Last month on their way to the airport, Amy said to our granddaughter Andee, “Grandma is going home to the Big Island”.  A few times since then, Andee has mentioned to her mother Kimberly, “gamma big island”.  Much to both Amy and Kimberly’s surprise,  Andee started using the words “Big Island” after hearing them only once.  Amy knows she had said “Big Island” to Andee only once during her stay in Honolulu; Kimberly never mentioned big island before.  Wow, kids at the age of two learn at tremendous speeds, a time period in early childhood I refer to as the “Planting Twos”.  What we say, do, and teach during this period will greatly impact their personalities, intelligence, and social life.

The “Planting Twos” is a wonderful time before preschool to teach about God, social morals, health and wellness, reading, music, science, mathematics, sports, obedience, kindness, sharing, caring for others, chores and rewards.  The Planting Twos are the golden teaching years in early childhood development.

These wonderful years are academically described by Barbara Rogoff, in her book The Apprenticeship of Thinking: Cognitive Development in Social Context.  The book is about guided participation by children and their companions. Barbara Rogoff is UC Santa Cruz Foundation Distinguished Professor of Psychology. Barbara Rogoff has held the University of California Presidential Chair and has been a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, a Kellogg Fellow, a Spencer Fellow, and an Osher Fellow of the Exploratorium.

By Carl Okuyama