E:24 Saving Curiosity in Our Kids

Box cutters, water fights in the house, and not painting pumpkins orange might not be traditional lessons for kids, but they are examples of ways to spark curiosity for kids.  Erin’s “ultra hunky husband,” Chris, joins MomsUnschooled again to share his ideas about encouraging kids to be curious and what he learned from listening to a parenting book about curiosity (while “daydreaming”).  “Understanding how it works is beautiful, but if they have to go through that process, every time as a 40 year old, they're never going to have time to explore those mysteries that they want to explore.” -Chris

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How do parents encourage and preserve curiosity in kids?  Chris’ recommendation of Curios by Ian Leslie.  The book is different from the basic parenting books in helping parents understand the way kids think and the effect parents have in raising future adults. Explaining why or how to kids in the moment of something happening is a huge take away for adults to foster the desire to explore.

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Children from 3-5 will ask an adult 40,000 why or how questions because they aren’t trying to be annoying, they genuinely want to know why.  They trust adult’s answers to know or find the answers. Teaching kids that sometimes parents don’t know the answer builds life long learners with the example of always asking questions and seeking answers.

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Diversive curiosity is about being flooded with information and never getting deep down.  Epistemic curiosity drives deep into what you want to know about.  Technology is a blend of finding the right opportunity for epistemic curiosity for kids, adults and the family.

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The value of memorization as a learning tool is being challenged in traditional education and serves kids with setting fundamental knowledge of basic subjects.  Encouraging mistakes and exploration allows kids to learn these fundamentals and build curiosity.

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Asking open ended questions and putting kids in situations that they get a chance to make decisions on their own helps lead to curiosity. Parents can find opportunities to teach kids instead of doing everything for them, even in mundane tasks like creating a sandwich and using their creativity to get it done.  Even though it’s faster and easier sometimes to just get the job done for kids, providing kids the chance to explore with independence requires extra effort and patience for parents.

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