Education: Baby Behavior

The more Arnold Gesell studies children, the more complicated he finds them. Probably the world’s best-informed expert on child behavior, he has examined thousands, with cameras and his solemn eye, in his Clinic of Child Development, which he founded at Yale in 1911. It has taken him 19 books to publish his findings. Last week Dr. Gesell turned out his 20th, The First Five Years of Life (Harper; $3.50).

Dr. Gesell believes that children are not only charming but startling, is firmly convinced that it is silly to try to measure them by intelligence tests. He has worked out an elaborate method of spying on them from behind a one-way-vision screen. In The First Five Years of Life he describes: 1) how a normal child grows; 2) how one normal child differs from another. Normal behavior at different ages:

Baby Talk. At 16 weeks a baby bubbles, coos, chuckles; at 28 weeks he crows; at 40 weeks he understands No! No!; at one year he speaks two or three words; at 18 months he speaks ten words and begins to drop baby talk; at two years he knows 300 words; at three he speaks sentences, soliloquizes; at four he asks endless, apparently frivolous questions, makes intentional puns (e.g., “Cedar rabbits” for Cedar Rapids); at five talks succinctly and to the point, asks questions because he really wants to know.

Action. At 16 weeks he graduates, with a plunge, from his bassinet; at 28 weeks he sits alone, grabs things; at 40 weeks he can pick up a crumb with his fingers; at a year he creeps, hauls himself to his feet; at 15 months he stands alone, builds a tower of two blocks; at two he runs, kicks a ball, builds a tower of six blocks, holds a glass with one hand, hunts for missing toys, turns pages one at a time. At three he likes to solve ball & box puzzles, builds a ten-cube tower, turns sharp corners while running, pedals a tricycle; at four he can broad-jump, throw a ball overhand, draw a man, button his clothes; at five he skips, stands on one foot, dances to music, carries a tune, washes his face, likes to wash dishes.

Me and Thee. At 16 weeks he recognizes his mother’s face; at 40 weeks he likes to have people around (“even when he waves bye-bye he may prefer to have them remain”); at one he repeats performances that get a laugh; at 18 months he strikes the air rather than an intruder (“when he becomes socially more mature he will slap the person”); at two he distinguishes between “mine” and “yours,” pouts, dawdles; at three he “negotiates reciprocal trade agreements,” obediently runs errands; at four he is bossy, tells little lies, “likes to go to the bathroom when others are there to satisfy new curiosities”; at five he is less quarrelsome, chatters at meals, helps baby sister, tells his name and address when he is lost, even plays checkers with policemen who find him.

When rangy, kindly Dr. Gesell began his observations in 1911, child behavior was, scientifically speaking, largely a subject for clucks and coos. Dr. Gesell charted away like a Columbus, let others name his landfalls. Today many a modern theory about child upbringing (notably child feeding) is based on his findings. Dr. Gesell’s own conclusions:

> The first five years of life are the most important in an individual’s education.

> Early child upbringing (“developmental supervision”) is largely a medical problem.

> Fully as important as child training is parent training. Parents need “a working philosophy of growth which will give perspective to the everyday problems of childhood.”

> Because all children need wise supervision at an early age, and because nursery schools are finite, public schools should “make periodic contacts” (i.e., part-time instruction) with two-three-and four-year-olds.

> Children should not be forced to read at six if they are not ready.

> Something should be done about “innumerable households” that still scold, threaten, shout at, slap, beat their children.

> A child is not a miniature adult but a growing being who changes radically as he grows.