Is Curiosity Vital for Children?

Who is not a little curious? Is curiosity really a vice? Curiosity is vital for children, but in adults it is also important as long as it does not exceed the borderline! Where is the borderline?

Often associated with indiscretion or espionage, curiosity is considered as a vice. Yet it is far from being negative! Instead it reflects a focus on the world and makes you want to know more.

Healthy curiosity of the child

Children are naturally curious about everything around them. In order to familiarise themselves with certain things children tend to observe and manipulate objects that attract them. This desire to explore the world is encouraging despite fears that it failed to inspire adults: the curiosity of a young child demonstrates his vitality and is more evident as he grows up. Leaving children to take small risks according to their measure and provided they are supervised, they spontaneously discover new interests and shape their future personality. Let them express their curiosity! By not letting them do things and being very inquisitive, you will discourage their imagination and hinder their ability to create.

The Lessons from History

From the first moments of life, curiosity deserves more support than to be blamed! From where did curiosity derive its bad reputation? History has shown that it has not always been seen as a way to try to satisfy the thirst for knowledge. Mythology or the Bible illustrates through numerous figures (Pandora's box, Eve and the apple), the risk and the price paid by men when they wanted to know more. All these representations have contributed to the suspicion hanging over curiosity in our society. They all aim to define the excess limit.

The "dark side"

But how will we know the limits? How can we differentiate if it is a vice or is it only an urge to know more? When curiosity exceeds the boundaries, it manifests itself as compulsive and reckless. It becomes an uncontrolled passion, inquisitive and a means of spying on the lives of others at any price.

Curiosity never killed the cat!

Only human beings are motivated by a desire to know more in order to survive. This desire has radically improved their living conditions over the centuries.

In everyday life, curiosity denotes a permanent awakening. It helps to break habits, inertia of a tidy life. This is a form of courage: to dare to leave the familiar and move forward towards what is to be discovered. A lack of curiosity may indicate shyness and a fear of other diseases. It is true that curiosity has certain risk-taking by having to get involved in discovering other knowledge, other opinions and other certainties.

Sources:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/curiosity.htm