CHILDREN/KIDS: How the kid becomes ‘THE ADULT’.
When Dr Maria Montessori described the child’s mind as a sponge, nobody understood why. She explained further saying whoever a child becomes as an adult is a function of what the child absorbed from the environment he/she was exposed to or has been exposed to from birth to adulthood.
0-6 years are the formative years for a child. The Montessori theory propounds that an individual is fully developed at 6 years old. More or less it is almost impossible to impact any change at 6 years old. As parents, guardians and custodians, we need to guard this information with caution and care. Effort must be made to ensure at all times that every child is in a structured environment-one with correct instruction and information, direction, encouragement, sensitivity, love and most important, constructive affirmation.
When a child does not experience any of these elements in its immediate environment it becomes a deprived adult eventually. The absorbent mind is the framework for this development from 0-6 years old in a child. Certain tools assist this development. They are what Dr Maria Montessori refers to as order and sensitive period.
Every child, as it absorbs from its environment, develops a pattern to life. How a child is prepared for the day becomes a pattern it’s used to eventually. For instance if a child is bathed at 8am every day. He becomes used to it. This is the child’s order. If this order is altered the child will protest by crying or by pulling a tantrum. As guardians we should note this to help us evaluate children’s behavior patterns when they change.
The Sensitive period helps us understand why some kids seem better at some activities than other kids. Parents worry when their kids, compared to their peers who can, cannot read, speak or write. Every child has a sensitive period of learning peculiar to it. If a child cannot write when expected to it just means that its sensitive period of writing hasn’t been developed. It will be wrong to say the child is dull and cannot write. It is good to note that developing a sensitive period of writing, reading or speaking is a function of what the child’s ‘absorbent mind’ is exposed to. Exposure to quality material will assist sensitive periods develop when due.
A child with parents or guardians that have this understanding will definitely become an adult with healthy self-esteem that society in general will benefit from immensely.
