Red Apple VS Green Apple. And the Egg Drop. How children remember....

I have 6 children. My oldest is now 19. The kids reminded me over the weekend of a couple "lessons" I had taught them many, many years ago. The oldest three children at the time were 7, 4 and 3...and they all remembered these particular lessons.

I learned early on, that children are very visual. You can talk to a child until you are blue in the face about right vs wrong, some may get it, some may not. I learned that children are very visual...and obviously my visual approaches "stuck" since their younger years.

The red apple vs green apple lesson. My son came home from kindergarten one day. He sat eating his snack and had a perplexed look on his face. I asked him what he was pondering about. He sat for a moment and thought....finally he replied "why does my friend Jerome have different color skin than me?" I was a bit taken back since he had been in pre-k with this child for years and never asked anything about it. I asked him what made him think of his skin color. He replied, "some of the kids were making fun of him cause he has dark skin. I never noticed it before the kids started making fun of him". So I sat for a moment trying to figure out how to reply to his questioning skin color.

I walked to the fridge, pulled out 2 apples - a green and red one. I took them to the table and asked him what I had just placed in front of him...he looked at them and answered "those are apples". " Yes", I replied, they are..."what are the differences between the two apples?" He sat for a moment and said "the color is different, one is red and the other is green"...I replied that he was correct. I told him to stay at the table and I would return in a moment. I walked to the sink and peeled both the apples. I returned with both apples peeled, placed them back on the table and asked him what (again) I had just placed on the table. He replied "2 apples". I told him he was correct and told him they were the same two apples that I had just placed on the table previously...I then asked him to tell me by looking at them which apple was the green apple, and which apple was the red apple...he sat looking at them a bit perplexed...and eventually answered "I don't know - you took the skin off of them"...I then explained to him that he was correct. He could not tell the difference with skin removed. And that it's the same with people...they may look "different than you on the outside - but if you remove the skin they are all the same underneath." He sat for a moment and said, "so it doesn't matter, does it mom?" I told him he was right. His friend was his friend, no matter what color his skin was, they got along, enjoyed each other, and that's all that mattered.

My son was 5 when I gave him that lesson. At 19 he remembered it very clearly. Always remember when trying to teach a child something, they are very visual!
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Lesson number 2 - remembered by my 3 oldest children who were 7, 4 and 3 at the time.

I lived in a condo unit. We had the 2nd and 3rd story of the unit. Our main level deck was the second floor. The kids use to love to go play on the deck. One day, they had pulled over a bench from the table and were hanging over the edge, looking at people down in the parking lot. I heard voices talking to the kids and realized people in the parking lot were seeing the kids (who were to short to be seen if they were standing on the ground due to the deck having covering all around). I went to the sliding glass doors and saw them all on the bench, hanging over the edge, talking to people on the sidewalk/parking lot. I took them down off the benches and tried to explain to them how they could get hurt. They all kinda looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about.

I went to the kitchen...pulled out 3 eggs. I drew faces on them representing my son and 2 daughters. I told them to get back on the bench and watch. I explained to them, if you tilt over too far while looking over the edge, this could be you next time you choose to do this...I held up the first egg, told my son it was him...I told him to watch carefully at the smiling happy face egg...I dropped it! He watched it hit the side-walk, and he gasped! I told him "that will be your head if you hang over the edge too far." My two younger daughters were listening after watching their brothers demonstration. I did the same with the girls...one by one with the eggs I had made happy faces representing them with their big eyes and smiling faces. To this day, they all remembered that day. Never again, did any of them pull up a chair or bench to the railing to look over the edge.

Children are very visual. If you have young children, remember that they will always remember a visual lesson vs talking to them. My kids don't remember my lectures, as much as they remembered these lessons with visual aids.

Goodjob, now IM going to remember that apple lesson when I have kids

reply to post by summer5


Two thumbs way up Very wise indeed! I will have to remember that one for my 5 years old who just started kindergarten this week!

Fantastic! I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. I have been trying to figure out how to explain why their friends were different colors. What a great thought. Thank you for sharing.

S&F!

brilliant lessons for your children, I hope that when i have children i too can think of some wonderful and unique ways to show them the lessons of life. Visual is much more appealing way of learning...even today i still feel i learn more from visual than someone just explaining it.

Thank you for your replies. I didn't think it was a big deal (back then), just my way of "showing" them differences. The fact that they remembered blew me away. I remembered those lessons very clearly, but I was the adult. I had no idea my 2 oldest daughters remembered from being that young, but they did.

Just told me how much visuals help aid children while learning, AND remembering