“After three it’s too late” Masaru Ibuka. Masaru Ibuka - After three it's too late Ibuka after 3 it's too late

The first woman in the history of Italy, a doctor of medicine, a talented teacher-defectologist, a freedom-loving and temperamental lady, worked with children with disabilities. That is, simply with the mentally retarded! And when her pupils started talking, learned to read and count, ahead of many of their peers, the method was recognized and began to be used for all children.

Distinctive features of the technique

  • The child chooses what, how and to what extent to engage.
    For promoting complete freedom, Montessori schools were banned both in Russia during the time of Stalin and in its homeland during the regime of Mussolini. Down with desks, awkward positions, answers at the blackboard and homework! The child needs to be given freedom and have a colorful picture of the world unfold before him. At first he will be confused, but soon he will get used to it and find what interests him.
  • The child learns to take care of himself.
    In other words, lace your shoes, button your shirt, polish your shoes, iron your clothes, and peel your potatoes. This is where Montessori manuals come from, which the world calls unique, but they can be created from available materials: lacing, frames and inserts, boxes with cereals, beads and sand.

From what age?

From 2-2.5 years.

Pros

  • Development of logic, analytical thinking, writing, reading and counting skills.
  • Accustoming to order, which, according to the author, is organic for the child.

Cons

  • The technique pays little attention to the creative development of the child.
  • Children almost never play classic games - hide and seek, daughter-mother, toy soldiers, etc.
  • Categorically not suitable for restless and overly active children (one of the main principles of the Montesori school: “Don’t disturb others!”).
  • Children prone to autism need to be exercised with caution: classes in a Montessori club can provoke greater isolation and detachment from the team.
  • The system divides the ages at which certain qualities are formed in a child (for example, from 2.5 to 6 years - communication and social skills). And if you miss the moment suitable for development, the lessons may turn out to be useless.
  • It is better to study together with a very experienced Montessori teacher, a truly “inactive” one (who does not interfere with the child’s play, but only observes and coordinates it).

Maria Montessori. "Children's home. Method of scientific pedagogy", Maria Montessori. "Imagination in the creativity of children and great artists", Maria Montessori. "Help me do it myself."

Glen Doman

In the forties of the last century, an American military neurosurgeon began rehabilitating children with severe traumatic brain injuries. His methods were controversial: Doman showed patients cards with bright red dots, letters, words, then whole pictures. But the fact remains: the patients began to speak, showed interest in life and the world, learned to read and count...

Distinctive features of the technique

  • The child's brain needs to be intensively loaded. Hence the endless demonstrations of cards, posters, and slides. According to Doman, stuffing a child with encyclopedic knowledge is very useful - this is how you train memory and develop high intelligence.
  • The child must move from birth and must crawl.

Even those who are not interested in early development have heard about the famous Glen Doman track. The baby should spend most of the day on it, crawling back and forth, falling asleep here from fatigue and waking up for new motor feats. Doman directly connects movement and brain development: as soon as the baby has mastered a new skill (for example, learned to roll over or sit down), the development of a new part of the brain begins.

From what age?

From birth.

Pros

  • The Better Baby Institute (Glen Doman Institute) has already managed to develop systems for teaching not only reading and arithmetic, but also history, geography, biology, physics - in short, the entire school and college curriculum for the first years of life.
  • Teaching reading and arithmetic using the Doman system brings very good and quick results for 75% of children.

Cons

  • The technique is difficult to take root with restless children who are not inclined to perceive information only visually (they will pull cards into their mouths, try to tear them, crush them). Glen Doman strongly does not recommend handing over cards and being distracted from watching.
  • The mother will have to study according to the system all day long (at first, the “lesson” lasts 10-30 seconds and is repeated 5-10 times a day, but gradually both the duration and the number of lessons increase).
  • The system greatly limits the child’s world: he sees only the cards that are shown to him, and almost does not play with his peers; moreover, he does not even have time to play with ordinary dolls and cars.

Glen Doman. "Harmonious development of a child. How to make a child physically perfect. How to increase a child's mental potential", Glen Doman. "Pre-school education".

Cecile Lupan

This enterprising Frenchwoman, a former actress and acting teacher, spent a lot of time at the Glen Doman Institute, and upon her return wrote her own book, simplifying her teacher’s methods and adapting them for the inhabitants of the Old World, for whom, in her opinion, traditional American approaches are absolutely didn't fit.

Distinctive features of the technique

  • Getting to know the world through hearing and tactile sensations.
    Whatever you do, read to your baby about Lukomorye, change a diaper or admire him in the mirror together, be sure to talk to him and let him explore objects by touch. Only by combining these two aspects can early development be successful. And if a curious nose is reflected in the mirror, you need to touch it and name it.
  • Any activities with your baby should be completed with what he does best. Otherwise, interest in studying will be lost for a long time! No violence, just a fun and exciting game that you both enjoy playing.

From what age?

From birth.

Pros

  • An improved Doman technique that eliminates almost all the disadvantages of his system.

Cons

  • Requires enormous dedication from the mother and a lot of free time.

Cecile Lupan. "Believe in your child."

Lena Danilova

Our compatriot and contemporary, a mother of four children, became interested in the ideas of early development with the birth of her eldest son, with whom she made her first parental discoveries, invented designer toys, and came up with. “Everything I write about is based on parental experience. My children taught me everything I know,” says Lena.

Distinctive features of the technique

  • Let your child move freely!
    Don't let the baby's reflexes with which he is born fade away. Encourage reflexive crawling, walking, attempts to grab, touch and hold everything in tiny hands.
  • Focus not so much on early development, but on timely development.
    This means, do not force things and do not force the child to do something for which he is not yet ready. It is not at all necessary to learn to read from the cradle - you will master this science together as soon as the baby shows interest in it.

From what age?

From birth.

Pros

  • All elements of the method are divided according to the months of the baby’s life and become more complex as they grow older.
  • New “lessons” are introduced gradually, and both the baby and the parents have time to adapt to them.
  • The system combines both new original approaches and their simplified versions.
  • A lot of homemade toys for the baby are used (and tips for making them are given), and therefore the technique is not very expensive.

Cons

  • Parents will have to reconsider their approach to arranging a nursery (away with a beautiful crib with little frills, in favor of a crib with horizontal bars and vertical rails).
  • Working according to the method requires full commitment from parents and a lot of time.

Lena Danilova, Mikhail Fedotov. "Early development. First year", Lena Danilova. "Encyclopedia of educational games", Lena Danilova, Mikhail Fedotov. "How to give a child encyclopedic knowledge."

Masaru Ibuka

Ibuka-san became famous not only as the founder of Sony, but also as the head of the national Association for Early Childhood Development in Japan. It was he who stated that by the age of 3, the development of brain cells is 70-80% complete and all efforts to educate children should be focused on those who have not yet celebrated their third birthday.

