Watching Is Learning

 

As a child grows up, they typically begin to do things and become familiar with them based on watching others. They may watch a baseball player on television and see the basic fundamentals that are displayed when it comes to swinging a baseball bat. Another example would be if a child is learning how to swim. That is when the idea immediately comes to my mind. Learning how to swim is not something we are born knowing how to do. It takes a little bit of time and practice in order to be successful and safe to be in a pool without some sort of floaties, noodles, or a grownup to hold onto.

Looking back, I laugh at the first time I learned how to swim. A few days before this happened; I was walking around the edge of my pool without my floaties on. I felt daring and rebellious being four years old and taking a step closer to be in the pool area without something to keep me safe. However, when I fell in, I realized it was time to learn how to swim if I want to be that rebellious again. Over the next few days, my older brothers and all of their friends were in my pool swimming. As I sat on the deck, dipping my feet in with my mom, I began to gain a basic concept of what it takes to be able to swim, or atleast hold you up in the pool without drowning. Of course it did not immediately come to me once I got in the water. With motivation and being rewarded ice cream when I could swim without holding onto my mom, I was able to complete such a rewarding task.

Children are constantly watching the people around them, and we are the ones they look up to. Our actions are what provide them with basic understanding of what it takes to do certain things in life, no matter how big or basic. This is extremely important in the early stages of development in a child. The mirror neurons cause us to copy what we see, allowing us to reenact the action for ourselves. Observational learning is extremely important, always be conscious that someone around you may be watching what you are doing.

2 thoughts on “Watching Is Learning

  1. Zanna Sarom

    I think this blog post is really interesting because It was caught my attention because I think it is actually related to myself as well. When I was young I was trying to play tennis. Of course when I first started I was so bad and I couldn’t believe that I can be this good. Looking back, I laugh at myself sometimes because I was trying hard to hit the balls. It took me awhile to be good at it. Sometimes I fell because I couldn’t catch the balls. One day my mom came to visit me. I was trying so hard to catch the ball because I wanted to impress her but it turned out really bad. My mom kept telling me that I can do it sometimes my motivation and being reward when I could play without dropping any balls. So it is important really important for older people especially be aware of what they are doing because those children who are the one who look up to.

  2. Sharon Okune

    Children are always very curious so when they see things that fascinate them, they become set on watching the behavior or action and eventually learn it. Observational learning could lead to both bad and good behaviors and that is why we often have to watch our actions and what we say when we are around children because they pick up on our behaviors very quickly. My four year old brother is an example; I am fourteen years older than he is and my sister is eleven years older than him. Because of such a large age difference between us and him, he sometimes acts and says things beyond his age. I see my sister and myself in him, the way he acts and talks. Even though I know he picks up on things so quickly, I am still sometimes baffled at the things he does and says. We all find it amusing that he can operate a cell phone and computer better than my parents because he watches the way my sister and I use our cell phones and computer. He also mimics the actions of his favorite characters from the T.V shows he watches. I remember seeing him attempt to do a push up and I kept wondering where he got that from and it occurred to me that he always watches my dad do push ups. He sometimes mimics the aggressive behaviors he sees from T.V shows we watch and I have to often remind myself that I have to be careful of what I watch when he is around.

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