The first few years of a child’s life are a critical time in shaping a child’s positive growth and brain development. Can parents help in any way? Yes, they certainly can.
What we already know is the fact that the toddler years are some of the most critical years, for that’s when the brain is said to be absorbing information like a sponge.
Studies regarding the human brain and how it develops have made numerous advances, especially in the past decade or so. As a result, we are now sure that while there are changes taking place in a child’s brain during the first few years, it’s much more than was previously perceived. By the time a child is three years old, the brain will form over 1,000 trillion connections, which is twice the amount of connections in an adult’s brain. The connections neurons make with each other are called synapses. The peak period for synapses development is from birth to age ten.
While it takes 15 – 20 years for the brain to fully develop, most of the critical connections are made during a child’s early years of life. Whatever children experience with their parents and caregivers, be they positive or negative experiences, will affect how a child’s brain develops. These early interactions are the keys to influencing how the brain circuits are wired.
The capacity to learn is a combination of nature (genetics) and nurture (environment). Nature provides a complex system of brain circuitry, but how it is wired depends upon a child’s environment (surroundings, stimulation, nutrition, etc). Here, we look into some ways how to nurture positive brain development.
Look for teachable moments
The things you do every day offer windows of learning for children, even though they may seem too young to understand. The next time you are having a meal or snack, take the opportunity to name the foods, their colors, and even the shape if possible. You can even count them out loud. When you can, name a food that is the same, different, bigger, smaller, hot, cold, etc. In other words, teach your little one as much as you can about the meal, what it does for his or her body, where it comes from, how it tastes like, etc.
There are countless teachable moments in a child’s life, so grab every opportunity to feed that little brain with things that are well worth learning.
Ensure consistency in loving care
If a child is in a loving setting, they will learn to love. Children who are ignored or not nurtured will not fully develop in certain areas of their brains.
Unlike animals that rely heavily on instinct, a human baby is a most socially influenced creature on earth, with a brain that is the least “hard-wired” and the most flexible. Consequently, a baby’s brain requires to be shaped by experience.
Babies’ earliest experiences with their parents help shape what is to become of them as adults. Emotions do count in terms of parenting, and humans learn how to feel and handle feelings as babies – and this affects their behaviour and thinking capabilities.
A study done at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo using brain images reveals that a mother’s love physically affects the volume of her baby’s hippocampus. (Hippocampus is the brain region important for learning, memory and stress responses). Children of nurturing mothers had hippocampal volumes 10 percent larger than those whose mothers were less nurturing.
Loving responses of parents may reap the following benefits:
- It helps a baby’s nervous system to mature without being overstressed.
- Promotes a healthy immune system.
- Contribute to your baby’s ability to respond to stress.
- It helps to build up a baby’s prefrontal cortex and the ability to hold information in mind, to reflect on feelings, to hold back impulses, and to be well-adjusted in future social relationships. This area of the brain develops almost entirely after the baby is born, and does not mature until toddlerhood.
- Lots of positive experiences as a baby, such as being smiled at and coddled, produce brains with more neuronal connections, which in turn contributes to a smarter brain.
Be in the know and the now
There was a time when child care “experts” and grandparents would advise that the best way to bring up a baby is to let the little one cry. Supposedly, it’ll make the baby grow up tough. We were also advised to leave a baby alone for as much as possible to promote independence at a young age. Responding quickly to a baby’s needs was believed to spoil him or her.
Studies including that by Harlow in the 1950s and also one by Kim Bard of the University of Portsmouth in England have proven these practices to be detrimental instead of beneficial to a child’s brain development. Their research has shown that those that are deprived of attachment turn out to be ‘not as sound’ and intellectually inferior to those who were given motherly love.
Do not delay responses
Studies also show that responding to a baby’s needs and not waiting for the little one cry out loud has been shown to influence the development of conscience. Positive touches, provided when needed, affect stress reactivity, impulse control, and empathy. The same holds for free play in nature for it influence social capacities. A set of supportive caregivers (beyond the mother alone) predicts IQ and ego resilience as well as empathy.
Ramifications of childhood neglect
Childhood neglect damages developing brains, resulting in effects that may even be likened to physically abuse. Research has revealed that children who spent their first two years in the orphanage showed high levels developmental problems, cognitive deficits, mental illness, and significant reductions in brain size. When the researchers measured the sheer amount of activity generated by the brains of children who’d been isolated as toddlers, they paled in comparison to those who came from loving families.
