As the Twig is Bent

(Teacher) In your home there is mother and father, the children and the little baby. In this picture there is mother hen, father hen and all the babies. Who can tell me what a father chicken is called? Can you tell me? Yes Marama?

(Marama) A rooster.

(Teacher) A rooster, good girl.

(Narrator) But unfortunately, others are not as good. Many boys and girls are shy and nervous. They appear to be dull, but they're often only uncertain and confused. Teachers can find these children hard to get through to. They are behind the others in their primmer years and sometimes they never catch up. For them, learning is difficult. Marama on the other hand, did well from her first day at school. Now, is she just particularly bright? Or has she had some advantage denied the others? What's Marama's background? How has she been brought up? What's her home life like?

First of all, Marama's fortunate because she knows that when she gets home, knows for a certainty she will find there understanding, patience and sympathy.

(Marama) Hello Mummy.

(Woman) Hello Marama. Put them down --

(Narrator) Marama and her brother and sisters who are too young for school yet are obviously intelligent. But intelligence is something born in us. Most of us are intelligent. But some make more of it than others. What we make of it depends on what we are taught- what we learn.

(Marama) Mummy is the baby awake?

(Woman) I think so, would you go and have a look?

(Marama) Yes.

(Narrator) A child starts to learn as soon as it is born. Those big wide eyes see more than we realise. Almost as soon as it starts out on the great adventure, a baby learns to hear. To distinguish sounds and recognise where they come from. She learns again by touching. Right from the start, children reach out for knowledge of the large unfamiliar world in which they'll have to find their place. We find examples everywhere. For instance this lad can't yet talk. But we mustn't imagine he can't think. The mind grows along with the body, and if we watch we can see it at work.

[Man and child chattering]

