Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Brain Development: Critical for a Bright Future!

Photo from public domain

It is widely accepted that the most critical time in a person’s life are the first few years.  During the first year a child doubles in size both height and weight, but most importantly, the child grows immensely in brain power.  It is that power that will decide their entire future. 

Infants are constantly seeking for interaction, constantly looking for areas in which they can develop, not necessarily willingly, but they are driven to see new things, to hear new things and they begin to make connections that cause their brain to grow and develop. The more interaction in a safe environment, the more the child grows and learns.  These very critical years are the starting point for many new thoughts, creativity and awareness.

Photo from public domain
Help Me Grow’s seeks to assist parents and extended families to recognize the need to continually stimulate their children- reading to them, playing with them, pretending with them, and just plain running around with them develops their capabilities.  

Encouraging children to learn should be the most important task of all grown-ups in the world, and we should be earnestly engaged in bringing up the best children.  The more they learn in the first three years will make a big difference in their life fifteen, twenty, and even ninety years into the future.  

Our world is changing every day; any new exposure to stimulus helps children make thousands, perhaps millions of brain connections; exposure to another language used to be considered to cause confusion to a child, but now we know that exposure to a second language in early childhood will actually physically structure a child’s brain, enabling the child to make connections they would not otherwise have made.

Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child, has a three video series that demonstrates and illustrates how the young brains are affected by interaction, what they refer to “Serve and Return” Interaction. This series is very informative; check it out here!

Photo from public domain
Simple activities like:
  • playing the telephone game, where you pretend to call your child and you have a conversation, 
  • pointing out the difference in size between a watermelon and a grape,
  • pointing out patterns of size, color or shape
can induce the stimulation your child’s brain needs in order to make new connections. Exercises like these provide so much benefit when seen in the context of an entire lifetime.

Here at Help Me Grow we endeavor to provide you not only with the “clinical“ assistance you need to take care of your child, but also with a support system that can give the little extra oomph to help you help your child reach the next level.

In the end, it is up to you and your family to provide much of the stimulation required for your child’s brain development, language development and a sense of security. We want to be your partner in developing your child to be the best possible, equipped with the creativity and resources to face and overcome life’s challenges for the rest of your little one's life.

What activities are you doing to enhance your child's brain development?

1 comment:

  1. This is a great read about child brain development. Thanks for sharing informative post.
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    ReplyDelete

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