The Baby, Maybe

Let’s go back to the time when you were just a little baby. In those days, everything fascinated you, the voices around you, mum’s long hair, dad’s bushy moustache, your colorful blocks set, and also Fluffy the teddy bear. Babies are born ready to learn and grow, with all the brain cells they need for their whole life. However, it is the connections between these brain cells that make the brain develop and capable of performing more complex activities. During the initial years of a child’s life, nearly 1 million new neural connections are made in the brain every second! Curiosity and the undeniable exuberance of youth fuel the child’s growing un­derstanding of the world around them. Through everyday experiences and interactions with parents, caretakers, family members, and other children, the child develops physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally.

One aspect of learning that cannot be ignored is patterns. As babies grow older, they start to identi­fy and recognize patterns in the sounds they hear, shapes and colors they see, odors they smell, and objects they touch. The neurons in their brains interconnect in increasingly complex ways which allow them to move, think and speak in a more complex manner. Why do you think kids are told nursery rhymes? Yes, one reason is that they enjoy listening to them. However, the auditory patterns in the songs help the children identify similar sounding words, not only increasing their vocabulary, but also providing them with catchy tunes that they love. Old McDonald had a farm! Eee-yaaah-eee-aiooh! Kids realize that the numbers they have been introduced to are used and repeated in real life and begin to use them to count objects and eventually, do math.

Parents should provide children with a diverse range of fun and stimulating activities, which doesn’t always mean breaking the bank. For a child, a simple spoon and pot can be as intriguing as a 3000 rupee drum set. What’s important is that they are provided ample opportunities to grow, and improve their motor, emotional, and social skills along the way.

This article was originally written for and published on Renesa – The Official Media and Publication House of NIT Surat. It was featured in the April 2019 Edition of Renesa’s official magazine.