In this episode, Lauren explores why curiosity is one of the most essential traits to nurture in children. From enhancing focus and attention to transforming the way kids approach challenges, curiosity holds the key to unlocking a lifelong love for learning. We delve into how parents and educators can foster curiosity in children, especially those with ADHD, and shift the narrative around education to encourage engagement and growth. Learn how simple language shifts and a focus on internal empowerment can inspire children to explore the world with wonder and determination.
TRANSCRIPTION
The Power of Curiosity
I want to talk about curiosity.
I think it is one of the most critical character traits. I call it a character trait. It’s one of the most critical characteristics that we can develop in your child because curiosity is the way of thinking that opens our brains up to learning.
Curiosity and ADHD
If you think about a child with the diagnosis of ADHD, we often say, or parents often say, “But my child can really concentrate on something he’s interested in. When he’s not interested, he can’t concentrate.”
Let’s link this back to curiosity. It makes sense.
If we can enable and empower more curiosity in your child, they will have more concentration and focused attention.
Why Children Struggle to Pay Attention at School
Then why are children not paying attention at school?
One of the ways I saw as an option, although I didn’t initially consider it, was to make school more exciting and game-like by gamifying it. However, it’s not really about that, because then we’re essentially suggesting that everything outside of the child has to be different for the child to function.
Developing Internal Skills Instead of External Stimulation
What I’m more interested in is how do we support and develop the child’s abilities so that they can access anything they want, not just the stuff that is exciting.
One way we can do that is to develop the idea of curiosity, helping children to lean into it, to see it as a positive thing, not as something nerdy or something that shouldn’t be done.
Changing the Narrative at Home
A lot of parents have this narrative at home where school is a bad thing, or school is boring, “Are you ever going to use this in your real life?” Those kinds of phrases get bandied around at home.
If we can stop that, and we can start talking about, “Well, what did you learn today? That sounds interesting. I’m curious. Tell me more.” We’re using language that children can understand and internalise, making it their own.
Raising Naturally Curious Children
Then we’re creating and raising a naturally curious child. When you’re curious, it’s really hard to turn off your attention. That’s what we want. We want children who can focus their attention on varied things because they automatically become curious about a topic.
Whether it’s something they’re learning in geography, whether it’s a comprehension in English that they are focused on, or if it’s a math problem that they’re struggling with, can they get curious? Can they go internally? Can they say to themselves, “That’s interesting. I wonder.”
In that phrase, they open up their ability to pay attention. I think that’s one of the cornerstones of something we can change from a parenting and a school point of view.
