Belief or Fact: How True That Children's Brains Are Like Sponges?

Maria Montessori, physician and educator, says it would require 60 years of hard work for an adult to achieve what a child has achieved in their first three years.

All babies are born with an amazing brain as their brain works in different ways from birth to around age six. Their brain is like a little sponge at such an age, absorbing vast amounts of knowledge from different environments. A child's brain absorbs effortlessly, continuously, and indiscriminately.

Whenever a child goes to a different environment, their perspective is different from adults as they absorb everything. This only means that everything they witness is not just remembered but forms part of their soul. They embody almost everything that their eyes see, and their ears can hear. Thus, the events that happened during the child's first six years are salient as they develop 85 percent already of their core brain structure at the age of five, which means they can now establish a core foundation for the rest of their lives.

According to Age of Montessori, parents can notice that their toddlers nearly imitate everything they see. This is because they now build themselves as a person and will work towards the next phase of their life.

A child's brain will be filled with frustration if pushed to develop skills

Several outlets say that a child's brain is like a piggy bank; the more an adult talks, the richer the child's brain gets. Many parents believe that a child's brains are like sponges and there's no limit when talking to a child as they absorb everything that is inaccurate and accurate simultaneously.

Although children absorb almost everything they see, they will also get annoyed if there is too much information, considering their young age. A sponge cannot absorb more water than it can take in. Moreover, learning is an active process that is linked to emotions which means if toddlers feel they are not following or absorbing things, they will get frustrated, especially if they are forced to learn something.

Children need an excellent foundation to build their knowledge, and such foundations must all be based on affection and security. Toddlers must be encouraged to be curious, play, and interact with everything that usually surrounds them as they are still a child.

Many parents want their children to be educated without knowing that it results in children becoming overstimulated. This makes children possibly have higher anxiety levels compared to their parents. Exploring Your Mind reported that parents attempt to accelerate stages in their child's development which hinders what the toddler needs.

Remembering that brains have different stages of development

According to TMW Center for Early Learning, children's vocabulary grows as time passes, and their abilities and skills to communicate, pay attention, control behavior, and learn. This only means that children still need to practice while they can absorb almost everything and give them the freedom as a child, which entails being curious about the world.

Practice helps the brain to become strong and efficient.