Making The Most Of The First Years - early childhood development

CHILD development experts say that the experiences of a child between birth and age 3 cement the foundation for later development. This is why it's so important for parents to make the most of their children's early years.

"The first three years are the opening of a child's life," says Clarice Dibble Walker, associate professor at Howard University School of Social Work and former chair of the board of directors for the National Black Child Development Institute. "Think about all the things a child learns to do in those first three years--crawl, walk, talk, to form relationships with parents and peers, the basic habits of living, such as eating and sleeping, this all occurs in the first three years."

In addition to the rapid physical changes occurring in the first three years, a child's brain continues to develop during this time. Barbara Bowman, president of the Erikson Institute for Advanced Study in Child Development in Chicago, says this knowledge is a major milestone in child development research in the last decade.

"The thought in the past was that not much happened during the first three years," says Bowman, who has 50 years of experience in child development. "We knew it was important for older kids to have good teaching and good schools, but we really didn't think it made a difference for little kids--just take care of them, keep them warm and dry and that would be enough. But now, we have a better idea about the brain, and we find that the capacity of the brain is shaped by the experiences children have when they're very, very, young. That makes the 0-to-3 period so much more important than we've ever dreamed before."

Experts say that simple activities like talking to children, playing games with them, reading to them, cuddling and kissing them--tasks often taken for granted--play major roles in determining whether a child will excel in life. And prominent figures, notably retired Gen. Colin Powell with his "Laptop" campaign of putting kids on your lap and reading to them, have started nationwide efforts extolling the importance of these activities to a child's intellectual and emotional development.

Equally important during this time is having your child screened for any vision, hearing or development problems, and making sure your child has regular physical and dental checkups and immunizations, It's just as important to provide the proper nutrition for your child. But the most important lesson parents can instill in their children during these first years is their love for them. Child experts say that it's crucial to children's self-esteem that they feel safe and secure, that they are cared for and loved by their parents. "It's important that babies know they are important to someone else," Walker says, "that they have a sense of security, of permanence. That they have a place that is unconditional, and that is the family."

During a child's first year, parents should give their babies plenty of attention by holding them, touching them, smiling at them. Mealtime is significant, not only because it provides the baby with nourishment, but also because it provides an opportunity for parent and child to bond with each other Experts say that breast-feeding is ideal, since it provides that necessary human contact, but if you prefer the bottle to the breast--or if daddy is feeding the baby--it's still important to have physical contact while bottle-feeding. Hold the baby and look into the eyes; it helps the baby to become familiar with the people who play a big part in the baby's life.

Toward the end of the first six months, the baby should have greater control of muscles and nervous system and probably will be able to sit up without help. Experts say at this point you can play games with your baby, such as peek-a-boo or patty-cake.

Try looking at picture books with the baby or allowing the baby to play with mobiles. Make sure play is monitored, though, since babies tend to put everything into their mouths. Exposing your child to music at this time also stimulates intellectual development.

"Music--all kinds of music--seems to connect with kids right away," says Bowman, adding that complex musical arrangements are better because they give children a greater sensory challenge. "People always correlate classical music with intellectual development, but the issue isn't classical, it's complex music. Duke Ellington is probably just as good as Mozart."

During this first year, children begin their first tentative attempts at locomotion. It's a good idea for parents to provide a clear space for children to move and crawl and play safely. And it's never too early to take children on outdoor outings to parks, museums and zoos. At this time, children also trade in their cooing and babbling for the spoken word. By 12 months, most will have mastered one-word sentences and one-word responses, and they will usually say what every parent wants to hear: "Mommy and Daddy."

Language is ever-important to your child in the second year of life as children readily use words instead of tears to communicate with the world. Experts say that this is the time for parents to really talk to their kids, to feed their children's rapidly expanding vocabulary. Yet they make a distinction between idle babbling to your children (baby talk) and "motherease," which experts say helps your child develop their language skills.