Most learning happens before the age of 32 - Here’s why that matters for Christian parents

‘All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.’

That’s Jacque, Shakespeare’s somewhat miserable character in As You Like It. The playwright poetically divided the progress of life from birth to old age into seven stages, none of which are portrayed flatteringly.

Dividing life into stages like this has recently been backed up by science. Towards the end of 2025, researchers at the University of Cambridge published the results of their work into brain cell connectivity. While the results don’t confirm Shakespeare’s divisions, they do show five distinct phases of brain growth, change and activity.

The research showed how connections between brain cells change and fluctuate throughout life with distinct periods of rapid connectivity and slower periods of disconnectivity. Childhood, they concluded, lasts from birth to the age of 9; adolescence from 9-32; adulthood from age 32-66; early ageing from 66-83 and late ageing from 83 to death.

This backs up is what we have always believed, that the best time to learn anything is when you’re young

We tend to review our lives in sequential phases, so the results of the research are not surprising. What surprised me was that long period between about 9 and 32 during which the bulk of our learning is done. It’s the season in which we grapple with issues and generally make decisions about what’s important to us. We wrestle with philosophies, politics and faith and live life from those beliefs, values and opinions which become our personal culture and creed. In the subsequent periods of our lives these are almost ‘cemented’ in place. Learning becomes more challenging, but we maintain neuroplasticity, which means our neural pathways and thinking patterns can be changed; it just requires more conscious discipline of thought.

This backs up is what we have always believed, that the best time to learn anything is when you’re young, whether it’s complex mathematics, a second language, or an athletic or manual skill. It also confirms two Bible truths.

Firstly, learning about Jesus, faith and the Bible when we’re children and young adults helps those things ‘stick’

By laying the foundations of faith in our children when they’re young, we help give them the tools they need to navigate their future on solid ground. We cannot make them encounter Jesus, but we can create opportunities for them to do so. They cannot have our faith, but by modelling authentic, vibrant faith in our lives, living out those values under our roofs, we’re equipping them for life beyond the front door.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 urges us to ‘remember [our] creator in the days of [our] youth’; a call to plug into who God made us to be and to relationship with him while we are still eager to learn, are strong, vigorous and can give Him as many years as possible.

Repetition serves to keep those neural pathways clear and strengthen their function

Memorising Bible verses and passages of Scripture as I did as a child was a lot easier then than it is several decades on. Repetition serves to keep those neural pathways clear and strengthen their function. I’m so grateful for Bible clubs and Sunday school activities which included this discipline.

Paul urged Timothy to, ‘continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.’ (2 Timothy 3:15). Both Timothy’s mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Louis, were believers. It seems that they not only lived out their faith but passed the baton down through subsequent generations. It’s one thing to ‘know’ the Scriptures cognitively, but quite another to apply them to daily life.

Are we prioritising that embedding of Scripture in our children to guide and equip them to navigate life?

Historically, parents used to catechise their children. They would instruct, model and explain the tenants of faith with questions and answers, helping their offspring familiarise themselves with the pattern of church services and find their way around the standard prayer book as used in the Church of England before denominations were so numerous.

Regardless of mode, this is still our parental privilege and responsibility. Are we prioritising that embedding of Scripture in our children to guide and equip them to navigate life? It’s time consuming and demanding but, just as it would be remiss to launch a boat without supplying the crew with a map and a radio, might we effectively be doing the same thing if we hold back from teaching our children under the popular illusion that they will simply, ’find their way’ over time?

Secondly, the Bible teaches that when we come into God’s family, we set out on a spiritual journey that requires a new way of thinking

Romans 12:2 says, ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.’

Read more:

Christian parents: Our job is to help our children become mature in Christ

6 things Christian parents can do to raise children who care for God’s creation

Worldly culture/thinking is very different from God’s Kingdom culture/thinking. However, as we grow in faith and maturity, we’re able to change how we think. New neural pathways can be formed in our brains; new connections, which consolidate with repetition. Every time we rise to the challenge of making a Kingdom decision e.g. loving our irritating neighbour, refusing to engage in gossip, exchanging a kind word for an angry one etc., we’re creating an increasingly well-trodden path of connectivity in our brains. Before too long these choices will become our new default; our minds really will have been ‘transformed’.

Whichever season of life you or your children are in, Psalm 92:12–15 assures us that even through old age, flourishing is possible when we’re rooted in God. Let’s prepare ourselves and our families to embrace that.