BABY
GENIUSES??
Childcare and Infant Brain Development
by Michelle Ehrich
Author of The Anxious Parent's Guide to Quality Childcare
There have been many articles about infant brain development. After reading them, many parents express concern about the quality of their children’s childcare arrangements. This article is intended to help parents better understand what the studies of infant brain development tell us about the needs of babies and the related components of quality childcare.
HOW THIS GOT STARTED
In 1997, a White House conference on children
offered a compelling overview of recent neuroscience research on infant brain
development. The studies revealed that the first three years of a child’s life
is one of unparalleled brain development. In fact, the average brain grows from
400 grams at birth to 1100 grams by age three, close to the adult weight of
1300-1400 grams. During these early years, thousands of trillions of connections
("synapses")
between brain cells are created --- like fiber optic cables connecting phones.
Researchers confirmed that appropriate stimulation activates these synapses,
just like placing phone calls use new fiber optic cables. Starting in puberty,
our brains begin eliminating the weakest synapses. Children who get plenty of
consistent and appropriate stimulation will more fully reach their potential by
activating more synapses and retain more into adulthood.
The publicity surrounding the conference and these studies raised public awareness of the vital importance of enriched environments and stimulating activities for infants. However, as with much scientific reporting for the general public, distortions occurred.
WHAT MADE PARENTS SO CRAZY
Many media reports insinuated that infants require focused and intensive academically-oriented "stimulation" from dedicated adults to properly develop. Scores of working parents feared their children’s development was being damaged by childcare arrangements that were not sufficiently "stimulating". While in some cases, these concerns were warranted, in many others, it was needless.
The
real implication of these studies is that children need age-appropriate social,
emotional and physical stimulation – not accelerated degree programs!
In fact, Dr. Peter Huttenlocher, who
co-authored a University Of Chicago study, commented about the emphasis on early
learning: "We need to realize what children are able to learn and not cram
them with information they are not able to handle." Both he and Dr. Bruce
McEwen, a renowned research neuroscientist, offer reassurances that our brains
continue to develop through adolescence and adulthood, including new synapses
and the higher-level thinking skills that young children cannot even achieve.
WHAT REALLY COUNTS
As they say in France: The more things change, the more they stay the same! Indeed, the studies confirmed what most parents intuitively knew: children thrive when their social, emotional and physical needs are met by warm and loving individuals in enjoyable and appropriate settings. While the studies also discuss specifics like early windows of opportunity for learning things like foreign languages, the overall focus is that a child thrives when he is loved, held, read to, played with and allowed to explore. A pleasant supportive environment with caring and attentive adults is far more critical to an infant’s brain development than listening to Mozart all day or visiting the Louvre in a baby carrier!
IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILDCARE
The guidelines that conscientious parents use to identify high quality childcare also ensure that their children receive attention, love and appropriate stimulation. If your child is with "very warm and attentive" caregivers – that is a good indication that he or she is getting what he needs to develop.
In addition to being safe and clean, does your child's daycare have:
If your child is happy, reaching developmental milestones, and getting high quality and loving care in a pleasant child-friendly place, then he or she is getting just the stimulation he needs!
