Why do smart children perform so well in their early years, but then they get worse later on?

The journey of raising a child is a never-ending practice. Part of the practice content: You have to deal with questions from a born philosopher anytime and anywhere. Children come into the world with ignorance and are surprised and curious about all things in nature. Therefore, they will constantly send out \”why\” signals and ask questions such as \”how was I born?\”, \”why am I here\” and \”where did the world come from?\” Come\” and other philosophical meta-questions. I feel this deeply. Since Ogawa was about 4 or 5 years old, I have been a little overwhelmed by his questions: Why do people lie? What is love? Who is more powerful, God or the Jade Emperor? Where do people go when they die? …These questions often make me confused. Although I can’t give answers to many questions that satisfy my children, I will try my best to answer them, and I am happy about it. Because I know that it is really important for children to maintain their curiosity about the world, and it cannot be overstated. Therefore, when it comes to the selection of picture books, in addition to picture books with themes of family, friendship, love, popular science, etc., I will also share with Xiaochuan some picture books with philosophical themes. The themes are different. Some tell about people\’s way of life; some tell about Zen. Mysteries, some talk about abstract issues… Reading these children\’s philosophy books can stimulate children\’s desire to ask questions and discuss. The adults\’ hearts seem to have been polished anew, and they have a feeling of \”just arriving on the first day on earth\”, full of surprise and admiration. 1. Philosophical Bird Feiluo Series: Guide children to think independently. Suitable reading age: 6~12 years old. This set of books has a total of 10 books, and the cover color of each book is different. The protagonist of the book, Philou, is a six-and-a-half-year-old boy who lives with his parents, brothers and sisters. He happens to be at the age where interpersonal and social confusion begins, and he often has many problems that he cannot figure out. For example: Can I fight? Can I lie? What if I don\’t go to school? Why can\’t I be the leader? Can I never die? …His questions often lead to heated discussions among the whole family, sometimes even heated discussions, and sometimes no one can find the answer. Philou is often unconvinced by what his parents say, but he can\’t think clearly. At night, when Philou returns to his room, his good friend, a little bird named Feiluo, will come to him. In the conversation with Feiluo, Feiluo slowly figured it out. Scholar Zhou Guoping said: \”This Philo is actually Philo, his rational self. Therefore, the conversation with Philo is actually Philo\’s inner dialogue.\” The author of the series, Brigitte Rabe of France, I often host \”philosophical\” themed afternoon tea activities for children in schools, libraries, cafes and other places. What is very interesting is that at the end of each story, there are words like this: \”What about you, when the philosophical bird Feiluo comes to see you, what do you want to talk to him?\” The child\’s life is like Philoo. The same thing: when living among problems, confused, depressed, and entangled, you need Fei Luo Niao to chat and discuss with him. Such chat and discussion are a kind of philosophical enlightenment. 2. The complete collection of children’s philosophy and wisdom books: Protect children’s curiosity. This set of books has been recommended once in the French book list (click here—>Children who have read French picture books are no longer “normal”…), but good booksIt is worth recommending again and again. Suitable reading age: 5 to 14 years old. This set of books adheres to the tradition of European philosophy – loving wisdom. European children\’s philosophy is to teach children to love wisdom. They like to call children \”unfertilized eggs\”. According to tradition, they can have a stable life. \’development of. Therefore, in this set of books, in order to guide children to like thinking and wisdom, it collects many of the most frequently asked questions by children: from the origin of life, to self-understanding, from daily life, to interpersonal communication… These questions seem to be Simple, but it is the most common curiosity and confusion in life, and behind it is the philosophical thinking that must be answered in life. Ask the question: Why do you fight with the person you love? After asking the question, it’s time to answer it. Here is a more common answer. Are there other situations? Keep asking and questioning again. …until the final summary, providing various possibilities and teaching children how to analyze in various situations. This book raises questions without answers, clearly allowing children to feel the power of asking questions. Asking questions can make people think, and thinking can produce power. Thinking can make children think deeply about things, and after experiencing a \”struggle\”, it will guide actions, and those actions will form a colorful life for children. 3. What are you thinking about, kid? A down-to-earth philosophy for children. Suitable reading age: 6 to 12 years old. This set of books was recommended to everyone by me not long ago. The two sets recommended above were written by French people, and naturally adhere to the European tradition: paying more attention to children\’s love of wisdom and interpersonal interaction. This set of books was written by Americans. American children\’s philosophy focuses on training children\’s rational thinking and logical reasoning abilities. For example, talking about the question \”What is respect?