Learning All the While

"Think about the astonishing process of learning in the early years, a process that combines maturation of the nervous system, experiences, language, memory, models, curiosity, motivation, and an individual child's mental capacities."

LEARNING ALL THE WHILE

When I visited a preschool this week, I was reminded about how constant and profound is the learning of the early years.

The teacher was reading a story about sea turtles to the children, and she emphasized the stunningly amazing fact that, after years spent at sea, adult sea turtles return to the beach where they were hatched to lay their eggs.

One little girl in the circle commented quietly, "I knew that."

She didn't say it in a bragging way, or really to anyone else, but rather as a happy confirmation of her knowledge. And I thought, what a lucky child.

Already in her short life some adult had read a book or had a conversation about one of the marvels of our world. She remembered that fact, tucked it away in her little brain, able to be pulled out at will, to fit into her knowledge.

Now wonder along with me at all that your little ones are learning, every hour and every day.

Think about the astonishing process of learning in the early years, a process that combines maturation of the nervous system, experiences, language, memory, models, curiosity, motivation, and an individual child's mental capacities.

By the time the average child goes off to kindergarten, he or she has already mastered control of the body, with skills as varied as swinging from the top of the monkey bars, manipulating scissors and eating utensils, zipping a jacket, and tying shoelaces.

His or her language has developed from making cooing and then babbling sounds to a spoken vocabulary of nearly ten thousand words.

This child can use sentences that follow the grammatical rules of language with such complexities as plurals and past tenses, all to be able to tell a great story or understand how to communicate with others.

There is an astonishing period in language development, around age two or so, when a child hears a word one time, and then later can use it in an appropriate context.

They have also learned the thousands of conventions and niceties of behavior that seem important to the adults around them, and have figured out how to fit into their particular world.

Even more than that, for understanding the world, their brains have categorized knowledge, so that they understand concepts such as:

• Colors ("My favorite color is green," comments Matthew, as he works on a picture).

• Farm animals (Why else would it be so hilarious when Scotty adds an elephant to the singing of Old McDonald?)

• Words that should be sung instead of spoken.

Children are patient when others try to teach them things that may seem meaningless to them, tolerating the lessons about abstractions like letters and numbers.

They are far more excited when they are learning something that catches their interest and imagination: "My cousins live in New Hampshire," confides Merritt. "Did you know that they make maple syrup out of tree stuff? They cook it and cook it."

We sometimes use the phrase "lifelong learner" to refer to those individuals who keep alive the spirit of curiosity and adventure. But I guarantee that you will never again see humans learning so much, so quickly and effortlessly, as when you pay attention to your children's daily accomplishments.

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© Growing Child 2012 Please feel free to forward this article to a friend.