【推荐1】Cleaning up the table, I caught sight of small round plastic pieces. I discovered they were the tops or covers of color markers I had kept on the table. The only difference was that someone got those covers and chewed them into shapelessness. On another part of the table, I saw the color markers dried up without covers. I was almost sure I knew who had done it and I could not understand the motivation behind his actions.

As I considered my discovery, my frustration and disappointment gradually went away when I remembered that as a child, I did several weird(奇怪的)things that must have bothered my mother. I cut our shoes, I chewed pens and pencils, and I wrote and drew pictures on walls and destroyed many items at home. The mind of a child is curious and explorative, seeking to understand and test the limits of many things. Of course, it can be costly, but what is growing up if no mistakes are made?

We call it paying the school fees of life. If a child plays with a hot iron and it burns them, it is a given that they will not go near the iron again. Sometimes I watch the children in my neighborhood playing dangerous games. Occasionally, I have got myself involved and spoken up, but sometimes I let it pass. Until someone has fallen off his bike, they may not want to be told to stop riding with reckless abandon(毫无顾忌). Until a child has fallen down, they will not listen when asked to get down from the tree. However, wisdom shows that if the behavior is deadly, you should get involved in time.

Creativity is a valuable quality. And this is why we should encourage children to remain innovative rather than be simple recipients of everything they have known and seen. Allow children to make mistakes, but this must be followed with supervision(监督), monitoring, and correction.

【推荐2】Career success could be predicted as early as kindergarten, according to a 20­year study recently published in the American journal Public Health.

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Duke University tracked more than 700 children from across the US between kindergarten and age 25 and found a significant connection between their social skills as kindergarteners and their success as adults two decades later.

In the research, teachers assessed how the kindergarteners interacted with each other socially using a range of criteria like whether they cooperate with their peers without being encouraged, whether they're helpful to others, whether they're good at understanding feelings, and whether they can solve problems on their own.

Researchers then kept track of whether the students go on to graduate from high school on time, get a college degree, and find and keep a full­time job by 25. They also monitored the participants' involvement with crime, drug abuse, public assistance, and mental health issues.

The results showed that socially capable children are far more likely to earn a college degree and have a full­time job by 25 than those with limited social skills. Those with limited social skills also have a higher chance of getting arrested, binge drinking, and applying for public housing.

“This study shows that helping children develop social and emotional skills is one of the most important things we can do to prepare them for a healthy future,” said Kristin Schubert, program director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the research, in a release. “From an early age, these skills can determine whether a child goes to college or prison, and whether they end up employed or addicted.”

The good news, according to Damon Jones, lead author of the study, is that intervention (干预) at a young age can help improve social and emotional skills.

“This research by itself doesn't prove that higher social ability can lead to better outcomes later on, ” he said. “But when combined with other research, it is clear that helping children develop these skills increases their chances of success in school, work, and life.”

【推荐3】Different people may have different habits. Then how might habits connect with studying and learning?    1    

What are habits?

Habits are regular ways of dealing with your environment. You generally do not pay attention to them. Habits take many forms-eating, exercising, even studying. You may not realize it, but habits make up many of the actions that you do every day.

    2    

In the book Atomic Habits, James Clear describes a four-step process by which habits are made. These steps are cue, craving, response, and reward. The cue tells your brain to begin a behavior. The craving is what makes you want to do something. The response is the actual habit that you perform.    3    “Rewards are the end goal of every habit,” Clear writes.

Make a habit studying English

You should organize your surroundings in such a way that the cues of your new habit are very obvious. For example, if you want to get in the habit of studying English every day, leave English books or notes in a very clear place.

To make your new habit easy, you could decrease the number of steps you have to take in order to study. You could also try reducing the amount of time you study.

Also, you need to make your habit satisfying.    4    For example, if you study English for 15 minutes, you could treat yourself to listening to a song you like.

Closing thoughts

Building new habits can take time.    5    But with time, careful planning and continued practice, you can do it.