In our everyday lives with our children there are many teachable moments, but we usually move right past them without even noticing the potential they hold. Hopefully this article will help you to firstly identify, and then seize the potential in teachable moments.

As a home-school mom, I agree with the philosophy that not everything can be formally taught at school, but that many skills in life will be caught and not taught at all. This means that many things our children will just simply pick up from us as they live along-side us.

There is another type of learning that can occur informally but it takes a bit more effort and that is to recognise and use teachable moments. A teachable moment is when a subject is raised unintentionally by the circumstances of life and you have the opportunity to talk to your children about this subject in an unplanned way, but that conveys your thoughts and feelings on an issue easily and non-forcefully.

Our children are very curious beings and are constantly asking questions about everything. But sometimes we are so rushed or busy that we miss when they ask a question that could lead to a meaningful discussion about something important.

For example, the other day my 5 year old daughter asked about how you fall in love and whether it was just two people dancing around and kissing like in the princess movies she has watched. This question gave me the opportunity to talk about how to choose the right kind of husband one day and how you are friends first and then when you see that he is the right one your heart can fall in love with him. It might seem premature to be speaking about such things with a 5 year old, but the earlier some things are learnt – before she picks them up from somewhere else – the better.

This is also an important way that you can convey your family’s morals, values, beliefs and traditions to your children. Take the time to explain why you believe certain things or feel the way you do about things so that they have an understanding of how you feel. The earlier this is done the better, because by the time they are teenagers they probably won’t want to listen then.

Here are some tips on how to identify and take advantage of everyday teachable moments:

• Don’t be too busy to truly listen to what your children are asking.

• Take the time to answer their questions in a manner that they can understand, even if it means that you are a few minutes late for something.

• Taking the time to answer your children’s questions will also let them know that they are important enough for you to give your full attention to.

• Look for everyday opportunities to talk to your children about your morals, values, beliefs and traditions, from as young as they can understand.

• Avoid giving one word answers, but try to give an explanation for what you say whenever possible.

• Don’t feel that children are too young to start understanding things because the earlier they learn the better. Because while we do want to shield and protect our young children from many things in the outside world, in this day and age, if they are not learning it from you, they will learn about it from somewhere else – and then it will probably not be the version  you wanted them to hear.

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