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Bringing up brilliant babies
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``Mothers have to be trained not to behave negatively with their children. If you constantly tell them `You can! You can!', they will become confident enough to chart their own path through life.''
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Almost every apartment complex these days has its share of "child prodigies''. They might be little more than toddlers, but they are the pride of their parents.
Step into the house of one of these brilliant children, and you'll hear them recite Tirukkural couplets, see them point out the national flags of every land across the globe, and hear them correctly name the capitals of all the major countries.
There's no need for the parents of other children to be disheartened, for new findings indicate that almost all children can come up to "prodigy'' level.
Revathi Sankaran, TV personality and specialist in infant education, speaks to A. A. Michael Raj about bringing up children the right way.
INFANTS MAY seem to be sleeping most of the time, but they're far more intelligent and receptive than most adults imagine. They are eager to learn, and their learning capacity becomes greater when there's constant attention from parents.
``Mothers should speak to the child regularly, so that they absorb the patterns of speech. At four months, the child will stop everything and look at you when you speak,'' says Revathi.
``From three months onwards, the parents should start speaking to the child in the language they want it to learn, and that helps the young brain to develop. When the youngsters are six months old, they can recognise pictures and words,'' she added.
All this should be done in a patient, unhurried, loving manner, so that the child never feels pressured to come up to expectations. When it came to development of the infant brain, there was no difference between the children of the affluent and those of the poor.
``If a child is interested in one subject and does well in it, we try to persuade it to study other subjects as well. However, the confidence that a child gains in mastering one subject helps it to easily learn other subjects as well,'' she explained.
Revathi says that with the proper approach, a child can begin learning a language from three months onwards, gain encyclopaedic knowledge from six months, understand mathematics from nine months, and learn the basics of education within a year.
Children in international schools learnt to walk early, began reading books early, and could even have proficiency in four languages and be capable of playing a couple of musical instruments.
Was there any common method of education that parents should follow for their pre-school children? "There's no common method, and the system should suit the child. At three months, parents can show pictures on cards to their children, and speak to them about each. This develops the visual pathways of the brain,'' Revathi explained.
Talking normally, even to a very young child, helped it to gradually gain understanding of the cadence of normal speech. However, children preferred big and colourful pictures rather than printed words, so parents ought to introduce books a little later, but before the children went to school.
``Give them facts, not rules. Unfortunately, that's the opposite of what they do in school. Don't discourage the child by talking negatively about it. Never call it names, for this damages confidence'' ``Mothers have to be trained not to behave negatively with their children. If you constantly tell them `You can! You can!', they will become confident enough to chart their own path through life.''
Having appeared several times on TV programmes relating to infant education, Revathi had something to say to career women: "Working women feel they can't look after their children. However, it's enough if they pay full attention and speak to the children for five minutes a day.''
Were there such things as gifted children, we asked Revathi. "All children are gifted. We can make all children into geniuses. We can provide them the basic foundation, so that they can go ahead. It's important to have confidence and leave the child alone. I love helping children. My happiness is their happiness.''
It was important to kindle the interest of young children, in order to set them on the right path. Interest would create energy, boost the capacity for learning, develop the quality of fearlessness, engender the spirit of problem-solving, and thereby lead to success.
``Five-sixths of brain development in humans takes place from birth to the age of five. An infant can learn to read and do maths, between the ages of three and nine months. Talent is inborn... it is within us... we just have to develop it.''
Children who gained early proficiency in reading, writing and maths, tended to mature early, became confident enough to choose their own life partners, and boldly made career decisions.
Youngsters who did well in academics, found enough time for other activities, such as learning martial arts, singing and dancing.
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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