A 12 year old college student. A 2 year old that knows his alphabet. A 3 year old that is reading. A 6 year old that can recite the US Presidents in order. A highly intelligent child is the dream of all parents. No one wants to feel as if their child is second rate or “behind” in any way. But really, who sets that learning curve? Just as none of us get married at the same age, have children at the same time, or pursue the same life goals, children learn and develop at different rates and with different interests. And I have come to believe that if we surround our children with an environment that encourages learning they will succeed at their own pace and in their own way. Today we are going to look at how to create a self-motivated learner in your own children. But, how does one go about creating an environment that will encourage children to learn and to explore instead of just wasting their childhood in mindless activities? In each home this will look different as no two families are the same, but these are the tried and true methods that have worked in my home.
Children that learn to love books will love to learn! Before the age of 1 my children have access to books and are encouraged to spend time each day “reading” them. They learn early to love books and to treat them nicely and after they learn to read they are encouraged to read every day and to read often. Once a child knows how to read and is comfortable reading they can learn anything that comes into their mind. Self-motivated learners are a cut above the rest because instead of being content with not knowing something, they see everything as new knowledge to be attained.
As parents, if we desire a self-motivated learner we must lead by example. When a child asks a question that we don’t know the answer to or when we read a word in a book that we aren’t sure the meaning of, we can’t blow it off either. We need to dig for the answers with our children. Show them that we don’t know everything, but there are ways to find answers. Tools such as the internet, books, and even other people can make researching answers fun. They need to see how new knowledge can be exciting!
With the confidence that they will gain from watching us love learning and hearing us cheer them on to try new things they will be more willing to explore. Children learn the best through personal exploration in my opinion and once we, as parents, can convince our children that they are more than able to at least try anything set before them they will go places. I love to watch my children try new skills, new foods, a now tool or instrument, or even try a new hobby. Because after they have tried it even if they don’t really like it, they are so proud of themselves for just trying. They are beaming with pride. A self-motivated learner will often have new things in front of them but they, unlike others, will most often try new things.
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