Ever wondered why the human infant is so helpless when it is born compared
to other mammals? While fawns can get up and walk upon their birth the
human infant can't even hold its head up, lacking a mature central nervous
system. The pelvis of the human mother is as wide as it can be while still
allowing her to walk. To make the delivery possible the baby is born with
an unfinished brain which grows drastically after birth, making parenting
very important. Some scientists believe that human gestation should be
considered 21months, nine of it in the womb and 12 outside, because the
first year after birth the human brain grows faster than of any mammal.
At birth, the brain has as many cells it will ever have: about 100 billion.
Some of these brain cells, neurons, are already wired to take care of
functions of internal organs. The rest are ready and waiting to connect
with other neurons. The neurons which are not wired at birth get connected
in the first few years of life giving the infant flexibility to adapt to and
survive in the environment she is to live, whether it is a desert tent or an
apartment complex. Sensory input from the outside activates the
connections; seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling all stimulate
neurons to make new connections, synapses. A two-year-old's brain has twice
as many synapses as an adult. This level stays stable until age ten when
the least used synapses begin dying. With an Electron Microscopy scientists
were able to see the early and rapid rise of neural synapses and PET made it
possible to witness this explosive growth in action.
The person is shaped in the early years with the aspects of cognitive
learning, emotional expression and social skills. The stimuli in child's
life will have the greatest results during these years; the same amount of
input in later years won't result in such significant gains, or changes in
the mental capacity. Scientists have proved that a stimulating environment
and early childhood education where the child receives individual attention
can lead to an IQ that is 20 or 30 points higher. During the last decade,
Japanese IQ scores rose above other developed nations. Even Japanese
preschoolers who are just starting formal schooling have higher IQ's owing
to the Japanese mothers who are intensely committed to their children from
the onset of pregnancy. Their major task in life is rearing successful
children therefore, they take the education of young children very
seriously. They spend many hours with them drawing, reading story books and
playing writing and counting games.. They understand the importance of
early learning and the result is clear.
It does not take an extensive curriculum to teach a child. Instead of
setting the TV to Sesame Street you can read stories, show pictures and
label them. You probably spend a lot of time in the kitchen; use the
teaching aids you have there: let him see how you break the egg and how it
changes as you cook it. Children explore their environments like
scientists. They observe with all their senses and conduct experiments and
test the results several times. "Yes, when I leave the spoon it does fall
on the floor and makes that noise, every time I do it". Follow their cues
and they will show you how a determined researcher works. You will be
amazed to see how instinctual learning really is and by giving freedom to
their natural drive to perform you will see how play is really work, hard
work indeed. It is like almost everything else in a child's life, a means
to learn. By respecting her inner drive to explore you will see how much
more exciting and rewarding parenting becomes. So, next time he bumps his
head to the table instead of just saying "Bad table," explain what he should
do to avoid such accidents. An important point to remember: learning and
boredom don't go together. Stop any activity at the first sign of
disinterest. Also set up his environment in such a way that you don't have
to say "No" constantly. Limit your "No"s to very important issues like
safety and respect to others' rights.
Belonging to an intelligent species comes with its compromises; baby makes a
compromise and is born with a brain yet to develop and therefore is totally
dependent. Nature must have trusted the parents to leave such a crucial
part of the development to take place after birth. It is a lot of
responsibility and hard work that comes with its incomparable joy. I guess
mother nature knows what she is doing.Ömer Özder
References:
Beck, J. W. (1999). How to Raise a Brighter Child; The Case for Early
Learning.
Ramey, C. T. and S. L. Ramey (1999). Right from Birth, Building Your Child's
Foundation for Life.
Small, M. F. (1999). Our Babies, Ourselves, How Biology and Culture Shapes
the Way We Parent.
White, M. (1987). The Japanese Educational Challenge, Commitment to
Children.
