Learning ‘How to Raise a Brighter Child’

As a mother, I can pinpoint outright my favorite book: How to Raise a Brighter Child by Joan Beck. I have read the book closely so many times. In fact, it served as my springboard to other books about early-learning principles. I have also practiced the book’s hands-on activities with my two children until they attended prep school. I have shared this book with my relatives and friends because it contains lasting ideas on how parents can be their children’s first and most important teacher.

On the inside cover of my copy, I wrote the date when I bought it: November 23, 1980. Here are snippets of memories behind that date: Twenty-two years ago, I was a full-time mom to my two-year-old daughter Cielo, a very active and inquisitive toddler. I was also heavy with my second child Nicco, yet to be born within a few weeks. As a young mother, my reading interest then naturally tended to the new findings on early-learning techniques.

I got interested in Beck’s book because it taught me two important things: 1) The nature of children’s intelligence during the first six years of life, or the years of the powerful Absorbent Mind; and 2) Early-learning techniques to nourish very young children’s actively-growing minds. Throughout the book, I learned about researches from scientific journals, symposia and experimental laboratories which Beck translated to useful forms for those who live and work daily with very young children – especially mothers.

As a whole, the book was based on a well-researched premise of physicians, educators and behavioral scientists: "Your child does not have a fixed intelligence, or a predetermined rate of intellectual growth, contrary to the much widespread opinion in the past. His level of intelligence can be changed – for better or worse – by his environment and especially during the earliest years of his life."

I can say that I did not just read Beck‘s book – I used it thoroughly. As I experienced the recommended learning activities with my children, I also kept going back to some parts of the book.

Two chapters in Beck’s book present classic ideas: "Why You Can Raise a Brighter Child" and "Montessori Ideas You Can Use at Home." With the first idea, Beck fully explains each of the 14 major psycho-educational theories on early learning. When I understood them, I became highly motivated to do the learning activities with my children.

In Montessori Ideas, Beck explains how mothers can enhance the perceptual development of their children – that is, how to give them enough opportunities to explore, touch, handle, try, play and learn about things around them. In this connection, she gives clear guidelines on how to gather inexpensive materials for various learning activities: blocks, toys to imitate grown-up activities, materials to encourage creative arts, musical equipment, props for dramatic play, games that teach numbers, toys for loving, equipment for active play, toys to encourage sensory learning, and science discovery equipment.

I have shared Beck’s book with my relatives and friends so that they would not underestimate what children under six can and should be learning. Young children love to learn. They are born with an innate hunger for learning. That’s why I think and feel that parents should be well-informed about Beck’s selected topics: 1) Your Child’s First Teacher: You; 2) Why You Can Raise a Brighter Child; 3) How the Atmosphere in Your Home Can Foster Intelligence; 4) How to Raise a Brighter Baby: Birth to Eighteen Months; 5) The Insatiable Drive to Learn: Eighteen Months to Three Years; 6) How to Stimulate Intellectual Growth in Three- to Six-Year Olds; 7) Should You Teach Your Pre-Schooler to Read?; 8) How You Can Encourage Your Child to Be Creative; 9) Montessori Ideas You Can Use at Home; 10) How to Safeguard Your Children’s Brain; 11) How to Care for Your Child’s Brain; and 12) The Joys of Having a Bright Child.

How to Raise a Brighter Child was first published by Pocket Books in 1967. My copy was a 1975 edition. According to the information I accessed from the Internet, Joan Beck revised her book again in 1995. It must contain much more information on recent researches in early learning, a must-read book for young parents who care so much about the intellectual development of their children. It can surely erase parents’ mistaken idea that each child would develop according to a timetable of inner "readiness" which the environment could not speed up or slow down. Moreover, it can convince parents, especially mothers, to apply early learning techniques during their children’s first six years of life.

No doubt, How to Raise a Brighter Child by Joan Beck has enriched our family. While I was the "prime mover" of the early learning techniques at home, my husband Alex was the perfect partner for my "project." He cooperated with me in providing our children with an enriched environment. I still remember how I kept explaining to all our relatives what early learning means – that it was not a whole new job for us to do; instead, it was just a new, exciting way of giving our children enough opportunities to grow in intelligence during the crucial first six years of their lives.

To all young mothers, I’m delighted to affirm that early learning really works! Now I believe what pre-school educators have been saying all along: All learning is likely to be influenced by the very basic learning which has taken place by the age of five or six. I have two cases in point. Our daughter Cielo showed early interest in the natural sciences. She is now 23 years old, a fourth-year medical student of the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines, Manila. Likewise, our son Nicco showed early interest in computer science and the arts. He is now 21 years old, a fourth-year visual communications student of the UP College of Fine Arts. Both of them were early learners. As expected, they coped well in school work from prep school up to now.

How I wish I could have a better way of saying "Thank you, Joan Beck! You taught me the guidelines on how to raise a brighter child. And I did it – twice!"