My son learning to grab the camera

Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long!  I spent most of May in the Netherlands to let my son have some time with his grandparents, and while I had planned to keep updating the blog, there was always something else to do.

But rest assured, I’m back in Singapore now and you can expect regular updates of this blog again.

One of the things that struck me about my parents (as compared to most Asian grandparents) is the way they play with an 8-year old child.

I liked the fact that they let my son go totally according to his interests. If he was crawling around and wanted to pull him up somewhere, they let him go about it, not particularly helping him, just making sure he wouldn’t fall too hard or wound himself on sharp edges. If he showed interest for a particular toy, they let him play with that toy, perhaps showing him different aspects of it (look, this can make noise too!).

Asian grandparents seem to be more likely to impose a certain routine on the child. They can easily tell an 8-month old child:

“Let’s play. Here are the letters of the alphabet in wood. Let’s spell your name with it and go through it letter by letter.”

In my eyes, all an 8-month old child will want to do with wooden letters is put them in his mouth and see what sound the make if smacked on the floor. Leave a child free to choose and it will learn intently and intensely. I’ve seen my son pull himself up and sit down again incountable times over the past weeks. Seen him watching babyTV intently. Seen him listening to music and shaking his head while enjoying it. But impose what the baby should learn, and learning slows down.

While one baby may be more intense than the other, I believe everyone is born with an innate curiosity and willingness to learn. For many, constantly being told by others what is important and how to go about learning it has killed the desire to learn new things. As we grow up, we are taught the habit to prioritise learning. Music is nice, but mathematics is really more important. Mandarin and English are indispensible languages, but if you want to learn ancient Greek it’s considered a ‘hobby’, or worse, a waste of time.

Of course, it makes sense to eventually consider that there are more job openings for accountants than for musicians. But at the same time, let us put more weight on what innately interests us. It’s simply easier to get really good at it!