To help your children see learning and education as fun then it is best to start working with them as soon as you can!

Start as early as possible (ideally before they reach the third or fourth year) to show your child the value of education and you won’t have to re-shape old ideas and paradigms.

Help your children gain a greater perspective of learning and they will grow to love it.

If your child sees learning opportunities in every aspect of life, rather than just in school, he or she is much more likely to find things to inspire them, which will stimulate their imagination.

Encourage your children – from as early as you can – to see an opportunity to gain knowledge from the world around them.

Here are some quick pointers to help you engage your children in in a conversation about education and knowledge:

When you are walking in the countryside or down the street with a pre-school child stop and look at the bark on a tree, or a flower growing in the grass.

Tell them in a way they will understand about how things grow and how there are many flowers and trees in the world which are all different in shape, colour and size.

Show them other trees and flowers so they can see the differences for themselves.

Tell them to find places in the world that they can explore and to notice the differences and similarities in them.

Whenever you are in town with a child – it does not matter how old they are – look at the architecture of the buildings around you.

Look for decorative designs that might be carved into the stone.

Look at the shapes of the buildings and how they hover over the street.

Does your child know how these tall buildings might be able to stand so tall without falling down?

As your child matures, encourage the habit of noticing their surroundings and asking What? Why? How? When?

Tell your child the names of birds you know as you see them in the park.

For example, if you can recognise a certain type of hawk, show your child how they soar and catch the updraft with their wings so that they don’t have to flap their wings to stay afloat.

Compare that to a hummingbird flapping its wings extremely fast so your child can see the differences for themselves.

As they begin to learn things in school, try to get below the surface of what they are studying. By doing this you will be able to help them further with their education and they will then grow to expect your interest and will enjoy sharing their experiences with you.

For example, if your child is working on simple maths and you are going over homework with her, you could ask her where and when she might use maths in her life.

If your child only sees education as something that happens in school, they will segregate their learning experiences and not see the true value of education in relation to their daily activities.

But, if you give your child an example of how counting and adding may help them, they begin to see the value of what they are learning.

What if your child wanted to buy something that cost 20 pence, but they only had 8 pence in their pocket? Take out eight pennies for the example.

Now take more pennies out of your pocket and put them on the table and have your child count and add the pennies until they get the amount they need to buy the item.

By raising your child to see education as a life long process; one that exists at every turn in life – not just in the classroom – they will not dread, or resent, school or education.

Instead they will become interested in the world around them, and they will be more observant of that world.

Your children’s mind’s are stimulated by this observation and curiosity and in turn they begin to appreciate the world around them.

So, when your young child asks you how a wheel turns, stop to talk to them about it and, if you don’t know, look it up in a book or on the internet.

When your child sees you doing research to find an answer, they will learn about the valuable tools and resources they can use when they want to know something new.

A child should learn that they do not have to wonder about the answer to a question or live in ignorance.

All you need to do is be enthusiastic about the things around you and it will instil in your child the desire, and the interest, to learn about their world and to see education as a tool to help them live life to the fullest!