Kids can be 'enriched' at home too

[tamarind]

lovebearsallthings:

I still maintain that a child will one day, be able to recognise words and all that, learning it earlier or later may not be much difference, but to me the difference is in inculcating LIFELONG learning and the PASSION for learning and doing things.

I totally agree with you. I remember that when I was in P1, teachers only started to teach A,B,C. My generation still came up with many doctors/lawyers/engineers etc.

It is very important to me to make sure that my kids have the passion for learning. But I worry that the high standards set by primary schools nowadays may \"turn off\" their passion. Primary schools seem to be more concern about turning out A/A* students, then cultivating the passion for learning.

lovebearsallthings:

Yes, the kid in the newspaper article seems to be doing a lot of things, but maybe she enjoys it. That, to me, is more important than anything. Some children I know actually ASKS to go for these classes.

Actually I am curious what is the \"real reason\" Victoria Ong \"asks to attend all these classes\". Could it be that when she is at home, she is constantly nagged by her mommy to study all the time ? So she figures she is better off attending those classes than facing mommy at home.

Or her mommy does not bring her anywhere else other than enrichment classes. So she asks to go for so many classes so that she can get out.

This is something I don't understand, because my kids always can find a lot of things to play with at home. They are only allowed to watch at most 1 hour of TV a day. The rest of the time they play with their toys or think up imaginary games to play. There was once I wanted to sign my girl up for a dance class, she immediately refused. I asked my boy whether he wants to attend piano classes, he also said \"NO\". I am happy with that, because I also have limited funds and 2 kids !

[mstan]

I would like to say "pls let the kids enjoy their childhood life"… "Don’t torture the kids just for the sake of your face"…"What’s so good to brag abt how clever your kids are? No one will envy but only pity them"…

[tamarind]

Actually I think it is natural for any parent to be proud of their kids' ability.


The effect of bragging is actually to scare other parents into putting their kids into more enrichment classes :lol:

[ChiefKiasu]

While it is good and nice to get a child to buy into doing an enrichment course, the question is how does the child know what his preferences are to make his decision when he has never experienced it himself? All children love to have fun. The way enrichment classes work is to try to inject fun and excitement into the activities so as to keep the kids interested while teaching concepts. How do children learn to do more serious things if everything must be fun before they do it?


And what if the child says NO only midway through the course? Do you stop the course immediately? Would that not signal to the child that it is ok to give up when things get tough?

These are the questions that keep me awake at night

[mintcc]

just to digress abit … all this talk about parents "being proud of the children’s ability"reminds me of the Shi fu and his student Tai Lung in the movie "Gongfu Panda."


Shi fu is very proud of Tai Lung whom he train from infancy because Tai Lung show promising talent in martial art. He encourage the ability but tai lung wanted Dragon’s scroll so that he can become even more powerful and eventually become a villian angry at his master and benefactor for not giving him the scroll. Near the end of the show, Shi Fu apologise to Tai Lung saying that he have always been proud of Tai Lung’s ability but his pride for his student had blind him to what Tai Lung grew to become and did not notice it until it is too late.

Well, I feel the moral of the story is that it is equally if not more important to cultivate good values and a stong character that is not blinded by pursuit of greed and power.

In the end, many have fallen (and bring others down with them) dispite of their academic supremacy and ability because they ignore what is right and wrong in their pursuit of wealth and power and other personal gratification. Financial scandals like Enron and NKF are just a few examples of smart people who go down the wrong path.

[tamarind]

mincy,

Thanks for sharing the nice story Totally agree with you about cultivating good values and strong character.

ChiefKiasu:

While it is good and nice to get a child to buy into doing an enrichment course, the question is how does the child know what his preferences are to make his decision when he has never experienced it himself? All children love to have fun. The way enrichment classes work is to try to inject fun and excitement into the activities so as to keep the kids interested while teaching concepts. How do children learn to do more serious things if everything must be fun before they do it?

And what if the child says NO only midway through the course? Do you stop the course immediately? Would that not signal to the child that it is ok to give up when things get tough?

These are the questions that keep me awake at night

We have a small electronic musical keyboard at home, my kids are free to play with it any time they want. But my boy does not want to go for any piano lessons. I think to him, playing piano at home is fine, but sitting in a class to learn is \"not nice\". I am glad that he indicates his preference clearly, I would be in distress if I paid a few hundred dollars for his piano class and halfway he said he \"don't want already\".

But then he also said that his Berries Chinese class is \"not fun\", because he thinks that learning Chinese is difficult. But that is non-negotiable :lol:

[kaitlynangelica]

Hee hee…my gal also said her phonics not fund and will give all kinds of excuses not to go. But that is also non-negotiable cos she k1 liao and still cannot read. After the phonics class ( about 2 months ) can now read 2 and 3-letter words.

[jedamum]

ChiefKiasu:

While it is good and nice to get a child to buy into doing an enrichment course, the question is how does the child know what his preferences are to make his decision when he has never experienced it himself? All children love to have fun. The way enrichment classes work is to try to inject fun and excitement into the activities so as to keep the kids interested while teaching concepts. How do children learn to do more serious things if everything must be fun before they do it?


And what if the child says NO only midway through the course? Do you stop the course immediately? Would that not signal to the child that it is ok to give up when things get tough?

These are the questions that keep me awake at night

Your questions in bold, my answers, \"Exactly!\"

Some kids (and even adults) are afraid to venture into unknown grounds, and will strongly resent going for extra classes when you brought up the issue to them. The fact is that they do not know what is in store for them, so they prefer to shut them out and remain status quo.
My boy resent going for his swimming lessons when I first enrolled him. Through many reassurance and some lessons later, he started to enjoy them. But as the students need to change instructors as they progress through different stages of learning, the first day of his third term, he cried and asked me to withdraw him immediately. Did I give in to his request? No...as I know very well his reason of wanting to withdraw even before he told me. Now, a month into the 3rd term and he is thanking me that I did not withdraw him as he enjoys swimming class very much.

As to 'will i stop the course halfway if the going gets tough', the answer is that i will only stop if the teacher/environment/curriculum is unsuitable for my boy. As I enrolled my boy in mostly basic and necessary enrichment (eg academic and life-saving skills ie swimming) - at the moment, I believe that these are essential courses that he needs to go through whether he likes it or not.

[tamarind]

kaitlynangelica:

Hee hee...........my gal also said her phonics not fund and will give all kinds of excuses not to go. But that is also non-negotiable cos she k1 liao and still cannot read. After the phonics class ( about 2 months ) can now read 2 and 3-letter words.

I think english and chinese enrichment classes are definitely non-negotiable. Where to find kids who will say that they like to study ?

But anything other than that, I totally respect my kid's choice. Then when he grows up and ask me \"Mommy why you never let me learn piano\", then I can say \"You say you don't want mah !\" Good way to save money too.

[lovebearsallthings]

You are right that most of the enrichment classes are very ‘fun’. The intent (I hope) is to make learning ‘fun’, and whilst it is still ‘fun’, to expose the children and let them absorb as much as possible.


I start by asking my child first if this is what he wants. I try to tell him that once you start a class, you will have to stick to it, especially when it’s something that he asks for. I hope he understands what I’m saying, because he seemed to agree with me!

In future, I will probably just ask him to choose one thing to learn first, for instance, musical instrument or taekwando (just an example). I will try to tell him that once you decide on it, try to stick to it. Of course, if I find that it is disrupting his school-life / overall well-being, then I will probably have to make the move to pull him out after he has tried hard enough.

You know as parents, we are always in a dilemma. Do you enrol your child in something that he/she is good at and loves (for instance, music), or something which you know he/she is less developed in?