The day I became Mum, I promised myself that I shall be a parent who answers ALL my kids' questions.
Being a stay-home mum who faces my kids all day, I got to admit sometimes one of the most tiring, BUT also intriguing AND interesting part of my daily routine is answering my kids' questions. Like when N asked non-stop for an hour, it was fun, but not easy.
When I read books to them, usually there will be lots of questions from both of them, each fighting to make their questions heard and answered first, before I can even finish one page. And they do this for every page. Especially when we read non-fiction books.
As a result, we do have some pretty fiery discussions at times, between me and my two boys.
A few weeks back, we were reading about gravity together. I was asked 'how do scientists know that the Moon has less gravity than the Earth? How do they measure it?'. Even my 3 y.o. asked 'will Diplodocus also float on the Moon? Will trees float in space?'.
When we were talking about clouds on a cloudy day, from the 3.yo. came questions like 'are clouds cold? what is inside the clouds? what makes the white clouds become gray and not red or blue or green? etc..
They are the same with daddy. Like when E and the 5 y.o. were discussing about rockets and what made rockets burst into space. The boy asked 'Where does oxygen come from? How do engineers separate oxygen from air? How do they put the oxygen inside the tank? etc.
An insatiable appetite for answers sets the foundation for the development of both lateral and vertical thinking as I once mentioned in a previous post.
Weeks ago, after being told off for leaning against the glass windows, the 5 y.o. asked 'where does glass come from? Can we make glass into anything we like?' and just like that, he wanted to know more about glass! And from this, the interest widens to many other related areas.
This week, my 3 y.o. has been bugging me all day long with questions like 'how do people make cars? how do cars move? how do people make lights? And the lightbulbs?' etc etc..
It is child-led learning. Once we inspire that hunger for knowledge, and cultivate an interest and curiosity to want to know MORE about EVERYTHING, it is akin to igniting the fire in the child. Teach him how to learn effectively and his learning will follow easily.
As with all things in life, get the key ingredients right and everything else will fall into place.
2 comments:
For some reasons, I missed this post until now!
I thought I share this with you, after all, I do think that you must be the major influence that has resulted in this amazing development in N.
The other day, N asked me questions after questions when we were discussing the topic-of-the-week in our household and both my hubby and I were just blown away! He was never like this before he attending your lapbooking classes. And it is not just the number of questions but the types of questions he asked too! Thanks! Umm.. too long here.. will email you! :>
N's mum
N's mum, thanks for sharing! I share your excitement. Do tell N that I can't wait to hear his questions when I see him in April! :)
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