Friday, April 18

curious

There are lots of curious people around this house, but Aaron is by far the winner of the label "most curious" and I suppose that is appropriate, given his age and development. I'd probably be quite concerned if he did not have the desire to explore and touch and smell and learn.

My parents did a great job teaching me how to learn, and as Aaron grows, I want to make sure he continues to have a healthy sense of curiosity - one that drives him to find the answers to his questions. Any of you experienced people have any great suggestions? How do you teach a child to be inquisitive??

And speaking of inquisitive, we've got a new poll going on our sidebar. Be sure to vote!!

4 comments:

Shelldell said...

Children are courious, and reading to them, taking them for walks, playing with them can stimulate this even more. Asking him questions will teach him how to ask questions.
I found Bible Study Fellowship ask great questions, questions that I wouldn't even think to ask. They have a great childrens program geared to children in helping them ask questions and find answers.
My Son in Law and oldest daughter sold educational books for the summer the first year they were married "called I wonder why? series, from southwestern. I bought a used set from the Goodwill.
You might be able to find some on half.com or ebay or a garage sale.
My girls went to the library almost every week.
And I dragged them to every museum.Watch out when they do start to ask questions, it's non stop and you wish they wouldn't ask questions all the time.
Love, Shelley

Rachel said...

Michael is at the age where he asks questions ALL.THE.TIME. There are times that I am mentally tired but I don't want to discourage the questions that he so "desperately" needs the answers to :). He is one of these kids that doesn't want the short and simple answer. We have to give him every detail possible before he's remotely satisfied.

The person who commented above hit on so many wonderful areas to develop a broader range of curiosity. By exposing them to all kinds of things, they will (hopefully) want to know more about the world that they live in and the God Who created it.

I'm constantly showing things to Michael and asking him questions. When I'm doing a household "chore", I have him help me with it. I love to talk about God's creation, the beauty of it and how things "work". I don't have lots of parental experience but I love to learn about new things and hope to pass that on to my children.

You are such a balanced mother who wants the best for your kiddos. Aaron and this next little person are so very blessed to have a mom who cares about how and what they learn. :)

Unknown said...

I think the best way to foster inquisitiveness is to be inquisitive yourself and to constantly dialogue with your child during the day. Exposure to new things and reading lots of books is good too. I also think they'll naturally start questioning developmentally as their verbal and thinking skills improve.

Those are pretty generic suggestions, sorry. Distracted by crying and the sunny day. :)

Richelle Wright said...

I often try not to answer questions, but guide my crew to find the answer themselves.

So, if I'm asked a "Why" question - I hand the question right back to them: "First, you tell me, why do you think...?" and "Well, how do you think we can figure out the answer?" And then we go solve the mystery together - even if it is a path I've already learned. I want my crew not only to be inquisitive, but to be life-long learners.

I also think modeling a style of learning is important - our children see us reading tons of different things from many different genre - and we pass them along to them, as is age appropriate.