Have you wondered, how a baby learns
to flip on her tummy, knows when to crawl, when to stand and take the first few
steps and falls but nevertheless persistently keeps trying to walks on his/her
own. Most praiseworthy is to learn and speak the language without been
taught!!!
The child attains important milestones
all by his/her own effort, however over a period of time the adults intervene
in their development by helping the child or doing the entire activity for the
child. We are indirectly giving the signal to the child – “YOU ARE NOT
CAPABLE”
Children learn by doing, so give them
opportunities to try the basic self -help activities by themselves. Within
every child there is an inner urge to explore, make mistakes, repeat till
he/she is satisfied. The motive of the child is not in completing the
activities but enjoying the entire process of doing it again and again and joy
of accomplishment.
I would like to list down few basic
self-help skills for the toddlers
o
Feeding themselves – eating finger foods,
peeling the bananas/orange. These activities help them to build the sense of
smell, taste and texture.
o
Dressing activities – Wearing their shirt,
pant, dress, skirt, socks and shoes. Choosing their accessories like cap,
jacket, hair bands and combing their hair. These activities help in
co-ordinating their fine and gross motor skills and also inculcate the
aesthetic preference.
o
Using the toilet independently
o
Brushing their teeth
o
Folding clothes
o
Washing hands
Initially they might take time to
complete it, would appreciate if the adults can give the child the time and
space to do it independently. If the child finds it difficult then we could
guide them by breaking the activity into smaller tasks. All these little tasks
makes them excited, involved and they are ready for the next level of
challenge.
Few other indirect benefits of
self-help skills which would the children in their holistic development are
o
Boos in self confidence
o
Developing problem solving skills
o
Ability to ASK for help when required
o
Ability to organise, plan and sequence their
activity.
o
Learn the art of object manipulation
To summarise, I would like to share a couple of quotes of Dr. Maria Montessori
“What the hand does the mind remembers”
Learning is all about co-ordinating the will, interest, movement,
practise, mistakes and repetition. Having said that when we provide the unnecessary help,
we are an “obstacle
to leaning”. Lets encourage the child to move gradually from “help me
to help myself” to “help me to do it myself” and eventually “Help
me to think for myself”