Process not Product: Learning to Learn

Yesterday saw the school Harvest Festival Service at the local church. Natty created her box of groceries to donate and we chatted about the older residents of the village who would receive them. 


I think it's so important for all children to learn about helping and giving to others and I'm particularly keen for Natty to understand this message. We do a lot of fundraising for local and national Down's Syndrome charities, mainly for speech therapy provision and to support other parents, but I don't want Natty to think that she is exempt from helping others.

One of the greatest mantras that stays with me from my teaching days is that THE PROCESS, NOT THE PRODUCT is the most important part of any activity. Learning to learn, create, be independent takes precedent over the end product itself.



So, Natty covered the box in tin foil herself after I had cut strips, then carefully arranged things inside which we had chosen from the cupboards together, including her home-grown onions. 

I resisted the temptation to 'help' make it all look 'artistic', according to me. I crossed my fingers that the teachers and recipients would understand what we had done and not think I'd  lazily chucked a handful of things in a box as I ran through the door on Monday morning.

Thankfully they did, and I was so pleased we'd done it this way.

The chore was carried out independently and Natty was left feeling proud of her achievement. This is the approach we are using with homework too now that Natty is getting some each week. If you take a few minutes to think about and set up the activity, then your child can do the rest by themselves.


We have to know when it's best not to interfere as parents, don't we?

6 comments:

  1. That's a brilliant looking box and I bet she was so proud to include her home grown onions too. I used to love harvest assemblies at school and looking at the amount of things that were going to a good cause.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Such a great lesson for all children. I think this year we should all give to the Food Box scheme too. H x

      Delete
  2. What a really fantastic thing for her to do. The thought behind it is a beautiful one

    thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments

    P.s those home grown onions look amazing and i would of loved to of received this x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you and happy to be able to link once in a while. We are knee deep in onions and courgettes at the moment, the only things that grew really well this year :)

      Delete
  3. It is so lovely to read something like this. I'm hoping to get my little one involved in things like Harvest Festival and Operation Christmas when she's older as despite the fact she is being raised as Muslim, the messages of respect, caring for others and support are important regardless of religion x #MagicMoments

    ReplyDelete
  4. Heya. We do a lot of gardening, baking and food shopping. My unique approach is to work on basic skills. We discuss personal safety.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for joining in the conversation at Downs Side Up