “dose” of Mandarin was delivered by a television program or an audiotape, the babies learned nothing.

“This special mapping that babies seem to do with language happens in a social setting,” Kuhl said. “They need to be face to face, interacting with other people. The brain is turned on in a unique way.”

If you are a parent and have concerns about multiple language exposure with your child please consider what current research is showing.  You may be providing them a great opportunity to advance their cognitive and language development skills during a very short window of time.

To read the full Seattle Times article click HERE.