And again! And again! You might have noticed how much your child will want to repeat playing a particular game, reading a beloved book, or enjoying a favorite toy. Repeating it once, twice, maybe three times seems tolerable enough, but when it’s the umpteenth time you’ve been asked to read the same exact story, sometimes it gets a little bit more difficult to get as enthusiastic over it.
But why does your child want to repeat so much of what can seem like a dry, repetitive — maybe even boring — activity? These repeated experiences may seem like nothing new to us, but for your child, repetition is more than just doing the same thing twice. Each time your child repeats an activity, they are experiencing it in new ways. Your child is constantly surrounded with things that they do not understand, which can feel confusing and uncertain. So, your child is searching for ways in which they can understand and predict the world around them. And repetition supports that pursuit.
Repetition allows your child to:
· Continually engage in an activity they enjoy and are interested in
· Feel comforted in being able to predict the world around them and contribute to their sense of security
· Build upon the memory of previously learned information and be able to predict what comes next
· Acquire, refine, and master a skill, while building up their confidence in those skills
· Enhance their concentration and attention and focus on pursuing their ideas and achieving their goals
Research has shown that repetition is critically important to learning. When your child is starting to learn a new skill, the brain’s synapses start to connect. With repetition, these connections are strengthened, and more neural connectivity happens. Repetition (and continued practice) allows these neural connections to become permanent. Even adults, who may be able to acquire and remember new information from a single experience, will repeat enjoyable activities and practice over and over for an upcoming new challenge.
Repetition does not have to be mundane and boring. When reading a well-loved book, switch it up and read the book backwards then ask your child their thoughts about it. Maybe switch some words around and see if your child can spot the mistakes. Or maybe don’t read the ending of the story and see if your child can make up their own. You can also leave out some words in a favorite song, nursery rhyme, or finger play and let your child fill them in.
So, when you see your child build with crates/blocks/Legos day after day, maybe they are just trying to figure out how these shapes can work together. Or when you’ve read the same story 5 days in a row, maybe they are just trying to figure out the storyline. Or when every corner of your kitchen is covered with painted artwork, maybe they are just trying to figure out how certain colors materialize. Don’t be afraid of “Again!” but embrace it with enthusiasm and with the knowledge that you are supporting your child’s pursuit of learning.
Comments