As a matter of fact, that even educated parents fail to understand child psychology and can’t play their due role in child’s upbringing, whilst the child desperately needs it.

Henceforth I have compiled research based findings of the renowned educational researchers on projected subject. This informative paper is essentially important for UNIVERSITY STUDENTS because shortly they are going to be associated in matrimonial life and indeed potential parentage.

Montessori approach:

Parents, who invested time and resources in the education of their young ones, are now reaping the benefits of their efforts and farsightedness.

According to Dr. Maria Montessori, each individual human being has an innate unique talent. To discover this unique talent that the child needs to be exposed to a variety of experiences. To achieve this end manipulative, multi-sensory and sequential material with a build in control of errors for all subject area and activities, should be prepared.

The greatness of human personality begins at the hour of birth and the very concept of teaching a tiny being seems strange

Education must be understood as help to the unfolding of a child’s inborn psychic powers with which they are gifted by nature.

Dr Montessori believed that the foundation of child personality lay down in the first three years of a child. All that we today is what we achieved in our formative years. The child absorbs from his environment but is not receptive to direct teaching.

Children learn with spontaneity and without getting tired.

In Montessori system, teacher task is passive. She prepares and arranges a series of motives for cultured activity in a special environment made for the child.

Traditional schools

Dr. Montessori says suppose a scientist doing research on butterflies was selected to a high post due to his research and was given an office. A box containing beautiful preserved dead butterflies fastened with pins were given to him. How would he feel? Would he be able to make an observation? Same in the case with teacher in interaction between two.

In the Montessori system

Table and chairs are light and portable and allow to the child to make himself comfortable and place his chair where he wants to, this means and external sign of liberty. Teacher must avoid dictating his will or arrest spontaneous activity.

In traditional system teacher pouring knowledge into the head of pupils. Here success lies in forced attention and power of rewards and punishment. She commands as she is strong. The child obeys as he weak. In the Montessori system she is not a teacher, she is the director, a loving person and an enlighten guide. She must purge (purify) herself of energy and pride.

True Montessori, schools are extension of home.

JEAN PIAGETS FOUR STEP THEORY

The four stages are:

1. Sensorimotor
2. Pre operational
3. Concrete operational
4. Formal operational

• Sensorimotor (0 to 2 years)

During this stage infant builds a world based on his desire for physical satisfaction. They began to engage in the organized activities in which they manipulate objects. The child progresses from the reflective stage to an exploratory one.

• Pre operational (2 to 7 years)

This stage contain to PIAGET can be sub divided into two stages.

1. Preconception sub phase (2-4 years)
2. Initiative sub phase (4 to 7 years)

During the pre-conceptual sub phase children investigates the environment and their role in it. This is also accompanied by a repaid increase in language. During the initiative sub phase (4 to 7 years) become less ego centric and more social as individual.

They start to model adult behavior and show first sign of cognition, by the time children reached the age of 5 years thinking a basically verbal. At this stage child can only deal with one concept at time.

• Concrete operational (7 to 12 years)

Mental representations imply (express indirectly) that the child is able to use symbols to carry out mental activities. Conservation implies that the child is now aware that length mass, weight and number and weight remain the same despite a change in appearance.  Serialization means that the child can arrange objects according to quantities dimensions e.g. weight, size etc.

• Formal operational (12+)

Three things characterize this stage first children examine all possible ways of solving a particular problem, second their thoughts are more deductive and third they deal with the future rather than now.

Suggestion and recommendations

• Children learn by observation how other person behave and not just being told how they are to behave.
• Children should be allowed to learn by touching and seeing things and thing rather than through lengthy lectures and narratives.
• Children should not give information. Information could be given to them in the form of hypothesis then they can investigate.
• If they are being taught about an airplane, a model of airplane should in the classroom.

CHILDERN MIS BEHAVIOR MUST BE NIPPED IN THE BUD

Spare the rod and spoil the child.

Give a piece of morsel in mouth but look through tiger’s eye

According to Dr. Stephen Scott, say nothing to children otherwise their mental growth will retard, let them free. Parents and teachers become subservient (submission) to children wishes.

