Creating the Best Environment for My Boys
Mother tells the story of Angelo and Gianluigi – their gentle revolution began at birth.
All these programs were not only about developing my children but about building connections and bonds.
Our boys, Angelo and Gianluigi, are now 11 and 9 years old. They are wonderful children and there is not a day goes by that I do not make a reference in my mind to the work of the Institutes.
We started with the How Smart Is Your Baby? book when Angelo was one week old. Later my husband found out about the course How To Multiply Your Baby’s Intelligence and we decided to travel to Philadelphia. We wanted to learn as much as possible about the work of The Institutes, and to actually meet the people who do this incredible research and develop such programs.
To this day, we believe that was the best choice we ever made for our children.
I am a slow reader myself and if nothing else, I wanted my children to enjoy the ability to read fast. Through all of my childhood, I struggled with balance (I crashed all the time) and had no upper-body strength, and having two boys I understood that strong arms and hands would save them from many falls, and they did!
Our home program was going very well but taking a course and meeting the staff, the children, and the parents of The Institutes, and watching all the demonstrations and performances gave our program such a boost. We skyrocketed.
I understood that there is no limit. My children can learn anything. I can teach my children anything.
My boys’ programs were heavily influenced by their mother’s love for biology, art, Italian, Spanish, Latin, and Greek languages, music, even ballet, law, and the Civil Code. Glenn Doman said these children will be stars in any sport they choose, and it’s so true!
Angelo is now on the city team for sports climbing. The Physical Program helped develop strength and good balance.
We were doing math, reading, encyclopedic knowledge, the baby balance program, crawling and creeping, music appreciation, hanging from the dowel and brachiation, walking, running, primary human development, foreign languages, lots of homemade books, the Law, and the Civil Code.
Angelo loved fountains, so I made a set of cards and a homemade book. One of the illustrations showed Jet d’Eau, the Geneva Water Fountain. A few months later, there was a piece on Euronews and in the background, it showed Jet d’Eau. Angelo was so excited, he kept pointing at the screen: Mama, look! Look! Finally, I noticed the background and was so happy that he recognized that Bit of Intelligence!
When Angelo was about 15 to 18 months old, he loved David Attenborough’s documentary about Madagascar. I made a book and one of the illustrations was a map of Madagascar. On the kitchen floor we had a chipped tile, so one day Angelo pointed at the mark and said: Mama, look! This is Madagascar. Needless to say, the outline of the chip did look like an outline of Madagascar.
Angelo and Gianluigi started ceramics classes, long contemplated by their mom, and both turned out to be quite prolific artists. But one piece struck me like lightning. Angelo made a meteorite from debris. I immediately recognized the Bit of Intelligence from the Salvador Dali set! It was “Geopolitical Child Watching the Birth of the New Man”. I made this set of Bits of Intelligence 5 years ago for our Encyclopedic Knowledge Program.
Learn How You Can Multiply Your Baby’s Intelligence too.
Child Watching the Birth of the New Man.
I said to myself, OMG it is all coming out!
We follow the Korean tradition of setting up a little table for our children on their first birthday. On this little table, we put different objects that symbolize different choices for the infant’s future life. The child is put in front of this table for a brief period of time and the first three objects picked up will predict the child’s future. At this ceremony for Angelo, his little cousin Camila (she was 2 at this time) was also attracted to the objects and wanted to take some but was not allowed and taken away crying. I felt very sorry for her. So when it came time for the ceremony for my second son, Gianluigi, I made a homemade book for Angelo. In the book, I explained this tradition and put some pictures of Angelo and his cousins at their little tables.
On the day of the ceremony, he was prepared. He did not want to take things from the little table, he understood that it was set for his little brother and enjoyed this event with the rest of the family. I am very thankful to The Institutes for giving me such a powerful tool from the Social Excellence Program that I managed to use so successfully on such an important day for our family.
Angelo is now on the city team for sports climbing. He is also an accomplished downhill skier, passing his dad at a speed of 100 km/h. He is admired by all his classroom teachers. In his old school, three mothers came to me in one week and told me that their sons told them that Angelo is their best friend. I was flattered and very moved. Gianluigi is fascinated by math. He is planning to go to MIT, like his dad, and study math and art. My husband teaches him algebra.
Gianluigi has a remarkable memory. He is also always praised by his classroom teachers.
Learning about the work of The Institutes and taking the courses profoundly changed the life of our family.
We wanted to create the best environment for our children, and thanks to what we have learned, we managed to do so. We were able to focus on what was important for their development.
I believe that through these programs we learned that we could achieve remarkable results by doing something consistently. With Angelo, we crawled and crept 105 km (25 km of crawling and 80 km of creeping) around our house in 105 days. To this day he remembers this incredible experience.
Writing about these experiences brings tears to my eyes. I understood that all these programs were not only about developing my children but about building connections and bonds when they can turn around and share with me their discoveries! I knew what the input was; I knew what they’ve seen! I think this ability to share and discuss things that interest the boys and me is the most valuable.