\” Start by asking your child a series of questions. Step by step, teach your children what respect is. What should you do if someone doesn\’t respect you? After answering a series of questions, the child is finally told clearly \”What is respect?\” This kind of arrangement logic provides a framework for children to understand and think, helping them to build their own world. 4. Dolphin Picture Book Garden: Children\’s Philosophical Enlightenment Series Suitable reading age: 3+ years old. So far, this series of books has been published in 6 series, namely \”Me and the World Face to Face\”, \”Human Faith\”, \”The Good and Evil of Human Nature\” ” “The Meaning of Life”, “Love and Friendship” and “People Who Are Different” are written by French philosopher Oscar Berenifer. Bureniver is an internationally renowned practical philosopher and children\’s philosopher, and a UNESCO collaborator. He once established the \”Philosophy Practice Institute\” in France. He writes children\’s philosophy picture books for children, which have been translated into many books. kind of text. The themes of this set of books by Brynifer are very grand, and some are even meta-propositions of philosophy: For example, is human nature good or evil? Human character and choices, what is the meaning of our lives? Human beliefs…Although the questions are grand, the content is presented using text and illustrations to introduce opposing questions, allowing children to find their own answers through comparison. There is no good or bad statement in the book, but allows children to discover, search, and create their own philosophy of life. For example, in \”Humanity\”\”Good and Evil\”, every time you turn a page, two completely opposite concepts are presented. Some people believe that good and evil are completely opposite concepts and that we can clearly distinguish them. But some people think that the line between good and evil is very blurry, and bad things often come in beautiful clothes. For example, can good and evil be completely distinguished? Some people believe that good and evil are similar everywhere and are defined the same way. But some people believe that good and evil depend on different cultures and different people, so we are often surprised or even shocked by the behavior of others. Can good and evil be defined? …There is no answer. After such a comparison, at the end, the author will throw a question to the children: \”What do you think?\” Yes, \”What do you think?\” The children will fall into thinking, no matter whether they get the answer in the end, but The thought itself is interesting and meaningful, and that is enough. 5. Philosophical picture books for children: Use stories and pictures to interpret serious philosophy. Suitable reading age: 3+ years old. This set of books also has 6 books. The author integrates philosophical thinking into 6 short stories that are either warm, wonderful or humorous. , coupled with exquisite illustrations, allow children to explore their own set of philosophical speculations while reading. 6 stories, triggering 6 different thoughts. For example, in \”The Lonely Musician\”, the author uses the encounter of a wolf to tell children what a real dream is. Tony is a country wolf who comes to the big city to realize his dream. He wanted to join the most famous band in the city and become the best saxophonist, but the band rejected him because he was a wolf and would easily scare people if he appeared. But Tony did not give up. He still played hard. The emotion contained in it moved a blind pianist. The two of them collaborated and became the most famous jazz group in the city. Music has healed countless people. Maybe a dream that has never been frustrated cannot be called a dream. Some people may think that this is not philosophy, and that philosophy should be a lot of incomprehensible language, but it is not. In the 6th century BC, when philosophy was just born, philosophers began to use various means to describe their thoughts, such as Parmenides using poetry and Plato using drama. It can be seen that the original intention of the philosopher is not to let philosophy \”keep in the boudoir and unknown to people\”, but to hope that it can contact the public and serve the public. Back to children, children naturally like stories. When popularizing philosophical concepts to children, we don\’t just talk about abstract concepts. Through the form of stories and pictures, we can more effectively moisturize things and moisturize things silently. The stories in this set of books are like fables and can inspire people. The ones recommended above are all set, which makes them feel more stressful to read. The ones recommended below are all philosophical picture books one by one, which are relatively easy to read and the content is also very exciting. 7. A Day in the Life of a Mayfly: Tell children how to live a wonderful life. Suitable reading age: 3+ years old. People are born with doubts about life. Where do I come from? Where to go? What is the price of living? Children will be stimulated by these questions and continue to search for the truth of life. In fact, answering these questions is very important – because the answers to these questions will determine how people live their lives.