We have all heard of the innocence of the child.
Yet, do we KNOW where and what that means in practice?
In the educational language, there is something called the " zone of proximal development." I believe this is from a man named Vygotsky.
We understand in the order of operations of development, that we work with children within where they know something, where they are comfortable in being able to process something with ease. One could say, this is where something is becoming automatic, meaning the child knows it so well they need not have to spend time " thinking " about it.
That " zone" is where the child can easily expand upon understanding with no FORCE. Meaning, they have built enough of an understanding, or ability to communicate what they know effectively, and can HOLD that AND simultaneously add to that. They move with ease from the known into greater understanding or presence ( were this used effectively).
That state of " ease" is a quiet and calm state, an open and vulnerable state, which it must be because our sensitivity is where our greatest ability lies. Here we can more quickly and easily take in measure and movement of qualities in expression that is this reality.
If we are under any kind of pressure, or force, that gets in the way because it occupies our attention. Then, if we take in some of the " new" it will be colored with that FORCE that as a force, in itself, will accumulate and the child will have increasing inner friction that is compounding to the extent the child will have greater and greater difficulty in processing new information, and even information that was once believed to be known. Here, in the very behavior of the child, is an interference.
Here, the innocence of the child is lost. AND, that zone of proximal development is more difficult to experience.
Meanwhile, we know this in the very words we use to describe children and their development overall. If we " automate" what we practice, if we practice FORCING information without practical application and take away - as not find that point of behavior of calm and ease, that place where the child gently moves from the known into the unknown experiencing a state of " awe" for the new - and instead FORCE movement, we end up compounding a lack-of-ease automating. This is a pressure that will have an outcome of increasing difficulty in learning. It works BOTH ways. YET, we know that self discovery happens within that state of ease because that state of ease is quiet by the nature of FULL ATTENTION.
If one is fully focused, one is naturally quiet, still, calm. That is more that state of innocence, it is where a child can know the old so well they need not think about it, AND simultaneously absorb, as expand, into greater awareness, as an understanding of something to the extent it automates and is easily referenced and checked in ways that open what is natural and fun. Learning is awesome.
From my perspective the innocence of the child is that point, that state of being, that FOCUS that one finds when one allows a child to move forward from their zone of proximal development.
For this reason, it is so important that children master language through correct practice, to accumulate a sense of knowing the words to the extent they need not think about them.
This takes practicing the words.
In our busy world today, the adults do not always have the time to lend a consistent and stable practice of our words that help us to structure our understanding to be able to learn new things and communicate with clarity. Our schools are what is called the " direct instruction model." Meaning, it is one teacher, with a set curriculum and 25ish students in a room. They, by this design, cannot check and see if every child is properly focused and effectively taking in the new information. Nor do teachers have the time to lend a consistent and effective practice of the language. They are too busy teaching a lesson that they must move through. They are not meant to be that consistent "small careful practice managers." It is an impossibility.
Given that we are moving from an industrial age, into a more automated age, with an increase in the flow of information, it is imperative that we adults of the old system provide our children with the means to practice their words to the extent they need not think about them to allow them to realize and understand the basics of how they work.
In our world today, there are too many children having slow processing speeds, having all manner of attention disorders, which all indicate that we are not working with what is natural as their ability to absorb and understand new things. What is imperative, is that they master language to the extent they can recognize where they are at themselves, within all this, to make the choices that lead them to becoming their best and independent as adults.
What do you want for you child?
