When I saw the book "Natural Laws for Children", I couldn't help but think of the story in the now popular movie "Life Events".
01
The film tells the story of two-way redemption between a little girl Xiaowen who lost her relatives and the third brother of a funeral director who is at the bottom of society, is discriminated against and has no ideals in life.
Xiaowen has not been raised by his parents since he was a child. He lives with his grandmother without receiving formal education. He has a stubborn and domineering personality and always says "I". The third brother inherited his father's business and became a funeral director. He was always looked down upon by his father and others.
Stills of "Life Events"
After the death of his grandmother, Xiaowen was adopted by his third brother by chance. Both of them were re-taught by the other person and slowly changed the habit of calling themselves "I". Xiaowen followed his third brother to run the funeral business, and later entered a kindergarten to receive education with other children.
During a parent-child activity in a kindergarten, Xiaowen took his neighbor Fatty and performed a funeral ceremony of "a filial son throws a bowl". The Fatty's mother was shocked on the spot. It was really "a great act of filial piety". The teacher also had to call the third brother over for a parent talk, reminding him to pay attention to his child's family education .
I couldn't help but laugh to tears when I saw this scene, but after laughing, I fell into deep thought.
Stills of "Life Events"
02
You can see what kind of personality a child will form during his growth, what kind of ideas and behavioral habits he will develop, what kind of person he will become, and the social environment The influence of family education is very important, and the caregivers (mainly parents) can even be said to play a decisive role.
From the perspective of cognitive neuroscience , as soon as a child is born, the brain already has the rough structure of adult neural circuits. The brain has strong plasticity. Children's brains have three times more neuron synapses than adults, as many as 1,000 trillion.
Through the stimulation and interaction of the external environment, children's brain neurons continue to grow and connect, pruning and strengthening synapses , retaining neuron connections with high stimulation rate, gradually developing and maturing, forming a certain neural pathway , which also makes the brain Be more adaptable and focused. But this brain plasticity gradually weakens until it reaches its lowest point during adolescence.
Therefore, children's early years are an important stage in brain shaping, and the environment in which children live and the education they receive are particularly important. If children are given appropriate and reasonable stimulation, they can be encouraged to better absorb knowledge and build neural channels and brain networks.
Because of this, many parents now fall into the misunderstanding of " chicken baby ". They feel that they must do their best to provide their children with the best education and require their children to learn various knowledge from an early age, lest they Fall behind others.
This is tantamount to encouraging the growth of a child - ignoring the child's natural growth pattern, prematurely and mistakenly exerting excessive pressure on the child, and ultimately crushing the young seedling.
Now we will see a lot of news like this: children feel a lot of pressure due to study, exams and other issues, often have conflicts with their parents, develop depression , anxiety disorders and other mental illnesses, and even end their lives impulsively. Young people His life ended and it brought endless pain to the entire family. This is something parents need to be vigilant and reflect on.
03
Learning is a "life event" for children. Learning is also an anti-human thing. The indolent brain will always avoid the arduous learning process.
But in fact, children have the ability to learn independently from birth. If they can comply with the characteristics of the brain, the natural laws of learning, and the laws of individual growth, learning can become something that has internal driving force and is accepted from the heart.
During the growth process, children will go through some critical periods of learning, which are sensitive periods when they receive external stimulation, such as language, vision, etc. Allowing children to receive appropriate education at this time and exposing them in various ways in daily life will allow them to learn relevant knowledge faster and easier without knowing it.
For example, children have excellent language discrimination and imitation abilities from birth to three years old. No matter how many or complex languages they are, they can easily hear and imitate them. This is his language sensitive period.
If a child is exposed to a deficient or wrong language environment, his language ability will be hindered and he will not be able to fully develop.
We have heard the news about "wolf children". Children were raised by wolves and had no language communication. After they were rescued as adults, it was difficult for them to learn human language or express themselves fluently.
Nowadays, many children are taken care of and raised by their grandparents. It has been observed that some elderly people are often taciturn or only speak their hometown dialect, and the language development of their children will lag behind those of children who live with their parents. This is the impact of the language environment on children.
As children grow up and the neural channels in the brain are formed, the language sensitive period passes, and the language learning ability gradually weakens. Therefore, we can see that many adults do not learn a new language as quickly as children.
Therefore, it is particularly important for children’s caregivers to communicate language with their children and create a dynamic immersive environment suitable for language learning.
We do not need to force children to sit upright in class to learn and recite in detail, but to demonstrate and guide them in daily life and social interactions.
If parents consciously use diverse, rich, standardized and accurate words and sentences to interact with their children, allowing the child's brain to naturally absorb words and think in the newly received language during contact with the outside world, the child will be able to learn from it. Rich language and culture, internalize and apply them to life.
04
In addition to allowing children to be exposed to rich languages in daily life, children also have another characteristic of learning knowledge, that is, they like to learn through play, that is, games.
This does not refer to electronic games, but to various games that are suitable for children to participate in and have certain training purposes, and even various items that they come into contact with in life can play an invisible educational role.
Children will focus and immerse themselves in interesting games to stimulate the development of their limbs and five senses, learn the relevant knowledge presented in the game, and interact with others during the game to achieve socialization. Therefore, we will see that kindergartens now often play various games with children. It is not just about playing, but through play, children can learn various knowledge and social interaction skills.
I remember that when I was chatting in a group of mothers, a mother complained that her 5-year-old child could not remember English words. I couldn't help but laugh. Think about how old the child is? How is it possible for a 5-year-old child to remember how to spell words one by one like children who study or adults?
He can only experience the context of English and understand what a certain English word means and how it should be pronounced through interesting activities, or by interacting with people around him and the environment in daily life.
For example, when a child eats an apple, parents can tell him "This is a red 'apple'" and repeat the expression in the same scene, so that the child can easily understand how to pronounce apple in English based on the situation, "apple" "What does it mean again.
05
"Children's Natural Laws" not only introduces children's brain nervous system characteristics and natural law theory, but more valuable is that the author shares his valuable experience in holding natural law education experimental classes, and uses real cases to show how to adapt to children It uses the natural laws of growth to guide children to learn and improve their knowledge system, and grow into a person with a positive personality and good habits. It also sets a rare positive example for parents and educational institutions.
The author Selina Alvarez was a kindergarten teacher. In order to implement her natural law education theory, she went through various hardships and twists and applied for and established an experimental teaching class in the town of Gennevilliers, France. The results prove that this natural education method is effective, and the children's abilities in all aspects are higher than the national standards.
The natural rules for children proposed by the author include: learn from experience, stimulate inner motivation, allow mistakes, contact nature, leave some time to relax and have random thoughts, ensure good sleep, have sufficient free activities, reduce tension and stress, and have kindness. etc.
In addition to respecting children's natural laws, parents should also pay attention to and understand their children's core basic abilities, including the previously mentioned sensitive periods, executive power and independence, and support their children's free expression and development of social skills.
Respecting the natural laws and growth patterns of children does not mean leaving the children aside and letting them go free in a Buddhist way. Rather, it means playing the guiding, assisting and accompanying role of parents within the framework of natural laws.
Parents need to establish a trusting relationship with their children, create a positive and warm environment, give their children a sense of dependence with sufficient love and support, and become a "scaffolding" to support their children's upward climb and a "safe harbor" where they can return at any time after going out to explore the world. ".
