VIOLIN 1 & 2 - Birth to age 9 - a time of WONDER
The first stage of the journey with our children spans the years from birth to about age nine (this and all other “stages” are generally guidelines and not firm cut-offs). These years are best divided into two periods of four or five years each, but since there are similarities in the kinds of learning that take place, we will consider ALL these years the VIOLIN years, encompassing the smallest members of our classical string ensemble, the first and second violins.
What aspects of learning characterize these years? These six, using the acronym VIOLIN: Vocabulary, Imaginative Play, Observation, Listening, Impressing, and Narration. |
Vocabulary
Children from the earliest years are soaking up words, ascribing meaning to them and learning how to use them effectively. In the first five years of life, a verbally explosive time, children learn anywhere from 2600 to 10,000 words. By the age of ten, a child may have 20,000 words, and by age twelve, that has multiplied to about 50,000 words.
Imaginative play
Children in these years are full of ideas, and imaginative play is an important part of learning, encompassing make-believe and role-playing. It is part of their emotional development, their creativity, their language development, and their thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Observation
Remember the song line, "Oh, be careful little eyes what you see"? During these years, children are watching everything, and a primary way to teach them is to demonstrate it in some way, or to model it, as is suggested by the old maxim, "More is caught than taught." Because of how they learn, we must help to guard their eyes and their minds in these tender years and to expose them to that which is true, good, and beautiful.
Listening
Another line in that song is, "Oh, be careful little ears what you hear." During these years, children are also listening and soaking up everything. They may not always understand what they hear, but it is still making an impression on them, and this is one reason why it is so easy for children to memorize things during these years, especially if they are set to music or repeated in some other memorable way.
Impressing
By this, I don't mean that we need to impress our children with great feats, but that early childhood is a time to heed the advice of Deuteronomy 6:7, referring to God's commandments, "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Taking time in these early years to make the Word of God a normal part of every aspect of your life, including memorizing the Word, will make a huge impression now and later.
Narration
This is a time for stories, especially the true narratives from God's Word, and of heroes of our faith. It is also a time to enjoy fictional tales that have been written and shared from generation to generation, and to encourage and train them to tell those stories back to us.
Summing this up
The VIOLIN years, from birth to age nine, are a time of delight and wonder, of putting words to new things and ideas, of soaking in the world through stories, imaginative play, of watching and listening to those around them, and of imitating those who are most influential. It’s a time to fill their minds with the Word of God and the beauty of language.
Click here to read about the "tween" years.
Click here to read about the "tween" years.