Encourage learning!

The home is the best place to begin your child's learning. Here are some suggestions.

One of the best teachers a child can have is his or her parents. And the best place for a child to learn is in his or her home environment. Help your child develop skills, whether it is writing, reading, learning a new foreign language or simply just picking up new learning habits, with these easy - to - do tasks.

1. Talk, sing and dance with your child : Children love physical activities and nothing makes them excited than being able to do fun things with you. Learn some new songs and teach these to your child. Include the entire family in this fun - and - games session to help motivate your child more.
2. Read to your child : Children who are read to growing up often fate better than their counterparts who aren't. Reading is one of the fastest ways for a child to pick up learning skills and no one does a better job than a parent. Make reading athing to do every day, even if just for five minutes. A good time to do this is before bedtime. Make sure you read with fun in your voice to make it all the more exciting for your child. When your child is at an age where he or she can start reading, do this together with a favourite book.
3. Limit television viewing : The TV is often a bad excuse for parents who have no time so make sure you limit the hours your child spends on this. Instead spend them doing things together. Children need to hear and talk to adults in order to learn. Just watching television will not make this happen.
4. Have a positive attitute towards learning : Be positive and enthusiatic when your child comes back from school telling you of the new things he or she has learnt. Keep abreast of what is going on in school and take a pro-active approach in finding out your child's progress in school. Take an interest and if possible, try to enhance your child's learning progress with your own personal imvolvement.
5. Give your child the much needed praise : Children thrive on praises. So if your child has done well, let him or her know this. This will not only encourage your child but also shows that you care. Another good way to do this is by putting up drawings done your child on the refrigerator.
6. Encourage your child to use learning materials : Learning tools such as the dictionary and encyclopedia can be very useful indeed when your child is picking up new vocabulary or knowledge. Encourage them to constantly refer to these two when they want to answers to some queris they may have.
7. Take them out! : To the library, the museum, an exhibition or even the playground. Exposing your child to such activities will help encourage learning as well as motivate your child to learn more. Not only that, it is something fun for the entire family to do!

By Dr Goh Chee Leong, Cognitive/Developmental Pshycologist

Source : Positive Parenting magazine, Vol 1 : 2008, www.mypositiveparenting.org