These are the points we covered in our presentation. Take this note as-is, edit it to suit your fancy, keep it, print it out, put it in your binder, just read it, ignore it. Whatever you want. Chances are if you actually came back to the website, you are interested in at least reading it over. The quotations are from Practical Education.
You shouldn’t let your child believe in knack or mystery: “we may show them, that, in reality, there is no knack or mystery in any thing, but that from certain causes certain effects will follow; that, after trying a number of experiments, the circumstances essential to success may be discovered ; and that all the ease and dexterity, which we often attribute to the power of natural genius, is simply the consequence of practice and industry”
Don’t get in the way of your child exploring or learning on their own. For example, if they reach for something, let them reach, don’t get it for them. Don’t push them to learn faster than they can; if they are crawling, do not push them to walk. They will progress at their own pace.
Don’t put delicate things in a child’s room. A child needs its own space to play without fear of breaking things. Keep your valuable or breakable things away from the child. Also keep potentially dangerous things away from a child, instead of telling it constantly not to touch it.
Don’t give children flashy toys. Don’t let a child have a toy for so long that they grow weary of it; take it away if they appear to be getting bored of it.
Decoration and prints for children should be of objects that are familiar to them, and should be to scale. It would confuse a child to see a mouse and giraffe represented as being the same height, and seeing the giraffe on its own is confusing enough if a child doesn’t see giraffes in real life. Edgeworth doesn’t think children should be bothered learning about things they won’t encounter in real life.
It is important to explain to a child “only so much... at a time as the [child] could understand without fatiguing their attention.”
Edgeworth says “no criminal is bound to accuse himself”, so we cannot expect a child to confess to doing something wrong. Accusing them, for this reason, is useless and just hurts the child’s feelings. She says “the mischief is done, we canot repair it. Because a glass is broken, we need not spoil a child, we may put glasses out of reach in future.” “If it should, however, happen that a child voluntarily comes to us with a history of an accident, may no love of goods or chattels, come in competition with our love of truth. An angry word, an angry look, may intimidate the child who has summoned all his little courage to make this confession.”
If a child is already set in their ways, they should be exposed to the evils of the world and bad influences in their everyday lives. At this point in their lives, they should realize that there are bad habits or action so they know what to avoid.
The key to making kids obedient is consistency. If you aren’t consistent with your rules, a child will find a way to navigate around or negotiate out of them. If you are consistent, they will make up their own reasons to do it, and will abide by the rules.
Edgeworth says books of mere entertainment should be used sparingly, and that a fantastical or delicate view on issues such as poverty, disease, and misery makes children ignore the real situation in the world.
You shouldn’t let your child believe in knack or mystery: “we may show them, that, in reality, there is no knack or mystery in any thing, but that from certain causes certain effects will follow; that, after trying a number of experiments, the circumstances essential to success may be discovered ; and that all the ease and dexterity, which we often attribute to the power of natural genius, is simply the consequence of practice and industry”
Don’t get in the way of your child exploring or learning on their own. For example, if they reach for something, let them reach, don’t get it for them. Don’t push them to learn faster than they can; if they are crawling, do not push them to walk. They will progress at their own pace.
Don’t put delicate things in a child’s room. A child needs its own space to play without fear of breaking things. Keep your valuable or breakable things away from the child. Also keep potentially dangerous things away from a child, instead of telling it constantly not to touch it.
Don’t give children flashy toys. Don’t let a child have a toy for so long that they grow weary of it; take it away if they appear to be getting bored of it.
Decoration and prints for children should be of objects that are familiar to them, and should be to scale. It would confuse a child to see a mouse and giraffe represented as being the same height, and seeing the giraffe on its own is confusing enough if a child doesn’t see giraffes in real life. Edgeworth doesn’t think children should be bothered learning about things they won’t encounter in real life.
It is important to explain to a child “only so much... at a time as the [child] could understand without fatiguing their attention.”
Edgeworth says “no criminal is bound to accuse himself”, so we cannot expect a child to confess to doing something wrong. Accusing them, for this reason, is useless and just hurts the child’s feelings. She says “the mischief is done, we canot repair it. Because a glass is broken, we need not spoil a child, we may put glasses out of reach in future.” “If it should, however, happen that a child voluntarily comes to us with a history of an accident, may no love of goods or chattels, come in competition with our love of truth. An angry word, an angry look, may intimidate the child who has summoned all his little courage to make this confession.”
If a child is already set in their ways, they should be exposed to the evils of the world and bad influences in their everyday lives. At this point in their lives, they should realize that there are bad habits or action so they know what to avoid.
The key to making kids obedient is consistency. If you aren’t consistent with your rules, a child will find a way to navigate around or negotiate out of them. If you are consistent, they will make up their own reasons to do it, and will abide by the rules.
Edgeworth says books of mere entertainment should be used sparingly, and that a fantastical or delicate view on issues such as poverty, disease, and misery makes children ignore the real situation in the world.