Distinctive features of the technique

  • A newborn is a blank slate.
    And on it you can write whatever your parents want. The child sees the world as it really is, without any “good” and “bad”. Ibuka warns parents about responsibility and advises how not to break this unique ability of “vision”.
  • A child's ability to process information is inexhaustible.
    Any knowledge can be transmitted to him so that the child absorbs the necessary information about the world. The ways of presenting information are unlimited.

From what age?

From birth.

Pros

  • There are no limits to your baby's thirst for exploration. This is both a plus and a minus at the same time (but only for you, and for him it’s definitely a plus!). Ibuka does not favor children's toys, but he encourages parents to give their children all sorts of toys in life (from forks to dresser drawers, from batteries to computer system units).
  • The largest development association in Japan operates under the Ibuka system, and its work brings unambiguously positive results.

Cons

  • The system is designed for the Japanese mentality (obedience, contemplation), which is not suitable for all European children.
  • Ibuka-san expresses some controversial ideas (for example, about punishing children, about gender differences), which may not coincide with your ideas about parenting.

Masaru Ibuka. "After three it's too late."

Nikitin family

Boris Pavlovich and Lena Alekseevna Nikitin raised seven children and honed their unique NU-VERS (Irreversible Decay of Opportunities for Effective Development of Abilities) method on them. Like many other authors, the Nikitins believed: if you haven’t taught a child anything before the age of three, then you have doomed him to a mediocre and boring life...

Distinctive features of the technique

  • The child does what he wants, as much as he wants, combining physical and intellectual activity.
    There is no need to force him to get off the wall bars (which he will probably master by 10-12 months if he studies according to Nikitin) and force him to read syllables. Be patient, and he will become so interested in reading that you will ask him to leave the book and return to the sports equipment!
  • Everything in the house should promote movement.
    Clothes should be light (as long as it is warm enough outside, even a baby will have enough diapers), and the sports complex should always be at hand.

From what age?

From birth.

Pros

  • The technique not only affects the development of the child, but also gives practical advice to parents on communicating with the baby.
  • They very quickly develop the baby’s logic, analytical abilities, spatial thinking, and intelligence.

Cons

  • The system emphasizes the physical and intellectual aspects of development and pays very little attention to the emotional component.

B.P. Nikitin. "Educational games", B.P. Nikitin. "Childhood without illnesses", B.P. Nikitin. "Health reserves for our children."

Developing your baby

Rattle box

Most mothers probably know about the benefits of contrasting black and white drawings: they can be offered to a newborn to look at, and to an older baby for a more detailed study and “taste” test. You can, of course, get by with cards, but they need to be secured or hung somehow, and the box in this sense is self-sufficient.

  • Take any box (preferably medium-sized cardboard), put a plastic bottle cap inside. The toy has already sounded! Cover the box with white paper. Using a black marker, paint the box to the best of your artistic abilities (you can limit yourself to circles, stripes, triangles). A great idea is to offer to make such a toy for one of your older children.
  • This toy develops not only the baby’s vision, but also his thinking.

Switch toy

For this toy you will need a regular push-button switch, a short cord and two large colored beads. Unscrew the switch parts, put the cord inside so that its ends go into the holes for the wire, and reassemble the switch. Place beads on the cord and secure them with knots. Your baby can pull the ends of the string and alternately pull the beads toward the switch, press the button, and click it. The toy is great for developing baby's fingers.

First photo gallery

Take any medium-sized box (for children’s shoes or a mobile phone), pour any “sounding filler” inside (a handful of peas, bottle caps, caps from felt-tip pens, bells), cover the box with colored paper or self-adhesive film.

  • Glue photos of your family members on each side of the box. Don't forget about the photo of the baby himself! Write who is who on white paper in large letters and glue the photos and signatures to the box. The structure can be reinforced on top with transparent film and tape.
  • The toy develops the child’s vision and hands, introduces him to the world, and replaces the first books or cards.

Glove toys

The life of ordinary gloves is short, and we often forget them, lose them, or simply tear them. A lonely glove will turn into an excellent tactile toy if each finger is stuffed with various fillings - beads, pieces of a rustling bag, bells, beans, etc. Stuff the base of each finger and the palm of the glove with padding polyester and tighten the base with a strong thread.

  • These gloves perfectly develop baby's hands.

Final advice
Keep an “observation diary” for your baby. Let it be an ordinary notebook in a box where you write down every little thing: how he reacted to, how long it took him to learn to crawl, and when the first tooth came out. Don't rely only on your memory: you won't be able to thoroughly remember every day of your baby. And information about its development will be very useful to analyze where your gaps are and what activities need to be given special attention.

P.S. Now that you've taken this tour of the early development universe, it's easier for you to answer the question of which system to follow. Or perhaps you will create your own method for your child, taking elements from different teachers. But we will still allow ourselves to give one piece of advice: no matter how much you want, do not strive to create a brilliant child from the cradle! Your baby is unique, and the child will decide which role to choose!

Book by Masaru IBUKA “After three it’s too late” has become a real icon for parents seeking to develop children from the cradle. The book formulates the basic postulates of early development, calling for people to start taking care of the intellectual development of children from the very moment of their birth and even earlier. Masaru IBUKA states:

  • ANY child, if given what he needs when he needs it, will grow up smart and have a strong character.
  • The development of a child, his capabilities and abilities are influenced by people and his environment.
  • Non-interference in the development of a child at an early age, disrespect for his will is a big mistake!
  • 3 years is the age when a child's brain reaches 80% of its adult potential. And the first 3 years are critical for a child’s development.
  1. Hold your baby in your arms more often. Tactile communication plays a big role in the mental development of a child.
  2. Allow your child to sleep in your bed. Co-sleeping has a developmental effect on the child.
  3. Don't babysit. Talk to your child in adult language from birth.
  4. Engage with your child every day. After all, even 1 lesson a day leads to amazing results.
  5. Don't quarrel in front of your child. Your child feels negativity and anxiety very subtly.
  6. Encourage your child's desire to communicate with other children. This perfectly stimulates the child’s mind, competition, and the desire to be first.
  7. A child needs not only a mother, but also a DAD. There should be no restrictions in communication between dad and child.
  8. Do not forbid your child to defend his interests and even quarrel. Quarrels develop communication skills.
  9. Praise and punish carefully. Praise for what they do, especially boys, and punish them rarely.
  10. Do not impose your GOOD and BAD on your child. Let the child gain life experience with your help and, over time, begin to discern this himself.
  11. Encourage and support your child's interest in something. Create the necessary conditions for this.
  12. Repeat the material covered. This forms the correct patterns in the child's brain.
  13. Don't consider children's fantasies to be stupid. The ability to dream and fantasize shapes a child’s creative potential.
  14. Memorize poetry. This trains your memory.
  15. Surround your child with the best of humanity. Listen to classical music, show works of art, read fiction.
  16. Don't limit your child. Everything a child does with his hands develops his intellect and creative abilities.
  17. Encourage your child to show creative thinking. Standards raise a standard person.
  18. Don't buy your child everything he asks for. An excess of toys distracts the child’s attention, and subsequently it will be difficult for him to study.
  19. Develop tactile sensations. Invite your child to touch objects made of different materials - soft and hard, heavy and light, smooth and rough, etc.
  20. Offer your child toys made from parts. The child will experience great joy from the fact that he was able to assemble it himself. In the era of ready-made toys, this is a rarity.
  21. Develop your child's fine motor skills- sculpting, applique, cutting and folding shapes. As you know, “a child’s mind is at his fingertips” .
  22. Walk with your child. Walking is very beneficial because 400 of the 639 muscles in the body are used during walking.
  23. Don't expect results from your child's work. After all, for a child, the process is important, not the result. Let him work as much as he is interested in.
  24. Do not force the will of the baby. By forcing him to do something against his will, you undermine his faith in himself.
  25. Don't treat your child as your property. This is wrong. In addition, this can cause a lack of confidence in one's abilities.

