Faith and Family
Everyday Life is an Adventure
for Children
It was time to go to the fabled land of fast
carts, cartoon characters, and unending food.
The four year old anxiously waited for her
mother to head out to the grocery store. The
store had an infinite number of sights to
behold and so much more was going on there
than at home. If the girl was fortunate, she
would be able to get out of the cart and do
some exploring on foot. Sometimes her mother
would even let her get the cereal she ate for
breakfast.
For children, the everyday world is a
constant adventure. Each new experience
brings a greater awareness for children of
how the world works and what is out there.
In fact, children are hard-wired to be active
explorers. These explorations range from
one year olds opening cupboards in the
kitchen and finding pots and pans to seven
year olds going outside and exploring the
creek in the backyard.
These activities can appear frivolous but are
very important in children’s cognitive
development. Each new discovery challenges
children’s understanding of the world and
forces them to make adjustments. These
adjustments ensure that children become
better problem solvers as they more accurately
understand the world that they inhabit. Over
the long run, children who often go exploring
are going to do better at school and will be
more creative.
The best type of exploration is for children
to have something that captures their attention
wholly and involves all their senses. This
excludes electronic games and content which
can be enticing but it only provides visual and
auditory feedback. Generally, places like the
outdoors are going to be the best places for
children to go on their adventures.
There is a long history of children growing
up and spending hours outdoors. The
outdoors is an unstructured place and
adventure is only limited to children’s
imagination. One day they could be pirates on
the raised deck in the backyard. On another
day, they are explorers breaking through the
wild underbrush of the yard seeking their
fortune.
Parents can take an active role in encouraging
their children to go on adventures. They can
provide materials that children can use outdoors.
This could include chalk, shovels, buckets, plastic
bottles, old sheets, rope, and costumes. Younger
children may need some help initially so parents
can design a scavenger hunt or go geo-caching.
Other children can be reluctant to go outside
as they are content doing their exploration via
computer games and using other electronic
media. Parents can get them to go outside by
having a picnic lunch, going walking together, or
having a bike ride. With enough exposure, even
reluctant children will find the appeal of being
outdoors.
Everyday life is an adventure for children. They
are constantly finding out about new things in
their world. Their curiosity leads to even further
discoveries. All of this is great for their cognitive
development. Parents can help the process by
encouraging their children to play outdoors and
wholly involve all their senses. Time for another
adventure.
Biography:
Dan Florell, Ph.D., is an associate professor at
Eastern Kentucky University and has a private
practice, MindPsi (www. mindpsi.net). Praveena
Salins, M.D., is a pediatrician at Madison
Pediatric Associates (www.madisonpeds.com).
Story by Dan Florell, Ph.D. &
Praveena Salins, M.D./Growing Up
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