Learning Styles teach you to Cook with Your Children

Cooking with your children is a good idea because:
· it’s fun
· it’s quality time spent with your little one
· kneading dough develops finger strength necessary for writing
· separating egg yolks from egg whites helps improve fine motor skills
· preparing food is a great way to explore the world around you with all your senses. (Talk about taste with your children: caster sugar and salt look similar, but do they taste the same? Smell the with vanilla essence and then the vinegar, then taste them both.)

Of course, as with everything else, when cooking with your child, you should take their Learning Style into account.

Tactile children will want to touch the dough, run their fingers through the pancake batter and poke them into the softening butter. Let them. It’s their way.

Analytic children will enjoy following the recipe. Even if they are too young to read, they will easily follow step-by-step instructions on tape or in picture form. They will also enjoy measuring everything. Weighing and measuring cake ingredients is a fun way to learn the basics of maths: is a teaspoon more than a tablespoon? It looks larger, now let’s check. A teaspoon is 5 ml, while a tablespoon is 12.5 ml. What is more, 5 or 12.5? Which looks more, 100g of sugar or 100g of flour? Which one weighs more?

Holistic children, on the other hand, might not want the recipe at all. They will prefer to experiment: “if I mash strawberries, add flour and two eggs then cook it all, what will happen, Mommy?”

Determine your child's Learning Style and make magic happen in your kitchen next time you cook with your children.

Learning Styles Working for You

It’s 2009. No matter what your Learning Style (i.e., the way in which you absorb new and difficult information), the New Year is likely to bring about the two Rs: reflections and resolutions.

What was brilliant about the year 2008 for you?
What would you like more of in 2009?
How can you make it happen?

New Year Resolutions are great. The trouble is, sometimes even the best intentions don’t materialise. Why not? The reason is simple: it’s not enough to have direction and know where you’re going, you also need to know how to get there.

The bad news:
You may have heard of the book “7 habits of highly effective people”... well, what works for Steve Jobs, Bjorn Borg and Angelina Jolie won’t necessarily work for you, because your personal strengths will be different from theirs.

The good news:
Your Learning Style is the key to your own personal success.

· If your best thinking time is in the afternoon, you will not be doing yourself any favours by getting up early in the morning to do your business planning just because a few successful businessmen did just that. (Learning Style Element: Time of Day)

· If you are not big on lists, you will simply frustrate yourself trying to draw up a list of tasks every morning... knowing that you won’t stick to it anyway. (Learning Style Element: Information Processing)

· If you hate routine, regular work and sleep hours will make you bored and stressed. (Learning Style Element: Variety)

· If the idea of a reward.... (Learning Style Element: Motivation)

Did you know? As many as 49 Learning Style Elements make up your ideal working conditions. Our online tool, Learning Style Analysis (LSA) will help you determine those.

What is your Learning Style? How can you work according to your strengths? If you’re new to this site, click here to find out.