"It's great to encourage our children to tinker physically with items, skills and crafts, as well as mentally with ideas and dreams and their own big picture. So many of us have lost the art of tinkering. Perhaps that's because its loss suits the 'modern' economy in so many ways. After all, business prefer us to buy new things rather than fix what's broken, they prefer us to buy in a box what we would otherwise create and construct ourselves, they prefer us to pay people to do the things we really could do ourselves". Anna Campbell, Honeycomb Kids.
I've just finished reading Honeycomb Kids: Big picture parenting for a changing world...and to change the world by Anna Campbell. Anna's book is full of practical tips for how we can ensure our children have the skills needed to become resilient, considerate and happy adults.
I found Anna's discussion of 'Smart Thinking' particularly useful.
"Our children will benefit if we encourage them to think, not just to learn. Mastering thinking is more important than mastering a specific technology that could well be outdated by the time they finish their studies. By learning to think, they'll be able to find the answers to many difficult questions".
I've applied some of Anna's tips for introducing the skill of thinking to children and have been amazed at some of the conversations Little Eco and I have since had. I'll share more in a future blog post.
Newcastle forum on raising resilient kids
Anna will be talking here in Newcastle Tuesday 19th June about her book and about how we can raise resilient kids for a better world. Her talk will be followed by a Q & A panel. More details here and in the flyer below.
I'm one of the Q & A panel members. Will I see you there?
