After 3 it's too late to read. After three it's too late

The title of the book “After Three It’s Too Late” is so widely known to young parents that it has long become a catchphrase. But at the same time, not everyone has read the book itself, which the Japanese entrepreneur, one of the founders of the Sony corporation Masaru Ibuka, wrote back in 1971. Meanwhile, the principles of education promoted in the book have not lost their relevance today. To help parents who want to get an idea of the content of the book, but do not have the time or desire to read it in its entirety, the Motherhood portal publishes an artistic summary provided by the SmartReading project.

PART 1. POTENTIAL CAPABILITIES OF A CHILD

1. Important period

Kindergarten is too late

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 period of brain cell development. 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.

Early development is not aimed at raising geniuses

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 when he needs it, will 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.

Brain structures are formed by age three

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. 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.

It's easy to make the mistake of leaving your child to his own devices.

Even today, many psychologists, teachers and parents 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.

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.

Meanwhile, everything can be done differently. It is in the first years of a child’s life that you need to be with him more often and unobtrusively and gently offer various activities, and when he begins to develop and grow up, you need to gradually learn to respect his will, his “I”. More precisely, parental influence should cease 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

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

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.

Even a five-month-old baby can appreciate Bach

A study was conducted on what kind of music children like. The results were unexpected. The most exciting music for kids was Beethoven's 5th Symphony! And in the very last place were children's songs.

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?

A six-month-old baby can even swim

A child who has not yet begun to walk tries to float on 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. Swimming is just one way to develop your child's abilities: it improves sleep, promotes appetite, sharpens reflexes and strengthens muscles.

Ability to absorb information a child's brain is much higher than an adult's. 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. Our concern should not be that we give the child too much information, but that there is often too little of it to fully develop the child.

PART 2. INFLUENCE OF EARLY EXPERIENCE

The main thing is the environment, not genes

Studies have 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.

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

If origin were the determining factor in the formation of abilities, then children, generation after generation, would inherit the professions of their fathers. But life is much more interesting, and it is not so rare for a scientist’s child to become a violinist, or a doctor’s child to become a writer.

The most unexpected things affect a child

Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 19th century, discovered the formula for the sum of arithmetic series when he was only eight years old.

Gauss's father was not distinguished for learning. He was a simple mason, he repaired walls, fences, fireplaces and often took his son with him to work. Gauss handed his father bricks and counted them. Apparently, Gauss's mathematical abilities were formed under the influence of this habit in early childhood.

What seems unimportant and meaningless to parents, a child can perceive with such sensitivity and strength that this experience can become the basis for his entire future life. Early childhood impressions determine the child’s future way of thinking and acting.

PART 3. WHAT IS USEFUL FOR A BABY

There are no ready-made recipes for teaching babies

The detailed advice that I am about to give you should be taken only as ideas on the basis of which any mother can make her decision and accept or reject this or that advice in accordance with the particular character or stage of development of the child.

Hold your baby more often

The baby is offended, but his mother takes him in her arms, and he stops crying and smiles. For those who are not familiar with this situation, every parent has experienced this hundreds of times.

This way, a child can develop the habit of crying to get his wishes fulfilled—they scare the parents. Is it so?

For a baby who knows no other way of expressing himself, crying is the only way to attract attention. When he cries, it means that he is asking for something, and leaving his request unanswered means depriving him of communication from the very beginning. Common sense proves that a child's communication with his mother, and especially tactile communication, is very important for his mental development.

Don't be afraid to take your baby to bed with you

You can find new meaning in the habit of sleeping next to your child if you think about his mental and mental development. For example, a mother who is busy all day and does not have enough time to communicate with her child can at least lie next to him until he falls asleep. During this short time the baby is completely calm and very receptive. Therefore, if you don’t just lie next to him, but sing him a song, this will have a positive developmental effect on the child.

Even an hour of practice a day leads to amazing results.

The book “The Baby Raising Revolution,” published in America, describes an experiment in teaching 30 babies at the age of 15 months in poor areas. Every day except Sunday, the teacher spent one hour with the child, playing and talking with him.

Test results obtained when these children were already two years and three months old showed that the “level of intellectual development,” and especially the level of speech development, in these children was clearly higher than that of their peers who did not participate in the experiment.

