The 10 Laws of Learning

What parents today need is a simple set of rules to guide them at every step. These rules have to be easy to remember, intuitive, and all-encompassing, so that they can provide the requisite solution for an over-energetic seven year old as well as a confused fifteen year old.

All parents want the best for their children. They want to see them healthy, happy, and well-mannered. And, most of all, they want to see them turn out as achievers. But, parents often feel frustrated in the process of raising children, from infancy to adulthood, constantly searching for the elusive strategy to deal effectively with each problematic situation.

Parents tend to draw on past experience; but at the same time, they feel overwhelmed by the complexities of the changed times, a world radically different from what they grew up in. They feel unsure and uncertain whether their parents' methods would still be applicable in an age of satellite TV, computer games, and junk food. Confused, they turn to books and the Internet to find advice from leading psychologists and experts. However, they often find the solution to be fragmented, vague, complicated, impersonal, or incomplete.

What parents today need, instead, is a simple set of rules to guide them at every step, so that whatever challenge they may face, they know exactly what to do. These rules have to be easy to remember as well as intuitive. They also need to be all-encompassing, so that they can provide the requisite solution for an over-energetic seven year old as well as a confused fifteen year old.

After more than two decades in the field of education, working with thousands of children, parents and teachers, I have developed a set of principles which I call the 10 Laws of Learning. I have derived these laws from proven, universal principles that have stood the test of time, and have created a simple framework that is both easy to understand and implement.

The 10 Laws of Learning:

• Teach your children to care for themselves

• Teach your children to believe in themselves

• Teach your children to explore

• Teach your children to make goals

• Teach your children to plan

• Teach your children the rules of the game

• Teach your children to practise

• Teach your children to play

• Teach your children the tricks of the trade

• Teach your children to perform like a champion

In your role as a parent, you are more than a caregiver to your child. You are also a coach and a mentor; in fact, the first coach that your child will encounter. And, as a good coach you should:

• Know your 'players' well to bring out the best in them

• Demonstrate commitment and patience

• Be a great motivator

• Be fair

• Know how to be both, soft and tough, depending upon the situation

• Take at least partial responsibility for both, success and failure

• Teach by example (Follow the 10 Laws of Learning yourself!)

Keep in mind that the 10 Laws of learning are a way of life. Rather than trying to apply all the Laws at once, start with a few that are most relevant to your situation, and then gradually move on to the others.