Born to Learn!

Children are born with an innate hunger and ability to explore and learn. In fact, you couldn't stop a child from learning if you wanted to. It's as natural as breathing to them.

Think for a moment of just how much a child learns in the first year of life or so, with very little actual "teaching". Coordinating movements, interpreting what it sees and hears, lifting its head, sitting, crawling, the beginnings of speaking language- and understanding much more, eventually pulling itself up to its feet and learning to walk. So many incredibly complex actions and associations, mostly self taught. And they just go forwards from this in leaps and bounds. By the time a child reaches school age it has mastered and refined so many processes... and probably learned more than it will ever again.

Who was the "teacher" who taught the child to do and understand all of these things? For the most part- the child him or herself. Teacher and learner in one!

And how was the child "taught" to learn these things? By an ingrained desire to know, to develop, to master. By the lessons and experiences thrown at the child by life and its environment. By trying again and again, never letting failure stop it in its quest to gain a new skill or understanding.

One of the most important factors we need to keep in mind when encouraging our children to learn things, is that it needs to have a relevance to the child... a reason that the child wants to be learning it. Think of your own experiences- what do you most enthusiastically research and learn? Some obscure irrelevant topic or skill? Or something you have interest and passion for, or that which will better enable you to partake in that passion?

A child, or any learner, may happily trudge through learning stuff that is not in itself of great interest to them, if it is in some way helping prepare them, or giving them a knowledge set that gains them ground in their passion. For instance, a model plane flyer who builds his own aircraft, may study certain mathematical equations that will help them determine the best angles and compositions of materials for his model, even though he doesn't really have a liking for maths in itself. The need created the learning.

On the flip side, enforced learning, no matter how fascinating we ourselves find a subject, does not give good retention and understanding results. Sure kids can learn stuff by rote and cram facts into their heads to pass a test, but just how much of this will they remember in a month, a year, a decade? If it's not relevant to their lives and interests, and thier current level and depth of interest, very little will be retained beyond the time of need- the test.
Another important point to instill in our children is that if things don't work out, or they get things wrong, it's not really failing. Or that failure is not a bad thing, if you prefer it that way. Each failure just brings them one step closer to success. Your child should never be afraid to try, because he may fail, or be "wrong".

Thomas Edison is quoted as having said: "I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."

Another vital understanding should be that learning isn't just something that happens in schools (and maybe you will choose not to use schools at all, and embark on a home schooling lifestyle!), or between certain ages when the child is supposedly being "educated". Learning begins in the womb and continues until the day we die. The amount we continue to allow ourselves to learn, and the enthusiasm with which we pursue it, depends on our attitude, a great percentage of which is formed by our learning experiences, good and bad, as a child. Were we nurtured and encouraged and forever seeking out new discoveries... or did we grow to look upon learning as dull, boring and something we were forced to do for fear of reprisals if we didn't comply. Something that encroached upon and interrupted the exciting times, instead of having its own thrill and reward.

So, to best help our children retain their love of learning and take it with them throughout life, we need to be non-judgmental, interested, involved- when, and to the degree they wish us to be, provide a stimulating (but not constantly over-stimulating) and nurturing environment and allow our children to follow their passions. Then they will learn with joy, experiment, explore and evaluate. They will be willing to struggle through difficulties and complexities to achieve their goals- and usually enjoy the challenge!

Children don't need to learn to learn, or to be "taught" in the traditional sense. We need just to be facilitators of their learning journey, mentors and examples, and co-learners in what should be a life-long quest for knowledge and experiences.