Avoiding the superbaby syndrome - pressuring children to learn

Pediatrics for Parents, March, 1992 by Michael K. Meyerhoff

For example, if you painstakingly teach your toddler to operate a personal computer. he may acquire the rigid set of skies required to use a computer and it may appear that this gives him an advantage over his agemates. But considering the rate at which technology advances. those skills soon may be as obsolete as knowing how to use a slide rule is today; and it is likely he will be stymied by the new machines. Meanwhile. another child who may have learned a lot less about computers. but who had more opportunities to absorb information from many different items and adapt her emerging skills to a variety of situations, will easily and eagerly deal with whatever technology she is confronted with at any time.

Therefore, it is a good idea to avoid over-controlling your child's environment and feeding him pre-formulated solutions to selected questions. Once he is able to get around on his own. simply make as much of your home safe for and accessible to him as possible. then let him loose to satisfy his natural curiosity about everything. By exploring under the bed. investigating the properties of the things in the kitchen drawers. and experimenting with the bathtub faucets among an infinite number of other apparently "non-educational" activities. he will be able to collect unlimited stores of knowledge and gradually construct universal rules for coping with a multitude of problems and projects.

Concentrate on enhancing your child's horizontal development and let his vertical development advance by itself. Developmental progress can be viewed as a series of successively higher stages with each one serving as a base of support for the next. If your child is prodded to move on to a high stage too soon. he may exhibit seemingly appropriate behavior for a while. but he will be standing on shaky ground and probably will fall back before long.

For example. during the early years. children learn to categorize objects according to similarities and differences -- shapes and colors being two initial schemes. Once your child displays this basic capacity. it is possible -- using flashcards and other devices -- to get him to recognize much more intricate qualities. and he soon may be able to distinguish a Renoir from a Matisse or a fugue from a sonata. However. it will take a lot of his mental energy to keep up these tenuous schemes. and it is likely that they will fall apart eventually. leaving him with very little fundamental categorizing ability at all. Conversely, a child who was permitted to exercise her simple sorting skills over and over again before moving on will be far more confident and competent when it comes to continuing and expanding this aspect of development as time goes by.

Therefore. when your child displays the lower levels of any ability. don't take it as a sign to push him quickly past them. Instead, simply provide him with ample opportunities to practice his rudimentary skills and wait for him to move ahead at his own pace. By filling in around him as he develops rather than forcing him upward. you will be helping him to build wide and finn foundations so he can maintain a solid hold on the more complex capacities that come later.