A mind which is able to absorb knowledge quickly and effortlessly is called the absorbent mind. A child from birth till the age of six has an absorbent mind. The learning takes place in a very amazing and special way. The mind absorbs everything from the environment and the environment plays a very important and critical role in the early brain development. During this period the brain receives, processes and stores everything from the environment without any effort and discrimination and this form of absorption is called the unconscious absorption.
The intense mental activity is always going on even in the prenatal stage and it characterizes the absorbent mind. There are various way though which the adults can take care of the child in their life. The adult must provide a safe and secure environment for the child and must help the child in developing interest in doing activities. The child must be given freedom within limits to express his interest because if there is no limit to the freedom given to the child and since he is going through the stage of absorbent mind the child may attempt or behave what is not meant for him.
Most important is the way the environment is set. As adults we must prepare the environment more enriching for the child so that he is able to explore and experience things which are more interesting and challenging. For instance if the environment is not enriched with good quality and quantity of things what child learn from it will also not be of good quality and quantity. We must always take care to maintain a pleasant nature and a positive attitude because how we react and behave with the child is what the child will learn.
If for instance if we are always smiling and soft spoken and greeting people and with an attitude that I want to do it and I can do it, they child having the absorbent mind will learn the same thing. Whereas if we always scream, shout and frown the child who is observing this will repeat the same thing. This is because the child gets to see this only in the environment he is in and since he does not know to discriminate what is correct and not he unconsciously absorbs it. We also need to try and maintain an intimate relationship with the child to develop his character and thereby guide him to lead his path.
Since the child goes through the sensitive period and absorbent mind during the early years there is a need for order in the things around him so that he does not get confused. So the environment in which the child is there should be set up and arranged in order so that it enables him to learn and perform better. For instance in the Montessori class room that is why we arrange things in an order so that it helps the child to always go back to the same place to pick the same material and work till he perfects it.
If things are not in order and each day it is in different places it might not really catch the child’s interest as he will not want to go daily and search were it is kept every day. Order is most critical for child because the order helps him develop his inner order senses. We should also take care in respecting the child’s self motivation in doing things and develop discipline within the child. As adults we must always be more flexible and keep mind open to face any kind of unpleasant situation if arises.
We should allow the child to make mistakes because he learns only through mistakes and correct him only if he asks for help of if you find him misusing the materials. We should take care of the way be talk and the language we use because child absorbs everything what he hears to and sees without any discrimination of good or bad, right or wrong as he has not developed that sense at that age as in the first stage of development he unconscious absorption in the first three years and in the next three years it slowly starts becoming conscious absorption.