Now, like the body, this mind must be fed. We wouldn't think of starving a child, depriving her of food and stunting her physical growth. But we must beware of forgetting to feed and stimulate the growing mind. If our children are not going to grow up to be dull and backward, we must help them develop their minds- help them to learn, in other words. Right from the beginning and then on through all these important early years. Marama's brother is playing, and one of the first things we must understand is that play is not just amusement. Play is a child's work- his business. This is something we must recognise and encourage. Not just to get him from under our feet, so that we can get some peace and quiet, but because it's through play that our children's minds grow and develop. Understanding and much patience of course required on our part, as he experiments and learns. Of course this isn't always easy, as you know. (Woman to child) Thank you. Thank you. (Narrator) Through play, children discover- become aware of what goes on around them. We can so easily lead them through days filled with new exciting thoughts and ideas. For a child must explore and satisfy his curiosity about everything he sees, hears and feels. A young child learns to observe and reason by playing. [Child speaks] And by imitating what he has seen others do. But copying what adults do isn't always of course welcomed by parents. His activities may be hōhā (frustrating), but everything he does is teaching him something, expanding his mental horizon. Dean is so wrapped in what he is doing he doesn't even see the mess he is making. He is learning to concentrate. When he reaches school, this ability will serve him well. If we encourage them, turn things into play, even very young children will soon learn to use their initiative. [Phone rings] And it's fascinating watching this initiative at work. [Phone rings] (Caller) Hello, Hello? Is anybody there? Hello? [Child calls for father] (Narrator) Through play children learn to distinguish and appreciate colours and shapes, make their hands and brains work together. (Child) Four (Man) Five. Up here. have another throw. (Narrator) To encourage these things doesn't necessarily require a great deal of time. It simply means doing things more often with our children, instead of for them or to them. This is play, but when Ruia starts school in the near future, two and two make four will more quickly have a meaning for her. He tamaiti tutū a hoa mā (he is messing around), but all the time he is becoming more confident and learning to do things for himself. We must realise that to a child, play is serious and that without our understanding and patience when they are young, our children may become handicapped for the rest of their lives. (Woman) Now righto you two, go over there, have a go and have a good fight! (Man) No no, could you -- [Woman laughs] (Narrator) In our modern houses it's sometimes forgotten that youngsters need space too- somewhere to play. And there must be somewhere too, even a corner, that they can call their own. Where their things can be kept and found. Kindergartens build on and strengthen the good work done at home. For shy children, kindergartens are a good preparation too for the break between home and the strangeness of primary school. And boys and girls come into contact with others their own age. (Teacher) Wave to Mister Bear. Say "Hello, Mister Bear". (Children) Hello Mister Bear. (Narrator) As little ones are led unaware toward new experiences, they slowly forget their shyness. (Teacher) He's going to hide again. Boo! (Narrator) To be completely wrapped up in something is satisfying, and they find a joy a bored child will never know. You can almost see their minds ticking over as they concentrate. (Teacher) Throw it out a wee bit more, dear -- [Indistinct chatter] (Narrator) At kindergarten, children learn to give and take and to respect the rights and interests of others, which is so important of course. Play centres too extend what children learn at home. Here they can express themselves and gain confidence in themselves. Finding out how materials behave, what things do, choosing colours, inventing shapes, co-ordinating hands and eyes. In pretending, making believe, creating stories and living inside them, the boys and girls each day discover something new- round another corner, see a further landscape. (Teacher) Very nice. Are you going to take that home and show Mummy? (Narrator) And many parents learn a lot too. Parents help to run play centers and by observing other people's children here, they learn to understand and cope with their own when they get them home. No two children look alike, but it's a pleasant surprise to many mothers to discover that their youngsters are not so very different from those of the neighbors, nor any more difficult. But whether they go to kindergarten or play center or not, the important time is when they're at home with us. Parents are children's first and most influential teachers. And it's our attitude to them in these forming years which will determine what kind of men and women they will someday become. (Woman) ...the wheels. (Child) Little bunny wheels? (Woman) Hmm. Come on. (Narrator) We should encourage and quietly teach them. The capacity for learning is generally there. It needs only interest and companionship to bring it out. [Woman and child chatting] With patience, we can teach them at an early age to be independent, self-reliant, to do things for themselves. We should always try to persuade children to do things, to handle things, for all this is learning, and each day the unfamiliar, the difficult, becomes a little easier. What pleasure lots of parents miss if they fail to meet this drive that most children have for doing things. Young children should be helped to feel that they belong- that they are part of the family, that they have something to contribute. But we must beware of showing our grown-up superiority. It's important to children that they're not made to feel inferior. We must give encouragement, share enthusiasm, but never be too busy to praise achievement. Youngsters look to us for this continually as they develop. We must accept our responsibilities and not leave this important early teaching to a child's older brother or sister. We can do it so much better. Anyway, it's our attitude that counts. The fact that we make the effort to teach them and enjoy it. (Woman) [Speaks te reo Māori] (Narrator) The older people of course have always played an important role in the upbringing of the young and some still lead their wide-eyed grandchildren out along the unfamiliar roads of tradition and legend. (Man) and when he got these there baskets, he came -- (Woman) back and this is what he do, made a line. and when he finished this line and he got a magic pole, and he stuck it on his -- (Narrator) But not all grandparents live today with their children and grandchildren. Nevertheless, to hold their own when they get to school, young children must be familiar with the spoken word. Books should always be available and parents like Marama's father, if they care anything about their children's future at all, should find time to read aloud. All the world is waiting to be discovered, lying there between the covers of books. And it's up to us to lead our children into history, adventure and fairyland. Listening to stories, they get to know words. And the more words they know the quicker they learn. And the road to school straightens out ahead. Children long to achieve something of their own, if they also want to do things as grown-ups do them. It's the sharing, doing things together that's so necessary. [Laughter] (Woman) That's good. Just use the knife. There. (Narrator) And we must beware of impatience, or feeling that their efforts to help are a nuisance or an interference. (Woman) You go over there and get me some creamed corn, please. (Child) I got you some. (Woman) Oh, well that will do then thankyou. Up, up. Thankyou. Can we have another one? Good boy. (Narrator) We must share always. It's fascinating to watch them as our youngsters experiment and explore, for no scientist has a greater thirst for new facts, nor gets a bigger thrill from new discoveries. The reward for our patience and time if we watch is a pleasure we both can share. [Children playing] (Man) Here you are boy, would you like some soap on your face? (Narrator) We will notice his mind is ever active. Observing, reasoning, examining new information and comparing it with what is already known. Children shouldn't always go out on their own. We should go with them, not just to divert them or to amuse ourselves, but to help them see and understand the new, unfamiliar things they find on every hand. In going with the youngsters or taking them along, parents are often pleasantly surprised to find that they too enjoy themselves almost as much as the children. Children have a wonderful sense of aliveness and joy, an immense capacity for wonder. From the warm security we give them, they confidently take the venturesome steps out to explore this world of ours. This then, is Marama's background. And it's the typical background of the thousands of other youngsters who progress in a normal way at school. (Woman and children together) One, two, three, four (Narrator) These years when our children so trustingly put their hands and their future in our hands are years of great responsibility for us. (Woman and children together) eleven, twelve, thirteen. (Woman) Can you wrap your lunch up? (Narrator) For it's now that their personalities and characters are developing and the pattern of what will happen later is being laid down. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. By the time a child reaches school, some of the most important things that will ever happened to her are already behind her. But, if we love our children and have therefore accepted our responsibilities and done our best for them, they will be ready to hold their own in the classroom when the time comes. And still another young eager mind will set off with confidence on the exciting journey into the future.

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