Children are born knowing some basic things. An infant knows when it is hungry, cold, or uncomfortable. An infant knows when it is warm, secure, and being held in someones arms. An infant knows the sound of its parents' voices and that they will respond to his cries. At first that is enough. As the child grows, he or she sees more of the world and can begin to move around in it. Everything that the child sees, hears, smells, and tastes is new. There is so much to discover and learn! A young child's brain is full of the potential to learn and to grow. As the child experiences new things, pathways grow between the neurons and synapses in the brain. The more that the child experiences, the more that the brain grows. As we age the "use it or lose it" principle kicks in and the brain loses the synapses and neurons that are not being used.
How do children learn all that they do? By being curious. By exploring how things smell, how things taste, how things feel, and how things work. Unfortunately, adults do not always have patience with curious children. They do not want to wait while a child explores a fire hydrant or a stone or a bush with all of their senses. They do not understand that something that a child does is not because he is bad (as if children can be divided into "bad" or "good", but that is a rant for another day). A young child is naturally curious and eager to learn about all of the things around him.
A child may be curious when he:
*Puts Mom's makeup on the cat (How would the cat look if...)
*Pulls open the lovely rose and lily buds in Mon's flowers (What could be inside ...)
*Uses Grandma's lotion to finger paint on the walls (How would it feel if...)
*Drops his towel into the deep end of the pool (What would happen if...)
*Colors on his little sister with markers (How would a tattoo look...)
*Cuts a friends hair (How would that feel...)
Please note that I am using the literary "he" - girls also do all of this and more.
This is not to say that these are desired behaviors. I do believe that the child should learn that some things are not done, and if an older child were doing these things I would worry about him. Curiosity is normal and developmentally appropriate and should be encouraged when it takes a socially acceptable form. Just think of were we would be if Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, Sir Isaac Newton, or Marie Curie were not curious. While it is faster and easier for an adult to explain something to a child, rather than let the child discover it for himself, that is taking away an opportunity for the child to grow his brain and his knowledge base. If something is not in a child's hand it is not in his brain. Help your children to hold things in their brain, and they will stay there forever.
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