Seven – An extraordinary number

Why is seven so extraordinary? There are seven wonders of the ancient world and seven colors to the rainbow. In the musical scale, there are seven distinct notes within the octave. Seven days are in a week, and the Earth has seven continents.

It goes to show how seven is so extraordinary, but parents can use the number seven to divide child development into distinct stages with a different parenting focus. This is called the 7-7-7 Parenting Style of developmental stages. This age range is from 0-21. The first stage is for years 0-7, the second stage is for years 7-14, and the third stage is 14-21.

Let’s look at the first stage, ages 0-7. At this young age, the brain is developing fast and is like a sponge. During this growth, the parenting style should focus on play. Play for a young child is how they interpret the world and environment around them. Play is crucial in cognitive, behavioral, social and emotional development. Even as adults, we remember good times. We learn from mistakes. When the learning environment is relaxed and the fear of making a mistake is absent, growth can take over with leaps and bounds. The saying of try, try again is important so that growth can be accomplished and solidified. So take time and play with these youngsters before it isn’t cool to play and be silly.

The next stage is the ages from 7-14. This second stage of development is when the child starts seeing gray shades between black and white. Children experiment with creating new rules and games and understand social cues while moving into adolescence. The parents can now focus on teaching. Teaching right from wrong, natural consequences and guiding and modeling appropriate behavior of the family values. The child of this age still believes what the parent says and relies on them to be a solid fixture in the home environment.

The third stage is from ages 14-21. The brain is still growing. Teenagers and young adults now need advice, even though they don’t know it. At this stage, they don’t want to be treated like a child and played with. They no longer look for their parents to teach them because their friends are the main focus now. But it is still time to be a strong guide for them. This is the time to prepare them to be fully independent. Show them how to handle money and balance a bank account. Ask about future goals, short and long term, and see what they come up with. Their goals may be big, but the steps in mastering their goals may need to be advised on. This is also the time to model civil responsibilities with volunteering, voting and getting involved with the community.

The 7-7-7 Parenting Style can lead to a more favorable communicative relationship and supportive environment. This parenting style also sets up the framework of how the parent-child relationship changes as the child grows and develops.

Christina Sanders is the early childhood education director at Hamilton Academy.