Last week, when online classes started, I wasn’t happy. For one, it was my little girl’s Summer Holidays for heaven’s sake, and I wanted her to enjoy doing the things she was doing – learning life skills and things to do with her hands. It was beautiful, the stuff she was making. And this isn’t a gender thing; my son, meanwhile, was getting good at painting finger nails and I was so proud.

In fact, on one of those lazy days when he discovered nail polish, he reinforced a valuable lesson that I remind teachers of these days – learning happens when you don’t force it.

He asked to paint my nails. I agreed. He brought out a fancy, iridescent paint bottle. Big sister watched with amusement. I haven’t ever agreed to let her paint my nails. I’ve always been too busy to wait for the polish to dry. But this was a quarantine day, everything was different. He whipped out the brush and swiped the polish right up, from the edge of the nail towards my nail bed. The opposite of how you’d normally do it. Big sister cackled and rushed to help . “Seeeee, this is how you should do it…” she started. I stopped her and said – “Let him!”

He then swiped across my nail from left to right, then right to left. I looked away. Realising it didn’t look like he wanted it to, he instantly tried swiping it from the nail bed, down to the edge of the nail. It looked good! Then he finished off the sides undone with the same motion. Big sister was aghast – he had figured it out!

“And in seconds,” I reminded her.

Ladies and gentlemen, the day parents and teachers realize that children can learn most things by themselves, we will all be wise. This is nail polish, but you want quantum physics, right? So do you think someone sat down and taught Niels Bohr and Max Planck? Or Schrödinger?

I hear that Newton in the 1665 quarantine worked out the laws and formulae for Gravity and Motion, Theory of Optics and Spectrum of Light, And Calculus. 

He “worked out” not “was taught on Zoom”. And was not given 10 worksheets. Pay attention: HE WORKED IT OUT.

We live in an age of information. Everything is available, and often – for free! What an awesome time it is to be alive. Anything you want to know is available at your fingertips. Or Daddy’s phone. Give children a chance to be bored, please? Give them the Skill of Inquiry if you must teach them something. Give them the freedom to ask questions. Take time to answer or research before you do.

Please don’t sublet your parenting. You will live to regret it.

Still not convinced that you can manage them being bored? Read related articles: https://myuncommonsense.in/2020/05/06/not-doing-is-the-new-doing/ https://myuncommonsense.in/2020/05/06/crafting-with-kids-just-do-it/ https://myuncommonsense.in/2020/05/06/love-is-carefree-timelessness/

Want simple ideas to do inquiry-based stuff? Hold your breath for the new section on Quarantine Activities that is coming up soon!