Our strongest advice on this subject is do not test your child. Babies love to learn but they hate to be tested. In that way they are very like grown-ups.
Testing is the opposite of learning.
It is full of stress.
To teach a child is to give him a delightful gift.
To test him is to demand payment in advance.
The more you test him, the slower he will learn and the less he will want to.
The less you test him, the more quickly he will learn and the more he will want to learn.Knowledge is the most precious gift you can give your child. Give it as generously as you give him food.
What is a test?
In essence it is an attempt to find out what the child doesn't know. It is putting him on the spot by saying, "Can you tell the answer to your father?"
It is essentially disrespectful of the child because he gets the notion that we do not believe he can learn unless he proves that he can over and over again.
The intention of the test is a negative one - it is to expose what the child does not know.
The result of testing is to decrease learning and the willingness to learn. Do not test your child and do not allow anyone else to do so either.
Well what is a mother to do? She does not want to test her child, she wants to teach him and give him every opportunity to experience the joy of learning and accomplishment.
Therefore, instead of testing her child she provides problem-solving opportunities.
The purpose of a problem-solving opportunity is for the child to be able to demonstrate what he knows if he wishes to do so.
We will discuss different ways of presenting problem-solving opportunities when we discuss how to teach your child to read, to gain encyclopedic knowledge, and to learn mathematics in the following chapters.
- Glenn Doman
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