“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”
–Rabindranath Tagore
At birth, babies innately love learning. They begin by exploring their bodies’ capabilities, and the world around them. They investigate everything they come in contact with. The smallest observation, object, or surprise turns into a learning experience. They are curious and want to find out the what, where, how, and why of everything around them.
As our children grow we nurture their love of learning by expanding on their own inquisitive nature. As parents we know that creating lifelong learners means much more than the seven hours at school. We feel the responsibility for creating an environment of support that allows our children to develop their own ideas, express their feelings, take risks, make good choices, and most of all, grow to be strong, thinking individuals. One way to encourage learning is through passions.
Discover and Encourage Passions
- If your child has a particular strength in school, such as math, find ways outside of school to expose him to math in the real world - computers, hands-on science museums, and math camps.
- If he struggles with most school subjects, look elsewhere for his passions. Pay attention to whatever makes your child perk up. Is it music, art, horses, video, games, bikes?
- Play on these passions; help your child deepen his knowledge, discovering learning is fun.
- Children become self-motivated to learn when they have their own passion. While some discover it early in life, others need time and help to find what they love doing most. Parents have a crucial role here. Help children discover their passion by encouraging participation in sports, music and other activities. Spend time collecting books, searching the web, museums and taking them to the library to see what interests them.
- Encourage reading - Hobbies are the gateway to learning, as well as transforming children into avid readers. Once you discover their passions, reading just falls into place naturally, as they search for information about their hobbies.
- While reading about their hobbies, children develop a hunger for knowledge, without even realizing it. For example, rock collecting. After collecting some rocks and shells, your junior geologist will most likely want to know more about her (or his) collection, as she researches and studies she is independently read.
Our challenge as a parent is to help our child gain strength in their own ability to learn, and that special sparkle of optimism, in their competence, that “can do" attitude. The goal is for our children to enjoy the process of learning something new, and see the value in learning new things.
The world is an exciting new place for a child, to explore, discover, and learn about. It is a joy to nurture their curiosity. To show them that around every corner is a new learning experience just waiting to surprise and excite their growing mind. With each new concept mastered, they will become inspired for more knowledge.
R.R.Cratty
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