TAO School of Liberation

Early childhood education is usually for children between the ages of three and five. It is commonly referred to as pre-school, or play home or kindergarten. The main aim at this stage of education is to prepare children for primary school. Children learn best when they are not pushed too hard and when they are given space for creativity. And preschools generally give children a free rein to explore their environment and learn through play way methods. Another common misconception is that early childhood education is only focused on learning basic skills. It is in fact a lot more. It is a period when children learn critical social and emotional skills. It also lays the foundation for a firm bond between the child, their parents and the teacher. When this is done successfully, it paves the wave for this to continue throughout the child’s academic years.  Preschools give children the special attention they need before entering the formal education system and this foundation gi...

Struggling with the mother tongue seems to be a common phenomenon among the urban population today. It’s also considered ‘fashionable’ ‘refined’ or socially superior if children are seen conversing in English rather than the mother tongue.  Parents also tend to speak to their children in English because they want to send them to English medium schools and don’t want them to lag behind in the class. So English becomes the primary language spoken at home and the mother tongue takes a backseat. Due to increasing globalization English, it is a fact that English has become a gateway to the world. But should we be adopting the English language at the cost of the mother tongue?    A child’s first understanding of the world, learning new concepts and skills comes from the first language that he or she is introduced to. Learning the mother tongue first allows them to frame their thinking and emotional behavior in the cultural milieu they are born into.   The mother...

Encouragement is one of the most powerful tools of motivation.  We all like praise and to have good things said about us. So encouraging children should be fairly simple, right? Well it turns out continuously praising a child can do more harm than good. The problem is children then tend to expect this sort of acknowledgement for everything they do and can get alarmed if they don’t get it. Also, they begin to rely heavily on external sources of encouragement rather than learning to develop a sense internal motivation and confidence in their own abilities. They do things not because they should or they can but only because it brings them recognition.  So, we have to understand that encouragement needs to be more than just a self-esteem booster. Here are a few tips to help you encourage your children positively. Be Sincere and Specific Yes, children can easily recognize when you are being sincere and when you are not.   When kids believe you are praising or enco...