Parents, heed

Parents can do what teachers, schools or training programmes cannot, learns Maithreyi M R at a workshop for parents by Geniekids

Intelligence is not singular, as most parents and teachers believe, but plural in nature. Each child is intelligent in his or her own way, and the idea is to encourage the child to excel in his or her field of interest. Sadly the society, of which the school is an essential part, treats certain interests as more important than others. But what more can be expected of a school that caters to hundreds and thousands of children, and functions on popular needs? If there is anyone who can pay attention to the individual interests of children, it is the parents themselves. How can parents act? This formed the thrust of the workshop organised exclusively for parents by GenieKids Learning Resources in Bangalore recently.

“Most parents recognise that they should cater to the different interests of their children. But they do so by sending their children to special workshops or programmes. Instead they should discover ways of doing it themselves,” believes Rathnesh Mathur of GenieKids. So at the session he presented a brief sketch of various learning methods and strategies that parents could follow back in their own homes to expose their children to multiple intelligences. 

The idea is to ask “How is my child intelligent?” rather than “how much is he intelligent?” That will pave the beginning for helping children discover their interests, believes Mathur. But most parents take the safe choice, in the fear of ‘missing the bus’. “That is where I object. From the age-group of 2 to 12 years, the focus must be on the all-round development of the child,” Mathur adds emphatically. One of the parents at the workshop, quite rightly wondered, “but how many can afford this,” that is teach the child through the child’s own intelligence.

However, what the session aimed to focus was just this: Given a situation, how would you use it to enable your child to approach or engage with the situation in more ways than one. In doing so, the parent will not only be harnessing the multiple intelligence of the child but also discovering the child’s special interest. 

Some of the activities Mathur engaged the parents with were not only interesting but very plausible in home environments. Also it was a reminder for the parents that they cannot always expect the school, teachers or special workshops and training camps to make their child an achiever. Home is where the first school is.