A baby's brain doubles in size within the first year, and then keeps growing to about 80% of their adult size by the age of 3 and almost fully grown by 5 years old. This is really intriguing as their abilities increase visibly.
Brain “connections” in these early years contribute greatly to them becoming emotionally healthy, capable, functioning adults. Their ability to communicate, problem solve and self-motivate all stem from a healthy, stimulating and loving early life. It is hard to imagine that the assistance we provide at this early stage of their existence has a direct impact on their adult lives.
As much as we love our babies, the early stages of their development are not everybody’s favourite and parents can find sitting around repeating the same action a tad boring. They sometimes feel like they have to regress and become the baby’s constant companion in order to help stimulate them.
"Their ability to communicate, problem solve and self-motivate all stem from a healthy, stimulating and loving early life."
The trick to enjoying your interaction with them is to really observe your baby’s actions and concentration and take notice of how much they are taking in every moment. Parenting becomes fun when you engage with them and simultaneously pay attention to the natural genius of your baby’s development. It happens every second right before your eyes.
Their clever little brains are taking in every tiny action, processing it and figuring out the next step. The scale of exploration and lesson learning they undertake is astounding. They are often pupil and teacher all at once and remember the lessons and re-enact them without direction. They are happy to repeat them fifty times before moving onto something else so being an interested observer and participant helps get parents through what sometimes feels ultra tedious.
"Their clever little brains are taking in every tiny action, processing it and figuring out the next step."
Recognising the growth in their actions makes it so much more fun for the parent to engage because they notice the results of their efforts. This carries through as they get older and being part of their development makes 'play' with your child a far more purposeful and rewarding experience for both of you.
So while your child is safe and secure on their beautiful play mat designed to bring both mom and baby happiness, relax in the knowledge that you are helping build the foundation for an intelligent, well rounded, functional, loving adult.
