In their early years, children is helped by parents/careers/ guardians around them to connect with their environment and build self-esteem. Immediately after birth, it is encouraged to create skin-to-skin contact with the baby to hear the mother’s heartbeats and her voice. These are the first building blocks which will accompany the baby in the real world.

After three, children become more aware of their own desires and and all of their actions are led by their conscient decision, but up until three, they are led by their subconscient energy/drive/urges which seem to impact on the child’s course of action. To exemplify: when a child spends considerable time puring liquid from one recipient into another, despite him being wet and hungry, if we try to stop him from his activity so we care for him, we set off an outburst of emotions, a tantrum. When these urges take over, a child can spend considerable time focused and we need to be watchful to intervene when the child can hurt himself, hurt others or damage the environment.  

After the age of three, children become more aware as their logical, mathematical and imaginative thinking is developing. Up until they reach this age, children take information ad-literam and this is important to know so that we are careful to the types of stories we read to them. Children this age cannot make the difference between real and imaginary events and can get scared. The information and explanations offered to children this age need to be logical and realistic. For example, many children have seen on TV a commercial with a purple cow and they were confused when their reached nursery and were told that cows are not purple. Given this specific way children perceive reality up to the age of three, it is important that we pay attention to the explanations we offer them so as not to confuse them or cause fear.

The 0 to 6 years old period is also characterised by a fast retention of information from the environment. This is a good time to acquire a foreign language. There are nurseries in Romania which offer foreign languages because it is easier absorbed by the little ones. Equally, parents may opt to watch animated movies in another language with their children or to introduce them to sports because they are open to new experiences. Learning becomes more difficult after the age of six because we require a conscious effort in learning after this age. Think how difficult it is for adults to start learning a foreign language or start learning the ways of a new sport. Unlike adults, children do not invest a conscious effort in learning at this age and we can notice the ease with which they acquire good accents in a foreign language, for example.