Let’s remember that life is less about the tools the left brain excels in and what we accomplish in this world. Yet the more we push those things that can be measured onto children, the more they will grow up feeling like they don’t measure up!
You cannot measure the qualitative aspects of imagination, empathy and intuition but, of course, you can measure the aforementioned practical detail-oriented functions associated with the left brain. It’s an indicator that we feel safer within the literalness, control and certainty of the left brain, far more than in the unquantifiable and mysterious nature the right brain connects us to. The push for academia on children is a symptom of a society that is left brain dominant, or forgetful of the wonderful playground that is the right brain. Without the capacity to use their academic minds in the ways that are being asked can cause children to gain what’s called “learned stupidity.” They believe themselves to be incapable and lose their natural desire to learn. Pushing literacy and numeracy on children before age seven may just be harmful to their little, developing brains. That the right brain develops first is pertinent information for those in the field of education, as well as parents, regarding what is developmentally appropriate. Understanding this we can better appreciate why play is so important in child learning and development, and why we need to be extra careful with the amount and timing of academic agendas created for children with how much we emphasize product-what kids have accomplished at school-versus process-who they are becoming and what they feel in their explorations. Young right-brain dominant children, by contrast, are quite content being. The left brain is far more interested in doing. Being is primary hence the right brain developing first hence, human being, not human doing. Through the right brain we dwell in the space of no-time, in being absolutely present. While the left brain is more interested in outcomes or product, the right brain cares much more about process-the journey is what matters, not the destination.īut there is one more vital piece to understand: The right brain connects us to our boundless sense of being. It is where we wonder, dream, connect and come alive.
The right brain, on the other hand, is responsible for empathy, intuition, imagination and creativity. It is the logical, calculating, planning, busy-bee part of us that keeps us a nchored in the pragmatic world, and in past and future. The left brain’s functionality is one of language, numeracy, literacy, analysis and time.
Imagination will take you everywhere.” ~ Albert Einstein The left brain, on the other hand, doesn’t fully come online until children are approximately seven years old hence the first seven years being recognized as such a critical period in child development. Photo credit: Thank you to Emek of Emek Studiosĭid you know that the right brain develops first? It does so by the time children are 3-4 years of age.
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