We sometimes don’t even suspect that all the most ordinary words and actions of his mother are already imprinted in the child’s brain, therefore mothers who talk a lot with the child have a huge impact on his intellectual development.

Don't babysit your child

Probably in all countries people often talk to children in their “children’s language.” Communicate with your baby in a full-fledged “adult” language, and you will make an invaluable contribution to his development.

Newborn senses when parents are in a quarrel

It is very easy to determine by the baby’s face when his parents are arguing, quarreling, or conflicting: the expression on his face is depressed and restless.

It is very important to develop the ability to reason, evaluate, and perceive. There are no special programs for this, and only how parents behave, what they do and feel, how they talk to the baby, can shape the child’s personality.

The father should communicate more often with his child

Often, having already become adults, our children joyfully, like a holiday, remember those pleasant hours that they spent with their father, because, as a rule, in many families this was not so often.

To be a true friend and assistant to his wife - isn’t this the husband’s role in home education? A harmonious atmosphere in the house cannot be achieved only through maternal efforts.

It is impossible to raise a truly good person in a family where the work of raising and developing the child lies entirely with the mother, and the father is only sometimes involved in these concerns at her request. No lack of time or tiredness after work should stop dads from interacting with their children as much as possible.

Children should be encouraged to communicate with each other

The baby will benefit even more if he has physical contact not only with mom, dad, brothers and sisters, but also with other children. This stimulates his mind, develops a sense of competition, sociability, and the desire to be first.

Now people have begun to communicate less with each other. And this cannot but affect the level of intelligence development in children. Considering this, it would be nice if, at least for the sake of their children, mothers tried to get together more often.

Quarrels develop a child's communication skills

It is often said that man is a product of society and that he cannot live outside of it. At about two years old, the child becomes uninterested in playing only with himself, he begins to play with others, and then for the first time he learns how to interact in a group. When he plays peacefully with others and when he quarrels, he learns to live in a group. Quarrels are important because they develop personal initiative.

Children have their own logic, and they communicate with each other in their own way. There is no place for adult logic here. If you look at children's quarrels from the point of view of adults, try to persuade them that fighting is wrong and that the one who quarrels with others is bad, your child will only withdraw into himself and become angry. Quarrels are the first lesson of life in a team.

The child should be praised, not scolded.

Of the two methods - reward and punishment - the latter seems to be more effective, but this is not entirely true. Punishment can cause the opposite reaction in a child - open disobedience. The point is that both praise and punishment must be used very carefully.

Imagine a mother bringing a glass of juice to the table. Her baby, who already wants to imitate his mother in everything, is trying to do the same. And mom says: “You can’t!” - and rushes to him in horror that he will spill the juice. It is not right. She will then reproach the child, when he grows up, for not helping her. Even if a child wants to do something that is still difficult for him, it is better to praise him: “How big you have become!” - then pour out some juice and let him carry the glass. This approach is very important.

PART 4. PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION

1. Stimulation and desire for order

Interest is the best motivation

Arousing the child's interest in the subject of study is the best pedagogical method. Therefore, the main task of parents, if they want to teach their child something, is to awaken interest.

To arouse this interest, it is important to create the necessary conditions. For example, in order for a child to have a desire to draw, there must be enough pencils and paper around him. It is useless to wait for the baby to develop a desire for something if the conditions for this are not created.

Children consider interesting things to be right and uninteresting things to be wrong.

Will you scold your child for tearing off the wallpaper? How do you explain to him that this is not good? For you, “good” or “bad” depends on your personal experience, on generally accepted moral standards. But a small child has no experience, he has nothing to rely on to decide whether tearing wallpaper is good or bad.

If he is properly scolded, he may not do it again to avoid unpleasant consequences. At the same time, this episode can kill his nascent desire for creativity.

Repetition is the best way to stimulate a child's interest

Repetition is very important for the connections that are formed in a child's brain. Repetition is desirable not only because the child cannot get bored with it, but mainly because infancy does not know boredom, this is the best time for the formation of the correct patterns in the child’s brain, which determine his entire subsequent intellectual life.

Curiosity gives rise to interest, which in turn develops the will that is so necessary for growing up. The will to act does not appear out of nowhere.

Children's imagination and fantasies develop creative abilities

Many parents would like to raise their child to be a creative person. There is no doubt that the success of creativity is rooted in the subjective emotional perception and experiences of early childhood. In other words, children's fantasies, which seem so far from real life to adults, are actually the germs of creativity.

