Against the increasing interest in foreign educational systems, we will cover the most important principles of the Eastern system of upbringing children. It is amazing, but the upbringing of children in Russia is much closer to the Eastern system than the Western. Public sources of information often write about the three stages of the Eastern system: a permissiveness stage ("all is possible for the child until the age of 5"), a stage of slavery, and a stage of equality. This cut is quite avaricious and not quite reliable. Eastern educational system is an entire philosophy in and of itself.
Priority of emotions
The most important principle of this system is the emotional component. The child is surrounded with love, warmth, and care. There is tactile contact constantly. In the Eastern system there are no objections to the kid being picked up at any time, and no limit of parental contact. The second nuance is the opinion that the child understands and feels everything. In the Western educational system there is a delusion that to a certain age the child isn't capable of understanding. For the East, it is not like this. The kid certainly can't show the same reactions as an adult yet, but is capable of accepting information and analyzing it from before birth.
Personal experience
The second principle is personal experience. In the Eastern educational system the main concept is receiving personal experience. There is no imposing and authoritative system of relationship between the parent and child. Parents give the kid maximum freedom, protecting him only from objective dangers. Subsequently, such children think more creatively and are capable of original decision making. The only thing given to the child are family traditions, and love to the senior generation.
Three stages of Upbringing
The Eastern system is built around three stages. The first stage is a receiving of personal experience. If the kid starts doing something dangerous or undesirable, the adults switch his attention to another action. In the Western system there is a clear understanding of a ban. In the East it is believed that a ban can be stopped by the cognitive interest of the child. Therefore in Eastern educational systems, parents will return to the situation and explain the danger and why it is better to do something else. But they won't forbid doing it. This principle is fair for any age. And it works. Furthermore, the child who is brought up in such environment follows the rules much better, and understands the prime cause.
The second stage is the statement of tasks. At approximately 3 to 5 years, the cognitive interest of the child passes to a stage of actions. Eastern parents start giving their kids tasks at this stage. It becomes interesting to the child not to ask any more, but to act. And if not this energy isn’t sent to the necessary course, the child becomes mischievous. Everyone as met uncontrollable children of such an age. How do their parents behave? They give instructions like: "stand up", "that’s wrong", "stop", etc. The child stops once, but the desire to do it forces the child to do it again and even overindulge. Meanwhile, in the East raising the voice isn’t accepted. Such an inquisitive child is given new and more difficult tasks so the child fully satisfies their interests.
The third stage – friendship and equality. According to Eastern philosophy, after 12-16 years, the child becomes completely equal with adults from the point of view of a mind maturity. He is capable of making crucial decisions and being responsible for them. Nevertheless, this is a very bright difference from the Western system. In the East the child is still treated as a kid. Related communications in a family are on the first place, nobody hurries the child to make a decision of their profession or first job. He can live with parents as long as he wishes.
As you can see, the Eastern approach has much in common with traditions of education in the Russian families, but, the period of the Soviet mode distorted them a little. If you make the decision to bring up a child in such traditions – the decision will bring you joy, but also a huge responsibility. You will meet difficulties of endurance, but for any educational system it is important to go all the way to the end. Having chosen the Eastern educational system, it is impossible to stop halfway and, let us assume, in 3-4 years to pass to a "traditional" ban without any explanations. Such inconsistency can damage the child’s mentality. Also, it is worth formulating very intelligibly and more than once the chosen position to the senior generation. Explain the principles of education, using the words "all is possible" and "not to abuse", and grandmothers and grandfathers will begin to act according to the offered plan with pleasure. It is possible to learn about the principles of Eastern education in the works of Makoto Shichida and Masara Ibuka.
Good luck to you and your children!
Larisa Chudinova
