What is a child?

A child is defined by the Webster's Dictionary as "a person between birth and full growth." According to neurologists, a human is born with about 100 billion synapses and available brain growth. By age 10, 85% of this potential brain exploration is closed off and specialized. There are windows of opportunity for wiring the brain. If the connections are not made during these windows, the child will have fewer connections or no connections for developing strength in that area. A child, then, is inherently someone whose brain is in the process of closing off potential synapses, and habituating to the world around them. So since children have much more potential brain capacity than adults, they are more able to grasp fantastical ideas and events, like a hedgehogian man riding around on a rooster, than adults. At the same time, however, this amazing ability is constantly deteriorating. Children need important ideas and literature to be fostered in them while they are still capable of understanding and believing them, before all of their (neurological) pathways are closed off. The first years of life hold the most critical periods for brain development. As adults, we are responsible for feeding them their mental food, or else we run the risk of wasting a very valuable resource, not to mention letting all of the kids down.

Learn more about children's brain synapses.