To be honest, I don’t know. That is, I can’t say unequivocally: “no, for nothing” or “be sure to sit next to me and do it.” Why? Because lessons are something very secondary. Because the story of doing homework begins long before the child goes to school, even to kindergarten.
It begins with the birth of a child and how the first year of his life passed, as well as the subsequent preschool years. Because brain functions are stimulated from an early age. What are they stimulated by? Letter cards or sensory cubes? A variety of toys or educational programs on tablets? Yes and no.
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For any animal to be biologically successful, it must survive, reproduce, and care for its offspring until it can fend for itself. Even for us modern humans, the brain is focused on the same systems that control these functions.
All three of these functions are related to the ability to form and maintain relationships with the environment. If mankind did not live in groups, we would not have advanced so far in our development. From an early age, we feel safe and at ease with people we know well. Our heart rate and blood pressure become lower, the stress response does not turn on or does not turn on much. We are all very sensitive to everything that others say about us, to their moods. If the teacher is angry, the children begin to misbehave, reflecting the teacher’s feelings. To calm someone down, you must first calm down yourself.
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I am writing all this to the fact that all brain functions develop in relationships with another person. With mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, brothers and sisters. If these relatives show cards with letters and at the same time smile, stroke, hold on their hands – this process will stimulate brain processes, and most importantly, it will bring together two most important components: communication and pleasure. And it will be possible to include letters, numbers, and art in the same chain, but this is not at all the most important thing.
We know that the human brain is plastic. This plasticity helps the baby quickly learn tenderness, love, language, but, unfortunately, makes him very susceptible to negative influences. Early traumatic events: ignoring, rejection by loved ones, violence – are recorded by the brain as extremely important information about further opportunities for survival in this world. If the trauma occurred during a period when the child did not have the opportunity to talk about his experiences, because he still could not speak or he had no one to share his experiences with, he may develop constant anxiety, aversion to touch, the inability and fear to build loved ones. relationship, aggression.
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If people of any age find themselves in a dangerous situation, the first thing the brain does is block the “high” areas of the cortex. We urgently need to save ourselves, “beat or run”, we lose the ability to think about the future, feel our body, hunger and thirst, we lose the ability to think and speak. If such dangerous situations are frequent or chronic, then the brain can turn on the permanent blocking of the “higher systems”. If there are close, loving people who take care of us next to us at this moment, we recover faster, this regulates the brain. Now imagine what a strong effect love and care has on babies, whose brain and body can only function in tandem with an adult.
Children who have had traumatic life events and lack of sufficient care develop “islands”. Somewhere developed, somewhere perfect emptiness. Only those abilities that are somehow supported by adults develop. They often do not have enough resources for their own development initiative.
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Now back to the original question about lessons. If the child’s first years passed in love, care, without traumatic events, then he will have enough mental resources to learn new things, please parents, teachers and develop “higher” brain functions. With such children, there is usually no need to do homework. They are often not “A” students in our school systems, but rather “Good” students, as they are aware of what they like to do and what they don’t. We are ready to try a little to please loved ones, but they know that they should leave resources for their own interests. If the first years of a child’s life did not turn out well, then the question arises: will sitting with him at home give better results? Maybe yes. If calm, loving adults sit with him. Why? Because it will make up for the security gap and “regulate the brain”, allowing it to gradually turn off the blockage of “higher” functions. And if an anxious, angry adult sits with such children? The answer, in my opinion, is obvious.