Its all about the Skills

 "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." 

The same goes for teaching our kids the skills they need to learn how to learn and to learn how to think.

 Today, so many parents think that we need to give our children more and more to help them succeed. 

It is in fact the opposite. 

 Maria Montessori noted that the skills children need in order to learn are order, concentration, coordination and independence. 

Order: Children need a sense of order in their lives by having order around them as well as a routine. As a parent it is our job to ensure an orderly learning environment for them as well as set up a healthy daily routine that gives them a sense of how their days will flow. This gives them the ability to concentrate and focus.

Concentration: If we see our child busy with something, even if the 'schedule' says its time for something else, if the child is in a zone of concentration, respect that zone and let them do it for as long as they can. This is so healthy for their concentration. Another way to help them develop good concentration skills is to have as few distractions around their learning environment as possible. A room with lots of posters and bright pictures may look pretty and productive on your part, but it is very distracting for a child. The less distractions, the better it is for their concentration.

Coordination: Kids need lots of practice to build the muscles for the pincer grip needed for writing. They also need practice to develop eye/hand coordination. Very often we find children in elementary school who don’t have the endurance to write. Refining the fine motor skills at a young age is crucial in developing good hand writing skills.

Independence: Self-confidence, via independence, is one of the true gifts we can give a child. The more your child can do on their own, the better it is for both you and them. The key is to teach your child to not only be independent, but to give them the ability to think for themselves and discover things by themselves. Kids need freedom with a sense of responsibility. 

It is not our job to spoon feed information to our kids. It is our job to help them build up their wings, develop the necessary skills to be able to think and learn on their own, so at the right time, they can just fly as high as they possibly can.

Have a wonderful week,

Always,