Develop your child's intuition (sixth sense)

Seriously speaking, intuition is an important condition for any significant achievement. All great inventors relied on their intuition, despite their vast knowledge and experience. Intuition transcends all five senses and is thus the most ancient and fundamental sense. Intuition is also called an “animal instinct” that goes beyond logic and common sense.

A child under three years of age is rarely able to think logically and mainly relies on his instincts. It is very important to remember this and encourage the development of his instincts, and in any case not suppress them, instilling in him skills and trying to influence him with logic and reasoning.

Tell your child the truth about gender issues

Sexual life is a sphere of instincts, why is it necessary to hide the truth from a child until a certain age, and then suddenly start talking about it. There is no need to laugh it off or lie to him. The parents' embarrassment and reticence will make this topic a forbidden fruit and will only inflame his curiosity and give rise to unnecessary fantasies. Sexual topics should be discussed calmly, in a friendly tone, so that he feels naturally about the issue from the very beginning.

2. Character education in infancy

Learning to play the violin develops the ability to concentrate

Of course, a child must remain a child, alive and curious. But liveliness and restlessness are not the same thing. Anyone who is unable to focus on one thing for a long time wastes a lot of time and energy on every task. Anyone who has developed a high degree of concentration has enormous advantages.

Early development develops leadership traits

Leadership qualities begin to develop much earlier than many people think. These same qualities are also cultivated through various activities with children. Therefore, it is not surprising that children whose parents paid attention to their intellectual development from early childhood are cheerful, energetic children with a penchant for leadership, and not pale geniuses.

Memorizing poetry trains your memory

In our experimental talent training school, haiku is taught to train memory. Haiku are very suitable for this purpose because they are short, rhythmic and easy to remember. In addition, they meet the requirements for children's poetry: “Poems for memorization should cultivate noble feelings in the child, and they should be beautiful, exquisite and worthy of being remembered throughout their lives. And at the same time, the child should like them.”

Surround young children with the best you have.

If true art is imprinted on a child’s brain, which is still like a blank sheet of paper, it will remain there for the rest of his life. His brain will refuse to accept fakes when he becomes an adult and his parents will not be able to influence his tastes.

There is no need to give your child only books with primitive pictures, since supposedly he will not understand the more complex language of painting. If parents enjoy the music of Beethoven and Mozart, let the child listen to it as often as possible.

When a stereotype of true art is formed in the brain, it will be the basis for evaluating works of art in later life.

Success in one matter gives confidence in other matters.

As we have already stated more than once, violin lessons or foreign language classes are needed not in order to raise a child to be a genius, but mainly to contribute to his general intellectual development. It is more beneficial for a child to try his hand at a variety of activities, with as wide a range of subjects as possible, than to focus on one thing.

3. Creativity and skills

Give your child pencils as early as possible

Many parents unwittingly suppress this desire for self-expression. They impose their ideas on him: “Hold the pencil like this!”, “Apples should be red,” “Draw a circle like this,” “Don’t tear the book,” “Don’t throw the paper on the floor,” “Don’t write on the table.” Are there too many restrictions on one small child?

Everything a child does with his hands—draws, scatters toys, tears paper—develops his intellect and creative abilities. The sooner you give your child pencils, the better the results will be. But if at the same time you stop him every minute, you will thereby hinder the development of his creative abilities.

Standard Drawing Paper - Standard Man

Before starting to paint a picture, the artist decides what format it will be. The child is given a standard sheet of paper and thus deprived of the opportunity to choose.

We see the same attitude in other issues. For example, it is believed that only special children's songs and fairy tales are suitable for a child. This lack of imagination on the part of the adult in turn limits the imagination of the child.

I would give a child a huge sheet of paper to crawl on while drawing. The standard worksheet promotes the education of a standard person, devoid of creativity and sufficient vitality.

Too many toys distract a child's attention

Many psychologists believe that when a child has too many toys around, it overwhelms him and makes it difficult for him to concentrate on one thing. A child plays best with one toy, inventing a variety of games with it. In his imagination, a piece of wood or a broken teapot lid can be transformed into a fairy-tale house or a wonderful lake and will be much more interesting than an expensive toy from a store.

So, if you want to develop your child's creative thinking and creativity, don't buy him everything he asks for. This will achieve the exact opposite effect.