• Anti-social behavior is the most enduring human traits after intelligence; you don’t grow out of it.
• Pressing the children when they are doing their homework, eating well, being notice to their brother and sisters.
• We are making very costly mistakes in ignoring the needs of children.
• The healthiest way to teach children is to motivate them from within rather than through treat or promised reward.
• This can be best way to get flow and positive state of mind.
• Haward Gardner believes that the main job of a teacher is to find out the strengths and weaknesses of a child and prepare a profile of these.

GENIUS CHILD

Many parents and teachers complain about the inattention, the lack of concentration and poor performance of a child. However, their traits are not sign of weakness.

• There is a lack of understanding between the trio the parent the teacher and the child.
• The parent and teacher have failed to explore the hidden potential within each child.
• The child inattention may be an attempt to escape from the situation, which is beyond his present stage, or he may simply be emotionally upset and thus unable to concentrate.
• The child’s basic temperament is inherent parents and teacher should understand that each child is an individual.

Dr. Arnold Gessel says.

A child’s personality is a product of slow and gradual growth. Don’t rush him, don’t compare him with others. Let him grow of his own.

• Parents who feel disturb at the average report of their child or who receives notes from their children’s school that their child is not up to the mark. Should not rebuke the child or feel down cast, but make an earnest effort to seek out the hidden intelligence in their child. Let your child live a happy free life even if he is not good at school.
• Encouragement decrease fear and ill feeling in the child.
• A time after cause when present see their child mind click to something he is interested in and then he devotes all his efforts to the activity.

BRUCE BARTON Says. When children are let free live a life of their own they have better chances of understanding themselves and their potential.

Abraham Lincoln’s mother never knew that her awkward clumsy looking child, who did not even know how to dress properly, would one day become America’s greatest president.

Who are ADD/ADH children?

It is important to understand why some children have shorter attention span then others and what can be done to help them.

ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder

ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder

Having short attention span could be due to neuro-biological reasons, caused due to some chemical imbalance in child’s brain. This is by birth and is hereditary in most cases. The condition could be managed through appropriate behavior both at school and at home.

Generally, in our environment, such children are branded as naughty, non-serious, destructive and are discouraged in every way. Parents and teachers do realize their talent in other areas, but their hyperactive and lack of attention is more prominent then their other strengths. As such falling grades in school, lack of confidence and growing demotivation in life are normal outcomes.

• While a child with attention deficit problems sustaining attention there are lines or activities of interest when he/she can intensively concentrate or hyperdoucs.
• When the child is not attentive to us or to the teachers. He is attentive to something else that is able to catch his/her attention

Children who are hyperactive with short attention span show following symptoms of AHD

1. Has difficulty in paying attention in most situations
2. Make careless mistakes in schoolwork
3. Doesn’t follow instructions well
4. Doesn’t task that require sustained mental efforts such as school homework
5. Has difficulty organizing tasks or activity
6. Forget to do his chores
7. Frequently lose toys books and cloths
8. Is forgetful in daily activities
9. Impulsively blurts out answers or interrupts
10. Has difficulty waiting his turn in conversation and games
11. Due to restlessness has difficulty sitting for long

All these symptoms are due to child’s neurological based temperament. He does it because that’s the way he is wired by nature.

Rather than understanding and dealing with the condition, he is hauled in a traditional way with physical punishment. Which does not work at all?

Punishment cannot alter his neurological wiring and the child has no idea how painful he has been to his parents and teachers.

It is vital to understand that an ADHD child is not so because of poor parenting or family environment, or friendship. It is not something he has learned from a bad boy in the neighborhood. It is psychological reaction to poor parenting.

This condition is a disorder, but it is not disorder in the sense of an illness or disease.

It is merely a difference in the same way as being left handed and therefore there is no cure for it.

Parents also notice the forgetfulness of their child, losing things, inability to organize his stuff, carelessness in homework, like adding instead of subtracting or Urdu letters in reverse doting.

These are considered as sign of child not being serious, intelligent, attentive etc. and when this is coupled with hyperactivity the child is branded as naughty and non-serious for life, being punished and shouted at all the time.

Boys are more likely to have ADHD then girls.

ADHD he inherited from either parent, father being the most likely case.

Parenting an ADHD child is a difficult experience and it goes on for life.

Example. Thomas Edison

Amjad Ali ( DIRECTOR Student Affairs )