| | Ed:
This is the 1st time I gotta really, really, disagree with ya.
To the degree that parents are actively involved with actually raising their kid(s) (beyond mere care-taking routines of [hopefully] cute 'company' hanging around), they're properly, chronically, oriented at how, when, and why, to teach what (or, which others to get as teachers about 'X'.)
To the degree that they're not involved with such, they're not (purposefully) teaching, or helping really teach, anything.
Parents, worthy of the name, are teachers as well as mere care-takers. Else, they're merely, even as a couple, lonely (needing 'the patter of little feet'), or fearsome of seeming 'traditionally' different ("What? No kids YET? What's the problem?")
Unless one's learned the Profession of being a 'teacher', teaching isn't something most parent-wannabees (or actual ones) are all that automatically skilled at. Hence, learning about 'how'...and especially for O'ists...not only 'what', but also 'how-NOT', to teach, is extremely important.
The more one identifies the things that one sees that their kid(s) need to learn, the more one learns that one's self needs to learn more about the subject itself, 1st (even if only to evaluate who else is a good enough teacher on it) whether math, geography, TV-news interpreting, etc; further: the more, if one's doing even a hint of 'home-schooling', one learns about HOW to 'teach'/communicate the subject. --- Lastly: more parents even doing a modicum of random, inadvertant, casual (say 'traditional' again) teaching, find that they have to pay attention to how to really get their point across...if they really want to be continued to be listened to, anyway. All this applies to dealing with infants, rugrats, young'uns, 7-yr olds, teenagers, etc.
The 'child' has to learn an awful lot (especially nowadays, and most especially how to separate wheat from chaff regardless the source...including their 'parents'), granted; and it seems that the parent merely has to spew forth, when the child asks about prob 'A', their gems-of-wisdom. Waiting until the child asks, is not exactly preparing them (or one's self) for any probs, whether sports-skills or personal-relationships.
I've been very influenced by readings by/about Piaget (who studied how children learn) and Montessori (who studied how to teach children). Montessori stressed the idea of a 'prepared environment.' Her specific techniques are irrelevent here, but the idea of it is clearly...as in the Scout's motto..."Be Prepared;" that is, if one's going to be a 'teacher'. (All parents are, as should be clear is my view at this point; whether they want to be or not.) No, not teachers oriented only at emergencies, but at knowing/identifying what, how, when, and what a parent/TEACHER needs to know ahead of time to prepare the child's learning re...whatever the parent believes that the child needs to learn.
Here, finally, my point is, as should be obvious by now, the 'parent,' now finding themselves with a child, if acting as a real parent, ends up learning a hell of a lot more than the child will ever discover...
....until the child decides to later become...a parent.
LLAP
J:D
P.S: I'm aware of what some have called "The Montessori Syndrome" which some parents have let themselves get sucked into where their time is absolutely consumed with a 'next project' for their obviously genius kids. True. Not good. Some projects are not 'needed'. Identifying 'needs' is not the same as pushing kids into the next 'challenge' one can find for them. --- But then, even THAT needs careful...identifying; ie: when to stop fishing and cut bait.
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