The Best Teacher to your Children
Guiding Them through those Learning Years
Find out the importance of teaching your children through these 7 years and how to be the best teachers they could ever have! You will even learn a thing or teo yourself!
Being your child’s teacher is one of the core responsibilities as a parent. Knowledge enriches lives and broadens minds. It motivates us as humans as it is our duty towards ourselves to pursue knowledge regardless of its form – provided it is not harmful to one’s self or others.
Teaching your children does not necessarily mean sprawling yourself over algebra; helping out with a book report, (dictionary in one arm, thesaurus in the other); or playing duets on the piano. It can be much simpler.
Though it would help to be thoroughly involved in school and extra-curricular activities, as adults, there is a whole spectrum of knowledge that you acquire that you could very well pass on to your children.
In a general three-step guide, Prophet Muhammad advised parents to play with their children p to the age of seven; to teach them thereafter, until the age of 14; and to be their friend throughout the teenage years, until they reach 21.
Children between the ages of 7 to 14, demonstrate a strong ability to learn due to their natural curiosity towards their surroundings. As they also understand logic and their parents, as compared to when they were younger, this age-group is also able to quickly absorb new “lessons” with feisty interest. Active and stronger memories translate into a steep learning curve.
Leading by example
Children learn from you by you just being yourself. They tend to latch on to mannerisms, absorb language, and imitate behaviour in a way that can be quite frightening. At this age, looking up to someone is extremely important for a child who is looking forward to building his own identity.
Boys learn to take-after their fathers, being labeled as the man of the house when dad is not around; girls learn and grow close to their mothers.
Being a teacher by just being yourself is a wake-up call as parent to see if you are teaching your children the right things. This ranges from the food you eat to the way you dress; the way to treat your neighbours and how you respect the environment; the way you organize the house to personal spending habits; who you socialize with to anger management. Your attitude towards life and determination to pursue goals will also motivate your child for better or worse.
In order to be a good teacher to your child, seriously decide what they should learn and start learning them yourself. What traits would you like them to acquire?
Rather than preaching to your children, lead by example. Bring them on charity runs; spring clean the house together; visit the zoo and take interest in endangered animals.
Good deeds splatter on to children in this dynamic age-group. An important method of learning for them is by asking questions. Their questions that are logical and require logical answers. Be honest with them if you are not able to answer all their questions and always try to provide an avenue for both of you to search for answers together.
By modeling yourself as a good person, you will definitely be benefiting your children. Learning from you comes as naturally as asking “why?” to them. By being a good person too will be a tremendous positive boost to your own well-being.
Teaching through books and more
School is an important aspect of your child’s life - at this age, most of her attention is centred around school. Therefore, it is important to take notice of daily activities at school; keep up with the fluctuating grades; learn about their friends; and help with homework.
School is the essential learning ground for your children and you are there, as a parent, to make it as enjoyable as possible by providing the much-needed extra love and attention. Like it or not, you child’s future is already being molded by his attitude towards school. Picking up on his mindset would encourage him to grow and thrive positively throughout his learning life.
Sitting down through homework shows your children that you care about their achievements. The same goes for attending class dramas, football matches, baking cookies for the bake sale, and sitting in the audience throughout the spelling bee. Setting grounds for learning, books are a great avenue to start teaching your children. Do not feel you have to limit yourself to going through their text books alone. Books, the range of them, are companions for life. Read a book together and explore the hidden messages within the words. Find how both you are able to relate to the messages and how applicable they are in your daily lives.
Thinking outside the book is also something you should teach your child. Developing understanding of the real world as compared to what is in print is also important as only so many messages can be embedded per page. Teaching you child to think breeds responsibilities and smart decision making that she or he can carry with her throughout her life.
Letting your children teach you
You will actually find that by teaching your children, whether it is by going through schoolwork or walking through a grocery store, you learn a lot more than you bargained for. This would actually be the same case for children. Since they learn a lot from you, and you in turn learn a lot from teaching them, try taking the back seat for a change. Let your children teach you instead. Let them share their school lessons, or stories from the latest adventure series you bought them.
There is actually a whole new world worth of knowledge you can learn from your kids. Their generation and surroundings differ from yours when you were their age and learning a new or two will never hurt.
Learning from your children encourages two way communication. Communication strengthens the bond between children and parents and allows patches up holes in the generation gap. Your kids will also feel appreciated – and respected. Always listen to them and never demean your children no matter how trivial you find their thoughts or lessons.
By listening to their children, parents find that their kids grow up to be more confident and develop into mature young adults. Learning from you children helps develop their learning curve too. Knowing that they are being taken seriously and praised for sharing knowledge, a young mind is optimistic to learn new things every day.
Let knowledge be the guiding light
Imparting knowledge upon others is also required in Islam as it is known to be a provision for the afterlife. However, regardless of faith, being a good teacher to a child between the age of 7 to 14, is essential for the child’s development. At this age, children are eager to learn and new facts and findings are extremely intriguing.
Find that you do not have to sit down and lecture them for effective absorption results; you will find you are teaching them just by being their parent. However, parents too are the best teachers after the education system. Interest in their work encourages them to take an optimistic view-point on school. Communicating with children at this age, when they are still enthusiastic enough to listen to you, will promote strong growth and development that will act as a guiding light for many years to come.
