It was during a research for an assignment, that I first came across Jean Piaget and his Theory on Cognitive development. It fascinated me that a person who lived so far back in time (where the study of a child’s behavior and the factors that lead to their favourable development, were hardly considered seriously), could propose such a revolutionary theory, that would change the way children were approached and taught .
Prior to Piaget’s theory, children were often thought as an extension of adult. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development was one of the major break through s in the field of Psychology. Children have their own way of perceiving and responding to the world around them. They apply their own logic in their interactions. Piaget suggested that the way children think, is fundamentally different from the way that adults think. Piaget's theory led to the transformation of education systems of Europe and the US during the 1970s and 80s. It brought about a more child centered approach to teaching. It meant that children were allowed to choose what, when and how much they wanted to learn. It also meant acknowledging that each child’s interests, skills, talents were unique and hence had to be treated separately.
Piaget believed that education should inspire people to be creative, inventive, and innovative. He discouraged people giving up their imagination, creativity and curiosity, in order to conform or fit in to the established guidelines.
Dear Piaget, I am honored to remember you on this Children’s day. I am a 19 year old. Neither a child , nor an adult. I’m really confused about this state. I am not supposed to be a child anymore. I am expected to grow into an adult. What does it mean to be an adult?. Society has created a guide book on how to be an adult . To be an adult you have to , think seriously , act seriously, talk seriously, be friends with serious people and so on. Society’s guide books speaks nothing of ‘being yourself’.
For a long time this is what I also believed about being an adult. But recently I came across a few children's classics. My first thought was, ‘is it okay for a 19 year old girl to read books that were meant for 10 year old ?’. But then I started reading them anyway. I started to read the book ‘Anne
of Green Gables’ by L.M. Montgomery and I read it faster than any book I had read so far. I finished the 400 page book in one day. I enjoyed each and every page, every bit of the book. I had this childlike smile for days. I felt like I was a 10 year old, all over again. I was happy to discover that 10 year old child still inside me. After that, I started to read a lot of children's books. I began to feel free . Began to feel I was myself again. I realized that growing into an adult is not about turning into someone else but it means growing more into yourself.
Childhood is not a phase that you need to outgrow. Instead, in a world where everything has become a race , hold onto your innocence , curiosity, hope , imagination and purity, like a child.
On this Children's day, let’s re discover and celebrate our own inner child. Adults often say ‘ My life is for my children’, ‘I live for my children’ . But remember ,there is a child inside you too. Live for that child too. Take care of it , Nourish it. That is the key to your Happiness.
‘“ Finding yourself” consists of peeling off Years of
Social conditioning to find a self as it existed during
Childhood, un- masked’
- Unknown
Happy Children's Day