By now, most people are aware that children are learning all day every day, long before they can talk. From birth they begin to understand words. The more words they hear spoken or read aloud during the first years of life, the better prepared they are to learn to read later. As they play, they grasp concepts such as cause and effect or all, some and none.
By now, most people are aware that children are learning all day every day, long before they can talk. From birth they begin to understand words. The more words they hear spoken or read aloud during the first years of life, the better prepared they are to learn to read later. As they play, they grasp concepts such as cause and effect or all, some and none.
But there is a whole other realm of lessons children absorb -- or miss -- that are important throughout life. In "Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs," Ellen Galinsky blends eight years of research, readable stories and practical advice for parents or anyone else who wants to better understand how humans acquire these skills:
1. Focus and self-control, needed to achieve goals in a world full of distractions and too much information.
2. Perspective taking. Someone else might call it empathy. Children who can figure out what others feel and think are less prone to conflicts.
3. Communicating. Children, not to mention adults, must be able to determine what they want to communicate and how. Teachers and employers say this skill is lacking.
4. Making connections. Children who can make unusual connections are more creative. They can go beyond knowing information to using information well.
5. Critical thinking. Children need to know how to search for reliable knowledge to guide their beliefs, decisions and actions.
6. Taking on challenges, instead of avoiding or simply coping with them, is important for success in school and life.
7. Self-directed engaged learning. Lifelong learners can change as the world changes to reach their potential.
Galinsky, a Charleston native, is founder and president of the Families and Work Institute. She spent eight years interviewing, filming and studying top child development researchers. The result is an engaging book (and Vook, incorporating video and social media), as well as a website, mindinthemaking.org. Her suggestions are all practical and supportive. These lessons have nothing to do with costly technology or expensive, exclusive schools.
The most promising thing about Galinsky's work may be the reassurance that it could provide parents, teachers and other adults who care for children. Those small, everyday moments that adults spend in conversation with children, playing matching games, passing the time with impromptu games on road trips or imagining why someone seems sad or happy, all add up to important practice for skills that that people need throughout life.
By now, most people are aware that children are learning all day every day, long before they can talk. From birth they begin to understand words. The more words they hear spoken or read aloud during the first years of life, the better prepared they are to learn to read later. As they play, they grasp concepts such as cause and effect or all, some and none.
But there is a whole other realm of lessons children absorb -- or miss -- that are important throughout life. In "Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs," Ellen Galinsky blends eight years of research, readable stories and practical advice for parents or anyone else who wants to better understand how humans acquire these skills:
1. Focus and self-control, needed to achieve goals in a world full of distractions and too much information.
2. Perspective taking. Someone else might call it empathy. Children who can figure out what others feel and think are less prone to conflicts.
3. Communicating. Children, not to mention adults, must be able to determine what they want to communicate and how. Teachers and employers say this skill is lacking.
4. Making connections. Children who can make unusual connections are more creative. They can go beyond knowing information to using information well.
5. Critical thinking. Children need to know how to search for reliable knowledge to guide their beliefs, decisions and actions.
6. Taking on challenges, instead of avoiding or simply coping with them, is important for success in school and life.
7. Self-directed engaged learning. Lifelong learners can change as the world changes to reach their potential.
Galinsky, a Charleston native, is founder and president of the Families and Work Institute. She spent eight years interviewing, filming and studying top child development researchers. The result is an engaging book (and Vook, incorporating video and social media), as well as a website, mindinthemaking.org. Her suggestions are all practical and supportive. These lessons have nothing to do with costly technology or expensive, exclusive schools.
The most promising thing about Galinsky's work may be the reassurance that it could provide parents, teachers and other adults who care for children. Those small, everyday moments that adults spend in conversation with children, playing matching games, passing the time with impromptu games on road trips or imagining why someone seems sad or happy, all add up to important practice for skills that that people need throughout life.
