How does the education given to our children influence their whole lives?

Maxime Asseo 14:14 pm, April 28, 2023

On the occasion of the Friday dedicated this week to the sciences of education and at the end of "The Child King", Europe 1 looked at the fundamental role played by parental education in the psychological development and health of the child.

Before school or friends, parents are the first interlocutors of the baby at birth, hence the fundamental role played by their education in the development of the child and his mental health. "From birth, the brain is equipped to develop a number of functions such as language, memory, reasoning. And this brain will mature thanks to the stimuli allowed by parental education, "says Sylvie Chokron, neuropsychologist and director of research 1st class at the CNRS.

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Stimulate the child, but also teach him to use and control his abilities as well as possible: "To do, not to do, to say, not to say, all this distance is done in the first place by the parents. If you do not educate a child, he can not make the most of his intellectual capacities because he can not control them and therefore regulate his emotions, accept lack, frustration, constraint, "adds the neuropsychologist.

The child on his side sees his parents as real examples to follow, since he also learns by imitation. Sylvie Chokron takes the example of screens and considers that we should be more concerned about the exposure of parents than that of children: "When the latter are born, they can see parents obsessed with screens. As soon as they have the ability to use them, they will feel that it is the most interesting object in the world and that it comes first, including them."

The pathological risks of extreme education

In situations of overly rigid upbringing, physical and psychological violence, the harmful effects will naturally be felt on the mental, social and somatic health of the child. Prohibition to touch, move, experiment ... "The child will have difficulty learning in all areas, and will develop a form of excessive inhibition that will prevent him from developing all his abilities," says the neuropsychologist. Martine Balençon, pediatrician and member of the French Society of Pediatrics, adds that this type of violence is at the origin of a misunderstanding in children and can generate serious attachment disorders.

"Repeated violence is at the origin of chronic stress, hormonal dysregulation and a 'chronic inflammatory situation' that can affect the psychoemotional and developmental development of children," she told Europe 1. In the long term, this violence can reduce life expectancy and the number of years of healthy life, according to the pediatrician, "even more than pollution and everything else" and many pathologies are overrepresented in adulthood: suicidal ideation, drug addiction, sexual and psychosocial difficulties (including the inability to be in a group). " We now know that having been a victim of abuse exposes to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, "concludes the pediatrician.

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Unlike situations by commission (humiliation, physical violence), neglect, which results in the absence of a framework or response to the needs of the child – absence of a schedule for bedtime or meals, for example – can be just as dangerous for his health and have much the same effects as an overly rigid education. "Rules are extremely structuring, because they say that the brain learns under duress. It is therefore necessary to pose problems to the brain to stimulate it. If there are no rules, we do not learn control, whereas it is the foundation of intellectual capacities," explains Sylvie Chokron.

The importance of a middle ground

Martine Balençon stresses that the effects of parental education that is too rigid or, conversely, too lax can persist throughout the life of the child and the future adult: "Ordinary educational violence is the breeding ground for big violence". Hence the importance, according to the two specialists, of finding the right balance in the education given. "It must be done without physical violence and without humiliation, but it must not be done without rules," adds the pediatrician.

"The main thing is to be measured in what we do and especially to know why we do it. Because there is nothing worse than an education that is not justified by principles in which we believe," adds Sylvie Chokron. According to her, parents must be guided "to understand the neuroscientific basis of their education" while trusting each other and following their intuitions "that correspond to important things for them". This happy medium will give a child "actor of his development, able to make decisions, to be creative, to express his ideas, to listen to others and to have good psychosocial skills". Perceptible benefits "throughout life", concludes Martine Balençon.