The Magic of Language: The Inner World of Children Aged 18 to 36 Months

The Magic of Language: The Inner World of Children Aged 18 to 36 Months

Walking upright and acquiring language are two major milestones in a child’s development. The former is a concentrated expression of millions of years of human evolution, while the latter marks the beginning of mind and logical thought. Some researchers believe that the most important mental difference between humans and animals lies precisely in language, because language makes abstract thinking possible, and only abstract thinking makes possible higher intellectual activities such as lasting memory and logical reasoning.

Before mastering language, infants can express their needs only through crying. But once they gain this tool, it is as if a magician has learned a spell. They no longer need to cry and let their parents guess what is wrong; instead, they can use one or two words to influence the world around them. Although none of us can remember exactly what that moment felt like, for a baby who has just acquired language, it must be truly magical. Just by saying “Mama” or “Papa,” they can summon the person they need. By saying “food” or “poop,” they can address their physical needs. In that sense, is language not the most wondrous kind of magic for them?

The rapid development of language is especially evident between 18 and 36 months. So when caring for children at this stage, language becomes particularly important. For adults, this also means that we can use the techniques of language ourselves, and engage in a kind of contest with the little magician in front of us.

A Spell for Controlling Impulses

For children, language does more than satisfy needs; it can also act as a spell for controlling impulses. Before they have language, if a child misses their mother, they can usually express it only by crying. But a child who can speak may soothe that feeling by murmuring “Mama” to themselves.

It is worth noting that in the earliest stages of language acquisition, the boundary between a child’s real world and imagined world is still blurry. In other words, when a child says “Mama,” the image of their mother already appears in their mind. To some extent, this imagined mother can provide a sense of companionship. Of course, the power of magic is always limited. If the child realizes that the imagined mother cannot actually take care of them, they may return to crying.

When Yuanyuan could not see his mother, he would often hold her clothes and repeat, “Mama’s clothes,” and then he might gradually calm down. For him, this kind of magic did not fully break until one day when he said he missed his mother. His grandmother pretended she was going out to find her to comfort him, but Yuanyuan said, “Don’t go. Mama is at work.” In him, that sentence marked the point at which the struggle between the power of magic and the power of reason was beginning to show a clear outcome. Before long, he would transform from a little magician into a little scientist, entering the next stage.

The charm of language lies not only in this ability to control impulses. Both children and adults can also use language to create impressions and concepts. Even before a child can speak, they may already understand key words that signal danger, such as “hot” or “high.” Although different children pay different costs in learning these words, most can accept such warnings. After they learn to speak, children may also use the same language to restrain their own impulses. By saying or hearing prohibitive words, they can stop their not-yet-obedient bodies from acting. This too is one of the magical ways children use language.

From Magician to Scientist

Once children acquire language, the magical power within them gradually begins to fade, while a more “scientific” spirit starts to emerge. This marks a dividing line in their exploration of the real world. They are no longer satisfied with pure imagination or easy deception, but begin trying, through their own efforts, to understand the truth of the world.

Before this point—or sometimes even during it—the child’s world can still be a dark and frightening place, often closer to a dream than to reality. Things that are entirely ordinary in the adult world can become the beginning of a nightmare for a child: a vacuum cleaner with a terrifying shape and awful noise, or an ant, or any insect at all, which may be imagined as something capable of eating everything. In a child’s world, these things can be genuinely horrifying. (So it is best not to frighten young children on purpose; their world already contains more than enough frightening things.)

Once they have language, however, children can finally define things and form concepts. All those frightening experiences are no longer as vague and cloud-like as before. At this point, they begin transforming from little magicians into scientists. When they push a cup off the table, or keep turning a knob over and over again, it is not simply because they are naughty by nature. They are searching for the truth of the world.