How to raise a child and have some fun?
Childhood is one of the best times in our lives. Even if I can’t recall a lot of memories from back then, I am still sure that I was happy and I enjoyed every second of it, because I didn’t have any responsibilities in my life and I was a “free man”. Additionally, I think that childhood is a perfect period in our lives because this is the time when kids grow physically, develop different skills, mature, learn how to talk, walk, and manipulate their parents. While being the happiest period, it is also one of the saddest ones, because sometimes these changes occur too quickly and you don’t understand how this little cute alien became a real human with its own life, opinions, and manners.
But this doesn’t happen overnight. As we learned in class, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget realized that there are some patterns in kids’ behaviors. It was more of a pattern of what kids can and can’t do during certain ages. Therefore, Piaget came up to a conclusion that kids gain their cognitive ability in a developmental order, which basically means that kids at different ages think in fundamentally different ways. This led Piaget to create a Stage Model of Cognitive Development.
The first development stage in his model is the Sensorimotor Stage. It begins at birth and lasts until around the age of two. Kids at this stage explore the world by the direct physical interactions and through the fundamental senses of seeing, hearing, and tasting. That’s the reason why kids at this age are putting everything in their mouths. During this stage, kids’ use of their senses to explore the world is central, and that’s why whenever kids don’t directly see or feel objects, the objects don’t exist for them. You can use it to have a little fun – play peek-a-boo with a child. I don’t have to tell you what a peek-a-boo is, but now you know how it works. Simply, because a kid doesn’t see you behind your hands he thinks that you disappeared, and as soon as you reveal your face, you back again. If it’s not magic, then I don’t know what is!