As parents, we may wish for our children to be eager to learn, as we know this is how they can expand their horizons and develop new skills. But it can be hard to help foster a love for learning within our children, so in today’s blog we hope to provide some helpful tips.
Show your children how exciting learning can be
They often say that parents greatly influence their children. They mimic our actions and make assumptions about things according to our response. In order to incite a love for learning in our children, we should be excited about the prospect of learning something new! Talk to your children about things that excite you that involve learning. They will feed off this upbeat energy as they attempt to learn. Likewise, cheer them on as they learn to do new things and celebrate in their victory. This will help them to approach learning new things in a much more positive way.
Let them learn for themselves
This may seem a bit counterproductive to our last point, but sometimes our children learn to love learning when we aren’t controlling every aspect. The more you can let them take charge and pursue their own learning, the more they will associate learning with independence and a sense of achievement. In fact, Dr. Ryan from Chicago university found that children whose lives weren’t over-managed by their parents were much more competent in their learning. When these children were posed with an opportunity to figure out a skill without a parent jumping in and trying to resolve it, they were much more capable.
Provide opportunities and resources which will support their learning
Developing a love for learning in our children doesn’t necessarily have to involve spending lots of time and money. Opportunities to support learning can be as simple as a trip to the park or playing an educational board game. If your child has a love for reading, a trip to the local library can be perfect to foster their interest in reading. If your child is an avid sportsfan, why not take them to the park to kick a ball around?
Happy learning!