The school-age child is filled with energy, wonder, and questions. They want to know everything, and they begin searching for structures to order the multitude of facts they are collecting. They are likely to ask questions like, “How fast is the fastest rocket? Why don’t we eat the green tops of the carrots? Are we Democrats or Republicans?” Behind every question is a search for the limits of categories such as “fast vehicles,”
“edible/non-edible plants” and “our family.” If they sound earnest in their questioning, it is because these answers will put the world in order. They are doing nothing less than creating their understanding of reality.
These are the years when we as adults must guide them in their category-making, most especially with the most important category of all: Truth with a capital T. We are rational beings living in a rational world because our Creator is a rational God. We love order because He does. He gave us the tools to understand His world so that we may know Him better. No matter our age, we require a map to chart our course, and God has lovingly provided it. As Nancy Pearcey states in Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, “Christianity is the truth about the whole of reality.” All truth is God’s truth.
Why is it so important that we help the elementary-age child to understand the world and himself in light of God? Because his solid understanding of that reality will soon be challenged. Beginning at about age 10, children begin to be able to see outside themselves. They look around and notice that not everything seems to fit in neat categories. Their black and white world begins to gray. Here is where the categories of “True” and “Not True” have to be pulled out and consulted again. Yes, they are still there. Nothing has changed. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and I am his child. Everything is under control. Then, reassured, they can enter the world with confidence.
Jennifer Cable
Elementary School Principal