The key to your children thoughts

The key to your children thoughts

JAKARTA (JP): Up until the age of five or six, children's thought processes are different from older children in two ways. First, a preschool child tends to see things only from their own perspective (known as being egocentric), which has a significant effect on how they view the world.

To see this, sit your child and her teddy bear at opposite ends of a table. Put two toys on the table, one near the teddy bear and one near your child. Then ask your child: "Which toy does Teddy see first?" If your child says the one near her, she still hasn't learned to see things from another point of view.

If this is the case, you may find it easier to get your child to understand something if you relate it to their own experience. For example, "If I give (child's name) three bricks, how many do I have left?"

Research has shown that at this age children are more likely to understand a question if it includes their name.

The second difference is that this age group focuses on one part of a problem. Show your under-five two drinking glasses, one tall and thin, and the other short and wide. Fill up one with water then let your child watch as you pour the water from that glass into the other. Ask them which glass had the most water. Instead of realizing that each had the same amount, they will probably focus on the height of the taller one tell you that it had more water in it. Only when they are five or six will they be able to see that, while the glass is taller, it is also thinner.

-- Novita Tandry