{"id":236,"date":"2022-11-14T14:32:42","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T14:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bondandlearn.com\/?p=236"},"modified":"2025-08-28T02:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:29:07","slug":"kids-learn-differently-than-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bondandlearn.com\/fr\/kids-learn-differently-than-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"4 reasons why kids learn differently than adults"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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How kids learn differently than adults?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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  • kids make progress suddenly not gradually;<\/li>
  • kids can learn from ridiculously short sessions (1-20min);<\/li>
  • kids prefer to be guided instead of receiving verbal instructions;<\/li>
  • kids can learn autonomously by sensing.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    During the past 3 years I have spent an average of 20 hours a week with my kids helping them learn all sorts of things. One of the most important lessons I have learned is that kids learn very differently compared to adults and most learning methods are not well suited for their brains.<\/p>

    So I stopped adopting a particular approach and started experimenting, constantly altering all things related to the learning activities. My objective became to find the right setup and eventually extract some general principles that could be applied to any activity. Let me tell you about a few differences I noticed about the way kids learn:<\/p>

    1. Kids make progress suddenly hence be patient, keep practicing and don\u2019t focus too much on progress otherwise you might be disappointed.<\/span><\/li>
    2. Kids can learn even with ridiculously short sessions (1-20min) if they practice often enough (few times a week).<\/li>
    3. Kids learn by being guided instead of instructed so look for ways to guide them without talking or to minimize verbal communication.<\/li>
    4. Kids learn intuitively by sensing but they need your help to practice beyond what they are capable of.<\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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      “Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves.”\u00a0
      <\/em>Jean Piaget<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      Kids make progress suddenly<\/span><\/p>

      When children are learning, they might not display gradual progress nor increased interest in the practice. Parents and educators who are patiently investing time and energy trying to teach children something might be frustrated by not seeing any progress, maybe at the point of giving up altogether.<\/p>

      When adults are learning they make roughly steady progress improving session after session, week after week and month after month. Children instead might not display any progress for months or even years, despite hours of practice. Sometimes they even regress\u2026 can you imagine something more frustrating?<\/p>

      But magically, one day, they master it! Every time I see it, I am shocked. How can it happen at once? How is it possible that one day they don\u2019t know how to do something and the very next day they master it, love it and keep repeating it!<\/p>

      The only possible explanation I have is that children’s brains process learning in batches, in the background even when they aren\u2019t practicing. The batch is being processed all the time but they don\u2019t display any progress until the batch is completely finished processing.<\/p>

      For example, my daughter Elisa has been doing baby parkour at the gym since the age of 2, now she just turned 5. Jumping has always been difficult for her, in part because she has vertigo. Even for tiny jumps I always had to hold her hand and lately, when she started jumping alone, she was constantly afraid and ending up landing on her butt. Then one day, at the park, out of the blue, by her own initiative she jumped from a high platform to another one below, almost fell and instinctively made a second jump to avoid falling. She didn\u2019t hesitate a second, like if she knew what she was doing. She enjoyed it so much that she kept doing it 10 times in a row. I had to stop her because her legs were getting tired and eventually she might have fallen for real.<\/p>