Inspire your child with the love of learning through fun and not fear

Make your shared memories with them fun and joyful

Whether your child is heading off to school for the first time, or whether your have been through the schooling phase, I am sure somewhere along that time, you would have wondered whether your child could cope at school? Worried whether you have done enough or perhaps considering sending your child to private coaching…or?

Learning and education occur in many different ways. You see, during my educational journey in Malaysia, I was educated in the Asian way, i.e. lots of homework and pressure to pass exams. I studied hard and did what was required, with the aim of only passing all the exams necessary for me to further my studies at university.

Now looking back, it was studying blindly. With that mentality of studying, no wonder studying actually became a chore and a bore for me; it was something I had to do rather than what I wanted to do myself. Therefore I really did not feel that the knowledge I gained was meaningful.

I am sure you would agree, I would have definitely benefited more had I enjoyed what I was doing rather than just merely studying for the sake of passing exams and not being “hounded” by my parents and not being “compared” with my cousins and the community.

When my children started school, I was occasionally involved in helping out in the classrooms, libraries and other school activities. That was a great opportunity and eye opener to learning the Australian way of educating children.

It was eye opening, that learning was in fact fun, filled with colourful images and the teachers were gentle and full of encouragement.

Compared to my time, even when we started primary school, it was filled with “fear” more than anything. Punishment was a norm and for a seven year old, it was not something you would look forward to every day.

Inspire your child with the love of learning through fun and not fear

It was with pure joy that I had the opportunity to witness the Australian fun way. That’s why I feel very strongly that children should be empowered through FUN and really be instilled with the LOVE of learning rather than learning through fear of punishment.

Learning through FUN interactions

To a child, Play = FUN, and if you make learning a part of playing, your child will be learning without even realising they are actually learning, because he/she is having so much fun.

How can you do that?

Involve your child through everyday interactions or activities, such as going grocery shopping with them. From one simple exercise, your child will be learning at least 5 things even without realising it. For example, depending on the age of the child:

  1. Learning to identify the name of the product
  2. Identifying the isle where the product is located, thus learning similar food products
  3. Learning to read the ingredients and learning about different chemical names
  4. Identifying the shapes, whether it is in a bottle or a box
  5. Learning about weights and volumes, i.e. liters or kilos or grams.

As you can see, you don’t have to do anything special, just by involving your children in your daily grocery shopping, and give them each a shopping list, you will be amazed at how your children can perform.

So if you want to teach/pass on knowledge, share the experience and journey with them. Children remember how they FEEL about a situation or experience, and not so much about what you tell them or teach them.  If they feel relaxed and are having fun, they will continue and enjoy and learn, which indirectly means … they are LEARNING.

Remember, children’s learning is through FUN, and playing is FUN to them. Make your shared memories with them fun and joyful, and inspire your child to learn through FUN  and JOY and not through FEAR!

Have a connected day with your family.