Parents are the primary teachers for their children. We are often told to utilize age appropriate materials and methods. What is “age appropriate”? Cornell Law School of Education states:
The term “age-appropriate” means suitable (in terms of topics, messages, and teaching methods) to the developmental and social maturity of the particular age or age group of children or adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity typical for the age or age group.
For those of us who do not have a degree in child development, we could use a little help. Below I have compiled data to help parents devise an “age appropriate” method of educating their children religiously. (I list my sources below.)
0 – 2 Undifferentiated faith: basic trust in parents and through that experience, a trust in life and the world. Needs things, not ideas. For example, Shabbat candles or a Christmas tree. Things are infused with meaning by parents. Encourage experience of symbolic objects with ideas behind them. You, the parent, imbue objects with meaning. What are the feelings you are communicating about each religious or cultural object?
2 – 7 Child’s first notions of God, religion and morality develop. Children are trying to figure out how the world works. They may ask ultimate questions about death and the nature of the world which stun and challenge you. Thinking is concrete, practical and magical – all at the same time. They need stories. At preschool age a child has a difficult time distinguishing fantasy from reality. They move in and out of fantasy and reality; there is fluidity to their experience. By six they are beginning to pin down the line between fantasy and reality.
Children are exploring; experiencing people first to figure out how the world works. Thinking is characterized by concrete experiences and sometimes magical explanations to make sense of their experience. They are intrigued by stories which offer them a way to organize experiences — there is a beginning, middle and end to a story.
7 – 12 Religiously fundamentalists while spiritually storytellers. At this stage they learn to do moral reasoning. They still want to know why and still are very literal but instead of seeing everything concretely, they see the world in terms of structures and rules. They believe deeply in values such as justice and fairness. They believe in an anthropomorphic God and take religious stories literally.
13-20 Move towards conventional religiosity. Teen stages are short and rapid. See Teen Religious Development. By age 20 can have a fully developed religion with values and believes linked to an ideology and theology, an explanation of the world. Many adults stop at this level.
20-29 Rationalist phase. In their 20’s many young people go on to question the religion of their parents and enter a rationalist phase. Existential questions asked in childhood often come up again. If they lack a sophisticated religious education, their knowledge from adolescence now appears ridiculous and unbelievable.
25 -30 Maturation. Imaging studies of the frontal lobes, which are vital to executive functions like managing feelings and thought, don’t fully mature until age 30. Fully able to see gray area concepts, to hold conflicting ideas at once.
Sources:
The Intermarriage Handbook
Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, University of California. Newsweek, 2003
Iris Greenbaum, Bay Area ECE specialist
Behrman House Publisher of Jewish Textbooks
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