Saturday, January 06, 2007

Childhood development

They say that (the US war against Communist) Vietnam was lost because a generation of youngsters spent their afternoons watching mythical cowboy and indians tv and cartoons - and were brought up in the concept of the "Good War". In this mythical war, the good guy NEVER shot first, and never undertook "underhanded" methods of combat - like ambushing, sniping, etc.. Somehow the horrors of the 2nd World War, where the Allied forces used firebombing, and even nuclear bombs to end the war, were forgotten or airbrushed away.

Anyhow I'm digressing.

But the formative ages of children 3 - 8 are very important. In those years, the child's young mind is very pilable. And it is easy to influence *most* children to think a certain way and to guide them down a path- which they may never stray from, even when in their adult years.

On the physical side, I believe that a child should be encouraged to learn new things, ride a bike, learn to catch and throw a ball etc.. such hand and eye coordination lessons- whilst seemingly trivial- do play important roles in latter life. Is it no wonder that chinese people, whilst being excellent in math, are one of the world's worse car drivers. You can imagine the chinese parents drumming their kids to do math and not letting them play ball. In the end, they make excellent accountants but can't parallel park, change lanes, or drive smoothly.

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