I would like to start today’s article with a statement from A.S. Makarenko: “Our children are our old age. Proper upbringing is our happy old age, bad upbringing is our future grief, our tears, our guilt before other people, before the whole country.”

Why did I decide to devote today’s article not to a medical problem, but to a book for parents? Because Masaru Ibuka’s book “After Three It’s Too Late” became for me a real revolution, a “bomb” in my views on education. This is not just another work on child psychology or pedagogy; this, in my opinion, is a bestseller on raising harmonious and inquisitive children.

The author of the book, Masaru Ibuka, is the founder of the Japan Early Development Association and the Talent Training school. He is one of the founders of Sony, a young innovator who in 1947, with three partners and $700 in his pocket, created a company that raised Japan from ruins and made it a world leader in electronics. Masaru Ibuka is not a teacher or an expert in educational theory, but in practice he has proven that for the early development of a child it is necessary to change not the content, but the method of teaching.

We are accustomed to believing that a child’s development mainly depends on his heredity, but the author of the book claims absolutely the opposite. The genius of a child is determined by the conditions of his development and the surrounding educational environment. At the same time, the decisive years of development for a child are from birth to three years.

The main goal of a child’s early development is not to grow him into a genius, but to develop his limitless potential.

A child’s brain can accommodate an unlimited amount of information, but the baby only learns well the knowledge that is interesting to him. It is in early childhood that the foundation for future development is laid; those skills that are very difficult to acquire in adulthood are very easily acquired. The child develops at tremendous speed both physically and mentally. Therefore, it is important to properly stimulate this development at each stage. The main role in this is given to the parents who are closest to him.

In the book, Masaru Ibuka gives his recommendations for raising a child, the basic principles of character formation in infancy, and methods for developing creative skills.

The most important task for parents is raising children. The best education for a child is mother's love. But “before raising children, you must first educate your parents” is the main thesis of the book.

After three it's too late

Masaru Ibuka

The author of this amazingly kind book believes that young children have the ability to learn anything. He reflects on the enormous influence of the environment on newborns and offers simple, straightforward teaching techniques to promote early child development. In his opinion, what adults master with great difficulty, children learn through play. And the main thing in this process is to introduce new experience in a timely manner. But only those who are next to the child day after day can recognize this “on time.” The book is addressed to all mothers and fathers who want to open new wonderful opportunities for their young children.

Every mother wants to see her child smart and creative, open and self-confident. But, unfortunately, not everyone knows how to contribute to the careful development of their baby’s intelligence.

Masaru Ibuki's book “After Three It's Too Late” talks about the need and importance of early childhood development. After all, the first three years of life are a unique period in the formation of a child’s intellectual abilities, when every day can become an important stage of rapid and comprehensive growth.

This book changed my life. She helped me approach the development of my own children correctly and consciously. And I have not yet met a single mother who, after reading this book, would not be imbued with the idea of ​​early development. We are sure that now we will have more such mothers and fathers.

By initiating the re-release of Masaru Ibuki's book, we want to give parents of young children the pleasure of reading it. And they will receive even greater pleasure from the future successes of their children. We really want our country to have more smart children and happy parents.

Evgenia Belonoshchenko,

founder and soul of the Baby Club company

Kindergarten Is Too Late!

Masaru Ibuka

After three it's too late

Translation from English by N. A. Perova

Publishing house Artemy Lebedev Studio

Introduction to the English edition

If, behind the kindness and benevolence with which this book was written, you feel the importance of what it tells, then perhaps, together with other similar books, it will make in your ideas one of the greatest and kindest revolutions in the world. And I sincerely wish that this goal will be achieved.

Imagine a revolution that will bring the most wonderful changes, but without bloodshed and suffering, without hatred and hunger, without death and destruction.

This kindest of revolutions has only two enemies. The first is ossified traditions, the second is the existing state of affairs. It is not necessary that deep-rooted traditions be shattered and ancient prejudices disappear from the face of the Earth. There is no need to destroy something that can still bring at least some benefit. But what seems terrible today, let it gradually disappear as unnecessary.

Masaru Ibuki's theory makes it possible to destroy such realities as ignorance, illiteracy, self-doubt, and, who knows, maybe, in turn, will bring a decrease in poverty, hatred and crime.

Masaru Ibuki's book does not make these promises, but the astute reader will always have such a perspective before his eyes. At least these thoughts were born in me while I was reading this book.

This surprisingly good book doesn't make earth-shattering claims. The author simply assumes that young children have the ability to learn anything.

He believes that what they learn without any effort at two, three or four years later is given to them with difficulty or not at all. In his opinion, what adults learn with difficulty, children learn through play. What adults learn at a snail's pace, children learn almost instantly. He says that adults are sometimes lazy to learn, while children are always ready to learn. And he says this unobtrusively and tactfully. His book is simple, straightforward and crystal clear.

According to the author, one of the most difficult activities for a person is learning foreign languages, learning to read and play the violin or piano. Adults have difficulty mastering such skills, but for children it is an almost unconscious effort. And my life is a clear confirmation of this. Although I have tried to learn a dozen foreign languages, having worked as a teacher on every continent, teaching children from both the most privileged and the bottom of society, I only truly know my mother tongue. I love music, but I don’t know how to play any musical instrument, I can’t even remember the melody properly.

In order for our children, growing up, to speak several languages ​​fluently, to be able to swim, ride a horse, paint in oils, play the violin - and all this at a high professional level - they need to be loved (which we do), respected (which we we rarely do) and put at their disposal everything that we would like to teach them.

It is not difficult to imagine how much richer, healthier, safer the world would be if all children knew languages, arts, basic sciences before they reached adolescence, and then used the subsequent years to study philosophy, ethics, linguistics, religion, and the arts, science and so on at a more advanced level.

