Three bad habits that may be good

1. Chewing


Does your child chew her collar, her nails or the pen when she’s concentrating? According to Barbara Prashnig, a world expert in education and the director of Auckland-based Creative Learning Systems, chewing may actually help your child understand the world better. Children’s learning ability is often enhanced by the action of chewing.



2. Wriggling around

Mobility is another important aspect of a child’s learning style. If your child wriggles when asked to sit still, or runs around in circles while you’re trying to talk to him, chances are, he simply needs to move around in order to listen better.

To find out if that’s the case, ask him what you said while he was moving around, seemingly not paying attention. If he can repeat it, it means that mobility is part of his learning process. Remember to talk to his teachers when he starts school and warn them that your child is not being naughty, on the contrary, he’s trying to listen when he wriggles.



3. Asking “why?”

If your child asks, “Why do I have to?”, it’s probably because she genuinely needs to know. Children whose brains work in a holistic fashion need to be given the overall picture before they can focus on the details.

Today it’s: “Why should I clean my room?” Tomorrow it may be: “Why is there no cure for cancer and why don't I try to find it?”


Your child’s learning style consists of 49 elements. Find out your child's unique strengths here.