NANCY HIDDEN DODSON: Share a ride on the train of thought

Wise parents don't put babies' cribs in a corner, where they see only walls.

On the other hand, as we age we frequently put our own cribs in a corner, isolating ourselves from realities that we only imagine  inaccurately  most of the time. We delude ourselves, contrary to the philosopher's judgment that "we can't step into the same river twice," that we know what there is to know.

A great divide between the old and the not old is thinking. Whether we're old or not old, we know the other group never thinks as well as we do.

We know much about cognition; but we still have much to learn.

We know cognition is developmental; that there are individual differences:

* Most little girls do it differently than most little boys (though whether this is a matter of genetics or what is taught is debatable)

* Cognition is neither a racial nor an ethnic variable

* Those fed well (not overfed) think better

* And we can't think well about things we don't know about.

We also know that some folks know more about some things than others (intelligences, not intelligence); there are developmental differences about who knows what, when; individual attention means more than large group involvement; age variables are not great when looking at achievement over the long term; a rested child is better able to think than a weary child; some of us think by analysis (taking things apart), while others learn by synthesis (putting things together.)

A claim to adequate cognition is that we have been exposed to it, that we've been there before . But if we're not there at the moment, we fail to think adequately.

Josh, a 15-year-old student blessed with an imposing physique (6 foot-3, 300-plus pounds) was walking down a street in Edmonds when he came upon an older woman.

When she saw him, she clutched her purse tightly and accelerated to a jog, fearful of what he might be.

This is the gentlest young man I know. He doesn't need to prove anything.

The woman might better have been fearful of what she had become.

As long as we oldsters weave together our impressions of youngsters from watching ''The Jenny Jones Show,'' and so long as youngsters formulate their judgments about the old by reading bumper slogans on recreational vehicles, we will have nothing but suspicion.

We needn't put our conceptual cribs in that corner. Cognitive formation is a common inter-generational developmental task. It starts when we are born, it doesn't quit till we depart.

If we get too old to think or conceive of ourselves as too young to think, we have a problem  not them.

We should share in each other's cognitive growth, no matter what our ages. We owe that to each other. Youngsters owe us a share of their new experiences. Oldsters owe a share of what we've dealt with through the years.

None of us is alone, except by choice. Of course, there are hereditary differences in capacities of cognitive development. But that is no different from other capacities. Heredity only deals the cards, environment plays the game.

If we truly wish the cognitive game to be better played, we need to become a significant part of our kids' environment, and they a significant part of ours.

That's what the wise folks meant when they claimed, "It takes a village."

(Nancy Hidden Dodson of Hansville is a school psychologist in the North Kitsap School District.)