The Unconscious Mind: Information is Absorbed and Forms the Brain
/Last week we talked about the Absorbent Mind. We broke that 6-year period into two chunks. This week, we’ll talk about the first part of that, from birth to three. This is known as the Unconscious Mind.
While the majority of our students are beyond this Unconscious Mind stage, it is still worth learning the developmental process of a child’s brain and personality. Through these insights, we can better understand where each child is currently.
A child with an Absorbent Mind internalizes the majority of her information by experiencing her environment.
Starting from Birth
Your child comes into this world knowing nothing. She only feels and responds. The entire work of her early years is to allow the environment (including the parent) to teach and form her.
Given this starting point, it isn’t surprising that a young child’s mind must be designed to learn in a different way than an older child or an adult.
This is exactly what the Absorbent Mind is all about. The Absorbent Mind makes up the First Plane of Development in a child. The first part of that, from birth to three, is learning that is almost completely unconsciously done.
The Parent is the Child’s First Teacher
The Montessori Philosophy relies heavily on the environment to be the child’s teacher. This is different from more traditional education practices where the teacher acts as the “sage on the stage,” imparting knowledge to the child.
In Montessori education, children are encouraged to interact with a carefully prepared environment. Through her experiences and interactions, the child will absorb and internalize information. Of course, the environment is very often a space thoughtfully prepared by an adult. Thus still making the adult’s role crucial as well.
From infancy through toddlerhood, a child’s environment is almost completely directed by her grown-ups. And often in the first years of life, her parents are the adults most directly involved in her life.
Her parents are her environment, and therefore her teachers.
Through her parents, a child will learn the majority of her language as well as be guided as she explores movement and her senses. Additionally, parents will be the ones who most likely play the strongest role in helping her learn potty training.
Each of these milestones will be lead by the child and guided and encouraged by her environment, including the adults most involved in her life.
Sensitive Periods During the Unconscious Mind
We have briefly talked about Sensitive Periods in a few different posts now. In the future, we will dive into this topic deeper and more specifically. Sensitive Periods serve as a cornerstone for Montessori education.
But for now, let’s just highlight a few of the Sensitive Periods, or “windows of opportunity”, beginning during the Unconscious Mind phase.
It is again important to note that Sensitive Periods are sometimes broken or condensed a bit differently. We also respect that each child develops on her own timeframe, while also acknowledging that there are average timetables that can help inform and clue us in. This is only meant to give an idea and a starting point.
Language (birth - 6) Children begin to pick up speech patterns, inflection, sentence structure, and specific words. Reading and speaking with your child are the most helpful things you can do to encourage her to learn and grow in language skills.
Senses (birth - 5) Throughout the early years, the Absorbent Mind child continually refines her senses. This is why she seems determined to see, touch, and taste everything. She is acutely aware of things like an airplane (that the adult will hardly notice). Allowing your child a safe place to explore freely as well as providing her with rich experiences is helpful in developing her senses.
Movement (birth - 4.5) This is one of the most identifiable Sensitive Period in a young child’s life. From birth, a child will explore her control over her body by holding her head up, crawling, walking, and everything in between. The best way to help her work through movement milestones is to provide ample opportunities to practice.
Small Objects (1 - 3) An ant crawling across the sidewalk, a stain on your shirt, a single cheerio under the table...these become the most captivating discoveries to a child sensitive to small objects. The most minute, mundane details to an adult serve as a rich curriculum to a young child learning about the beautiful world around her.
Toilet Learning (1 - 3) This is one that any parent learns to recognize either because of their child’s fascination with the toilet, or the parents’ desire to be done with diapers. Children can become interested in toilet learning as early as age one. Generally they hit a window of opportunity for mastery between 20 - 30 months of age. Parents are best to guide their children patiently and calmly through the often bumpy road of potty training.
Order (1 - 5) Has your child ever thrown a tantrum because their schedule was interrupted? Or completely ignored you because she was engrossed in putting her toys just so? It’s common enough as a child develops a sensitivity to order. Children during this period thrive on routine and consistency. They like knowing what’s coming and where things belong. This helps them focus on how they fit in and have influence over their environment.
Music (2 - 6) The benefits of a child learning music appreciation are innumerable. From recognizing patterns to shared neural pathways with language, there are countless reasons to expose your child to music from an early age. This can be mean having a variety of music playing at home, moving in rhythm to music, and exploring musical instruments.
Grace & Courtesy (2.5 - 6) We all know that children can be self-focused. But somewhere between 2.5 and 6 years is when a child is most open to learning social and interpersonal skills. They learn this through lots of modeling, repetition, and consistency. The more a child understands herself and who she is, the more receptive she will be to expanding that knowledge regarding peer interactions.
As stated last week, it is a remarkable honor for us as adults to guide children along their developmental journey. And one of the most simple but beautiful benefits of accepting this honor is embracing the fact that it stretches and improves us right alongside them.
“So much of what your child will learn during this period is done unconsciously, that making a start means starting yourself.”