Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/beauty-in-the-lives-of-young-children/5021636/
Beauty, it has been said, is one of the most profound and essential forces in our lives (Gardner, 2011; Gendler, 2007). Many of us know that beauty can bring joy, inspire awe and promote a sense of well-being. Some of us also know beauty as an expression and deepening of the spiritual aspects of our lives. But exactly what is beauty and how does it influence human development? These and other questions �" including the role of beauty in the lives of young children �" will be addressed in this article.From literature, we find the following statements about beauty:
• “Beauty is an ecstasy. . . . It is like the perfume of a rose: you can smell it and that is all.” �" W. Somerset Maugham
• “Beauty is a light in the heart.” �" Khalil Gibran
These poetic writers �" as well as our own experience �" suggest that beauty is hard to define. The definition of beauty has even been called ‘a moving target’ �" something that changes over time (Gardner, 2011, p. 192). What we do know is that it is something that resides more in the subjective, abstract, or transcendent aspects of reality than in what is objective, concrete, ...