Importance of Repitition

     As an early childhood teacher there was a time period I would write out notes to parents specifying what we did during the week and the strengths I noticed among their child as well as their weaknesses. An abbreviated form of the parent/teacher records that Montessori programs tend to follow. I ended up not continuing those little reports because my boss at the time said the parents found a lot of the things said and done as being too repetitive. Instead of sending out a letter explaining why activities were repetitive I just let it go. I missed a great opportunity to explain about the importance of play, but also why repitition of activities is important for young children. The more they are introduced to activities the more they advance in their skills. Repitition is what gives them ample time to digest, breakdown, and understand concepts.
     This week, as you will see later, is a review week for us. We will be repeating quite a few of the past weeks activities because the more times my son has to refresh his mind of past weeks concepts, the stronger his memory and understanding of them will be.
     Repitition is such a natural way to really learn new skills even now as adults. I know my husband and I are both best at hands on learning and repitition. If we as adults still need repitition to learn new skills, why should we get frustrated or bored because our children all do the same? Repitition is not so boring for kids. They thrive on it until a skill is completely mastered as much as possible, and eventually they will move on to a new unmastered skill. For example, my child for months was obsessed with learning to screw ans unscrew lids. Obsessed as in if he saw a bottle he needed to work on that skill. He was perplexed by how it works. He was frustrated when he could not get the lid on the bottle just right. I would have to put bottles in their own "time-outs" if I noticed he was about to have a melt down because he was struggling. He also refused help from me to put the lids on. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with my child's love of working on lids. After several months he finally mastered that skill to the point that now bottles do not hold as much fascination for him anymore (well unless it is a bottle of bubbles). Repitition for him, as well as all children is an important part of learning for them and it is hard work. That very proud face they make when they keep getting better at their new skill makes everything worth it.