On teaching toddlers

When does learning process begin in toddlers? May be the moment they are born: they learn to cope up with new surroundings, with feeding and sleeping schedules, they quickly learn to read the minds of people who attend to them. They identify forbidden zones of home. So there is an inherent learning mechanism in place before they begin their formal education. Adults need to identify the learning abilities of the child before beginning lessons. Some may process image better than the sound. Some might prefer the ‘A B C’ song. But whatever the process maybe it is a difficult task to programme a human brain to learn and repeat. Teachers, parents work patiently around the learning barriers and get the brain hooked on to learning thro’ books and audio-visual media and the surrounding environment. Some kids get dedicated parents and teachers who help them in this but for many it is a big struggle and they get lost in the maze of letters, numbers and images for a while before finding best way to learn.
Making the child write is extremely challenging. Many parents become anxious and often end up feeling miserable. They try all books and methods yet their child is lagging behind the class-mates. The reason maybe very simple; the child is not yet ready for the writing lessons. Let the child draw lines and curves for a while. Try joining the dots exercise or even tracing helps. The fingers must learn to hold pencils and move freely to draw letters. Use of black or white boards can be useful. It becomes less of a struggle if we make teaching, learning a fun activity rather than a strict regime.
Education takes many years and sustaining interest in learning and writing can be difficult too. In later schooling years reading, writing is no longer a fun activity. Then it is an individual’s struggle with the self to give up fun to finish assignments and worry about assessments. Maybe it helps to make a habit of reading and writing early in life. After all schooling and education are the roots of individual’s growth in modern society. Make the soil fertile and sow a healthy seed and watch growing shoots and branches.