Parents start seeing light at the end of the tunnel when their children show independence. Parents look forward to enjoying more time for other engagements, leisurely or otherwise, as soon as children learn to study alone, clean themselves after playtime, eat at the table, tidy up their rooms, and do other things with minimal supervision. Naturally, parents want more. The thoughts of children washing the dishes willingly even after the Noche Buena, cleaning the bathroom twice a week, commuting or driving to school independently, sweeping the garage, cooking for the family, and washing the family car someday may still be surreal visions, but many parents pray they soon become dreams come true. The sooner, of course, the better. The wishlist may look like a set of tasks most children would avoid, but a longitudinal study in Harvard states that children who participate in household chores are more likely to attain professional success and happiness.
When students begin to demonstrate the ability to learn new tasks independently, it also signals serious educators to accelerate their teaching and introduce advanced lessons. A genuine teacher’s hope is that the learners will someday return to school to thank the teacher for inspiring them to become teachers themselves, lawyers, doctors, engineers, and so on.
Witnessing children evolve into independent learners and, eventually, highly productive citizens and wholesomely happy individuals is a much-awaited, comforting, and reassuring experience for every parent and educator. It’s a journey filled with optimism, knowing that each step towards independence is a move towards a brighter future and a stronger nation.
Can the learners think independently, critically, imaginatively, and creatively? Do they have the learning enthusiasm and excitement of a child who suddenly realizes how readers read? Do they cherish having the freedom to learn new things and pursue higher matters independently? Are they incessantly curious? Are they confident enough to upgrade their problem-solving skills? Do they have the required level of fortitude to do what is right? Do they endlessly thirst for knowledge and wisdom? Can they relate to the world outside themselves? Are they voracious readers? The competencies in view here are the ones that will genuinely serve the children as they learn to navigate the world independently.
Below are some tips that could help cultivate a stimulating environment for young learners while fostering intellectual, moral, aesthetic, and other values relevant to developing a lifelong passion for and commitment to independent learning and self-development.
Make the learner’s early environment cognitively stimulating. Constructing a stimulating environment can begin at the prenatal stage of human development. John Locke’s tabula rasa theory is not always correct regarding the suggestion that the mind is always an empty slate at birth. Contemporary studies show newborns can recognize their parents’ voices and various musical genres if regularly exposed to such stimuli before birth. Evidence also indicates that the newborns find the sounds similar to blood sloshes, heartbeats, and grumblings inside the mother’s body comforting. Prenatal cognitive stimulation is nothing like the goal-oriented forms of independent learning, but it strongly supports such future activity. But it’s not too late for parents to begin the preparation for independent learning from age zero or after birth.
Make diverse reading materials readily accessible. Parents and teachers should arrange the learners’ learning environments so that non-readers come into close contact with those who could inspire them to read and learn independently. Non-readers become more inclined or inspired to learn how to read independently when they regularly see people who enjoy reading. Therefore, good or well-vetted books and other reading resources should be liberally accessible at home and school. There should be a buffet of reading materials in both environments, so to speak.
Validate and leverage the learners’ interests. To maximize the speed with which the learners move toward becoming independent thinkers and problem-solvers, parents and school administrators should provide access and tutorials for the use of educational puzzles and toys, sports and exercise equipment, musical and other art instruments, audio-visual learning devices, and other beneficial materials that may appeal to or match the interests of the learners.
Encourage self-reliance. For instance, young children tend to develop self-confidence and a sense of autonomy when they acquire the habit of saving money. Parents may eventually upgrade their children’s financial literacy by accompanying them to the bank to open savings accounts. Mentoring children at home and school on the value of being financially literate will increase the likelihood that the young learners will become wise managers of their future assets.
Assist to liberate. The thought that the learners’ lack of experience will yield unacceptable results or aversive consequences is an understandable encumbrance on the plan or attempt to discontinue patterns of dependence. But, indeed, we exist in an imperfect and dangerous world, and the only way for learners to learn independence and appreciate the value of self-reliance, -determination, and autonomy is to know the environment in which they move around. Parents and teachers have the advantage of experience in recognizing potential sources of dangers or mishaps. Without the informed guidance of the experienced ones, the greenhorns may overlook such variables. Patient mentorship — show, explain, vividly tell stories, use anecdotes, demonstrate, remind, reward praiseworthy behaviors, advise, or coach unintrusively–is vital to effective learning. But then again, mentors are wise only if they can turn their mentees into confident, independent, and prudent problem-solvers.
