Parenting Tips

THE HIDDEN GROWTH

The Hidden Growth: 1 ½ to 3 ½ months.
The physical growth of your child is obvious as he/she gets stronger and heavier! What is not so obvious what is happening inside your child’s brain. As you provide a sensory-rich environment through the experiences you offer your child the cells inside his/her brain continue to make connections forming learning-pathways in the brain.

Robert Ornstein has estimated there are more possible connections in the brain than there are known atoms in the universe!

Sorry! You’ll have to ask him yourself how he worked that one out and I don’t have his e-mail address.

The first three years of a child’s life has been described as the time when the brain gets wired-up. Imagine what would happen in your home if the electrician didn’t finish wiring-up the house properly. Perhaps that’s why math in particular used to ‘leave me in the dark’ when I was in school.
Still, it provided me with the motivation to try and ensure not every child would have to endure the agonies I did during math lessons. It would have been no good Barbie sitting next to me in math class as I found math tough too!

Characteristics

• Thankfully your child will now remain awake for longer periods
• He/she should also sleep longer at night
• He/she will begin using his/her hands more grasping objects putting things to her mouth, opening them and studying them
• It’s that wonderful time when she responds by smiling or cooing back at you
• He will watch and observe your actions
• Is becoming less sensitive to loud sounds and bright lights
• Will forcefully move arms and legs to stretch and kick, sometimes at objects
• He is now able to lift his head and move it from side to side.

Language Development

What you can do:

Talk is so important. Tell her about what it is she is looking at, hearing or feeling.

Try and provide different objects for him to explore with his senses – hear, see and feel and as he is exploring describe them to him. You will notice him turning towards sounds he can hear around him.

Provide a ‘running commentary’ about what you are doing, what he is doing and about the immediate world around him. You may not be Diana Ross but what the heck – sing to your baby.

Continue to imitate the cooing and gurgling sounds he makes which will encourage him to persist and show him he can get your attention apart from crying!

Hold ‘conversations’ with him regularly. You will find yourself and your baby ‘taking turns’ in making sounds.

Intellectual Development

Move your child to different locations around the house and put her in different positions as she is now beginning to take more notice of her surroundings. Color is important so lay her on a colored and textured quilt that Joseph would have been proud of!

As she begins to take more notice of her hands tell her what she sees. “There’s your hand!” etc

Place or hold brightly colored objects within you baby’s reach. As she tries to grasp it encourage her to repeat her efforts.

Color is often an underused factor in learning. We have greater memory recall for color than we do for verbal cues or objects. Mind-maps, universally regarded as one of the best tools ever devised for memory-recall, note-taking and thinking utilize color to great effect. Our math program Ensure Your Child Succeeds At Math also utilizes color via Cuisenaire rods that are themselves a very powerful learning tool if used properly.

We don’t advocate using the rods with children under three. Infants of three upwards love playing with them but should be supervised although some suppliers stock larger rods for infants.

We would suggest you get familiar with the program which is ideal for using at home with your child regardless of what method the school uses.

Social/Emotional Development

Emotions play a significant role in a child and adult’s learning. It is now generally recognized that children who are ‘emotionally intelligent’ will out-perform those with a higher I.Q. More importantly they will live happier and more fulfilled lives. Jesus once told us to ‘love our neighbors as ourselves.’ If we don’t love ourselves what chance do our neighbors have? And if parents/partners don’t love each other . .  .what chance the child?

Schools often employ methods like ‘check-in’ or ‘circle-time’ at certain times of the day to try and create a positive ‘emotional-learning’ environment. In many schools around the world background music of a certain type (usually baroque eg Mozart) is played to help create a positive emotional learning-state.

‘Brain-gym’ activities like ‘hook-up’ are also used to lower stress levels.

The emotional state of the learner is the most critical of all if optimum learning is to happen.

Stress and anxiety are the enemies of learning because they actually produce ‘electrical-storms’ in the brain that cause us to revert to ‘survival mode.

Many children, usually kinesthetic learners, need to ‘feel good’ about what they are about to learn. If they don’t, then forget it!

What you can do:

Make a point of smiling at your baby when feeding or just being with him. Keep eye contact. Smile! Involve other family members. Let them cuddle, sing, talk softly and rock your baby. Create a secure and loving environment for your child.

Show him lots of affection and give him plenty of your time while he is awake. He will now get excited when he sees or hears adults he is familiar with.

The quicker you respond to your baby’s cries the more confident he will become and the less he will cry. When he does cry or shows signs of discomfort gently massage and stroke his back, shoulders, arms and legs.

He will need to suck on something like fingers, thumb or dummy. This satisfies his emotional needs.

Baby will delight in imitating your facial expressions. When he does then do it back to him as this will encourage him to continue.

Encouragement breeds persistence, a quality so vital if your child is to succeed in life.

“Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.” – Dr Samuel Johnson

Motor Development

Put a blanket on the floor, preferably colored and textured, so she can move around freely as this will strengthen muscles and improve co-ordination.

By placing your baby on his stomach for a short time you will encourage him to improve control of his head as well as providing a different visual perspective. Lie on the floor with your head elevated on a pillow or cushion and lie your baby on your chest so he can look at your face. Do this daily.

If you hold an object about 30-40cm from his eyes he will study it. Move it slowly from side to side.

Make sure there is sufficient light in the room for him to see all the details.

You can offer your baby small safe toys by holding them to the middle of his body.
Hang safe mobiles above his cot and change them regularly.

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Next: Read To Be!3 ½ to 5 ½ months

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