When a child is young they are exposed to many people, both children and adults, family and non-family, parents and teachers. It is a given that children will learn many things from all of these influences, but which of these turn out to be the best teachers is still largely arguable. The value of lessons taught by both parents and teachers vary according to the age and development of the child. However, despite the amount of time spent in schools and colleges, I personally think that parents by far make the best teachers for children.
There are two types of learning, passive and active. The kind of learning that goes on in school, and hence from a teacher is very active. This kind of learning is essential for the development of academic skills. But when you think about it, academic skills are not necessarily the prerequisites for success. Just ask Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, both of whom dropped out of school to found their own multi-billion dollar companies and change the world. This goes a long way to proving that academic teaching and exposure, is not the most important factor in a persons success, and hence as a result, a teachers academic input is not always important.
Looking at a number of successful people, you will see that there are many things that they have in common regardless of school completion. The most important thing that they each have is a positive attitude to life, a hunger for change and a desire to succeed regardless of the obstacles. These kinds of things cannot be actively taught by anybody. They are however observed passively. Children are avid observers of the world around them and what they see has a very real and lasting impact on how they perceive life and people in general. Positive people exude a positive energy that is picked up by everyone they come in to contact with. Likewise, negative people emit negative energy that is also observed by others, and sometimes disastrously so.
With this in mind, it is not hard to see the importance developing a positive outlook and perception if one wants to groom their young for success. This kind of grooming can only happen from passive experiences and observations by the child of those closest to him or her therefore the value of the parents in this process is undeniable. Unfortunately, these days parents shift the responsibility of teaching their offspring to teachers in schools and universities, often blaming them when the child fails academically. However, as we have seen, a child’s success is not dependant on academic ability, but rather their outlook on life, and this can only be instilled through passive observation of the parents.