It is not difficult to imagine what the world would be like if children's great desire to learn were not dulled by toys and entertainment, but were encouraged and developed. It is not difficult to imagine how much better the world would be if the hunger for knowledge of a three-year-old child was satisfied not only by Mickey Mouse and the circus, but also by the works of Michelangelo, Manet, Rembrandt, Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci. After all, a small child has a boundless desire to learn everything that he does not know, and he does not have the slightest idea of ​​what is bad and what is good.

What reason do we have to trust the advice of Masaru Ibuki? What speaks in his favor?

1. He is not an expert in educational theory, therefore, he does not know what is possible and what is not: a necessary condition for making a significant breakthrough in an established field.

2. He is definitely a genius. Starting out in 1947, when his country was devastated, he founded a company he called Sony with three young partners and $700 in his pocket. He was one of those pioneers who raised Japan from ruin and despair to the level of a world leader.

3. He not only talks, he does. As acting director of the Early Childhood Development Association and director of Talent Training in Matsumoto, he is currently enabling thousands of Japanese children to learn the curriculum he describes in this book. Masaru Ibuka suggests changing not the content, but the way a child learns.

Is all this feasible or is it just a rosy dream? Both. And I am a witness to this. I saw the Timmerman couple's newborn children swimming in Australia. I have heard four year old Japanese kids speak English to Dr. Honda. I saw very young children performing complex gymnastic exercises under the direction of Jenkins in the USA. I saw three-year-old children playing the violin and piano with Dr. Suzuki in Matsumoto. I saw a three year old child who

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read in three languages ​​under the direction of Dr. Wehrs in Brazil. I've seen two year olds from Sioux ride grown horses in the Dakotas. I have received thousands of letters from mothers all over the world asking me to explain to them the miracles that happen to their children when they are taught to read from my book.

I think this book is one of the most important books ever written. And I think that all parents living on Earth should read it.

Glen Doman,

Director of the Development Institute

human potential,

Since ancient times, it has been believed that outstanding talent is primarily heredity, a whim of nature. When we are told that Mozart gave his first concert at the age of three, or that John Stuart Mill read classical literature in Latin at the same age, most people simply react: “Of course, they are geniuses.”

However, a detailed analysis of the early lives of both Mozart and Milla suggests that they were strictly raised by fathers who wanted to make their children outstanding. I assume that neither Mozart nor Mill were born geniuses; their talent developed to its maximum due to the fact that favorable conditions were created for them from early childhood and they were given an excellent education.

Conversely, if a newborn is raised in an environment that is initially alien to its nature, it has no chance to develop fully in the future. The most striking example is the story of the “wolf girls”, Amala and Kamala, found in the 1920s in a cave southwest of Calcutta (India) by a missionary and his wife. They made every effort to return the children raised by wolves to human form, but all efforts were in vain. It is taken for granted that a child born to a human is a human and a wolf cub is a wolf. However, these girls continued to exhibit wolfish habits even in human conditions. It turns out that the education and environment into which a baby finds itself immediately after birth most likely determines what he will become - a man or a wolf!

As I reflect on these examples, I think more and more about the enormous influence education and environment have on a newborn.

This problem has become of the greatest importance not only for individual children, but also for the health and happiness of all mankind. Therefore, in 1969, I set about creating the Japan Early Childhood Development Association. Our and foreign scientists gathered in experimental classes to study, analyze and expand the application of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki’s method of teaching children to play the violin, which was then attracting the attention of the whole world.

As we progressed in our work, it became very clear to us how flawed the traditional approach to children is. We habitually believe that we know everything about children, while we know very little about their real capabilities. We pay a lot of attention to the question of what to teach children over three years of age. But according to modern research, by this age the development of brain cells is already 70–80 percent complete. Doesn't this mean that we should focus our efforts on the early development of children's brains before the age of three? Early Development does not offer breastfeeding facts and figures. The main thing is to introduce new experiences “on time.” But only the one who cares for the child day after day, usually the mother, can recognize this “in time.” I wrote this book to help these mothers.

Masaru Ibuka

Potential capabilities of the child

1. Important period

Kindergarten is too late

Probably, each of you remembers from your school years that there was a particularly gifted student in the class who, without any visible effort, became the leader of the class, while the other was in the rear, no matter how hard he tried.

When I was young, teachers encouraged us something like this: “Whether you are smart or not is not heredity. Everything depends on your own efforts.” And yet, personal experience clearly showed that an excellent student is always an excellent student, and a poor student is always a poor student. It seemed that intelligence was predetermined from the very beginning. What was to be done about this discrepancy?

I came to the conclusion that a person's abilities and character are not predetermined from birth, but are mostly formed during a certain period of his life. There have long been debates about whether a person is shaped by heredity or by the education and upbringing that he receives. But until today, not a single more or less convincing theory has put an end to these disputes.

Finally, studies of brain physiology, on the one hand, and child psychology, on the other, have shown that the key to the development of a child’s mental abilities is his personal experience of cognition in the first three years of life, that is, during the development of brain cells. No child is born a genius, and no child is born a fool. It all depends on the stimulation and degree of brain development during the crucial years of a child's life. These are the years from birth to age three. It's too late to educate in kindergarten.

Every child can learn well - it all depends on the teaching method

The reader may wonder why I, an engineer by profession and currently the president of a company, became interested in the issues of early human development. The reasons are partly “social”: I am not at all indifferent to today’s youth revolts, and I ask myself how much modern education is to blame for the dissatisfaction with the lives of these young people. There is also a personal reason - my own child was mentally retarded.

While he was very young, it never occurred to me that a child born with such disabilities could develop into a normal, educated person, even if he was taught correctly from birth. My eyes were opened by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, who claims that “there are no retarded children - it all depends on the teaching method.” When I first saw the amazing results produced by Dr. Suzuki’s “Nurturing Talent” method of teaching children to play the violin, I very much regretted that, as a parent, I could not do anything for my own child at one time.

When I first became involved with student unrest, I thought deeply about the importance of education and tried to understand why our system produced so much aggression and dissatisfaction. At first it seemed to me that the roots of this aggressiveness were in the university education system. However, delving deeper into the problem, I realized that it is already typical for high school. Then I studied the middle and primary school system and eventually came to the conclusion that it was too late to influence a child in kindergarten. And suddenly this thought coincided with what Dr. Suzuki and his colleagues were doing.

Dr. Suzuki has been practicing his unique method for 30 years. Previously, he taught junior and senior high school students using traditional teaching methods. He found that the difference between capable and incapable children was very large in the upper grades, and so he decided to try teaching with younger children, and then with the youngest children, gradually continuing to reduce the age of the children he taught. Dr. Suzuki teaches violin because he is a violinist himself. When I realized that this method can be

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successfully applied in any field of education, I decided to seriously study the problem of “early development”.

