L is for Learning

Note: In the post two days ago, I introduced the concept of C.L.A.P. for kids -- an acronym that gives me some structure as I try to raise kids who are worthy of applause. Yesterday, I focused on the "C" which is for chores. Today, I'll go into a little more depth on the L part of the acronym...

Learning! Man, if only that was on my to-do list, I would do it all day long. I absolutely LOVE the thrill of finding out something new and exciting. Heck, it's such an addiction for me, I even settle for discovering dull, boring, run-of-the-mill stuff. (It helps that I'm rather forgetful -- things feel fresh to my brain even if it's more on the stale side).

Anywho, unfortunately, for some odd reason, I've noticed that my children have a built-in aversion to didactic learning. Oh, they'll learn all day long if you don't TELL them that they're learning. If they're the ones asking the questions, their brainy appetite is insatiable. But once it's an assignment, once it's MY idea to go learn such-and-so, for whatever reason, that makes it a chore. And based on yesterday's blog post, we all know how I feel about chores. So maybe I should call this something else, like "Bless Our Brains."

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Well, like it or not, kiddos, learning is an element of childhood in the way oxygen is an element of water. I can understand the innate desire to be in control of what you're learning -- I feel like I thrive on my own terms as well -- and I'll give you that control as much as humanly possible. The tricky part is, though, that besides having educational requirements to fulfill and lists of facts to memorize, you are actually learning how to learn!

Yes, yes, your gray matter is in fact programmed to learn -- no one has to teach a baby to learn HOW to learn to walk. The baby is just wired to eventually get up off its knees, practice balancing, and one day, almost without thinking, those first steps are taken.

When you aren't a baby any longer, though, that automated learning mode gets complicated with too many (or too few) options, too many undesirable distractions, and that awful human-nature state of laziness...

And so the motivational games begin...

And that's why the L in C.L.A.P. for kids is for Learning -- to encourage it, embellish it, give incentives for it, and with the hope that you'll embrace it and love it for life!