Working directly with children has taught me a lot about the learning process. One thing I saw often while working with young children was what looked like a very advanced child. The parent would grab out a book and ask their two year old to name a color. The child would shout it out without trouble. In fact, they could name every single color on the page, even tricky ones like turquoise or maroon. Next, they would move on to shapes. Rectangles, octagons, pentagons, they would know every single one. It would appear I was dealing with a child prodigy.

Excited by what I was experiencing, I would grab a random toy from the ground and ask the child what color it was. It would be something that should be no trouble for the advanced child. A solid red truck. They would greet my question with a look of pure confusion. What happened? This same child could just name every single color. How could a red truck be completely stumping them? Red is one of the first colors a child learns.

The child is not stupid. They are not behind because they don’t know how to answer my question. They just may have been misled. They may not really understand what the word red describes. For example, maybe that child was always pointing to the red ball on that page of the book. Every time they saw that red ball the person reading with them pointed to it and said, “red”. If you held up a blue ball to the child and asked them what it was, they may now say it was red. They may have mistakenly connected “ball” to the word “red”. They may also only think that one particular item that you always pointed to on that page, represents the concept of red. The child is learning. They are making connections, they are just being led to make the wrong connections.

Help Them Make the Right Connections

Help Them Make the Right Connections We, as adults, have to be careful that we are helping their young mind make the correct connections. One of the easiest ways to do this is to show several examples of what you are talking about. If you are going to try to teach a color, show several examples of that color. Show the color on several different items. To make sure they get what you are trying to show them, also have them show you something in that color.

Example:

This ball on the page is red. This truck is red. Can you point to the red on your shirt?

Let Them Develop, Don’t Force It

The same goes for reading. I have seen a lot of two year olds with parents who swore they could read already. They could read, until you brought them a new book they had never seen before, that is. Children are very good at memorizing. They can often remember books verbatim, which makes it very convincing that they are actually reading.

The thing to remember is that it’s okay if your child can’t actually read yet. Some children will legitimately struggle and actually need interventions, but most can let those skills develop over time. There is actually a lot of valuable learning that occurs before a child can actually read. Even that child who just memorized the words on a page is often taking cues from the pictures in the story. They are working their comprehension muscles. One of the most beautiful things you can see a young child doing before they can actually read is grabbing a story and making their own version of what is going on based on the pictures. One of the worst things you could do as a reaction is grabbing the story away and telling them that isn’t what is happening. It’s okay to let young minds develop.

In Conclusion

Most parents want to think their child is a genius. Few children will actually be true geniuses. It’s okay if you don’t end up with a child who comes out able to point out the color chartreuse. It’s okay if your child calls a rectangle a square. Some adults still don’t even know the difference. Even a child who regurgitates information is still learning. As adults, we just have to be mindful of what we are passing them as inputs to make sure they can create the correct output.