Nudge your child to grow
Dated: Saturday, 19 August 2006, BVT; Puja Goyal
THE biggest challenge for parents today is not balancing work with social commitments, but ensuring that their children are not deprived of any opportunity that would enhance their child's growth. Today, a child can be more than an engineer and a doctor. N Madhumati, the founder-director of Aspire Learning Company, is a member of the IIM Bangalore Alumni and has done her M Phil in American Literature. With over 10 years experience in the education services industry, she elaborates on how important it is to tap the growth of a mind of a child when she is young.
Would you agree with the phrase 'Catch them young and see them grow'?
Have you ever wondered why a person develops talent for something without knowing it? Why a person dislikes math and loves Art? The truth is that the pattern had developed when the child was in its infancy. It becomes crucial for parents to tap the child's potential when she is young because this is the time the child is open to her capabilities.
You mean to say parents can train the child when she is young?
When a child is small i.e. between 3 months to 3 years, her right side of the brain (the creative side) is very active. As she grows older, she starts to use her left side (the logical side) of the brain. When you see a child tackling mathematical problems well, or a child showing a likeness for music, it is because the child's exposure to that kind of profession was heightened when she was an infant. If you realise, the child doesnÃt really have a chance to develop his capabilities completely. She works with what is given to her, which some call talent.
What can we do about it?
It is very important that a child has a holistic growth and she is allowed to use her five capabilities. She will then be better aware of herself and choose her career and lifestyle depending on who she is, rather than what she is exposed to as a child.
You mentioned five capabilities, what are they?
Every child is imbibed with the same five capabilities. It is dependent on what is heightened in them that determines their talents later on. Languages skills: Have you thought about why, when a family moves to a different place, say from Delhi to Bangalore, it is the child who learns the language of the city i.e., Kannada first? Numerical Capability: if you have placards with dots on them and ask the child to add, or multiply, or tell the child that this card with one dot is one... she will remember it. Pitch Recognition, is where the child is easily able to identify the voices of people around him and sounds of music. Intuition: The way in which the child is able to sense things around her. Photographic Memory: If you show a set of pictures to a child over a time, the child will soon be able to identify them.
How can we initiate holistic growth of babies?
Education starts at home. When the child is young, the mother should start exercising the child's brain. We have programmes abroad and in India which train mothers to work with their children.
Wouldn't parents then start training the children according to what they want from?
No! It's not possible to train a child the way you want. The program ensures that the child develops all his skills so he can grow up and choose what he wants instead of becoming what was developed in her when she was young. The mother is given a programme structure and she works with it.
For details on the program contact 41301915.
THE biggest challenge for parents today is not balancing work with social commitments, but ensuring that their children are not deprived of any opportunity that would enhance their child's growth. Today, a child can be more than an engineer and a doctor. N Madhumati, the founder-director of Aspire Learning Company, is a member of the IIM Bangalore Alumni and has done her M Phil in American Literature. With over 10 years experience in the education services industry, she elaborates on how important it is to tap the growth of a mind of a child when she is young.
Would you agree with the phrase 'Catch them young and see them grow'?
Have you ever wondered why a person develops talent for something without knowing it? Why a person dislikes math and loves Art? The truth is that the pattern had developed when the child was in its infancy. It becomes crucial for parents to tap the child's potential when she is young because this is the time the child is open to her capabilities.
You mean to say parents can train the child when she is young?
When a child is small i.e. between 3 months to 3 years, her right side of the brain (the creative side) is very active. As she grows older, she starts to use her left side (the logical side) of the brain. When you see a child tackling mathematical problems well, or a child showing a likeness for music, it is because the child's exposure to that kind of profession was heightened when she was an infant. If you realise, the child doesnÃt really have a chance to develop his capabilities completely. She works with what is given to her, which some call talent.
What can we do about it?
It is very important that a child has a holistic growth and she is allowed to use her five capabilities. She will then be better aware of herself and choose her career and lifestyle depending on who she is, rather than what she is exposed to as a child.
You mentioned five capabilities, what are they?
Every child is imbibed with the same five capabilities. It is dependent on what is heightened in them that determines their talents later on. Languages skills: Have you thought about why, when a family moves to a different place, say from Delhi to Bangalore, it is the child who learns the language of the city i.e., Kannada first? Numerical Capability: if you have placards with dots on them and ask the child to add, or multiply, or tell the child that this card with one dot is one... she will remember it. Pitch Recognition, is where the child is easily able to identify the voices of people around him and sounds of music. Intuition: The way in which the child is able to sense things around her. Photographic Memory: If you show a set of pictures to a child over a time, the child will soon be able to identify them.
How can we initiate holistic growth of babies?
Education starts at home. When the child is young, the mother should start exercising the child's brain. We have programmes abroad and in India which train mothers to work with their children.
Wouldn't parents then start training the children according to what they want from?
No! It's not possible to train a child the way you want. The program ensures that the child develops all his skills so he can grow up and choose what he wants instead of becoming what was developed in her when she was young. The mother is given a programme structure and she works with it.
For details on the program contact 41301915.
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