Skills Alive is about motivating children from within. We do this by igniting their natural skills and ability.
The evidence of our own experience makes it clear that every child delights in learning a new skill and being recognised for it. The urges to walk and talk come naturally. Walking and talking are skills that parents can easily see, encourage and monitor. It is often not so obvious with skills such as LISTENING, CONCENTRATION and ORGANISATION because we cannot actually see the processes involved – and nor can the children see them happening in us.
For example: we often complain about children’s listening skills without making sure they know what we are talking about and you can’t do what you don’t know. Your child will find it difficult to improve their skills if they don’t realise that what they are doing is a skill and so you can become better at. As adults we know that to master a skill, we need to know what it is; understand what we are trying to achieve and experience what it feels like to do it right – children need exactly the same.
This does not need to be time consuming! It’s about leading the child to their ‘light bulb moment’ with whichever skill we are focusing on so they get inspired to master it and know when to apply it.
We find we do not need to add anything but we need to unblock what is stopping them. One of our first steps is to define the skill we are targeting.
We look for what is naturally present in each child; its urge to learn; its desire to do well as it grows and fulfil its potential and we work to build on these.
If you would like to help your child in their quest to fully experience and develop their skills; our Skillshops are designed to empower you with the ability to identify the individual skill in yourself, to know and understand the process of it and get inspired with the means and resources to teach it to your children in a wonderfully enjoyable way.
© Gail Hugman & Mariann Wissa @ Skills Alive November 2011
