Painting and Building a Brain Machine

I heard on a podcast that from the ages of 0-3 years old, the human brain is being developed or "built." It is the most critical and formative time in a person's life because it sets the stage for how well they will take in information and learn for the rest of their life. Something the speaker in the podcast said scared me to death. She said that basically at the end of 3, the machine of the brain has been built and set, so if they are behind in their language and cognitive abilities, they are not only behind on a metaphorical track but they are not likely to catch up because they are a slower runner.

I turn to look at Rosie in the backseat of the car, at the cusp of turning 4. She was singing about zombies and changing the lyrics of songs to contain words like poop and toot. Have I taught her everything she needs to know to enter preschool, to learn to work hard, to be compassionate? It's hard to say because I don't have any basis of comparison, but it opened my mind to how complex and amazing the human mind is - and how dearly it needs to be nurtured in it's early years.

Just the other day, I put my 3 year old and 1 year old down in front of a white piece of paper and some paints. I expected random lines and squiggles, but instead they proceeded to produce paintings of pattern and order.

Here is Rosie's series of paintings. She entitled it, rainbow:

Here is Simon's series of paintings. He kept on saying, "I! I!" as he painted, so I can only imagine by the circles he meant, "eye."

If paintings are the window into these little children's minds, I'm amazed at what they see. It's beautiful and nightmarish at the same time, haha.

In any case, I'm glad that perhaps all the long repetitive hours of staying home with my children, reading the same book over and over (at their request), playing paints, stirring the dough for cookies, splashing in the bathtub – all these mundane things – have not been in vain. Hopefully I am building an okay brain machine.

p.s. The speaker in the podcast was Dana Suskind, author of "Thirty Million Words, Building a Child's Brain." https://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Million-Words-Building-Childs/dp/0525954872