I'll share a common short story with you.
There is a little boy who is 1 1 years old this year. He has a lot of research. His mother saw other children sign up for an art hobby class, so she signed him up for one.
At first, the child went reluctantly, but soon he never went again, saying it was boring.
Why is this?
Because the child's mother has herd mentality and doesn't understand the child's real needs. Art is not what he really likes, so there is no internal driving force.
Only what children like is meaningful, and what they like to do is the internal motivation.
What a child likes means what he needs. On the other hand, maybe the time is up, or the method is wrong, they can't accept it.
In real life, it is precisely many parents who are persecuting their children, making them very painful and parents very tired. Parents think this is a sign of "love" for their children.
Many parents have herd mentality. They didn't communicate with their children, and the children themselves didn't know what they liked and were good at.
02
There is also a test about what you like is beneficial. Are children happy in the process of learning?
I once observed a little girl of one year and eight months.
When she was one and a half years old, I observed that she was very happy to see her brothers and sisters, but she would leave if she didn't play with them for a long time. At first I thought she was a loner.
Later, people found that she preferred to play with her younger brothers and sisters. She likes to teach her brothers and sisters to dance and play football.
The child played with his brother and sister for a while and then left. He plays with his younger brother and sister and is willing to stay a little longer. What is the reason behind this?
After observation, I realized that she was looking for a sense of existence. She is a student when she plays with older children. She is a teacher while playing with children.
Observation is the beginning of learning. Systematically cultivating children's observation will become the primary task of education.
Especially infants and young children, first observe the familiar people and things around them, and then explore and recognize the world.
In addition, the physical differences between infants and young children are also obvious: the younger ones have no advantage in physical fitness in the older groups, and it will be more difficult to act with older children.
It's not that the child doesn't have the ability to participate in group activities, but that she knows how to leave wisely when her physical strength is exhausted. This is the wisdom of children.
03
So, how to cultivate children's minds?
1. Mental development cannot be customized artificially.
Mental evolution is a natural process, and it will be damaged if people interfere with it unreasonably.
2. Pay attention to intellectual development.
Educators should know how to allocate time wisely in physical and mental training.
3. What is the standard of spiritual cultivation?
The success of intellectual training does not depend on how many rules a child can remember, but on whether he has the ability to use rules and effective methods to acquire new knowledge.
4. Observation is the beginning of learning.
Systematically cultivating children's observation will become the primary task of education.
5. What you like is beneficial.
Whether children are happy or excited is the standard to test the effect of all education and training.
6. Education should keep pace with children's psychological evolution.
The natural development of ability has a certain order, and the ability of each stage needs different knowledge supply.
7. Sports is irreplaceable.
What is more enjoyable for children than collecting flowers, observing exotic insects and collecting stones and shells?
8. Painting is a part of psychological education.
Painting is indeed a part of intellectual education, especially in early childhood education.