Early development is not aimed at raising geniuses

I am often asked whether early development helps to raise geniuses. I answer: “No.” The only goal of early development is to give the child such an education that he has a deep mind and a healthy body, to make him intelligent and kind.

All people, unless they have physical disabilities, are born approximately the same. Responsibility for dividing children into smart and stupid, downtrodden and aggressive falls on education. Any child, if given what he needs and when he needs it, should grow up smart and with a strong character.

From my point of view, the main goal of early development is to prevent the creation of unhappy children. A child is given to listen to good music and taught to play the violin not in order to raise him to be an outstanding musician. He is taught a foreign language not in order to raise a brilliant linguist, and not even in order to prepare him for a “good” kindergarten and primary school. The main thing is to develop in the child his limitless potential, so that there is more joy in his life and in the world.

The very underdevelopment of the human baby speaks of its enormous potential.

I believe that early development is associated with the enormous potential of the newborn. Of course, a newborn is absolutely helpless, but precisely because he is so helpless, his potential capabilities are so great.

A human child is born much less developed than baby animals: he can only scream and suck milk. And baby animals, such as dogs, monkeys or horses, can crawl, cling, or even immediately get up and walk.

Zoologists say that a newborn baby lags behind a newborn baby animal by 10–11 months, and one of the reasons for this is the human posture when walking. As soon as a person assumed a vertical position, the fetus could no longer remain in the womb until its full development, which is why the child is born completely helpless. He has to learn to use his body after birth.

In the same way he learns to use his brain. And if the brain of any baby animal is practically formed at the time of birth, then the brain of a newborn child is like a blank sheet of paper. How gifted the child will become depends on what is written on this sheet.

Brain structures are formed by age three

The human brain is said to have approximately 1.4 billion cells, but in a newborn, most of them are not yet used.

A comparison of brain cells of a newborn and an adult shows that during the development of the brain, special bridges-processes are formed between its cells. Brain cells seem to stretch out their hands to each other so that, holding tightly to each other, they respond to information from the outside that they receive through the senses. This process is very similar to the operation of transistors in an electronic computer. Each individual transistor cannot work on its own; only when connected into a single system, they function like a computer.

The period when connections between cells are most actively formed is the period from the birth of a child to three years. Approximately 70–80 percent of such compounds are nucleated at this time. And as they develop, the capabilities of the brain increase. Already in the first six months after birth, the brain reaches 50 percent of its adult potential, and by three years - 80 percent. Of course, this does not mean that a child’s brain stops developing after three years. By the age of three, the back part of the brain mainly matures, and by the age of four, the part of it called the “frontal lobe” is included in this complex process.

The fundamental ability of the brain to receive a signal from the outside, create its image and remember it is the basis, the very computer on which all further intellectual development of the child rests. Mature abilities such as thinking, needs, creativity, feelings develop after three years, but they use the base formed by this age.

Thus, if a solid foundation has not been developed in the first three years, it is useless to teach how to use it. It's like trying to achieve good results while working on a bad computer.

A baby's shyness in the presence of strangers is evidence of the development of the ability to recognize images

I would like to explain the special use of the word "image" in my book.

The word “image” is most often used in the meaning of “scheme”, “sample device”, “model”. I propose to use this word in a broader, but special sense, to designate the thinking process through which the child’s brain recognizes and perceives information. Where an adult grasps information mainly using the ability to think logically, a child uses intuition, his unique ability to create an instant image: the adult’s way of thinking is inaccessible to the child and will come to him later.

The clearest evidence of this early cognitive activity is the infant's ability to recognize human faces. I especially remember one little boy I saw in a children's hospital. It was said that he was able to distinguish between 50 people at the age of just over a year. Moreover, he not only recognized them, but also gave each his own nickname.

“50 people” may not be a very impressive number, but even an adult would find it difficult to remember 50 different faces in one year. Try to write down more accurately the facial features of all your friends and see if you can distinguish one face from another analytically.

A child's recognition abilities become obvious around six months, when shyness appears. His little head can already distinguish familiar faces, like mom or dad, from unfamiliar ones, and he makes this clear.

Modern education makes the mistake of swapping the period of “strictness” and the period of “everything is possible”

Even today, many psychologists and educators, especially those considered “progressive,” believe that it is wrong for a young child to consciously teach. They believe that excess information negatively affects the child's nervous system and it is more natural to leave him to his own devices and allow him to do whatever he wants. Some are even convinced that at this age a child is an egoist and does everything only for his own pleasure.

Therefore, parents all over the world, influenced by such ideas, consciously follow the principle of “leave alone.”

And these same parents, when their children go to kindergarten or school, immediately abandon this principle and suddenly become strict, trying to raise and teach their children something. For no reason at all, “affectionate” mothers turn into “formidable” ones.

Meanwhile, from the above it is clear that everything should be the other way around. It is in the first years of a child’s life that you need to be both strict and affectionate with him, and when he begins to develop on his own, you need to gradually learn to respect his will, his “I”. More precisely, parental influence

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should stop before kindergarten. Non-intervention at an early age and then pressure on a child at a later age can only destroy his talent and cause resistance.

2. What a small child can do

Adult concepts of “difficult” and “easy” are not suitable for children

We adults take the liberty of asserting, for example, that this book is too difficult for a child or that a child cannot appreciate classical music. But on what basis do we draw such conclusions?

For a child who does not have clear, established ideas about what is “difficult” or “easy” - English or Japanese, Bach's music or children's songs, monotonous, monotonous music or harmony of sounds - everything must begin at the same time, for him the same everything is new.

A conclusion made on the basis of feelings does not depend on knowledge; on the contrary, knowledge can become an obstacle to feelings. Probably many, looking at the famous painting, said to themselves: “She is beautiful!” - although in fact it did not touch you at all, its value for you lies only in the name of the artist and in its price. A child, on the contrary, is always honest. Some object or activity completely absorbs his attention if it interests him.

It is easier for a child to remember “dove” than “nine”

I remember one incident when my two-year-old grandson, whom I had not seen for a long time, was visiting me. He looked out the window, showed me the neon signs and proudly said: “This is Hitachi, and this is Toshiba.” Trying to hide my delight, I decided that my grandson, at two years old, could already read the Chinese characters “Hitachi” and “Toshiba”. I asked his mother when he learned the Chinese alphabet, and it turned out that he did not read “Hitachi” and “Toshiba” in Chinese, but simply remembered the brand names as images and distinguished them that way. Everyone laughed at me as a “stupid, loving grandfather,” but I’m sure this happens to many.

I recently received a letter from a 28-year-old mother in Fujisawa who had read my weekly article series on early development. From her letter, I learned that her eldest 2.5-year-old son began to remember car brands when he was about two years old. After just a few months, he could easily name about 40 cars of both Japanese and foreign brands, sometimes he could even name the make of the car that was under the cover. And a little earlier, probably under the influence of the Expo 70 television program, he began to memorize the flags of different countries and now could recognize and correctly name the flags of 30 countries, including such as the flag of Mongolia, Panama, Lebanon - flags that an adult would remember with labor. This example suggests that children have one quality that adults have not had for a long time.

