Interest drives the kids' learning

Dear Folks,

Ashley woke me up this morning at 6:10am for the first time. Compared to his struggle to wake up when he first started his morning session in Jan, he has made alot of progress. In less than 5 mins, we're out of the door. He wanted to reach school earlier than his friends. Boys are competitive in nature and sometimes, a little friendly competition is good for them.

He had his first individual piano lesson yesterday. The teacher praised him for his attentiveness and ability to play. He was over the rainbows. When he got home, he immediately practised on the keyboard what he learned and finished his piano homework in a flash. I didn't even have to speak a word.

Unquestionable, interest drives his learning. He could remember 60 different cuntry flags and 100 dinosaur names when he was 3; over 100 pokemon names and their abilities when he was 4 and complicated chinese lyrics when he was 5. Every child works in the same way. As parents, we just faciliate their pursuit of their interests. I hope he will channel this self-motivation to his studies which can be challenging as teachers in school are pressed with time to allow them to nurture the interest in the students. I tried to buy him interesting reading materials like Adventure Box and Discovery Box to stir his interest. Unfortunately, he is not motivated to read by himself as he has greater interest in computer games and Wii. I'll have to read with him.

As what my hubby said, we have to give him time to develop his interest in study as he is still a kid. My hubby recalled he only started to study in P5 and before that he just played all day. At least he managed to get into Chinese High. My hubby is right. We need to give them time to grow and learn. There's a Chinese saying, "Yu shu ze bu da", meaning we may not reach our goal if we try to speed up the process. As a goal-driven and action-oriented person, I'm constantly reminding myself to let Ashley learn at his own pace and not overload him. Not easy for someone who is always on the go. Luckily, my hubby serves as a good moderator to restore the balance with our kids.

Cheers!
Loving Mum