“Give us a boy until he is seven years of age, and we will answer for him for the rest of his life!”  This proud boast of the Jesuits throughout the centuries underscores the importance of the milestone reached by children by the age of seven.  It signifies that not only has the child’s brain developed to the point where complex ideas can be embraced and understood, but that attitudes, too, can be inculcated on a basis so thorough that, unless consciously altered, they can last a lifetime!

Oddly, there is no word in English to define the child at this critical stage in life.  The terms “tot” and “toddler” define the one- to three-year-old very adequately.  But for children aged four to seven, no good word exists.  Terms such as “school-aged child”, “pre-schooler”, and the now old-fashioned “youngster” are too clumsy, too general, or too specific.  And yet it is in the years from four to seven that the child becomes the early version of the complete human being that he is destined to become.  It is at this stage that he goes from being the somewhat generic toddler to a highly individualized human being that can reason, show strong and subtle likes and dislikes, and interact socially to the point where he can even develop strong friendships.

When speaking of “brain development”, we refer somewhat unthinkingly to our brains as organs, but our brains, naturally, are also who we really are!  The question arises, then, how do we best nurture brain development at this stage of life, as it involves not only the growth of the brain physically as an organ, but also our growth intellectually and emotionally as human beings!  Incredibly, actual physical brain growth is enhanced not just by good nutrition and exercise, but also by using the brain to think and feel with, just as muscle growth is enhanced by actually using the muscles, even though the growth of the brain is infinitely more complex than the growth of muscle tissue.