Teaching logic by allowing kids to experience life and mistakes

As a mother of growing children, I do struggle with how to teach my children logic. When I turned to my own mother, I was told that children will eventually learn logic on their own as they grow.

I tried to remember how it was when I was young, growing and learning logic. It was not an easy task to remember, however, I do recall that no amount of being told alone would make me learn or believe. It is only by participating and learning from my own mistakes that I learned logic. I believe that the child must participate in the process of learning logic. Self-experiencing is crucial to become self-learned.

The best thing I can do to help my child is provide opportunities to discover how to solve problems. I let them see the consequences of their own actions and learn from them. Where I play my part is explaining to them how they can learn from their actions. This is not as easy task. My first instinct is to protect them, even from their own mistakes. I believe this is the normal reaction of every parent. I have had to physically restrain myself from preventing my children from making mistakes. I have to constantly remind myself that if I take away the opportunity for my children to make mistakes, then I am also taking away the opportunity for my children to learn.

Another thing I have to physically restrain myself from doing is getting angry with my children for their foolishness. As an adult, it is easy for us to see a response to a situation using our common sense and logical thinking. It is easy to avoid making mistakes but we need to remind ourselves that our children have not had the years of experience to realise this. Again, here I struggle endlessly and constantly remind myself not do it.

Finally, I believe in being a good example for my children. I can also share with them what I am learning. I encourage my children to think of the consequences of what they say or hear. As a parent, I have many opportunities for this; however, I have to learn to be alert to these opportunities. It was tough in the beginning but after doing it for a while, it becomes a part of my routine interaction with my children.

Honestly, I am unsure I am doing the right thing teaching my children logic but I know that as an adult I appreciate all my parents did for me, to let me grow and learn logic at my own pace. I am adamant to let my children learn the same way, being conscious about it only allows me to be more prepared to assist my children when the need arises. The only other thing to do is to pray that I am indeed doing it the best way.

Ng Cynthia