Teachable moments
Sometimes, I think I’ve got a hang of what parenting is about, then something happens to throw me off balance and make me realise that I’ve not started my journey and there’s quite a lot to learn.
It’s an awesome responsibility to be given custody of children and to help determine how well they turn out in life. This task can sometimes be overwhelming and you often wonder where exactly to start from. There are so many things I want to teach my children. But how do I start? How do I go about teaching the basic values of life?
I’d like my children to be well read, be informed about their environment and be good conversationalists. I’d like them to have good manners, treat people fairly and also have decorum. There are so many social graces I would like them to learn. Each day, I discover newer things I want to teach.
If you have younger children, this might seem like a tough feat to accomplish. Your children’s concentration span is so short and you had better to know how to compress your messages into five minutes or less. If you have older children, they are either not interested or have better things to do than to engage in these conversations. What then do you do? What is the best way to teach children basic essentials of life?
The answer is to seize teachable moments. Even as an adult, you realise that you don’t always want to be in a classroom, you’ll rather read for leisure than for an exam. You would rather, that learning was done in a comfortable environment; this is the same with children. They don’t always want to be in a classroom. In fact, all they really want to do is play and have fun. But they can’t play all the time; there are lessons to be learnt. For this to be achieved, you need to seize these teachable moments that come our way several times during the day.
These moments are times that come up when it’s a good time to pass a message across. Maybe you’re going in the car, and your child wants to know why a bus driver is driving a certain way. That’s a teachable moment. It gives you an avenue to teach about comportment and proper behaviour. What if you are watching a movie and your child makes an observation, that is a teachable moment. It’s a good time to teach about the essence of the movie and what life lessons can be learnt from it.
These moments don’t come outright screaming that they are available, but they spring up many times during the day. The good thing about these teachable moments is that you have an opportunity to pass a message or teach a lesson, without looking like that’s what you’re doing. This type of learning is fun, without pressure and easily accepted. It usually leads to more lessons, because questions are often asked which leads to more questions.
One of the best advantages of this mode of learning is that these lessons stick better because they have a point of reference. It’s easy to remember manners when you remember the scenario that led to the example. Children learn better when there’s a point of reference.
Seize the teachable moments of your life and you will be amazed at how much you will pass across.
Email: sola_agudah@yahoo.com
Blog: mummysheart.org
By: OLUSOLA OGUCHE-AGUDA