Common Sense

Have you ever wondered why some kids lack wisdom or basic common sense? Even those who were raised in good, Bible-believing homes can be quite lacking, while other kids who grew up in broken homes are self-disciplined, hardworking, and well balanced. I can tell you why; through careful study of the human brain, we are able to see where reasoning and understanding develop. Scientists have given this development a name: executive function. It happens in the area of the brain found behind the forehead—also known as the frontal cortex.
Our brain contains about 100 million cells called neurons. In order for these cells to be useful, they must connect to other neurons. A synapse is the connection that allows information to pass from one neuron to the next. One neuron should have a LOT of synapse connections going all over the brain. The connections depend on the stimuli. Different areas of the brain are created to do different things: walking, talking, balance, music, emotion, memory, etc. All of these different areas are connected by synapses.
The frontal cortex is an area of the brain that is crucial for making judgments, planning, concentrating on instructions, and even choosing friends or a spouse. In order for the frontal cortex to develop these skills well, it will require many positive connections. These skills, unrelated to IQ, are grooved into a child’s brain through what they see, experience, practice, and value. Experts call this patterning executive function. If you are raising children, this is crucial information. Here’s an example:

Meet Joe.

Joe will grow up to be a balanced, thoughtful, thankful, disciplined, hardworking man who appreciates his mom.
Joe doesn’t have a dad, so his mom cleans houses, which allows her to keep her schedule flexible to be home with her son as much as possible. Joe even gets to help his mom clean on occasion. On school days, they get up early in the morning to cook scrambled eggs. Joe likes to help cook. While they eat, Joe’s mom tells her son where she will be working that day, what kind of house it is, and what she enjoys most about that particular job. She avoids griping about the bad side of her job because she knows it will do her son no good to hear these complaints. The two briefly hold hands and pray every morning, asking God to help them be kind and walk in truth.
Each morning, his mom writes one Bible verse on a card, and they read it together. He takes the card with him to school. She has a card, too. She said at lunch she will read her card and for him to read his. Before he could read, he just looked at the words and all the hearts and smiley faces she drew. His mom takes turns with her friend picking their kids up from school. On his mom’s pick-up days, they sing Old McDonald Had a Farm all the way home, but they put their own words to it each time. Sometimes, his mom puts his spelling words to the music so he can practice spelling them. In the evenings, while they cook dinner together, he tells her about his day at school.
Most of their meals are homemade, crockpot dinners that mom starts before leaving for work. They rarely eat take-out food and often talk about making healthy choices. Once a week, they make a list of how much money,they have and what they need to use it for. Joe likes to help count. In the evenings, they do homework together and then read from the Bible story book. Mom loves to have hymns playing softly in the background when they exercise. Joe goes to bed early because he gets up extra early to eat and talk with mom. He makes decent grades, and if he has a bad grade, mom helps him to catch up. He is known to make new students feel welcomed. Joe knows his mom doesn’t make much money and he wishes he had a dad, but he still feels like he has a good life.

Joe’s Wise Mom:

Joe’s mom tied many areas of Joe’s brain to his frontal cortex. When connections are done in a positive way like that, then exercise, reading the Bible, and even singing, they will flood a person with feel-good endorphins, which will make them something we want to repeat. Cooking, cleaning, school, playing cards, hard work, faithfulness, thankfulness, being frugal, etc are all connected by synapses. Joe’s mom has learned the value of all these activities and feelings, which will create a strong executive function for Joe.
Joe’s mom was building his executive function by the connections made with the different events of life. Often, just being a good, hard-working mama is not enough. Joe’s mom had to intentionally make it happen.
Sometimes, good, God loving parents unwittingly tie the things of God to negative feelings, such as bringing up misbehaviors while having a family devotion time. There is a time for correction, but be wise with what you connect to it. If you use the Bible or good activities as a tool to discipline your children, rather than train them and build positive connections, it will likely have a negative impact.
Thankfully, God made the brain to be in a constant state of change and healing. Knowing and understanding human development and then making small sacrifices to build positive executive function in our children is the goal.
You may wonder how people all down through the ages have done so well developing executive function. Until this generation, developing quality executive function was easy. It came from family dinners, camping, Bible reading, hugs, and laughter. It resulted from working a garden together and then putting up the fruit with those who would be eating it during the coming winter. It came from going out as a family and gathering firewood with the knowledge that when cold weather comes, you would be sitting around the wood stove telling tall tales or jokes with those you love. The smallest child saw how they made money, why they had to work hard, and they found solace in knowing they played a part in the success of their good life. Lives were connected with feeling, moving, and doing.
Today’s youth are not so lucky. On the extreme end of the spectrum, the lack of developing positive connections is why today’s youth, including from Christian families, appear to have lost their minds. Children are raised disconnected from normal relationships. Many live entire social lives on Instagram but spend no time in church interacting with real people who lead real lives. Different generations don’t interact anymore, and hard work and wholesome play is not valued as much as empty free time. Kids grow up assuming Grandpa, the government, or rich people owe them.

Joe’s mom didn’t have much to work with in the way of developing executive function, but she tied positive habits together with responsibility, fun with learning, and love with a helping hand.
Experts agree that developing executive function is more important to health, happiness, and life success than even IQ.
This is some of what you will learn when you read Create A Better Brain Through Neuroplasticity by Debi Pearl