1. Human beings are born with the ability to learn --but this takes place with experience. A baby -- sooner or later -- will talk, and walk, smile and cry. It will cry because it is hungry, sleepy, or in discomfort. If the parent acts in response to its crying, it learns that crying will get him what he wants. A baby smiles -- and if a parent responds to his smile by smiling back, he learns that it is a desirable thing to do.

2. Learning is related to maturation. This has to do with the concept of 'readiness'. Normal development proceeds through recognized developmental stages at a typical rate. There are average ages at which certain behaviors occur.-- your baby's first word, first smile, first step. But remember that no child is exactly average in every aspect of development. Children run on different timetables.

By age 6, parents and teachers should expect a four-year span in maturation among students of the same age. Some may behave like 4-year-olds and others may behave like 8-year-olds. This means that some will be early starters and others will be late bloomers. Remember too that bright children are not necessarily on the fastest train -- they can be late bloomers. Many problems of "underachievement" result from an incongruity between timetable and the expectations of parents and teachers.

3. Learning is incremental. It is ladderized. We build on what we know.

An important aspect of learning is the extent to which it is a chain -- new links calling on previously acquired skills to be forged onto the chain. This is the reason why you have to take a basic class before you can graduate to an advanced class.

If you watch a baby learning to walk, you will be struck by the way it first develops a safe and reliable method of getting down from a standing position. Only then will it venture forward to master the skill of walking. This is true of all sorts of tasks, and the chain is often repeated within a single task.

There are many cases where there are no shortcuts at all to learning. We just have to go through each step of the learning process and build on each step.

4. Repetition and practice help children learn. Anyone who has ever taken piano lessons as a kid knows what I am talking about. Remember how you had to practice your scales everyday? Or if you have to learn a sport. Basketball players have to keep shooting that ball. Sometimes, we get impatient with children who want to do something over and over again -- but this is the way they learn.

No children have calculators so they do not have to memorize their multiplication tables the way we did in the 1950s. I can still recall how we kept reciting our multiplication tables until we could do them perfectly, even in our sleep!

This is true for adult learners too. My husband, who practices taichi, tells me that he will never be done with learning how to do it right because the exercise itself is always in the process of being perfected. As they say, practice makes perfect.

5. Learning is done in the context of one's culture. Man is different from an ape because of the much larger part that culture plays in his life. He spends a longer time as a dependent, learning how to cope with the world. This is not to say that learning is not important to other animals. B ut man is special in the amount that he needs to learn to become an effective member of society.

As it grows, a child's brain absorbs information from the environment. Whether the child lives in the Philippines or in Canada, the purpose of growth is the same: to provide the child with the knowledge that will enable it to become a part of its society. The things to learn may be very different but the processes are the same. For instance, a child living in a busy metropolis has to learn how to deal with pollution and traffic jams.

6. People can learn almost anything -- if they are taught correctly and in the context of what they have already learned. If cultural needs of learning are ignored, the child will soon see this learning later for the futile exercise that it is.

You have to lay the foundations first. And children have to realize the usefulness of what it is you are teaching them. My granddaughter Meggy learned how to use chopsticks because her parents are fond of eating out at Chinese and Japanese restaurants. She learned how to use a spoon and fork first but understood that people in other countries handle their food differently.

7. Learning is its own reward. In this sense, there is no need for parents to reward children for what they learn. For instance, many studies have proven that babies enjoy learning. In one particular study, the researcher fed infants from the left or right. He signaled the correct side to them with a tone. Once the baby had learned which way to turn for each tone, a strange thing happened. Instead of just taking the feeding nipple, the baby turned and when it saw the nipple appear, it smiled and gurgled in delight at its mastery of the world.

This feeling is not strange to any of us. Can you remember how it felt when you first learned how to ride a bike? Or when you cooked your first omelet? Mastering a problem is a powerful incentive for all of us. A child needs to feel that it is gaining something as it solves problems so that the very act of mastering a problem remains pure pleasure.