The key to good parenting and teaching is an ability to communicate in the same way a child processes information and understands their world, according to Sara Haboubi, a trainer in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
Haboubi explains that up until the age of seven or eight, children are unable to rationalise their world, and behave from their emotional centre - the unconscious mind.
She said: “Reasoning doesn’t come until the development of the left brain around the time children lose their milk teeth. Yet schools and learning institutions focus on the conscious mind, leaving the right side of the brain unattended.”
“We need is to give parents and teachers the skills that encourage children to become whole-brained, balanced individuals, that will give them a head start in life. Every child deserves the opportunity to have their potential nurtured to full bloom.”
Haboubi will be hosting NLP training programmes in Dubai in September, in association with knowledgenetwork (knet), the learning and training consultancy.
She explains: “Teaching methods have changed little over the years despite the rapid changes happening to the world around us. Students are still taught to be predominantly left-brained and to think in a linear fashion, though the brain needs to function as an integrated unit of left and right brain.
“Studies on the brain have shown that, contrary to popular belief, if we develop the right brain (creativity, spatial awareness, intuition, emotional intelligence) further we do not lessen the left brain abilities (logic, sequencing, IQ).
“In fact, by cultivating the right brain the left brain activities are enhanced so that we can think radially, using more of our neurological networks and increasing our brain power.”
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
