Читать книгу Fun Start: An idea a week to maximize your baby’s potential from birth to age 5 - June Oberlander R. - Страница 6

Educators are beginning to believe that early and consistent stimulation is very important in a child’s development.Your baby will mature eventually and be able to accomplish the suggested basic skill activities presented here in this book. However, if your baby appears to be unresponsive to (not ready for) the activities suggested, try again each day. Be consistent and be aware that babies are not time clocks. They develop at different rates and not necessarily in the same areas at the same age.

On the other hand, your baby may show signs of being responsive to (ready for) the skill activities at an earlier time than those suggested. Introducing skill activities that are a little more advanced is fine, but going too far ahead may not be the best thing for your baby. By going too far ahead, your baby may miss basic skills that would be a foundation for future developmental activities.

Research has confirmed that babies are born with billions of brain cells, many more than they have at age three and nearly twice as many as they have as adults.

Nurturing basic home skills at the right time is essential to maximise a child’s learning potential. In other words, they either ‘use it or lose it’.

Think of a child’s brain as a computer. It organises and stores information.

Repeating activities is very advantageous. The more a baby repeats an activity, the more secure and responsive he will be. This is the baby’s foundation for learning. It is called rote learning. An infant’s thinking, reasoning and association processes are very immature. Rote learning will help develop these abilities to their fullest potential.

The developmental skill activities in this section are designed to help develop thinking, reasoning and association. The key to a baby’s learning is introducing and developing skills at the right time. A gap in the learning and development of an infant is what educators believe causes many learning and behaviour problems at home and at school. That optimum time is of the utmost importance. The child should be nurtured with love, gentleness and consistency. The recommended activities should be administered at appropriate times throughout the day. A set time is too regimented and may cause anxiety for mother, infant or both. The way a mother interacts with her child is very important. Good voice inflection with praise, consistency without pressure, and gentleness and love will enable your child to grow with a positive attitude toward himself and his environment.