Early Learning: Peace of Mind for Parents

Education in the family is the foundation for children’s success. Therefore, parents should not solely rely on school education for their children’s future. A study by the YMCA in the US, conducted on 10,000 families, showed that 75% of the factors needed for a child’s success and happiness are formed within their own family. In particular, there are 6 lessons that parents can teach their children from an early age, which will make them more successful, independent, and resilient.

Teaching children to be grateful

Every parent wants to give their children the best. Nowadays, children are surrounded by many things such as clothes, food, toys, books, stuffed animals, etc. Each time you give something to your child, teach them to be grateful. When they receive something from someone, teach them to say thank you. Start with yourself and cultivate gratitude when dealing with your spouse and family. Let your child gradually understand the importance of gratitude rather than just teaching it without practicing it. When someone gives or helps them, talk to your child about their gratitude. Moreover, to teach them about gratitude, children need to be taught about a “just enough” life, rather than always having excess. When children have just enough in their lives, they will appreciate the value of each thing they have and feel grateful for it when they see others who do not have it.

Honesty

Children usually do not know how to lie, they learn that from adults and certain circumstances. Lying is a behavior learned from the external environment. There are two types of environments that can influence a child’s lying behavior: long-term environments (from parents) and short-term environments (from friends, idols, older siblings, etc.). Therefore, to prevent children from lying, parents should remain calm, avoid yelling, and always show understanding when children make mistakes so that they dare to tell the truth. Afterwards, work with your child to rectify the mistake. And we, as parents, need to be honest ourselves. Do not assume that children do not know anything and give superficial answers, as they will perceive it as lying and learn from it.

Avoid judging others

Judging others makes children become even more judgmental and less focused on themselves. Sometimes children do not understand, so we need to guide them when they make judgmental remarks about others. And we should not judge each other. When your child says things like “that person is too fat,” “she is so ugly,”… at that time, you can simply say “I don’t know, and I don’t judge anyone, my child.” Absolutely do not compare your child to other people, or compare your spouse to others. If you want your child to learn something, if you want to teach them something, then we ourselves must learn it first.

Learning from failure and accepting mistakes to make improvements

In reality, failure and success are two sides of the same coin, they cannot be separated. Young children often do not understand the feeling of failure, they only know the feeling of happiness from winning. Life is never completely smooth. Not accepting failure, not daring to admit mistakes and make improvements is truly terrifying. It will lead to a terrifying crisis. Therefore, you need to teach your child to admit their mistakes. When you are wrong, admit it in front of your child and apologize to them. Be practical, rather than just theoretical, so that your child will understand. Facing failure leads to successful progress. And never create fake victories for your child to temporarily soothe them. It does not build resilience in the child, but only solves the situation momentarily. This will make the child afraid of losing, afraid of making mistakes, and obsessed with winning. Teaching children to accept failure and to acknowledge their own weaknesses or mistakes is the right way to educate them about fairness.

Listen before speaking

Learning to listen is more difficult than learning to speak. Speaking harshly to children is an example for them to learn about the weakness of listening in adults. When they grow up, they will use this approach to communicate with us. You also need to listen to your child and show respect. From there, your child will learn this characteristic. When your child speaks out, interrupts, let them finish their sentence, and then suggest that they listen to others without interrupting. The way people compete to speak, to shout louder to make others quiet, does not solve anything. Teach your child the value of listening.

Self-care

We love and care for our children, but we should not deprive them of their independence. Teaching children to take care of themselves is the way for them to be independent, to be able to handle any situation. A child growing up in a protective bubble is like nurturing sheep enclosed by a fence, they lack the necessary skills to take care of themselves because they think the fence can protect them from all dangers. Sheep rely on the fence and lose their vigilance for subtle sounds like the footsteps of a wolf. We cannot always be with our children, so we need to think about the situation when that fence is broken. At that time, the child will suffer greatly. When children are sick, it does not mean that they just lie there watching TV, using iPads… to be taken care of, but instead, give them the opportunity to move, play, participate in taking care of themselves such as fetching water to drink, peeling an already-prepared orange to eat, reporting to mother when they feel better… And let the child know that exercise will make them recover faster. Let the child have a role in their own lives. That’s how children will learn to take care of themselves and others.