Ability Development from Age Zero by Shinichi Suzuki

Some points from his book which I totally, wholeheartedly agree:

- The fate of a child is in the hands of his parents.
- Talent has to be nurtured (Every child has the inborn potential, but if not nurtured, the talent won't develop)
- Children are like seedlings. If you set a child aside until primary school and then only start educating them, it is like taking a withering sprout and suddenly giving it large amounts of fertilizer, putting it in sunlight & flooding it with water. It is too late.
- Regardless how much interest a mother has, if a child does not want to practice, nothing will happen. Yes, they will practice, but it will not develop into an ability. When the child has the desire, then only the ability will be internalized.

- It is better to present a child fun tasks which he can do. Tasks which are done happily are internalized.

- Train a child to be ambidextrous - use both hands

The Mother Tongue Method
All Japanese children speak Japanese. From birth, babies absorb the language that they are exposed to and are able to learn the language. The same concept applies. If you want your child to play a musical instrument, expose them to songs you would want them to play. Let them listen to it repeatedly. Let them watch other children playing the song. Let them watch YOU learn how to play. One day, the child will automatically have the desire to learn to play the instrument.

Once they learn, let them perform to daddy on a makeshift stage. Daddy must applaud and say that he wants to listen again next week. By the next week, they would have improved.