I have already mentioned the benefits of tactile sensations for a child’s development. Madame Montessori recommends deliberately offering the child objects that are hard and soft, rough and soft, dull and sharp, heavy and light. The child is interested in everything that surrounds him. He touches and feels things, and sometimes knocks them over or tears them apart, a testament to his growing curiosity and creativity.

Toys must be valuable

Sets of parts from which children can assemble a toy themselves are a great educational technique. It includes the “joy of achievement” that a child who has only ready-made toys is deprived of.

Modeling, cutting out patterns from paper and folding paper figures develop the child’s creative abilities

Take a look around and you will be amazed at how many simple toys there are that have been used for centuries. This is clay, paper for cutting, colored paper for folding shapes.

These materials have one common characteristic - they do not have a specific shape or purpose. In other words, they can be given any shape. That is why they are ideal toys for a young child, when intelligence develops fastest.

Role-playing games develop a child’s creative abilities

The main goal of such activities as music or foreign language lessons, as we have emphasized more than once, is not so much to teach a child something, but to develop his limitless potential. Role-playing games serve the same purpose. The most valuable thing in these games is the opportunity for direct and free expression in relationships with other group members.

Walking is good for children

Before you start complaining that you don't have time to trudge at your child's pace, consider how good walking can be for your child.

The whole body is involved in walking. Of the 639 muscles in our body, 400 are involved in walking. Unlike other physical exercises, walking rhythmically alternates tension and relaxation.

It is no coincidence that many writers say that when their work gets stuck, they take a walk, during which new ideas appear. In all likelihood, walking stimulates the thinking process.

Motor skills also need training

Our physique and coordination of movements are inherited. But how you can develop the abilities that you received from nature depends on training. You can be born with excellent abilities for swimming or gymnastics, but without appropriate training these inclinations will not be realized.

For a child, work and play are one and the same thing

I would like to give you the following advice: let your child work as much as he can, but on one condition, that the result of his work is not important to you.

What is important for a child is not the result of his activity, but the process itself. We, adults, want every job to be completed. And this is where we see the difference between work and entertainment.

No matter how simple the work, the child should be shown how to do it. The work often requires caution and concentration that is not needed in the game.

PART 5. WHAT NOT TO AVOID. A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

Early development is not preparation for kindergarten

Unfortunately, many people view early education as preparation for kindergarten or as nurturing talent.

It is precisely because of the imperfection of the educational system that I attach such importance to early development. With proper intellectual development at an early age, the child learns better at school. He tolerates the system of “getting grades” at school more easily. If good seeds have been sown during the most critical period of his early childhood, the child will grow strong enough to withstand any difficulties.

Nothing is more important than raising children

“I’m so busy with my child that I don’t have time for his education. Theories are theories, but where can we find the time to implement them?” Mothers often respond to my advice in this way. I am convinced that caring for a child should not be separated from raising him. It's the same thing. Your attitude towards him already has an impact on him.

Some mothers believe that they must work for the sake of the child, others believe that the main thing is to feed him. The best education for a child is mother's love. The most important task for parents is raising children. If they don't agree with this, why did they have children?

Don't force the baby's will

Parenting is often associated with violence against the individual and ignoring the child’s wishes. Of course, the baby cannot yet express his desires, but the mother must be able to recognize them. This is one of its main tasks.

By forcing him to do something against his will, you undermine his faith in himself. Personally, I believe that in this sense the best learning lies just beyond what we call education.

Children are not the property of their parents

It is surprising that many parents do not give up the illusion for a long time that while the child is in their care, they can do whatever they want with him.

This feeling of ownership towards your child is very common. It is the reason that the will of the child himself is ignored. If a child acquires such an attitude towards himself before his own will develops, he may then doubt his abilities all his life.

The 21st century will be built by those who trust others

In today's world, the first thing that catches your eye is the lack of trust between people, which causes chaos in society, violence, and environmental problems. No amount of wealth and convenience in life will bring us peace and happiness if there is no trust between people.

The modern education system places too much emphasis on exams and grades, but ignores and does not encourage trust in people. Therefore, it is all the more important that this quality is cultivated at an early age. This is the main task of preschool education.

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 such 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 involved 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 that Dr. Suzuki’s “Nurturing Talent” method of teaching children to play the violin produced, I really regretted that, as a parent, I could not do something 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.

