Thursday, December 3, 2009

Learning by Imitation





How do children learn?  Well, for Megan, she learns by what she lives.  A friend of Laura's brought over a toy stroller.  Megan loved it.  She puts the baby doll in, pushes her around, takes her out, pretends to feed her, and then puts the baby back in the stroller and starts all over again.    This is how a young toddler learns.  She imitates what she sees and lives. 

This is how most children learn for most of their lives.  Children imitate.  Your child will be more apt to read if they see you reading.  Your child will be more apt to play music if they grow up with musicians in the family that they are exposed to.  Your child will be more prone to love and follow Jesus if they see their parents love and follow Jesus.

The opposite is also true.  It has been documented that abuse, divorce, alcoholism, poor grades, and even obesity runs in families.  Why is this?  Well, some may be genetics, but I think we use that as a scapegoat way too often.  Children imitate... often when they don't want to.  They imitate bad behaviors sometimes from their childhood that hated when they were going through it themselves.

My little Meggie imitates a lot of people in her life.  She tends to parrot the words or phrases her sisters say.  The other day I sat down and clasped my hands.  I looked over at my little girl, and she had sat down next to me and clasped her hands just like me.  It made me laugh, but it also made me realize just how much I am being watched... even when I don't realize it.

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