The factory inside your child’s head

Newborns start out with some wonderful gifts. Their radiant skin and adoring eyes win over everyone who comes in contact with them and their first smile is a milestone in every parent’s life they won’t ever forget. However, some of the real miracles in your infant are taking place inside those perfect little heads where the brain cells your child is born with are laying the foundations for learning and development.

 

And there are literally billions of them. They are free floating at first, waiting for the library of experiences your child will go through in his or her life to make connections between them. That’s why it’s important to understand how critical your role is in shaping those experiences—right from the very first time your new son or daughter makes eye contact and sets the little factory in their heads in motion building these bridges called synapses that will lay the foundation for how they think and act well into adulthood.

 

Those little brains are impatient to get started too. Scientists and experts tell us that your infant’s brain will develop faster from birth to age three than at any other time and of course that means you’ll need to start feeding them with a rich and nurturing environment right from the moment you first meet.

 

Serious Business?

 

If all this sounds like a serious business, there’s no need to overreact and get too worried about doing the right things at this critical time. Parents don’t need to read their babies bedtime stories from old algebra textbooks they’ve kept from the college years or bundle them up and off to the symphony orchestra. At this young age,  one of the best medicines to make these connections is the one you’ll both enjoy together the most, play.

 

Repetition is the way that children learn to master old skills and acquire new ones and children are like adults in that they learn best when they are calm and relaxed.  Play is fun and your son or daughter’s mind is open and at ease when they are throwing a ball or skipping rope and when Mom and Dad selects those activities that are both fun and educational,  everyone benefits. So, you’re doing much more than sharing some quality time with your youngster by playing alongside, you’re actually helping to wire the connections in their brains together and lay the foundation for their adult lives.

 

Good communication helps to fire up the factory inside your baby’s head too. Listening and talking with your toddlers gets their gray matter working as does asking them to share their ideas. Smaller children will pay special attention to jingles and songs with a happy rhythm they can connect with.  Read stories to your babies with a lively cadence even before they understand the words so they can bond with your voice.

 

Read more info like this at  All My Children.

Author: Rob Starr