Nutrition
Here is one of the most important factors in making your kid smart, along with genetics and brain stimulation.
Babies between 1 to 3 have brains that grow at the fastest rate ever. Giving them the right nutrition to facilitate brain development is critical at this stage. The effects of nourishment at the childhood stages can last a lifetime according to numerous scientific studies.
Think antioxidants, Omega 3 fatty acids, Choline, and complex carbohydrates.
Children who were malnourished between the time they were in their mother’s womb and two years of age have brains that are smaller than normal. This inadequate brain growth usually results in behavioral and cognitive problems throughout a child’s life. These include lower IQ, slower language and motor development, and poorer school performance.
In regards to an infant’s early nutrition, breast milk contains a mixture of ingredients such as long-chain fatty acids, proteins, and amino acids that commercial formula manufacturers find hard to replicate. These nutrients may be responsible for the development of neural tissue.
Pay attention to language and hearing
Repetition forms connections, so talking to a baby helps when it comes to language development! Name what you are doing and items you come across; point to things and show expressions on your face. It is easier for children to learn languages than it is for adults. For example, children whose parents speak English and Mandarin strengthen their use of both languages when the language-learning areas of the brain are used in childhood.
Encourage exercise for a smarter brain
Exercise increases the flow of blood to the brain. Blood delivers oxygen and glucose, which the brain needs for heightened alertness and mental focus. Because of this, exercise makes it easier for children to learn.
A decade-old study done in the Columbia University Lab reveals that a 3-month exercise regimen can increase blood flow to the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning by 30%. Exercise builds up the body’s level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF causes the brain’s nerve cells to branch out, join together, and communicate with each other in new ways, which leads to your kid’s openness to learning and more capacity for knowledge.
Engage the power of music!
Music has a powerful effect on our emotions. A quiet, gentle lullaby can soothe a fussy baby, and a majestic chorus can make us swell with excitement. That’s not all though, for music also can affect the way a baby thinks.
Music seems to prime our brains for certain kinds of thinking. After listening to classical music, adults can do certain spatial tasks more quickly, such as putting together a jigsaw puzzle. How come? Well, classical music’s pathways in our brain are similar to the pathways we use for spatial reasoning. When we listen to classical music, the spatial pathways are “turned on” and ready to be used. This priming makes it easier to work a puzzle quickly, although the effect lasts only a short time. Our improved spatial skills fade within an hour after we stop listening to the music.
Learning to play an instrument can have longer-lasting effects on spatial reasoning, however. In several studies, children who took piano lessons for six months improved their ability to work puzzles and solve their other spatial tasks by as much as 30 percent. Researchers believe that musical training creates new pathways in the brain.
For positive brain development in children, observe the following:
- Encourage the use of their senses. touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and of course looking. All kinds of sensory activities benefit a child’s brain development. New connections are created when children explore their environment through their senses. About 95% of all information is received through seeing, touching, and hearing.
- Establish routines. Create routines around mealtimes, nap time, and other important parts of the day. Being predictable in their routines helps children feel secure.
- Cuddle, hug, and hold. Loving physical contact also makes children feel secure. They can form caring relationships with others and maintain their healthy development.
- Provide proper nutrition. Serve a variety of foods that are nutritious and follow the recommended number of servings and serving sizes for toddlers. (see image)
- Read, read, read. One of the most important things that can be done to enhance brain development is to read aloud every day with your child.
I love you, baby!
Babies grow smarter with lots of love, so here are some actions that speak by themselves when it comes to showing a baby some love:
- Interact with your baby. Establish eye contact and communicate with your eyes, as it helps baby feel assured that you are always there in times of need.
- Be sensitive to your baby’s changing mood and states, and respond to them.
- Teach your baby to differentiate the range of feelings like anger, annoyance, and irritation by engaging in baby talk and mirroring those feelings so the baby can learn about what he or she is going through.
- Be patient with a crying baby. Be calm and reassure the little one that everything is okay. Most importantly, do not yell!
- Breastfeed. This is one activity where the baby feels at peace and loved. Breastfeeding soothes the mother too.
- If you have to put your kid in childcare, make sure that the caregiver pays attention to the child. It is the kind of care that counts more than you can imagine.
Featured image source: Fotolia
