Books That Have Influenced My Approach to Raising Children
“How to Raise World-Class Children”—just seeing the title makes you cringe, doesn’t it?
And I’m a little nervous about recommending this… lol
Sorry, girls. I’m just a dad who lacks confidence.
I imagine there might be mixed opinions on this, but I like this book.
That’s because it shares the author’s personal experiences of taking a proactive approach to parenting—enjoying the process while refusing to leave their children’s education to others, and instead taking charge themselves.
It’s easy to say, but I think it’s hard for most people—myself included—to actually put it into practice.
Don’t Outsource Your Child’s Education
Even before reading this book, I often wondered if it was really worth spending that much money on a young child’s education.
Things like basic number concepts, addition and subtraction, and pre-writing activities—these are things parents can teach their children themselves if they put some thought into it, so I’d wonder why anyone would pay to have their child learn them.
I do think it’s important to introduce these concepts early on, but personally, I worry that if we spend too much money at this stage, we might not be able to manage on an average income when tuition costs peak during high school and college.
Of course, everyone has different priorities when it comes to spending money, so I can’t generalize (^^;
The part of
this book I really relate to is the idea that a child’s education is the parents’ responsibility.
The author described other actions—such as sending children to cram schools—as “outsourcing.”
I think that’s a clever way of putting it.
I believe that the process of instilling discipline and cultivating a child’s general education is where parent-child interaction takes place.
Things That Are Better Outsourced
However, when it comes to acquiring specific skills, I believe things will go more smoothly—and children will avoid learning incorrect methods—if a professional in that field teaches them rather than a parent who might not be very skilled at it.
I help my eldest daughter (age 6) become familiar with writing by practicing letter-writing with her after dinner, and we work on addition and subtraction through play, but when it comes to English, I’ve decided to “outsource” it a little.
This is because I don’t speak English myself and don’t know the pronunciation.
I’d actually like to outsource this, but I haven’t found an educator I trust yet, so I haven’t been able to do so…
So, as a form of “mini-outsourcing,” since she was 6, we’ve been listening to English songs on YouTube and reading picture books on CD using the Oxford Reading Tree.
I also show her her favorite Disney and Studio Ghibli movies in both Japanese and English.
Even if my child doesn’t understand the meaning, they enjoy watching the videos, so I hope they’ll listen to plenty of English now, sing along to the songs, and get used to the language intuitively.
How to Spend Money
I think how much money to spend on which educational activities varies depending on each family’s financial situation, the child’s personality and interests, and the parents’ wishes.
In our household, we can only afford to spend a few thousand yen a month, while in Ms. A’s household, they might spend tens of thousands of yen a month on multiple extracurricular activities.
So, there’s no one “right” answer—I think the right choice varies from family to family.
In our household, we don’t plan to outsource anything that we as parents can teach ourselves.
However, for technical subjects or topics where we feel an expert would be better suited to teach than we are, we do plan to outsource them.
Also, while our children are young, we’d like to keep educational expenses to a minimum and save money so that when they eventually leave the island, they can pursue the path they choose.
