7 ways: Motivating learning in young children 3
Part 1
7 ways: Motivating learning in young children (part 3 )
6. Risk: believe it or not children need to learn how to take risk – calculated risk. By this I mean that they have to be willing to fail and most importantly – how to deal with and overcome the fear of failure.
It is a basic human nature, to fear failure. Why, because failure means lose, a cost and a price. No one likes to fail – that is just the way it is. But in children, the fear of failure nurtures a desire not to try, to attempt, or to excel.
We all do, adults just like children – we fear failure so we avoid doing anything we think we will fail at. We have to teach children how to learn from mistakes, how to manage mistakes in order not to fear mistakes. There is a saying: it is better to have loved and loss than to have not loved at all. The same goes for life, except we call it missed opportunities; I could have, should have, but I didn’t.
If kernel Sanders of Kentucky fried chicken: if he would have given up after his first failed attempt – he would have never been a success. It is said that he had tried and failed 1009 times before he was able to sell his secret recipe.
It is a basic human nature, to fear failure. Why, because failure means lose, a cost and a price. No one likes to fail – that is just the way it is. But in children, the fear of failure nurtures a desire not to try, to attempt, or to excel.
We all do, adults just like children – we fear failure so we avoid doing anything we think we will fail at. We have to teach children how to learn from mistakes, how to manage mistakes in order not to fear mistakes. There is a saying: it is better to have loved and loss than to have not loved at all. The same goes for life, except we call it missed opportunities; I could have, should have, but I didn’t.
If kernel Sanders of Kentucky fried chicken: if he would have given up after his first failed attempt – he would have never been a success. It is said that he had tried and failed 1009 times before he was able to sell his secret recipe.
7. Consequence: everything in life has a consequence – good or bad, we only use this word when we relate it to bad outcomes. Good or bad – your actions have consequences, it’s just that simple. Children need to learn that the consequence of doing ‘good’ is a good outcome, a reward, prosperity. The consequence of doing bad, doing wrong, failure to do your best – may and often does result in a price you may not want to pay.
While life has a bad habit of throwing monkey wrenches into the works and making a mess of all our hard work – the principal is still true: there are consequences to your actions.
On average, the person who does the right things, proper things, works hard, saves, plans – that person usually finds good satisfactory results (consequence). On the other hand, the person who waits, procrastinates, fails to plan, doesn’t work, fails to save – that person usually finds that things go wrong (consequence).
Without this knowledge of consequence, it’s hard for a child to desire to do much of any good.
While life has a bad habit of throwing monkey wrenches into the works and making a mess of all our hard work – the principal is still true: there are consequences to your actions.
On average, the person who does the right things, proper things, works hard, saves, plans – that person usually finds good satisfactory results (consequence). On the other hand, the person who waits, procrastinates, fails to plan, doesn’t work, fails to save – that person usually finds that things go wrong (consequence).
Without this knowledge of consequence, it’s hard for a child to desire to do much of any good.
The apostle Paul wrote in the bible: he who doesn’t work, doesn’t eat. We now live in a world that teaches kids that it’s ok to do whatever you want because there is no punishment. You fail a test, fail school - don’t worry. You act crazy, fight, can’t get along with others and lose your job – don’t worry. The response to everything people do is: don’t worry. That could be why so many people simply do not care about anything in life – it’s that ‘don’t worry' attitude.
Comments