Children are the future of our country. They need to be provided with proper guidance, education and other facilities to make them brighter. We know the stories of many famous scientists and engineers who achieved their goals after overcoming lots of difficulties and hardships. But today the situation is totally different and our children don’t have to face such difficult situations because they have all the necessary support like modern amenities – resourceful schools, coaching classes, libraries, internet, computers, smartphones etc. Parents only need to ensure that their children have access to all these facilities. Other than the tools and amenities, there are something else that a parent must do in order to encourage children’s interest in science, technology and engineering. Few of them are listed below:
1. Let them play: Make your children play or create more opportunities for them to play. Let them play games like Lego, GoldieBlox, bug catcher etc. that helps to increase their creativity, imaginative power, exploring and scientific skills. Also there are lots of movies based on science fiction, inventions, and explorations. Encourage your children to watch such movies at least during weekends, to influence their young minds and inspire them to become like one of them.
2. Experiment at home: Many simple science and math experiments can be performed at home itself. Encourage your children to try such small and safe experiments so that they will get to know more about science and gradually love to experiment more. Practice will make your children to come up with innovative ideas to experiment in different ways.
3. Encourage reading: Reading is by far the most rewarding hobby for any child or adult. Encourage your children to read books because reading makes them think and look at things from different perspectives. No matter what kind of books they are interested, whether it is a science fiction, novel, comics, GK etc., let them read it. But do explain them, the importance of reading and if possible try to schedule a family reading time, so that they can make it a daily habit.
4. Let them express: It is very important that your children shares their views and opinions with you. Make them a part of the family decision making process, to help them understand what goes into decision making. This will help them develop decisions taking skills early on.
5. Celebrate their achievements: Even if the victory is very small, make them celebrate it. As a parent, you must take the initiative to celebrate your child’s victories. This will definitely increase their confidence level and they will try hard to achieve more in the future.
