Child Painting
Many children now enter preschool at a very early age, some even as young as 2 years old. Through my observations, the three main reasons for this early schooling exposure are:

  1. No stimulation at home because the mother is working and the child is either left with a maid, grandparents or babysitter.
  2. Parents feel that the child needs to learn social skills.
  3. The fear that a child may not be able to cope when they start formal school at 7 years old and therefore, needs to be given a headstart and undergo full preparation.

There is nothing wrong with the first two reasons, but the last may be a cause for concern. If you are a parent, please do not push the kindergarten to give your child more homework. I remember talking to my daughter’s kindergarten principal 3 years ago and she mentioned that due to the many parent’s request, they had to pile on the homework and drill the child to be prepared for Std.1. That made me sad. I imagined preschool to be a fun experience for a child. Instead, we start stressing them out early in life getting them to finish their dull, boring homework. Remember when you were trying to coax your child to go to preschool or kindergarten for the first time? What did you tell them? How did you tell them kindergarten was like? Is it really like you said?

Now and then I hear stories from parents that worry their child is working on academic material way beyond their age. Some children may be able to cope, but there will be many who struggle. Well, such kindergartens will continue to exist but you don’t have to follow in their suit. As a parent, you are still your child’s no.1 educator. Here are some things you can do to motivate your children and put back some love into their learning.

1. Give them time to play. Yes, you heard me. Let them PLAY! Play is not a bad thing. Young children need play for their development. Don’t drown them in extra classes. Encourage physical activities, especially outdoor activities. Let them run, jump, climb, hop, catch, throw, and skip. Give them room to explore, create and imagine.

2. If you think your child needs some motivation to learn, DO NOT go out and get them more worksheets. Instead, try to tune in to their interest and adapt the lessons accordingly. Make the learning informal and personal. Give them a breather and get away from the school syllabus. For example, create funny and zanny stories together and have your child illustrate it. Maybe your child is a dinosaur fan. Learn to count using his dinosaur toys. Make up your own song to learn the days of the week. Learn about fruits by making a fruit salad and then gobbling it up afterward.

3. A child does not need to sit down for 1 hour or more before learning occurs. Learning could happen in 5 minutes. So if you did an activity that lasted just 5 minutes, don’t feel that it is not enough. It is okay to do short lessons throughout the day. Sometimes it is more effective than doing one loooooonnnng lesson.

4. Learning is not confined to reading, writing and arithmetic. EQ is important too. Help them deal with their feelings and emotions. Teach them lessons to build character and arm them with knowledge to choose the right.

5. Read together for fun. Don’t always think that the goal of reading together is to teach them how to read. Instill first the love for reading. Get them to associate reading with good feelings. If you have a preschooler that can’t sit through a read-aloud session for very long, don’t worry. Books are not the only things that have words. Read to them signboards, notices, words on the cereal box, letters that come in the mail (yeah, even junk mail), magazines, words on their shirt etc… words are all around us. Just point it out to them.

6. Build a home library. Get your children a shelf (or shelves) of their own. Fill it with books that are beautifully illustrated and that are well written. Key in on their interest and get books that address that interest e.g. princesses, dinosaurs, trains, cars etc….

7. Have interesting discussions during or after your reading sessions. Bring up thought provoking questions such as “what would you do if you were in that situation?” or “why did she do that?”. You could also think of follow-up activities to do. For example, after I read a book about Henry the whale, we searched on the internet for whale sounds. We also looked up pictures of different kinds of whales. The idea is to get them excited about learning by being excited yourself.

8. Anything can count as “learning”. Learning doesn’t have to just come from books. Talk about the things you do, the things you see, the things you use, the way you do things etc…. Basically, talk about life and things that go on in life. For example, have them observe how you prepare food — wash the rice, cut the vegetables, why do you need to refrigerate food. If you bake, ask them how to know when the cake is done? (stick in a skewer and if it comes out clean, it’s done). Pull out weeds in the garden and show them what the roots look like, tell them what the leaves are for and how they always grow towards the sunlight. When you are driving home, ask them where to turn. Show them how to fold the clothes and let them try. Point out the different kinds of clouds in the sky. All these little lessons surround us and can be counted as “learning.” These kind of learning do not show up on a test paper or school evaluation.

So, don’t limit your child’s learning to what goes on in school. Their love for learning begins at home. Your attitude and vision influences their education. So share with me how you have put back some love into your children’s learning?