As a parent, you know that repeating yourself is the key to locking a concept into your child’s brain whether it be long division or looking both ways before crossing the street. Your children ask to hear the great family stories again and again, repeating them until the accompanying mental images provide full-color panoramas in their imaginations.
Music teachers tell us we have to repeat something at least 5 times over before learning it. I suspect that in reality that number needs to be much higher to account to lack of focus and random distractions.
My children thrive on that repetition. Revisiting adverbs, or demonstrative pronouns provide the same feeling of security and harmony as watching Cinderella for the umpteenth time (yes, we have seen it so often in our house that the Hub and I could probably act out that entire movie complete with the songs in our sleep, in unison).
But the more we re-look at a topic, the more we understand and think about it in different ways, making connections with newly discovered knowledge, the more capability we will have to provide linkages that lead to a deeper understanding.
So don’t be afraid: repeat yourself.