From birth until the age of three, nothing exerts as much influence on children’s brain development as their immediate surroundings. It is at this stage when brain neurons and synapses are at their peak capacity in absorbing information, giving parents the perfect opportunity to maximize their children’s full learning capacity.
“If the environment is not stimulating enough, this may have a negative impact in the different areas of a child’s development,” cautions Dr. Joselyn Eusebio, a developmental and behavioral pediatrician. These areas are the so-called domains of development, which include gross motor, fine motor, language, cognitive, self-help and socio-emotional skills that Dr. Eusebio, along with other pediatricians, are teaching to parents for free at the Minds in Progress seminars being held in various malls nationwide.
“He may have developmental delays such as language delay, which sometimes may even lead to difficult behaviors due to the child’s inability to express himself or to be understood by the people around him. These problems may be partly due to the lack of a stimulating environment that is conducive to keeping their minds in progress,” she explains.
There are ways to make sure that this doesn’t happen to your child. To provide kids with a good learning environment, experts say there’s no need for sophisticated methods or learning aids. Here are some considerations to make sure that your home is conducive to optimal learning.
The Early Months
Experts say that parents should caution against providing mental stimulation just for the sake of it. The developmental stage of the child should first be considered in order to provide effective and age-appropriate stimuli.
In the first few months, tactile stimulation is important. Parents must constantly touch, massage, carry or caress the baby to make him feel secure, a factor that greatly shapes his future explorations. His other senses can also be enhanced through colored mobile sets in front of his crib. This will slowly get him to practice looking up or reaching out with his hands. Singing, humming, and playing classical music will also engage his brain.
As soon as a child learns to crawl, refrain from carrying him as often as possible. Dr. Eusebio advises parents to allow their child to move and explore his environment by himself while watching from a distance to ensure that he is safe.
Stress And Your Child
A parent’s attitude can also greatly affect the progress of a child’s mind. Given their high sensitivity to input, kids can already absorb feelings of stress even during infancy.
Dr. Eusebio often tells parents to try to act calmly when their children are sick. “You might be communicating your feelings of worry and nervousness to the baby, that’s why he, too, becomes more irritated. Anxiety can be communicated unconsciously to the child and he can sense it,” she explains. The moment parents start feeling this way, they should transfer their babies for the time being to someone who is more relaxed and calm.
A dirty home, as well as family members who smoke, can also derail a child from his full learning potential as these can seriously impair his health.
The Power Of Quality Time
Given today’s fast pace of living, Dr. Eusebio still agrees with other child experts that there is no substitute for parents spending time with their kids. But the reality of the dual-income household still remains, so what can parents do?
“Parents should educate their child‘s caretaker on providing the appropriate stimulation to the kid. Then, once the parents get home, they should spend quality time with their kids also. Yes, it is going to be a challenge,” she notes.
Fortunately, simple activities like storytelling or helping set the table for dinner — as long as they are done with Mom or Dad — can become routines that enrich a child’s overall development.
“If the environment is stimulating and nurturing, it will greatly enhance the abilities of the child, not only in his cognition but also in all the other domains of development. It can also have a positive impact on his overall behavior and values that he can carry on up to his adulthood. And when he becomes a parent, he will surely do the same to his children,” urges Dr. Eusebio.