How do you teach a child to begin with the end in mind?

How do you teach a child to begin with the end in mind? Keeping in mind that adults teach what they do, not what they say, and that learning needs feedback and doesn’t happen without it.

For children, beginning with the end in mind means beginning with an unmet desire; needs and drives are the responsibilities of their carers. And those desires are likelier to be impulsive than planned. Frustration is likelier to promote learning than easy and early success. All this suggests that teaching an awareness of ends will be very challenging.

Sometimes it is better to act before you think; most times it is better to think before you act.

So, these are the necessary conditions: an unmet desire that has been frustrated; a proximate non-malevolent desire that can be satisfied given some help and thought and the willingness and patience to teach something that can be taught.

An awareness of ends implies an awareness of ecology: how things fit together, how they relate, what the facilitators and obstructors are or are likely to be.

Friction and inertia are practically ubiquitous. They are easily taught and often forgotten. The motivations of others are difficult to ascertain and confirm and are always changeable. And it is natural and common to ascribe to others degrees of latitude that are greater than we are aware of having ourselves.

Knowing how to teach children would make teaching adults easy.