Yet Another Benefit of Child-Directed Learning
A couple of nights ago, I was having a conversation with a co-worker (and fellow mom) about Taliesin's and Nathanael's Halloween costumes. I was telling her Nathanael is going to be a zompiraton (that's a combination of a zombie, pirate, and skeleton), and Taliesin is going to be a Phantom of the Opera magician. They've both been collecting parts for their costumes. Taliesin's idea includes a Phantom of the Opera mask, top had, black cape, and attaching cards and pieces of magic tricks to his magician's clothing. Nathanael's parts are more like body parts - a plastic heart, brain, and liver; not to mention plastic spiders and spider webs. My co-worker made the comment, "Kids always pull it together. Their ideas always come out right." We began discussing a little more about child-directed learning. I told her that's one reason why I'm a firm believer kids do not need to be pushed and prodded into learning. It will happen naturally. She agreed and added, "It's when we get to be an adult that we have the problems."
Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
What an intriguing statement. I, personally, believe it's because kids are taught out of their creativity. While they're little, it's cute to see their finger paintings and abstract drawings. But, as they age, we get this idea that we need to interfere with their learning. We need to teach them how to be creative in the right ways. As we do this teaching and training, they slowly lose their confidence in their ability. They slowly lose their ability to be an artist. By the time they're adults, they have the same mindset. Kids need to be taught the right way to learn.
I remember when I was growing up, because I had been taught the right way to learn, I never saw value
in nature studies. I remember going to the park and collecting leaves. I did not see the point. This was not real learning, after all. It was just collecting a bunch of leaves. Real learning looked a lot different. It came from a text book with a test attached to it.
I was just thinking tonight, I had a lot of Halloween costumes as a kid. And they were all very creative. But I cannot remember one of them being my idea. They were generally an adult's idea that I agreed to, so the adults spent time creating the costume to their vision. It's really just the way things were done in the generation I grew up in. But I do not want that for my sons. I want them to picture their own costumes, to find the accessories to create the costumes, to work on making their own costumes (of course, my husband and I are always available to help), and to enjoy the fruit of their reward as they wear that costume out in public, knowing that they are the ones responsible for it.
I don't want my sons to have their creativity forced from them. I want them to know that anything they want to learn about is worthwhile. The world is their classroom. They can explore, they can play, they can study, they can learn whatever they want using whatever methods seem good.
I want my sons to know they can remain artists, even when they grow up.
Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
What an intriguing statement. I, personally, believe it's because kids are taught out of their creativity. While they're little, it's cute to see their finger paintings and abstract drawings. But, as they age, we get this idea that we need to interfere with their learning. We need to teach them how to be creative in the right ways. As we do this teaching and training, they slowly lose their confidence in their ability. They slowly lose their ability to be an artist. By the time they're adults, they have the same mindset. Kids need to be taught the right way to learn.
I remember when I was growing up, because I had been taught the right way to learn, I never saw value
in nature studies. I remember going to the park and collecting leaves. I did not see the point. This was not real learning, after all. It was just collecting a bunch of leaves. Real learning looked a lot different. It came from a text book with a test attached to it.
I was just thinking tonight, I had a lot of Halloween costumes as a kid. And they were all very creative. But I cannot remember one of them being my idea. They were generally an adult's idea that I agreed to, so the adults spent time creating the costume to their vision. It's really just the way things were done in the generation I grew up in. But I do not want that for my sons. I want them to picture their own costumes, to find the accessories to create the costumes, to work on making their own costumes (of course, my husband and I are always available to help), and to enjoy the fruit of their reward as they wear that costume out in public, knowing that they are the ones responsible for it.
I don't want my sons to have their creativity forced from them. I want them to know that anything they want to learn about is worthwhile. The world is their classroom. They can explore, they can play, they can study, they can learn whatever they want using whatever methods seem good.
I want my sons to know they can remain artists, even when they grow up.
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