The child is endowed with a remarkable ability to recognize objects by images, which has nothing to do with analysis; the child will learn this much later. An excellent example that supports this hypothesis is the ability of a baby to recognize its mother's face. Many babies begin to cry if they are picked up by strangers, and calm down and smile in their mother’s arms.

As an experiment, Mr. Isao Ishii taught Chinese writing lessons at our Early Childhood Development Association. Three-year-old children easily remembered complex Chinese characters such as "dove" or "giraffe." The fact is that for a child who effortlessly remembers even the slightest changes in facial expression, difficult Chinese characters are not a problem. Unlike abstract words such as "nine", he can easily remember words for concrete objects such as "giraffe", "raccoon", "fox", no matter how difficult they are. Therefore, it is not surprising that a child can beat an adult at cards. If an adult consciously has to remember a place, a number and a picture, then a child has a remarkable figurative memory.

It is easier for a child to understand algebra than arithmetic

One of the fundamental ideas of mathematics is series theory. For an adult who first studied the concept of number, and then geometry and algebra, it is quite difficult to understand it. And for a child, the logic of series theory or set theory is easy to understand.

A "series" or "set" is simply a collection of objects with common qualities. The child becomes familiar with them when he begins to play with blocks. He takes them one by one, distinguishing them by shape: square, triangular, etc. Already at this age, he understands well that each cube is an element of a “row” and that a bunch of cubes is one row, and triangles another. This simple idea that objects can be sorted into groups according to certain characteristics is the main principle that underlies series theory. It is natural for a child to understand simple and logical set theory more easily than the complex and intricate logic of arithmetic.

So, I am convinced that the traditional idea that arithmetic is easy and algebra is difficult is another misconception among adults about the capabilities of children. A child's brain can easily grasp the logic of set theory, which is the beginning of understanding the basics of algebra.

Here is an example of an arithmetic problem: “There are only 8 animals in the zoo, turtles and cranes. They have 20 legs. How many turtles and cranes live in the zoo?

Let's first solve this problem algebraically. Let us denote the number of cranes by the letter x, and the number of turtles by y, then x + y = 8, and 2x + 4y = 20. Let us consider x + 2y = 10, that is, x = 8? y = 10 ? 2y; this means y = 2. The result is 2 turtles and 6 cranes.

Now let's solve this problem with the arithmetic of “turtles” and “cranes”. If we assume that all animals are turtles, then it turns out that they have 32 legs. But according to the problem, 20 are given, which means 12 extra legs. And they are superfluous because we assumed that all animals are turtles, which have 4 legs, but in fact, some of them are cranes, which have 2 legs. Therefore, the extra 12 legs are the number of cranes multiplied by the difference in the number of legs of both animals; 12 divided by 2 is 6, that is, 6 cranes, and if you subtract 6, the number of cranes, from 8, the total number of animals, you get the number of turtles.

Why solve this problem with such a complex "turtle" method of arithmetic, if we have a logical and direct way to get the answer by substituting x and y for the unknown numbers?

Although algebraic solving is difficult to master right away, a logical explanation of algebra is much easier to understand than a seemingly easy, counterintuitive solution.

Even a five-month-old baby can appreciate Bach

A kindergarten was organized at one of the Sony enterprises. They conducted a study to find out what kind of music children like. The results were unexpected. The most exciting music for kids was Beethoven's 5th Symphony! Popular songs that are broadcast from morning to evening on TV took 2nd place, and children's songs came in last place. I was very interested in these results.

Babies found classical music most interesting, which we adults often keep at a sufficient distance from them. Are children endowed from birth with the musical taste necessary to appreciate a complex symphony? According to the observations of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki,

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Even five-month-old babies love the Vivaldi concerto. And this reminds me of a story.

The young parents, great lovers of classical music, let their newborn child listen to Bach's 2nd Suite for several hours every day. Three months later he began to move vigorously to the beat of the music. As the rhythm quickened, his movements became more jerky and active. When the music ended, he expressed dissatisfaction. Often, when the baby was angry or crying, the parents played this music, and he immediately calmed down. And one day, when they turned on jazz, the child simply burst into tears.

The ability to perceive complex musical forms is a miracle. I am convinced that many Japanese people do not appreciate Western classical music simply because they grew up hearing nothing but nursery rhymes and traditional music.

A six-month-old baby can even swim

Many adults do not know how to swim (they swim, as they say, “like an axe”). So you might be surprised to learn that a tiny child can be taught to swim. A child who has not yet begun to walk tries to float on the water in the same way as he tries to crawl on the ground. And the important thing is not that a small child can swim, but that he swims because he is a child.

Several years ago I read an article in the newspaper that a Belgian named de Benesail had opened a swimming school for infants. He believed that a three-month-old child could be taught to sit on his back in the pool, and by nine months to breathe correctly in the water.

In August 1965, Rize Dim, chairman of the International Conference of Women Athletes held in Tokyo, talked about teaching swimming to children under one year old, which became a big sensation. Mrs. Deem first plunged her five-month-old baby into a pool with water temperature of 32 °C, and after three months he could already swim there for about 6 minutes. The kid even set a kind of record - he could stay on the water for 8 minutes 46 seconds.

At a press conference, Mrs. Deem said, “The child knows how to float on water much better than how to stand on land. First, you keep him in the water until he gets used to it and begins to float on his own.

As he plunges into the water, he holds his breath and closes his eyes until he floats to the surface. This is how he learns to swim, working with his arms and legs.” Mrs. Dim assured many times that all human capabilities and talents can begin to be developed before the age of one.

The fact that a baby can swim is just one fact that confirms the child’s limitless capabilities. A baby who takes his first steps can learn to roller skate at the same time. Walking, swimming, sliding - the child masters all this playfully, if properly guided and encouraged.

Of course, such experiments are not carried out in order to teach a child to swim or play the violin. Swimming is just one way to develop your child's abilities: it improves sleep, promotes appetite, sharpens reflexes and strengthens muscles. They say: “Strike while the iron is hot.”

In other words, it is too late to forge iron if the metal has already hardened.

A child's brain can hold a limitless amount of information.

“Brother and sister, linguistic geniuses who understand English, Spanish, Italian, German and French: five languages ​​and, in addition, the language of their “aggressive” father.” Many Japanese probably remember the sensational report that appeared in the newspaper under the headline “Aggressive Father.” The article talked about Mr. Masao Kagata, who left his teaching career and, declaring himself a housewife, devoted his life entirely to raising children.

His son was then two and a half years old, and his daughter three months old. The children were still very young, and the “aggressive” father-educator was subjected to severe criticism. Concerns have been raised that the large amount of knowledge will affect the nervous system of children.

