Intentional Catholic Parenting: Cognitive Development Birth through
Parents have tremendous influence over the cognitive (thinking) development of their children, that is to say, their knowledge about physical properties; knowledge about relationships (grouping, classification, matching, comparing, ordering, patterning sequencing); numbering (oneness, parts-to-whole, measurement); knowledge about the cultural, and thinking processes (attention, memory. trial and error, cause and effect, reasoning and problem solving, prediction and estimation.
It is important to remember that attention to children’s cognitive development must be based on their emerging needs and interests, aligned with how their children think and most importantly, what they know and need to know. If what children are learning is not true to God's principles and commandments, parents must intervene and give their children correct and accurate information about the persons, places, objects, and events in their daily lives. If we, as parents, do not attend to the content of what children are learning, we risk harming their very soul life.
Woven throughout the book are connections to Christ's own cognitive development, as well as references to scripture, the sacraments, and Catholic tradition. Parents will find over 250 ways to intentionally support these concepts and in so doing they will be able to intentionally nurture their children's cognitive development through to adulthood.