Thursday, Sep 1, 2011Doing Your Best to Enjoy Learning

Life is a fabulous experience.  There is so much to enjoy learning in life, that I don’t think it is possible to do it all in our rather short span of years.  When you are a child, looking into the future can be a scary thing.  In the first place, the quantity of things to learn can be overwhelming.  And in the second place, a child frequently places upon himself the concept of “I should know this.”  Wonder where he ever got that idea?

You who are parents have a wonderful opportunity to teach your child that there is a vast, endless, wonderful universe of things to learn, to do, to enjoy.  This unfoldment we are each involved in here on earth, is a step-by-step process.  What’s really cool to share with your children is this:

You only have to take the one step you can see next.

Once you’re “there,” the next one step will become plain and obvious.

In order to enjoy learning, some of the basic skills have to be put into place:  basics of math, language, history, geography, music, art, grammar and the like.  And this is why children go to school:  to set down the basic skills as a foundation so that when they complete this education and have this strong, basic foundation, they are prepared to launch into their next phase where they get to select a field of study that they love, enjoy and from which they can create their livelihood.

Not only should you study for the basics in school, but you ought to think about creating a set of basic skills you’ll also need in life like these, for example:

• Cooking
• Auto maintenance
• How to interview
• Internet skills
• Performing CPR
• Driving a Manual Transmission
• Fighting or Walking Away from Fighting
• Investments and Budgeting
• Changing a Flat Tire
• Growing vegetables
• How to Paint
• Memory tricks
• Making friends in a room of strangers
• Reading a map or asking for directions
• Learning another language
• Handling alcohol
• How to negotiate
• Using the local library

It would be fun with your children to create a chart of the skills you’d love to teach them each year so that they are presented the basics.  This way, they will feel comfortable doing more exploring on their own. Wouldn’t it be fun in the family if all the children went off to discover some skill they loved and then brought it back to share with their siblings?  The list of basic skills would grow and grow on your family skills chart.

You can play the “Why Should I Learn” game on family car trips. Ask the question “Why Should I Learn (fill in the blank”) and see how many good reasons your children can come up with. And after they tell you all the “Why” reasons, then ask “What skills would I have to learn?” and see what they might come up with.  You can develop a sense of inquisitiveness and the desire to enjoy learning with these games.

“Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability.” ~ Sir Francis Bacon