Is it not sometimes that the toys we carefully buy, the baby is not interested in the slightest, but he likes plastic bags, garbage cans, and brooms very much. Children's enthusiasm for "housework" is far greater than we think, especially when children will go, they like to imitate the behavior of adults, participate in housework activities, and find a "sense of existence" in the family, which also enables children to adapt to the country, region, culture and develop adaptability faster.
Education is not to teach children skills, but to enable children to live independently and normally like adults, and to integrate into their own environment. You need to be able to dress and eat by yourself, you can clean your own home when it is dirty, and the plants in your home can't die...
Helping children live independently is exactly what we call respecting children: truly treating children as an independent and equal individual, and helping children live confidently.
Many parents will feel that the child is so young, let him do "housework" is simply a help, and anyway, when he grows up, he will naturally do it, why do it now. Or spending so much money to go to Montessori Garden, is it to let the children clean the table, wash the dishes, and mop the floor?
In fact, in these daily life activities, children are always using their own bodies and hands to experience, and what they gain is not only life skills, self-care ability, but also:
independence
Physiological independence leads to the development of independence of thought. Can't underestimate this point
self-assurance
Self-confidence is not built from praise from others, but from children who find themselves capable of accomplishing something and get a much greater sense of accomplishment.
Focus
Concentration is the ability to immerse oneself in one thing without being disturbed by the outside world, and is a state of unity of mind and body. In this state, the heart is at peace, content with pleasure, and a sense of accomplishment. At the same time, concentration is the key to the success of children's learning and work, and plays a vital role in the child's life.
sociality
For example, we can invite a child to arrange a fruit plate, we cut it, he will put it, and enjoy it with the family. In this way, I not only learned to cooperate with others, but also experienced sharing.
Movement development
0-6-year-old children are in a sensitive period of motor development, "housework" not only helps children develop big movements, but also develops fine movements, hand-eye coordination and so on. For example, having a child pour water not only practices the strength of the wrist, but also the action of grasping the finger (three-fingered tongs) also prepares for future writing.
Logical thinking skills
In the process of doing it, the child needs to think about the correct steps, such as scraping glass, spraying water - glass scraping - towel rubbing, the child will internalize this decomposition step into their own problem-solving thinking mode...
In a survey of the status of family education conducted by the Chinese Academy of Education Sciences on more than 20,000 parents and 20,000 primary school students across the country, it was found that the proportion of children with excellent grades was 86.92% in families where children did housework, while the proportion of children with excellent grades was 3.17% in families that believed that "as long as they studied well, they could do housework or not".
So how should we guide our children to do "housework"?
Provide activities for children according to age and ability from simple to difficult;
Before the child does it, give him a simple, clear, consistent demonstration;
Complete it with your child in the early stages, or decide which part of the activity you are involved in based on the difficulty of the activity;
Allowing imperfection, he may have chopped the eggs very badly, but this is all valuable process;
Give affirmation.
The hand is the second brain of the human being, which achieves a higher level of intelligence through hand activity.
--- Maria Montessori