Child education

Today we were talking with friends about our favourite topic, education of children. The gist of the conversation was that parents have limited control over their children and can "only" introduce them to different experiences. I criticized the use of the word "only" because a good introduction is not a trivial thing, it requires a lot of thought on the parent's part. The material has to match the child's ability to grasp and find it interesting enough to pursue it further on his/her own.

Examples:

• Experience foreign languages via computer games, songs, movies and trips abroad.
• Musical instruments. I played the guitar and keyboard in my younger years and know that playing an instrument is not a matter of talent but a matter of persistent work, i.e. not suitable for most young kids. Talent comes into play when one strives to be a professional.
• Math, history, politics... All of these are extremely interesting but the wrong teacher can cause the child to be disgusted and block them out completely. I know people who refused math or history until they were 30 years old and found out that these were actually quite fun.
• Sports, dance and other physical activities: See The Inner Game of Tennis

The first rule of a good introduction for any topic: What good is this for, where is it used? Keep in mind that even if your child is not immediately enthusiastic about the subject, he/she will have it imprinted in his/her mind and when the time comes, will have less difficulty in making that first attempt (which is usually the hardest psychlogically). Example: As a young child I observed how my father (a primary school teacher) was writing with beautiful hand writing his normally boring daily classroom plans. To this day, I like to write nicely. We don't want our kids to realize how everything is so mind blowing until they are adults, do we?