Roots: Foundations for Life

+JMJ+

Becoming a parent flips your world upside down in the best—and most bewildering—way. Suddenly, every little decision feels big. You’re not just figuring out how to raise kids—you’re figuring out how to live, together, as a family. Parenting becomes this patchwork of how you were raised, how your spouse was raised, and how you both choose to meet the moment in front of you. It makes you think: What's the right choice?

"Every parent should want for their child to grow up to be better than themselves," my husband says.

How do I set my children up for success? And, what does success look like?

How do I build a solid foundation for them?

The more I ask, the more I find that different sources—faith, education, science—all seem to agree: the early years matter more than anything else.

Here’s how each one sees it—and why that matters for the way we raise our little ones.

The Catholic View: The Age of Reason

In the Catholic tradition, age seven is considered the “age of reason.” It’s when a child is seen as ready to tell right from wrong and to take part in the Sacraments like First Reconciliation and Communion. Before that? The Church sees childhood as a protected, innocent time. It’s not that young kids aren’t spiritual—they absolutely are—it’s just that they relate to God differently: through trust, wonder, and imitation.

There’s something sacred about those early years. The Church seems to say, “Let them be little. Let them rest in God’s love before we ask them to understand it fully.”

The Waldorf View: The First Seven Years

Waldorf education breaks childhood into seven-year cycles. That first stretch—birth to seven—is all about the body, the will, and learning through imitation. Rudolf Steiner, who started the Waldorf approach, believed kids this age are still “arriving” into their bodies. They aren’t ready for heady instruction. They need rhythm, warmth, movement, and meaningful activity.

This is why Waldorf kindergartens look more like cozy homes than classrooms. There’s bread to bake, play to imagine, and beeswax to mold. Around age six or seven, kids often go through a shift—you see baby teeth falling out, deeper pretend play, and a new kind of focus. That’s when they’re seen as ready for more formal learning.

The Scientific View: Brain Development by Age 6

Neuroscience says something very similar, just with different words. By the time a child is six years old, their brain is about 90% developed. That’s not to say they’re done growing—far from it—but those first years lay down the architecture for everything else.

What a child experiences during this time—how we speak to them, what they feel, hear, smell, and see—literally shapes their brain. Consistency matters. Loving attention matters. Movement and play are not optional—they’re the fuel for growth. This is the age when the brain is building itself, moment by moment.

How It All Comes Together

So whether you’re coming at this from faith, education, or science, the message is the same:

The early years are sacred.

This isn’t the time to rush kids into academics or independence. It’s the time to let them be in the world—fully, safely, slowly. They’re not meant to perform yet. They’re meant to become.

Before they can grasp right and wrong, they need to be surrounded by goodness. Before they understand theology, they need to feel loved through the rhythm of your days. Before they sit at a desk, they need to stir soup beside you, splash in puddles, and build pillow forts.

This time isn’t just important—it’s everything.

Final Thought

You don’t have to choose between faith, education, or science. When it comes to early childhood, they all say the same thing:

Slow down. Protect their childhood.

Lay the foundation gently and with love.

That foundation? It holds up everything else.

Rooted in Love,

Maria