Children’s Special Places: Exploring the Role of Forts, Dens, and Bush Houses in Middle Childhood

3. Finding a Place to Discover a Self

FINDING A PLACE TO DISCOVER A SELF 49 3 This page intentionally left blank THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF MIDDLECHILDHOOD Ever since Freud dubbed middle childhood the "latency period/'manypsychologists and educatorshaverelegated it to the nether world of insignificance. If the individual is latent during this period, then it follows that no developments of great importance transpire. Early childhood is the fragile period during which the body is molded and the imagination kindled; adolescence is the fiery time when the self is forged. In between, many would have us believe, is a period of treading water. Nothing really significant happens between the change of teeth and the onset of puberty. Children learn to read and do math, but these are all quantitative changes. The reallybig qualitativechangeshappen when children stopbelievinginSanta Claus at six or seven years of age and when pubescent adolescents discover mirrors at age twelve or thirteen. 51 Finding a Place to Discover a Self Major developmental shifts do occur at these ages, but we also need to focus more clearly on the middle years. Middle childhood is a critical period in the development of the self and in the individual'srelationship to the natural world. Bynot recognizing the unique biological and psychological characteristics of the individual during this period, educators fail to provide a curriculum that is optimally attuned to the nature of the unfolding self. And it is children'sinterest in shaping theworld, constructing small places for themselves, that gives us one of the major clues to the nature of this period. In this chapter I elaborate on the sources of inspiration for my thinking and spell out the world-making and placemaking impulses during middle childhood. * I portrayJoseph Chilton Pearce's model of development as movement through a series of matrixes, with particular emphasis on the "earth matrix" between ages seven and fourteen. * I suggest a Jungian perspective on the relationship between the development of the self and house building and place making. * I examine Roger Hart's speculations on place making in light of the Jungian perspective. 52 Pearce's Model of Development JOSEPH CHILTON PEARCE'S MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT In the past decade, Joseph Pearce has contributed a new way of understanding development in his books Magical Child and Magical Child Matures. He conceives of the child and the potential adult ashaving far greaterpsychic potential than we presently aspire to. Byhis account, allvariety of parapsychological phenomena such as telepathy, telekinesis , astral travel, and psychic healing are available to the averageperson. He then lays out a portrait ofthe stages of development thathe claimsarebiologicallyprogrammed to create an adult with full potential. Pearce's views are controversial,but the appeal to me is that he has created a model of development that I have found useful. By "useful" I mean that the framework has helped me to make sense of my observations of children. I like to think of theories as new clothes. It is important to try them on to see if they fit and feel comfortable against the skin. If they fit, if they adhere to the contours of the body, or your observations of the world, then they have proved their worth. All idea systems need to be tested this 53 Finding a Place to Discover a Self way. I expectreaders not to acceptPearce's ideas unquestioningly but simply to examinetheir usefulnessin understanding children's creation of places in the world. In Magical Child, Pearce contends that the individual progresses through a series of matrixes during development .1 (Seefigure 3-1.) Contrary to the steplike qualityof stages of development, Pearce's matrixes should be considered as a series of spheres, with the earlier matrixes contained within each subsequent one. Each matrixis the significant world, or the safe place in which the individual resides. Therefore, the individual is at home in, or getshis orher strength from, the matrixesin the following sequence: WOMB MATRIX: conception to birth MOTHER/FAMILY MATRIX: birth through seven years EARTH MATRIX: seven through fourteen years SELF MATRIX: fourteen through twenty-one years MIND-BRAIN MATRIX: twenty-one through twenty-eight years MIND MATRIX: twenty-eight years and beyond Each matrixprovides the individual a safe placewithin which to reside, a sourceofenergy,and a placefrom which to explore out into the world, most specifically into the subsequent matrix. 54 Pearce's Model of Development PEARCE'S MATRIXES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT...