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Why teaching your child is like water slowly dropping on a stone

Some of us will admit that helping our children learn to read, write, do their times tables or pretty much anything learning related can feel like watching drops of water continuously fall onto a stone without any impact. Sometimes we get frustrated and want to give up or we try to quicken the flow, but this only leads to more confusion and frustration on the part of child. We soon realise that we have to return to drops of water ... drip...   drip...   drip...

"The constant dripping of water wears away a stone" - Lucretius
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Well, this is what children need to help them learn most effectively. The slow, but continuous drops of information allows the child process the information, make sense of it and make it their own. They are better able to retain what it is they are learning and make further connections that help deepen their understanding. This slow, but steady drops land on stones which are areas of difficulty in understanding, but eventually the stone gives way as they continue to receive the information.

 I know this to be true. I have seen it time and time again with the children I teach. Usually, it is the combination of drops of water from different sources that eventually cause the stone to break away! Doing a little, often, regardless of whether we feel it is landing on 'deaf ears' will eventually lead to a flow of understanding, bigger than we ever thought possible.

 "The constant dripping of water wears away a stone" is such a beautiful reminder that persistence and perseverance, with positive expectation eventually yields the results we long for. We must believe that the time spent helping our children learn and the knowledge that we continuously impart will have a significant impact on their learning.  
Just remember to adopt the same principle I've shared in other posts: 
Start early, go Slow or at their pace and Practise regularly!

See, I happily let the water drop slowly and regularly because I love to see when the stone breaks away. I look forward to that smile in their eyes, the uncontrollable leap for joy, the sigh of relief, the confidence that they can tackle more challenging problems, the excitement to show off what they've learnt, the eagerness to teach others and the desire to learn more that makes the next phase of learning easier. I love it so much that I have made it my mission to help children arrive at those moments. Let the water drop, watch the stone break away and the water flow through the crevice wherever it desires to go...it usually ends up in a stream of knowledge.

Learning is fun! Let's keep it that way 😎

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Comments

  1. crazynigerian21 November 2017 at 14:50

    Very wise words and good food for thought. The temptation is usually to rush learning but children (and adults) learn at varying paces. Keep the tap flowing :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Learn tree21 November 2017 at 15:02

    Thank you @crazynigerian. I'm glad you found it useful and yes you are right that it applies to adults as much as it does to children! We will keep the tap flowing :-D

    ReplyDelete

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