Guest Post: How to Grow a Wild Mind

Are you a parent wondering about your child's learning? Enjoy this guest post from David of NeighborhoodWeek.org!

He's written guest posts for this blog before, regarding practical financial tips for surviving COVID, which you can read here, tips for starting a home-based business, which you can find here, and how college students can earn a degree without drowning in debt, which you can see here. We're glad to have him back for another guest post!

Take it away, David:

Image via Freepik

How to Grow a Wild Mind: Keeping the Spark of Learning Alive in Your Kids

If you’re a parent, there’s a moment—usually somewhere between multiplication tables and standardized test season—when you start to wonder: What happened to the kid who asked a hundred questions before breakfast? The one who wanted to know why flamingos are pink, how clouds float, and whether a bug dreams? That bright spark begins to dim under worksheets, pressure, and the creeping fear that learning is something you’re either good at or not. But here’s the secret: learning isn’t a switch that flicks off. It’s a fire, and it just needs the right kind of tending.

Lead With Wonder, Not Worry

You don’t need to be a walking encyclopedia to nurture curiosity. You just need to let your own wonder out of its adult cage. That means saying things like, “I don’t know, let’s find out,” instead of pretending to have all the answers. When you approach the world with awe, your child learns that it’s okay—no, it’s great—to be fascinated by things they don’t understand yet. Your attitude toward learning is the quiet music they dance to, even when you think they’re not listening.

Walk the Talk With Your Own Curiosity

There’s no more powerful message you can send your child than letting them see you as a lifelong learner, too. Whether you’ve been out of school for five years or fifteen, choosing to go back—especially while balancing work and parenting—shows them that learning doesn’t stop when diplomas are framed. Online degree programs make it easier than ever to juggle family dinners, day jobs, and late-night study sessions without putting life on pause. And if you’re an RN, take a look at how earning a master’s in nursing can open doors in nurse education, informatics, administration, or advanced practice—and give your income a healthy lift, too.

Let Go of the Gold Stars

The second learning becomes about approval, something important breaks. Kids start performing instead of exploring. That drawing becomes a way to earn praise, not an outlet for creativity. It’s a subtle shift, but over time it teaches kids that the goal isn’t discovery—it’s external validation. Instead, try asking what they liked most about what they did, or what surprised them. Show them that their own opinions matter more than your applause.

Design for Boredom, Not Entertainment

We’re all a little too good at killing boredom with screens, structured activities, and scheduled everything. But boredom isn’t the enemy—it’s the beginning of creativity. When your kid says, “I’m bored,” try not to panic or fix it. Let them marinate in it. That quiet discomfort is often what stirs the brain into building forts, drawing weird monsters, or asking strange, brilliant questions about gravity or ghosts or why cats hate cucumbers.

Give Them the Tools, Then Step Back

You don’t need to teach your child every single thing—they’re wired to teach themselves when the conditions are right. The trick is to create an environment where exploration is possible, and then get out of the way. Fill the house with books, paper, LEGOs, a magnifying glass, a bucket of water and a spoon—whatever invites hands-on messiness. And when they dive in, resist the urge to direct them. Just sit nearby with your coffee and watch what unfolds.

Let Them See You Struggle

Kids learn how to learn by watching how you do it. So when you mess up, forget something, or hit a wall—don’t hide it. Say it out loud. “Wow, this recipe is harder than I thought,” or “I’m really stuck on this crossword clue.” Then let them see you keep going. Show them that learning is about persistence, frustration, and finding your way through the weeds, not gliding effortlessly to the right answer.

Say Yes to the Weird Interests

Your kid wants to spend three weeks obsessively learning about sharks, or pyramids, or how cardboard boxes are made? Lean into it. Their brain is lighting up in that “zone of genius” where passion meets autonomy. The topic doesn’t matter—it’s the engagement that counts. The more often you let them follow their strange, specific fascinations, the more they learn that curiosity is a compass they can trust.

Reframe Failure as the Best Teacher

If there’s one thing school tends to do poorly, it’s teaching kids how to fail well. But the truth is, every great learning moment has failure baked into it. When your child flubs a science experiment or forgets their lines in the school play, don’t rush in with comfort or solutions. Ask what they learned, or what they’d try differently next time. Normalize failure not as a sign of weakness, but as a badge of real effort—because that’s where the deepest learning lives.

Here’s the part we don’t say often enough: you’re not raising a straight-A student—you’re raising a human. And if that human leaves your home with the tools to stay curious, to learn independently, to fall down and try again, you’ve done more than any flashcard or phonics program ever could. The love of learning isn’t a sprint; it’s a lifelong relationship. And like any relationship, it needs freedom, respect, and a little bit of magic to thrive.

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