Show HOW PARENTS CAN HELP HELP CHILDREN IN THEIR STUDIES GUIDE AND STIMULATE THEM MOTHERS MOTHERS AND FATHERS ADVISES NOTED EDUCATOR ADOPT A MIDDLE COU COURSE BETWEEN DOING NOTHING FOR THE LEARNER AND DOING EVERYTHING FOR HIM 1 By M. M L V. V OSHEA Professor of Education University of Wisconsin Hero Here is a a. typical t example of the way many parents help their children in their school work A boy 10 years of a ago aco o cn engaged in writing a n. little essay which h had been assigned od as a home task wished to use the tho word U ordinary arYH It It t seemed scorned a littie little lit lit- tie tic strange to him and he ho had got ot into the habit of always asking t for a assist anco whenever ho he came to anything new either in spelling ri or in any other study study So he called caned out to his hill mother How flow do you spell ordinary The m mother ther spoiled spelled it it for him and he wrote it down as she dictated it She Shedid Shedid Shedid did not ask alk him to make an effort to spell spen it himself After she had bad spoiled spelled it she did not require him to spell spoil it after her Sho ahe made mado no test to see whether he really learned the word or whether he had simply written it mechanically in order ardor to get ot through h with the special task taM in hand It Is practically certain that ho did cUd not learn to spoil spell It because he was not in a learning frame of ot mind He simply wanted to b be helped out of his present difficulty and he ho was utterly indifferent to a a. possible future need in in regard to this same word I In this same sarno respect t he was entirely natural Nature does not make mako an untrained untrained un un- un trained child hild anxious about future needs If a child on his hie own initiative wore were constantly thinking of future needs and learning what help him to meet these needs he be would cease to tobe tobe tobe be a child Th The difference between an nn untrained and undeveloped child and one ono who is isI well trained and well wen developed lies I mainly in the fact that the latter is i conSciOus conscious con con- of future needs and J plans laris to meet them while the former is concerned only with the situations immediately be bOo fore foro him If he can got get out of ot a a. present difficulty he is satisfied ho does not consider that tho the difficulty may arise ariso a agin agi iri and ho he had best bost be prepared to meet it The Tho chief m work rk in education is 18 to develop what we call thoughtfulness or foresi foresight ht in children To return to tho boy receiving help in spoiling spelling ordinary The parents i in that home always do the work for this boy whenever he asks them for aid He flo frequently brin brings s homo home tasks from the school chool as 38 he should do because the typical ty ty- child cannot do all aU tho the work that ho ought to do durin during durinE tho school hours When a b boy 7 has baa reached the age ago of ot 10 o ho he should have at least a half hour of work at home every evening provided pro pro- iro- iro vided he ho does not acquire bad mental habits In doing it Unfortunately this particular arU boy is fast acquiring mental habits which will win handicap him heavily later on That is I to say he heia is not learning to help himself him him- self at least so far as his hie work at homo home is is eon concerned I His nis parents either do not want to take tako the tho time to make him self hel helpful i or they do not know how to do it Possibly Pos Poe sibly they want to relieve him from tho the strain and aDd stress etress of solving his own dim Many parents feel fel that they serve their children best when whon they boar bear their school burdens for thorn thom But suppose when this method waif asked by her boy for bor assistance in spelling spelling spell spell- in ing ordinary sh she had r required him hirn to spell each syllable which ho could have done In a a. qU quarter of a minute sho she could ha have vo led Jed him him to spell thai that tha l word largely on his own initiative If shuo shue had followed this method whenever tho the boy asked d her for tor assistance in spelling sho she could soon COOn havo trained him BO so that ho wouldn't need to ask for assistance Whom When he came camo to a 8 new wor word he would break it up into syllables and he would thus thu be able to spell pell most at any rate of the tho words he be would noe need neco to use If the mother could make use UBa of this method for several years year the iho would 1 train him to bo DO self self But when she simply does the for tor him she ho neither teaches him nor develops develops de de- de- de hurl him In tho the way of solving his bis own problems Tho Time inference should hould not be drawn from what has haa been said parent should do nothing for his child hild Occasionally Occa Occa- one finds a parent who when a achild achild achild child asks for help in solvin solving a problem lem icon will say ay Do it yourself Often a child keeps working away at a problem lem lem which he cannot possibly solve because be be- cause he ho has not been trained properly To to such Buch child thUd YDo Do say a a. IlD It tr yourself Is often to him him ana antI and to cause him to waste time There Thore is a middle course between doin do do- in trig ing nothing for the tho learner lea Inert am arid doing everything for him This middle course couro is to cause him by appropriate questions to take the n necessary y steps to help him him- self This is really what teaching means whether it bo be in tho the ho home p por or in inthe inthe inthe the school Telling is not teaching and refusing to give any 3 assistance is not teaching But to guide and stimulate the learner leamer learn learn- er or so that he can work his own way through problems IS teaching |