Children's Ability to Understand
From “Kazenoko Letter” No.395 - December 2010
| We held three parent-teacher group meetings in November. In order to build
a good relationship with the children, we discussed things to bear in mind
when calling their attention to something, based on the results of a questionnaire. Many of the mothers’ difficulties are in raising a child while feeling overwhelmed by everyday work and household chores, and they don’t have room to breathe. Nevertheless, they try hard to explain to the child the reasons why they can’t do something or reason with them with words while trying to remain calm and not become too emotional. However, mothers became frustrated that their child doesn’t act in the way they want them to, despite their efforts. Well, why can’t they understand? There is a big difference in the ability to understand things between a mother who has accumulated personal experiences and learning for 30 or 40 years and a child who has only lived for 3 to 5 years. And so, I’ll mention children’s ability to understand and recognize things briefly here. It is said that until the age of three, children use sensory perception to decide whether something is comfortable or not for them. When a child has a pain somewhere, or is hungry and uncomfortable, they express it by crying. After the age of three, children enter the era of the self. They decide whether something is convenient or not for themselves, because the ego has strengthened. Deciding whether something is good or bad, right or wrong - rational thinking comes into play from school age. Which means that the thinking of preschool children is still visceral. Therefore, if you want to warn your child about something, one way to do it is to tell your child that you don’t like it if they do that, instead of trying to persuade them with reasoning. Your child understands if their favorite person, their mother, says she doesn’t like it. Even during school age, children in the early years have limited rational understanding of things. Children will develop this understanding over a lifetime. It is important to deal with children with the knowledge that their ability to understand it will change along with their personal development. |
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