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, that part of the brain 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 precisely 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 to 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 brand 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.

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. It is quite difficult for an adult who first studied the concept of number, and then geometry and algebra, 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 when 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.

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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 turned on 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 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 children's nervous systems.

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. Our concern should not be 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 system of thinking not only of his native Japanese language, but also of any other, 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 will grow 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. Studies have 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.

Masaru Ibuka is the author of the book “After Three It’s Too Late.” This is a successful entrepreneur, an intelligent and developed person. He became one of the world's most renowned experts in the field of child development. He was inspired to study this topic by the desire to help his child, who was lagging behind his peers in development. Thus, the author put into the book not only theoretical knowledge, but also his own experience and proven techniques.

In Japan, views on education are different from those in our country. The main idea of Masaru Ibuka’s book is that children under three years of age are able to develop much faster and absorb information much better than in adulthood. Therefore, it is important to give them the necessary foundation of knowledge before the age of three, when they absorb everything like a sponge. For the same reason, it is not recommended to limit children in anything before this age; this is the best time for exploring the world and their development. This attitude to education will enable the child to grow into a successful person.

The main task of parents is to teach their child, not by forcing him, but by doing it playfully. When a child is relaxed and interested, he is able to remember much more. The author pays great attention to the fact that you need to be attentive to your children and promptly offer them new experiences in obtaining information. Unfortunately, children are often left to their own devices, and the later these techniques are applied, the slower their development will be.

The book is addressed to all parents and educators who want to raise a successful and happy person. The author offers clear teaching methods, taking into account the influence of the world around the child and the characteristics of the development of their thinking and psyche during this period. The application of the described methods will open up new opportunities for the child.

On our website you can download the book “After Three It’s Too Late” by Ibuka Masaru for free and without registration in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format, read the book online or buy the book in the online store.

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According to Glen Doman, director of the Institute for the Development of Human Potential, who wrote the foreword to Masaru Ibuki’s book “After Three It’s Late,” it is one of the most important books that have ever been written, and every person who is parent.

The author of the book is confident in the ability of young children to learn anything, and gives his arguments on the topic of how the environment affects newborns. What adults master with great difficulty, children learn easily - you just need to use special techniques, which are also discussed in the book. The most important thing is the ability to promptly begin to help the child master new experiences, and only those who are next to him can do this.

This work is addressed to all parents who want to show their young children the world of new amazing opportunities.

About Masaru Ibuka

Masaru Ibuka is a Japanese entrepreneur and manager, co-founder of the Sony Corporation, a man whose engineering ideas helped make Japan one of the leaders in the field of electronics and technology, and the creator of innovative young children.

Ibuka became involved in the development of children because his own child was delayed in mental development. Having gained experience in the process of his upbringing and training, as well as resorting to the help of specialists, the author created several organizations - the Early Development Association and the Talent Training school. Then the book “After Three It’s Too Late” was written, which became a bestseller and found a response in the hearts and minds of many readers around the world.

Summary of the book “After Three It’s Too Late”

The book consists of an introduction, a preface and five parts. The first part is devoted to the potential capabilities of the child. The second part talks about the influence of early experiences. The third talks about what is good for the baby. The fourth part reveals the principles of education. And from the fifth part you will learn about what should not be avoided in the education process.

Of course, we will not retell the entire book to you (it will be much better if you read it yourself), but we will still allow ourselves to talk about some interesting and important points that seemed to us.

Part 1. Potential capabilities of the child

Thanks to research and brain physiology, it was possible to find out that the key to the development of a child’s mental potential is his own cognitive experience in the first three years of life, while brain cells are developing. There are no children born geniuses, and no children born fools. The main importance is the stimulation and degree of brain development at the initial stage of life, and this is the period up to three years. It's getting too late to start teaching in kindergarten.

The sole purpose of early development is to provide the child with such an education that will enable him to have a deep mind and a healthy body, and also make him intelligent and kind.

Many parents and experts believe that deliberately teaching a small child is wrong, because... Information overload negatively affects the children's nervous system. However, when sending their children to kindergarten, they immediately abandon their position, become strict and make attempts to teach the children something. But you should do it differently, namely: work with the child in the first years of life and provide parental influence.

