CAREABOUTKIDS

Parents: At 2 years, children enjoy rhymes (jack and Jill went up the hill). By 3, they learn responses which require signs and reactions, as in the game Simon Says. At the age of 4, they can cluster thoughts and words, by 5, they deal with information in a series. In the process, children begin the progression from concrete to abstract thinking - from perceptual (I see) to conceptural ( I put together in my mind). Children also talk out loud to themselves while doing things
rehearsing words to go with actions. As the child learns and becomes more familiar with language, this self-talk becomes abbreviated, then whispered. Finally, it disappears, absorbed into the thinking process. MY WORD: Children spend every moment of their waking time learning. They are human computers.