When Young Children Are On Repeat

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Brain, Young Children, Children, Early Childhood Education, Nature of Science

Ed Hessler

Anyone who has ever spent time with young children know that they like to do, say, listen to things things again and again. The behavior and the reasons - what science has evidence for - are discussed in an essay at NPR and/or a 3-minute listen by Rhitu Chatterjee.

It has to do with brain development "'[R]epetition has many functions' in childhood development, says Rebecca Parlakian, senior director of programs at the nonprofit Zero To Three, which focuses on early childhood development. One of those functions is learning and mastery." I like this quote from Parlakian: "'Small children are truly the most persistent humans. 'They are just driven to master the world around them. And they do that through repetition.'"

Chatterjee notes that some repetitions can have a different effect on parents and she tells a story from her experience that parents can relate to. She said that she "became allergic to the soundtrack." After this story she goes on to explain the neuroscience behind this behavior. And here you may learn some fascinating things about brain development.

During the early years of a child's life repetitive play prunes and shapes neural pathways and establishes regions for specialties. Chatterjee includes examples, one  is the parental job of saying sounds over and over. It does work in shaping the brain.

This analogy has been used before but I was delighted to see it again. Chatterjee noted that Parlakian observed that "Toddlers and children are like little scientists. They are always testing and retesting to figure out the rules of the world around them, and they do this through repetition," illustrating it through a common high chair occurrence but this time with a twist that changes the game the young child is playing, opening up new possibilities.

Parlakian has the ability to capture ideas in short, punchy phrases, e.g., "'We have this phrase in our culture – practice makes perfect, but when it comes to brain development, practice makes permanent.'"

Chatterjee closes with a personal story about a nighttime routine: parents reading "sometimes days or weeks of the same book (often involving construction vehicles) over and over again," including what her child has learned from this ritual. Relating this to the story of the video I mentioned above binds the two activities, showing the power of such diverse experiences.

Here is the link.