Part 2. The influence of early experiences

It is the child's environment, not genes, that is most important. Even twins will be radically different if they are raised by different parents.

If origin were the determining factor in the process of developing abilities, then children would adopt the profession of their ancestors, but life is much more mysterious, and a child can get a completely different profession than his parents.

A child is affected by things that we don’t even suspect. What may seem meaningless to us, children may perceive completely differently, and this something may even become the basis for their entire future life. The impressions a person receives in childhood shape how the child will think and act in the future.

Part 3. What is good for a baby

To begin with, it is important to say that there are no ready-made schemes for teaching infants. The tips offered in the book are only ideas, guided by which any mother can either accept or reject any parenting advice.

It is necessary to carry the child in your arms as often as possible, because... this gives him a lot of positive emotions.

There is no need to be afraid to take your baby to bed with you, because... this has an extremely beneficial effect on his mental and mental development.

Study with your child for at least an hour a day, and you will notice that his intellectual level increases noticeably.

Under no circumstances should you coddle with your child, because... Using “childish” language when communicating with a baby significantly slows down its development.

It is necessary to develop the child's ability to reason, evaluate and perceive. This is done only through how parents interact, what they do, how they feel, how they communicate with the child, etc.

The father should communicate with the child as often as possible, because he is the one who is able to play the role of both a friend and an assistant, both for the wife and for the child. Remember that maternal efforts alone cannot help achieve harmony in the family.

The child should be praised, not scolded, even if punishment seems to you the most effective method. Punishment can cause the opposite reaction. But praise should also be approached very carefully.

Part 4. Principles of education

Among the principles of education are the following:

You must stimulate and guide the child towards order. Here it is necessary to take into account that the best motivation for a child will always be interest; interesting things will always seem right to a child, and uninteresting things will always seem wrong; repetition is the best way to stimulate interest; The child’s fantasies and imagination are developed. Also keep in mind that you need to develop in your child and always tell the truth on the topic of sex.
You must develop the child's character in infancy. This can be achieved by learning to play the violin, memorizing poetry and surrounding your baby with only the best that you have. Remember that early development shapes traits, and success in one thing adds confidence in other endeavors.
You must develop your child's skills and creative thinking. Give your child pencils as often as possible, buy toys selectively and do not allow them to be overabundant so that the child’s attention does not wander. It is not necessary to put away everything that could be dangerous for the child (while being careful, of course). Let your child do modeling, cut out patterns from paper and fold various shapes; play - all this develops the inclinations of creativity. Don’t forget that walking is extremely beneficial for children, and it is necessary to practice it as often as possible.

Part 5. What not to avoid. A look into the future

We will present the main ideas of the last chapter only briefly:

Early development is not preparation for kindergarten
Nothing can be more important than raising children
Don't force your child to do anything against his will.
Children are not the property of their parents

You will find a detailed explanation of the above theses in the book.

Afterword

In the afterword, the author expresses his sincere hope that the book “After Three It’s Too Late” will become a way for readers not only to spend time pleasantly, but also usefully, and also that readers will be able to feel the importance of the timely development of their child.

Unfortunately, parents do not always have the opportunity to create the best conditions for the development of their children, but this should not become a problem. Today, there are more than 40 specialized professional baby clubs in Russia, where children develop fully, and the ideas of Masaru Ibuki are taken as a basis. Although, of course, it is not at all necessary to send your child to such a club, but then you will have to make every effort if you want the development process of your child to be complete, harmonious and of high quality. And the first step towards this is reading this book.

Masaru Ibuka

After three it's too late

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 one of the greatest and kindest revolutions in the world in your ideas. 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.

Masaru Ibuka'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 Ibuka's book does not make these promises, but the astute reader will always have such a perspective before his eyes. At least such 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 2,3 or 4 years old is later 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 lowest levels 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.

It is not difficult to imagine what the world would be like if children's great desire to learn was not dulled by toys and entertainment, but was 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 Ibuka? 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.

Masaru Ibuka proposes to change not the content, but the way the child is taught.

Is all this feasible or is it just a rosy dream? Both. And I am a witness to this.

I saw the newborn children of the Timmerman couple 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, Institute for the Development of Human Potential, Philadelphia, USA.

Preface

Conversely, if a newborn is raised in an environment that is initially alien to its nature, it has no chance of fully developing 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 of 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 the baby finds himself 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 impact 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.

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.