\”A Day in the Life of a Mayfly\” is such a story, which attempts to use poetic language and beautiful images to answer these questions about the nature of life. A mayfly only lives one day, but it enjoys every wonderful moment. It observes everything around it and rejoices in its own life. It wanders in the sky, bathes in the morning light, and dances to the rhythm of the universe. At the end, the mayfly lays its eggs. This was the last moment of its life, but it felt peaceful and most wonderful at the same time. At the same time, the changes in the entire picture are also wonderful. From the beginning of life, which is light blue like morning dew, to the gorgeous blooming of life, which is orange and yellow like summer flowers, to the quiet and beautiful end of life, which is indigo. These colors show the beauty of life. 7. The Lost Corner: Tell children that shortcomings are also a kind of beauty. Suitable reading age: 3+ years old. I never thought that I would be moved by simple lines. Believe me, this book is really suitable for adults and children. look. A long time ago, I shared this book with an older friend. This book is definitely among my top 20 favorite books. I want to tell myself and my children that having shortcomings is better than perfect reading | Giving and receiving, between loving and being loved. Zhou Guoping said that when he was watching it with his 5-year-old daughter, she kept laughing while watching it. Early the next morning, she took this book to the kindergarten, determined to share her happiness with her friends. The protagonist of this book is a circle, but unfortunately it is missing a corner. From then on, we embarked on the process of finding the missing corner. It traveled across the ocean, went through wind and rain, and finally found the most suitable piece. However, it found that it could no longer sing, so it gently put it down and started on the road again to continue searching… The story is very simple, and the style of painting is even simpler. , only some rough and clumsy lines, just like our lives, real and simple, plain and imperfect, but please don’t forget the scenery along the way, the sounds you hear, the smells you smell, the songs you sing… 8. Ni Gula\’s Three Questions: Teaching children to live in the present Suitable reading age: 3+ years old This picture book is adapted from Leo Tolstoy\’s short story: \”Three Questions\”. The little boy Nikolay in the story is looking for answers to three questions: the best time to do something, the most important person, and the most important thing to do. Caldecott Medal winner Joan Mutter combines her thoughts on Zen with her love for Tolstoy to create this simple yet profound story about how to cherish the present and care for others. The painting style of this book also has an oriental charm, which is reminiscent of classical Chinese landscape paintings. Perhaps because the colors are relatively light and the outlines are blurry, children tend to get distracted while reading. At this time, you can see Joan Mutter\’s wisdom. In a fresh and clean picture, he draws bright red kites, which are like guides for children to gather in the hazy picture. 9. The story of Zen: Take children into the door of \”seeing the world with a Zen mind\” Suitable reading age: 3+ What is Zen? Is it mysterious yet mysterious? Or is it the door to all wonders? This is a picture book that I was deeply attracted to at first sight, and I have also recommended it to children. Reading | Zen \”Zen Shorts\” for children Caldecott Medal winner Joan Mutter does not think Zen is a metaphysics, he asked the Zen master to transform into a cute giant panda and tell the children three interesting Zen koans to solve their troubles. As a Chinese, you must be familiar with the stories inside: such as a blessing in disguise and a heavy burden on the soul. It triggers children\’s thinking about the world and prompts them to care about it from different perspectives. The painting style is still the same as Mutter\’s. It is graceful and tranquil, with a distant Zen feeling and the charm of ancient oriental culture. Joan Mutter won the 2006 Caldecott Medal for this book. I have recommended so many children’s philosophy books. At the end, let’s go back to the question at the beginning: When we let children read philosophy picture books, what exactly are they reading? Are you trying to train them to become philosophers? Of course not. The purpose of children\’s contact with philosophy is to cultivate their ability to think deeply and develop the habit of asking, discussing and thinking. Deeply speaking, it is to allow children to think like philosophers, so that the gift of \”children as philosophers\” can be cherished and developed. Think like a philosopher, and the most important thing is to let your children\’s wisdom take off. Children always have to enter society independently without the care of adults. And what can our education give them, so that they can embark on the road of life with great strides and high spirits? The answer is wisdom. Although all subjects and all education have the task of making children grow wise, philosophy has a more important task of making children grow wise. Because philosophy is the love of wisdom, and philosophy itself is wisdom. Wisdom itself and the emotion of loving wisdom allow children to transform knowledge into wisdom during research, experience, thinking, and exploration, and create with a wise mind and a sense of morality. Children who possess wisdom, learn to think, and pursue meaning will have richer thoughts and spirits and will be happy throughout their lives.