As we are approaching the release of the “How to raise a superlearner” content, I am still trying to decide to myself to which degree shaping kids brain for success is natural.
On one side of the discussion, we have Montessori with a focus on letting the child discover the inner potential and some very heavy-weight high-tech billionaires that prove that this method clearly works for some children. On the other side of the discussion, we have Polgar, a simple Hungarian teacher who raised 3 of his daughters to become chess champions. Somewhere in the middle we have Adler’s more balanced approach that suggests supplementing regular school with wide range of extracurricular activities.
With our own children, we decided to use Adler’s approach, simply because it looks like a safe and easy choice. It is still too early to say what kind of people our kids will become, yet we felt that our integrity requires us to teach the same methods we use ourselves. In this article, I want to address various aspects of shaping kids brain for success.
With every child, there are different developmental issues the child experiences until the age of 5. It is important to address all of these issues with good professionals, including some communication issues, emotional issues, coordination etc. When the child is ready to go to school the developmental professionals release their support, and the child enters into a very new system. Some of the elements include school, parental support and extracurricular activities. It is important to balance these elements. The extracurricular activities and richer stimulation even shape the brain of lucky children differently from unlucky ones. The extracurricular activities can probably be very balanced, since even active athletic behavior improves the brain power. Probably the activities that are very structured may also have some adverse effect, so probably too much shaping is a bad thing.
Parental support is probably even more important in shaping the child’s brain. Moreover, the parents need not only to guide the child’s extracurricular activities, but also actively mediate the world around. Everything starts with letters and sounds, where a small involvement of parents generates significant results. Then there is an attempt to battle stress and build up the child’s mental strength, ability to identify when help is needed and asking the help of the right kind… Both parents need to work as a team to achieve common educational goals – and there is no shame asking for professional guidance or parent coaching. A simple tip: try not to shame your kids and distinguish between their character and specific behavior. This sounds very basic and simple, but it is very a hard tip to follow through..
Some kids are extremely talented. You would not believe what the kids can do. It may be that the kids talents are very different from your own. If so, rather than imposing your values on the child, it may be better to let the child discover the world for himself/herself.
While it is counterintuitive, investing in yourself may be the best way to shape your children. Since children learn through imitation, they often mirror both your strengths and weaknesses. By focusing on your personal growth, you provide them with more opportunities to observe positive behaviors and strong role models. Parental involvement, including supporting their extracurricular activities, plays a key role in their development. By guiding your children through the world, setting a positive example, and exposing them to new experiences—such as Montessori toys for brain development—you’ll help nurture their potential and set them on a path to success.
good article . What about Waldorf School?
I do not know. In 2000, educational scholar Heiner Ullrich wrote that intensive study of Steiner’s pedagogy had been in progress in educational circles in Germany since about 1990 and that positions were “highly controversial: they range from enthusiastic support to destructive criticism.”
Encouraging creativity through story telling seems to strongly link to your methods. Marker creation is an essentially playful activity. I am trying to encourage my daughters creativity through making up stories which she contributes to. I have done this since she could understand words. In future, when I teach her about memnonic methods I feel this contributory story telling will serve as a foundation for learning marker creation, PAO, hyperlinking and other memnonic devices.
Exactly! This is a part of some other course we are developing right now