| Ever wonder why kids hang on to their teddy bears, | | | | looking at a sunset, a new calf, or into your child's |
| binkies, blankies, etc. for so long? Have you ever | | | | eyes. But you can't SEE God. You can feel the wind, |
| wondered why they don't understand a story you've | | | | see its gentle or destructive powers, see things being |
| told them? Because kids are touchy-feely! Children do | | | | blown about by the wind, but you can't SEE the wind. |
| not actually understand abstract ideas until around | | | | And you can see the results of someone being |
| age 8. They will be able to pay lip service to | | | | charmed into falling for a scam, but you can't actually |
| something abstract earlier, but most don't actually | | | | see the snake oil oozing out of the con-artist's pores |
| understand the concept until around age 8.Abstract is | | | | (though you might feel that you can!).Same with kids. |
| not just for art. Abstract means that something is a | | | | They can listen to a story, repeat what you say, and |
| concept, an idea, something we thought of, | | | | regurgitate it back to you, but they don't sincerely |
| something we believe in or know to be a fact, but is | | | | understand the concept of what it would have been |
| not something that can be seen. The results may be | | | | like to be the person in that story until they are 8, |
| seeable, but not the fact itself. Children won't | | | | 10, or even 12 years old. |
| understand this abstractness about a concept until | | | | We start teaching children to write at 4, 5, or 6 and |
| they've learned to understand that an "idea" is a | | | | they eventually learn to draw the connections |
| concept. | | | | between the written words and the spoken words. |
| Think about it. Some great abstracts are God, wind, | | | | They learn to write by mimicking what you've |
| and charm. You can't see them. But they're there, | | | | written down on paper. But it's hard to get a child to |
| nonetheless. You see the results of God's power by | | | | write a whole sentence in the first grade. |