Ginger, our Cavoodle, arrived at our home in 2012. She was only 2 months old; tiny and very quiet. She had just flown in straight from a Melbourne farm. We only realised later that she was born on 8th August that year, an auspicious double 8 date for the Chinese. Just as we have tried to bring her up as best as we can, this little dog has taught us some lessons herself.
We decorated our ceilings with paper cranes for 2 reasons:
- To lighten the mood and to delight the children
- To celebrate the significance of origami cranes
22 September 2018
Introducing ‘adult’ dishes to children
Not many children eat spicy food. A likely reason for this is that they have not been exposed to such foods from a young age. There are two good reasons to start them early. Firstly, ingredients such as turmeric, chilli, garlic and ginger are known for their health benefits. Secondly, having children join adults for a curry dinner just makes eating together more convenient and enjoyable.
21 September 2018
A national best seller, ‘Talent is overrated’ is written by the Geoff Colvin. He seeks to demystify some popular beliefs about an intriguing topic – talent. Is talent inborn? Can we cultivate people with talent? What separates world class performers from everybody else?
Geoff Colvin believes that talent is not merely about having the innate and natural ability to do things better than others. Tracing back to studies done in England in 1992, where 257 children with musical abilities were analysed in detail, he concludes that the only factor that mattered was practice. Children who practiced the most were the ones who were the most accomplished.
20 September 2018
As parents and educators, we spend many hours thinking about what motivates us and consequently, our children and students. Many parents use material gifts to motivate their children to do well for their exams. Are we setting ourselves and our children up by teaching them to expect rewards? Do these incentives truly motivate children?
The Background
‘Drive’ is a book that tells us otherwise. Daniel Pink writes about studies conducted by psychologists decades ago. The first was done by a man named Harlow in 1949. The second man was Deci who carried out his experiments in 1969. These men’s studies revealed that adults and children alike were not motivated by short term rewards. In fact, they discovered that such material benefits made people less motivated in the long term.
20 September 2018