How children understand the world 2026

The ear and the oflate, their way of orienting themselves.

As soon as he is born, hearing and smell are the tools that the baby has to orient himself. Sight is the sense that takes longer to develop. The first days they perceive different colors and calculate distances, but for them there are only two areas: the close one and the one that is out of reach. Babies see everything that is beyond the length of their arm blurred. Objects that are close, at a distance of 20 to 30 centimeters, are perceived much better. Precisely at this distance are the faces of mom and dad when they feed them, hold them in their arms or caress them.

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During the first months, babies are completely oriented towards other people. They recognize objects, such as pacifiers or stuffed animals, but they are much more interested in faces. Until the sixth or seventh week, they mainly observe contours and strong contrasts. Already, at four months, they notice the details and their eyes no longer move lost, they do so with precision. Little by little they are putting their tiny world in order.

Then will come the smile, with which they begin to establish their first social contacts.

Why do things appear and disappear?

At six months, babies' range of action expands, thanks to the increase in their motor abilities. They can reach out with precision towards the rattle or touch their stuffed animals, and that is when the world of objects opens up to them. Every time they turn their heads they discover something new and, in addition, surprising things happen: objects appear and disappear by magic.

It will take another half a year to understand that although the objects are hidden, they do not cease to exist.

Vision development

To be able to accurately distinguish the faces around them, babies need improved vision. At six or seven months, the acuity of their vision can already adapt to different distances and they recognize their parents and older siblings at a distance of several meters. But they also identify strangers and get scared. At this age, it is normal for children to suddenly appear shy and scared.

Another milestone in their development is crawling. At first, babies need dad, mom or their brother to be in front of them to feel safe. There is a game that they especially like: finding hidden things. By doing so, they reconfirm their discovery: that things and people continue to exist even if they do not see them. Even though Dad is hiding behind the door, they know Dad hasn't disappeared.

At nine months, children's senses function like those of adults. By the end of the first year, they can interpret the desires or thoughts of adults without needing to see them clearly manifested. They understand, for example, if their mother wants to show them the cat that is in the garden. Before, their eyes would stay fixed on the pointing finger. But now they move from the finger to the pointed object... they have achieved a new level of communication!

Come on!

At one year old, many babies begin to take their first steps. At first, they do it hesitantly, but little by little they become motivated faster and with greater confidence. A new stage begins and the little ones really want to discover the world. They can finally get close to the most interesting things themselves! They can decide in which direction they want to go and what things they want to investigate.

At this age, two opposing positions pass through the child's head: the bond with his mother, that is, the security that she brings him and the curiosity that helps him develop his intelligence. To discover the world they only need to have people they trust around them. They are your anchor and you always return to them to recover. We adults must follow and accompany them because the little ones are the ones who will decide where to go, what they want to discover and how far they want to get away.

It's not stubbornness

At two years old, children have enormous self-confidence. They think that they can do anything they want and that the world revolves around them. At this age, the more experiences they gather, the smarter they will become and the more concrete their goals will be.

Furthermore, they are already starting to make plans and they don't understand why the adults don't let them do what they want. Ana sees mom's music system. It is a very fun toy because it has many buttons and a light always turns on when you touch them. Will the lights also come out today? The little girl can't contain her desire to take the test and doesn't remember that yesterday mom forbade her from touching the buttons. Today the same thing happens to her and she doesn't understand why mom scolds her. Don't you see how cute this toy is? Anna feels confused and cries. And he does it because, at this age, he already knows what he wants.

They also anticipate things to come. They know that at night they will brush their teeth and then read them a story. In this way, little ones order their world and feel that it is under control. But what happens if mom doesn't have time and doesn't read her story at night? They feel lost, everything becomes chaos. Security disappears and they become angry because they only perceive confusion. They are still too small to restore order quickly

A world full of fantasy

At four years old, his world is already almost unfathomable because it has no logical boundaries. His world is much more alive and full of variety than that of adults, but it is also much more disturbing and threatening. Our children think that objects can move and feel just like they do. At this stage they need a lot of protection and understanding to be able to discover new things without fear.

Mario is scared of the dwarf who has been living in the shoe closet for a couple of weeks. Sometimes he puts on a show with mom because he refuses to put on his shoes, he doesn't want the bad dwarf to bite his feet. Although her mother shows her the closet and tells her that no one is there, she knows very well that he will be hiding there.

Children do not think like adults, they do not distinguish between reality and fantasy. For them, a cartoon character on television is as real as the dwarf in the shoe closet. That mom and dad don't understand confuses them because they need explanations for everything. They would like to know what cartoons do when they don't see them. Sometimes, parents do not have the patience to give our children an answer and they feel that we do not take them seriously.

Your fantasies are very important for your development. They are not nonsense nor are they lies. They need them to order and catalog their world, they use their magical thinking to create non-existent relationships. The world of adults is too complicated for them, which is why they have so much fun playing with other children. They sail together on the pirate sofa and try to catch the fairies flying around the garden. They have a great time because they all see the world with the same eyes and their self-esteem grows: their vision of the world must be correct if it is shared by other children.

Sometimes we parents worry when we see the fantastic world in which our children live. Is it good for the little girl to have these fantasies? Is it because it doesn't adapt to reality? But we shouldn't worry. Fantasy is a wonderful thing and it is best to let children enjoy it while they can.