Since the first five years play such a critical role in child development, parents often start to panic, wondering, "What am I supposed to do to nurture healthy development?" The answer is remarkably simple: love and language.
Love
Affection and security (sometimes called attachment) are extremely important for healthy child development. In answer to the question, "What role do parents play in a baby's brain development?" Zero to Three, a research and advocacy group, finds:
Normal, loving, responsive caregiving seems to provide babies with the ideal environment for encouraging their own exploration, which is always the best route to learning. (Zero to Three)
Risk-taking is an extremely important part of child development because in the early years children are constantly learning new skills. When parents provide loving encouragement and appropriate boundaries, children thrive.
Language
In the context of a loving parent-child relationship, language has a cascading effect in stimulating child development.
The one form of stimulation that has been proven to make a difference is language: infants and children who are conversed with, read to, and otherwise engaged in lots of verbal interaction show somewhat more advanced linguistic skills than children who are not as verbally engaged by their caregivers. Because language is fundamental to most of the rest of cognitive development, this simple action—talking and listening to your child—is one of the best ways to make the most of his or her critical brain-building years. (Zero to Three)
Language helps children make sense of the world, and to express their curiosity, perplexity and feelings in a way that others can understand.
That's all there is to it?
Does child development really just boil down to loving your children, talking to them and reading with them? Yes and no. Yes, these are the basic foundations of healthy child development. If a child has loving, language-rich relationships, and begins to miss milestones, then a parent knows that it is time to seek professional help from a pediatrician or early intervention specialist. And no, there is more to it. At each stage of development, there are unique and appropriate ways of engaging children. That is where tumblon adds value: letting parents know what to expect, how to provide developmentally appropriate nurture, and when to seek help.
