4 ways to raise our children into lifelong learners

Children have an innate desire to learn and keep learning through the new experiences. They have a natural impulse to seek new information and experiences and explore novel possibilities. Young children are naturally curious and therefore their brains are like information gathering tools and they seem to stay engaged in the same activity for hours. But somewhere down the line as the child grows and passes through various social and personal experiences, he seems to loose the interest and desire to learn that he once had. 

However, it is not very difficult to gain this desire to learn. Here are 4 simple ways to help us achieve that-

“If we succeed in giving the love of learning, the learning itself is sure to follow.”  – John Lubbock

Here are 6 ways to achieve that.

1. Don’t give answers right away

“Tell me and I forget. Teach  and I remember. Involve me and I learn” – Benjamin Franklin

When the environment is right the plant flourishes. We do not do the growing for the plant but we make sure that the environment is right. We will plant the seed in the right kind of soil, we will water and make sure it gets the right kind of sunlight and then we will just wait for the plant to grow and blossom. Just like for the plant we cannot do the growing for the plant similarly after a child has had the structured form of learning we need to give him space to independently explore his curiosity. This may stem from something he is curious about in his structured learning or this may be completely different and child driven. This curiosity can be fostered if we create the atmosphere at home through good conversations, great read aloud books, travel experiences or even through peer learning. Just like for growing plants we will balance out various factors of growth, similarly for a child’s education we need to balance the structured learning and assignments with learning that stems from curiosity and leads to self-education. The more we do for the child in his learning the less he does it for himself. Let him chew on some questions he has rather than giving away answers right away. It may be hard in our information at our finger tips kind of world where we can google any questions right away. But giving away answers right away without a chance to reflect upon the various possibilities, if we depend too much on the world wide web for the child’s answers, there is not thinking left on part on the child. Giving instant answers is like feeding in superficial facts into his brain, without any real learning happening. 

2. Constant supply of ideas 

All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.’ – Martin Fisher

Supplying our children with a wealth of ideas. The ideas need to be rich in quality and quantity, they can be personal or social experiences, traditions, family -talks, books, music, art, poetry, travel, social interactions with peers and elders. While there are several ways to keep the supply of ideas on, the best of these are the ideas that he will collect from a well-written book. The easiest way to supply your child’s mind with ideas is reading books from several genres. Reading biographies will supply with ideas of bravery, courage and inspiration. Reading fantasy will supply the child with ideas of unlimited imagination. Reading non-fictional accounts on animals and insects makes the child look at the natural world around him with awe and wonder

3. Don’t treat his mind as a memory machine.

“Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.” – Leonardo Da Davinci

If we have to achieve a true intellectual life for our children then we need to stop treating their brains like memory machines. Rote learning and memorization will not lead to a wholesome education. It will fill up the child’s mind with information just like we would fill up a sack with potatoes. If the child is not able to make a connection with the learning he is doing because he is expected to remember the information, this is method of learning has failed to instigate inspiration in the child to know more about a subject because he will stop at what has been expected out of him and that is some rote information that he was expected to memorize. A method of learning that has devised by Charlotte Mason a 19th Century British Educator, is the method of narration, where the child narrates back in his own words from a passage that he has learned, while he is narrating a passage he is making that passage his own, he now owns the information in the passage, while he is in the process of narration he is developing a taste for knowledge, he is becoming a thinker while he is narrating his ideas and is hearing them as he speak them aloud. Narration helps in retention and understanding of what is read.

4. Become friends with knowledge 

Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
― Nelson Mandela

Establishing a relationship with knowledge goes beyond the structured learning children do at school. After the initial exchange of hello’s the child will needs establish a realationship if we really want him to become a life long learner. The easiest way to achieve this is to get a first hand experience with knowledge through attentions and observation. Become a role model for your children by discussing what learning challenges you face and how you over come them. How learning something new can be challenging in the beginning but as you keep doing it, it becomes easier. When the child is learning something in school on a particular topic; plants for example, encourage his learning by showing your enthusiasm to keep a natural journal and growing your own kitchen garden. Another way to foster the love of knowledge is encouraging the child to hold a conversation with other elders in the family, friends or neighbours where he can ask them about their profession and hobbies and the how they overcome learning something new in their profession. Children can learn a great deal from a single conversation. While our children may not be able to get in touch with great authors and scientists on a regular basis, he can surely get in touch with the experts of their field by reading books they have written

Finally, it is in our hands to train the child to become a lifelong learner. We cannot depend on a structured learning pattern at school to achieve that. Our society depends heavily on the system, and the system says read a text, answer a few questions, take a test, get the grades, then get it over with. The system is focused on achieving the process correctly without a consideration for the outcome. The system did not focus on the outcome of a well-educated child. The outcome of a child who loves to learn is achieved by a variety of means and not by simply reading a text and taking a test. Lets cultivate a atmosphere at home for our children where they develop a lifelong love for learning.

 Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.

― Albert Einstein