It is easy to see that this criticism was unfounded by looking at the prosperous and prosperous Kagata family. And there is no point in judging whether a father who has given up work and devoted himself entirely to raising his children is doing the right thing or not.

It is important that the teaching method that Mr. Kagata used demonstrates the intellectual capabilities of little ones. Here's what he said:

“I started teaching them conversational English, Italian, German, French... almost simultaneously. On the radio, French lessons are often explained in English. Therefore, I decided that if I teach many languages ​​at once, I can combine the teaching methods together. Just at this time, my children were learning to play the piano, and the notes they played from had explanations in Italian, and translations in English, German and French. If they didn't understand the explanations, they didn't know how to play. This was one of the reasons why I started teaching them languages. I have often been asked if children get confused when learning five languages ​​at the same time. I think not: they used them correctly. We studied foreign languages ​​only on the radio. These radio programs are hosted by very friendly announcers. Pronunciation exercises are repeated methodically and for a long time. And when children begin to speak for themselves, they pronounce everything correctly” (“Early Development,” May 1970).

So, we can assume that the ability to absorb information is much higher in the child’s brain than in an adult. Just don’t be afraid to “overfeed” or overstimulate him: a child’s brain, like a sponge, quickly absorbs knowledge, but when it feels overwhelmed, it switches off and stops perceiving new information. We should be concerned not that we give the child too much information, but that there is often too little of it to fully develop the child.

The child remembers only what is interesting to him

So far I have described the wonderful ability of the child's brain to absorb information. Of course, the child’s brain at this stage of development is like a machine that mechanically swallows everything that is thrown into it; it is not yet able to select information and understand it.

But soon the time comes, the child gains the ability to make independent decisions, that is, an area of ​​the brain develops that is capable of using the formed intellectual apparatus. This is thought to occur around the age of three. And it is precisely at this time that the question arises of how and what to interest the child. The baby greedily remembers what interests him. Other abilities also begin to develop - he may already want to create and do something; they are important for the development of intelligence and the formation of character.

You read stories and fairy tales to your children, even if they still understand little of what they read. Your child listens to them many times and remembers them, and if you do not read carefully, he will immediately notice the mistakes. The child remembers children's stories and fairy tales very accurately, but this accuracy is based more on associative memory than on understanding.

Then the child becomes interested in one story and wants to read it himself. And although he does not know the alphabet, he matches the story he hears with the pictures in the book and “reads” the book, carefully following the letters that he cannot yet read. Just during this period the child

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begins to persistently ask the meaning of various letters. And the fact that he is so persistent is evidence of his enormous interest in knowledge.

It is not difficult for a child under three years of age to learn something that interests him, and you should not be worried about the amount of energy and effort expended in doing so.

Many skills cannot be acquired if they were not learned in childhood.

At work I often have to speak English. But I am always worried about my mistakes in pronunciation and intonation. It’s not that the person listening to me doesn’t understand my “Japanese-English” - he does. But sometimes a look of confusion appears on his face and he asks me to repeat something. Then I spell this word so that they understand me.

But the neighbor's boy - he is one year and two months old - pronounces English words very correctly. Many Japanese find it difficult to pronounce the sounds [r] and [l], but he succeeds. This is probably because I started learning English in middle school, and this boy learned to speak English at the same time he learned Japanese. His first acquaintance with a second language began with listening to English recordings, and then he began speaking English with an American woman, mastering a foreign language at the same time as his own.

This comparison suggests that when a sample of the native language has been formed in the mind, it is already difficult to perceive samples of a foreign language. However, as I have already explained, the brain of a child under three years of age is capable of mastering the thinking system not only of his native Japanese language, but also of any other language, and this process can, as we have already said, occur simultaneously. Therefore, children at this age can speak any language without much difficulty, as if it were their native language. If you skip this period, it will be much more difficult for you to teach your child what he learns so easily in early childhood.

A foreign language is not the only subject that can be mastered at an early stage of child development

An ear for music and physical abilities (coordination of movements and sense of balance) are formed precisely at this age. Around the same time, the basis of aesthetic perception—sensory response—develops.

Every year at the beginning of the summer holidays, parents from different countries bring their children to Dr. Suzuki's violin class. No need to explain that none of them speak a word of Japanese. The little ones start talking first. Then children from primary and secondary classes. The most hopeless are their parents.

And if many children speak excellent Japanese within a month, then parents need years, they have to use the services of children as translators.

It is possible to develop hearing in a child with hearing loss

So far I have considered the latent potentialities of the normal child and the importance of early education for the development of these capabilities. However, unfortunately, there are many children in the world with physical disabilities: patients with polio, mentally retarded, deaf, and dumb. Early development should not bypass them; on the contrary, precisely because of their difficult situation, it is necessary to identify their deficiencies as early as possible in order to compensate for these deficiencies as far as possible with the help of early development techniques.

I would like to tell you a story that I recently read in the newspaper: the story of a child who was born deaf, but later was able to participate in conversation without difficulty thanks to the great efforts of his parents. Atsuto, now six years old, was born simply the picture of health. He was one year old when his parents noticed abnormalities; they asked themselves whether the child’s hearing was okay, but they were not worried yet, believing that their child was one of those who began to speak late. But when Atsuto did not speak even at one and a half years old, they took him to a doctor for an examination.

The parents turned to Dr. Matsuzawa, a specialist in the treatment and education of hearing impaired infants, for help. He began by teaching the child to recognize his own name by ear. Then the child began to learn other words. Gradually the doctor connected words with meanings, developing in him the traces of hearing that still remained. Dr. Matsuzawa believes that in the early years a deaf child can actually be “taught” to hear.

He writes: “Only a mother can quickly discover that something is wrong with her child. A week after birth, the newborn reacts to a loud sound or noise. After a few months, the baby recognizes his mother's voice, and after four months, his name. If your child doesn't react to loud noises or doesn't answer when his name is called, it may be that there is something wrong with his hearing. Around the age of three, a child will have learned many of the words that adults use in everyday life, so these early years are the best time to teach a variety of words to a child with hearing impairments.

Most of all, you need to avoid isolating the child from sounds, because he supposedly doesn’t hear them anyway. It is not true that even a completely deaf child is unable to hear anything. If a child constantly listens to sounds, he will develop the ability to hear.”

Thus, parental effort and training can develop a child's ability to hear, even if he was born with severe hearing impairment.

The influence of early experience

The main thing is the environment, not genes

In the previous chapter I spoke of the latent powers of the small child. Whether a tree grows from a bud or a beautiful flower from a bud depends on what conditions you create for this and how you care for your charges. In my opinion, education and environment play a greater role in the development of a child than heredity.

In Japan, a number of experiments were carried out with twins who were raised in different families from birth. Research has shown that even twins, if they grow up in different environments and are raised by different people, will be very different from each other in both character and abilities.

