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162 PILLAR 2 Development and Learningand we remember little that happened during ages 3 through 5 because we did not have the neural connections in our brains that allow us to remember. Elizabeth Loftus 21 uses a computer example to explain this. In a way, trying to remember things that happened before age 5 is like trying to open the assignment you just wrote using word-processing software from the 1990s. It just doesn%u2019t work! So, do our memories function when we are very young? Yes, but in different ways: %u2022 Most 1-year-olds will imitate the making of a rattle (putting a button in a box) 3 months after observing this act. 22 %u2022 Most 3-year-olds recognize an out-of-focus picture more quickly if they saw a clear version of the picture 3 months earlier. 23 %u2022 Most 10-year-olds say they recognize only one in five of the classmates they have not seen since preschool. But their physiological responses (measured as skin perspiration) are greater to former classmates, even to those they claim they don%u2019t recognize. The nervous system remembers what the conscious mind does not. 24 As you can see, your memory was working when you were an infant and a young child, but it was working differently than it does now. The parts of the brain dealing with memory continue to develop well into the teen years. 25 Motor Development Physical skills and muscular coordination are products of the developing brain. The neural pathways and muscles necessary for crawling (or scooting on your bottom) mature before the pathways and muscles for walking. We all walk before we run because we are developmentally ready to walk before we are ready to run ( Figure 10.4). Unfortunately, developmental charts that show %u201cnormal%u201d ages for crawling, standing, and walking haunt some new parents. I%u2019ve seen parents trying to force their child to crawl, ignoring the baby%u2019s tearful protests, as a %u201cdeadline for normal behavior%u201d approached. Here%u2019s some good advice you can give if you see a parent prodding a child to catch up: relax! Developmental charts provide age ranges . In the United States, 25 percent of all babies walk at 11 months. Within a week of their first birthday, 50 percent are walking, and almost all of the remaining 50 percent will walk sometime shortly thereafter. The child%u2019s brain creates the readiness for crawling or walking, not the parents%u2019 prodding. The same holds true for all physical skills, including bladder and bowel control. Before a baby achieves the needed neural and muscular maturation, no amount of begging, bribing, or scolding will accomplish toilet training. Knowledge of this fact helped me potty-train my daughters%u2014when they were ready, not when I was ready%u2014in just a few days. Wired for Technology? Babies develop quickly, but not that quickly. %u00a9Randy Glasbergen, glasbergen.com%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.