The question is what kind of education and environment best develops a child's potential abilities. The answer to this is the results obtained by scientists who conducted various studies in different situations and using different methods. In addition, there are many examples of how parents, dissatisfied with school education, tried to educate their children themselves. In addition, there are results of experiments conducted on dogs and monkeys, and these results also speak for themselves. Now I would like to discuss some of these experiments.

A child born to a scientist father does not necessarily become a scientist

I often hear mothers say: “My son must have taken after his father, he has no ear for music at all” or “My husband is a writer, so our child writes good essays.” Of course, as the proverb goes, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” or, as they say in Japan, “A rose cannot grow from an onion.”

Indeed, there are cases when the son of a scientist becomes a scientist, and the son of a merchant becomes a merchant. But these cases do not mean, however, that these professional qualities were passed on to children with genes. From the moment of birth, they were probably raised in an environment that inspired them to continue the work of their fathers.

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The environment created by the parents becomes the environment of the child. She develops his abilities for his father's profession, awakening interest in this profession.

Read this book in its entirety by purchasing the full legal version (http://www.litres.ru/masaru-ibuka/posle-treh-uzhe-pozdno/) on liters.

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Here is an introductory fragment of the book.

Only part of the text is open for free reading (restriction of the copyright holder). If you liked the book, the full text can be obtained on our partner's website.

Every mother wants to see her child smart and creative, open and self-confident. But, unfortunately, not everyone knows how to contribute to the careful development of their baby’s intelligence.

Masaru Ibuki's book “After Three It's Too Late” talks about the need and importance of early childhood development. After all, the first three years of life are a unique period in the formation of a child’s intellectual abilities, when every day can become an important stage of rapid and comprehensive growth.

This book changed my life. She helped me approach the development of my own children correctly and consciously. And I have not yet met a single mother who, after reading this book, would not be imbued with the idea of ​​early development. We are sure that now we will have more such mothers and fathers.

By initiating the re-release of Masaru Ibuki's book, we want to give parents of young children the pleasure of reading it. And they will receive even greater pleasure from the future successes of their children. We really want our country to have more smart children and happy parents.

Evgenia Belonoshchenko,

founder and soul of the Baby Club company

Masaru Ibuka

Kindergarten Is Too Late!

Masaru Ibuka

After three it's too late

Translation from English by N. A. Perova

Publishing house Artemy Lebedev Studio

Introduction to the English edition

If, behind the kindness and benevolence with which this book was written, you feel the importance of what it tells, then perhaps, together with other similar books, it will make in your ideas one of the greatest and kindest revolutions in the world. And I sincerely wish that this goal will be achieved.

Imagine a revolution that will bring the most wonderful changes, but without bloodshed and suffering, without hatred and hunger, without death and destruction.

This kindest of revolutions has only two enemies. The first is ossified traditions, the second is the existing state of affairs. It is not necessary that deep-rooted traditions be shattered and ancient prejudices disappear from the face of the Earth. There is no need to destroy something that can still bring at least some benefit. But what seems terrible today, let it gradually disappear as unnecessary.

Masaru Ibuki's theory makes it possible to destroy such realities as ignorance, illiteracy, self-doubt, and, who knows, maybe, in turn, will bring a decrease in poverty, hatred and crime.

Masaru Ibuki's book does not make these promises, but the astute reader will always have such a perspective before his eyes. At least these thoughts were born in me while I was reading this book.

This surprisingly good book doesn't make earth-shattering claims. The author simply assumes that young children have the ability to learn anything.

He believes that what they learn without any effort at two, three or four years later is given to them with difficulty or not at all. In his opinion, what adults learn with difficulty, children learn through play. What adults learn at a snail's pace, children learn almost instantly. He says that adults are sometimes lazy to learn, while children are always ready to learn. And he says this unobtrusively and tactfully. His book is simple, straightforward and crystal clear.

According to the author, one of the most difficult activities for a person is learning foreign languages, learning to read and play the violin or piano. Adults have difficulty mastering such skills, but for children it is an almost unconscious effort. And my life is a clear confirmation of this. Although I have tried to learn a dozen foreign languages, having worked as a teacher on every continent, teaching children from both the most privileged and the bottom of society, I only truly know my mother tongue. I love music, but I don’t know how to play any musical instrument, I can’t even remember the melody properly.

In order for our children, growing up, to speak several languages ​​fluently, to be able to swim, ride a horse, paint in oils, play the violin - and all this at a high professional level - they need to be loved (which we do), respected (which we we rarely do) and put at their disposal everything that we would like to teach them.

It is not difficult to imagine how much richer, healthier, safer the world would be if all children knew languages, arts, basic sciences before they reached adolescence, and then used the subsequent years to study philosophy, ethics, linguistics, religion, and the arts, science and so on at a more advanced level.

It is not difficult to imagine what the world would be like if children's great desire to learn were not dulled by toys and entertainment, but were encouraged and developed. It is not difficult to imagine how much better the world would be if the hunger for knowledge of a three-year-old child was satisfied not only by Mickey Mouse and the circus, but also by the works of Michelangelo, Manet, Rembrandt, Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci. After all, a small child has a boundless desire to learn everything that he does not know, and he does not have the slightest idea of ​​what is bad and what is good.

What reason do we have to trust the advice of Masaru Ibuki? What speaks in his favor?

1. He is not an expert in educational theory, therefore, he does not know what is possible and what is not: a necessary condition for making a significant breakthrough in an established field.

2. He is definitely a genius. Starting out in 1947, when his country was devastated, he founded a company he called Sony with three young partners and $700 in his pocket. He was one of those pioneers who raised Japan from ruin and despair to the level of a world leader.

3. He not only talks, he does. As acting director of the Early Childhood Development Association and director of Talent Training in Matsumoto, he is currently enabling thousands of Japanese children to learn the curriculum he describes in this book. Masaru Ibuka suggests changing not the content, but the way a child learns.

Is all this feasible or is it just a rosy dream? Both. And I am a witness to this. I saw the Timmerman couple's newborn children swimming in Australia. I have heard four year old Japanese kids speak English to Dr. Honda. I saw very young children performing complex gymnastic exercises under the direction of Jenkins in the USA. I saw three-year-old children playing the violin and piano with Dr. Suzuki in Matsumoto. I saw a three year old child read in three languages ​​under the guidance of Dr. Wehrs in Brazil. I've seen two year olds from Sioux ride grown horses in the Dakotas. I have received thousands of letters from mothers all over the world asking me to explain to them the miracles that happen to their children when they are taught to read from my book.

I think this book is one of the most important books ever written. And I think that all parents living on Earth should read it.

Glen Doman,

Director of the Development Institute

human potential,

Philadelphia, USA

Since ancient times, it has been believed that outstanding talent is primarily heredity, a whim of nature. When we are told that Mozart gave his first concert at the age of three, or that John Stuart Mill read classical literature in Latin at the same age, most people simply react: “Of course, they are geniuses.”


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