By Mary Hill
I leaned over my baby’s crib and took my fingers and caressed her face and fingers and toes. Singing and talking to her as I picked her up and took her to the rocking chair that sat in the corner of her room.
“Such a beautiful, sweet, little girl,” I cooed to her. I didn’t babble. I kept my language clear and used big vocabulary words with her from day one. “You’re going to be so intelligent, so smart.” I’d tell her believing in the theory of a self-fulfilling prophecy touted by educational officials. I figured why not start young and instill in her roots of self esteem to last a lifetime.
Education doesn’t start with “formal” schooling. Brain development experts point out that education can start in the womb with sensory experience and continues with birth and then infancy. Infants learn from their surroundings as their brain lights up with activity from their first breaths. Their first lessons are about love. They quickly figure out that crying brings them attention food, comfort, and warmth.
My time spent with my infant daughter more than 10 years ago was heaven. I can’t romanticize it enough in my writings. I had the usual stresses with poop and colic, but my main tools to cope with the crying and stressful periods were talking, singing nursery rhymes, and using finger play.
I sang and talked to my daughter when changing her diapers, when dressing her, and when playing with her. I even had a special counting song that I did involving counting to 120. When she reached age 2, she would count along with me. These fun singing activities are just a few things that you can do to encourage development and start the firing of brain synapses. Just simply talking with your infant throughout the day will have a huge impact.
These activities are endorsed by Maria Sera, a child development professor at the University of Minnesota. Sera stated in a recent article that the more you talk to your infant the greater IQ your child will have.
Read more: Research: Talking to infants gives kids an educational edge – KMSP-TV http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/21949411/research-talking-to-infants-gives-kids-an-educational-edge#ixzz2jfzUxUvF
So mom, talk away when you enter your baby’s room. Describe her surroundings using descriptive and action packed words. Show her love with each hug and snuggle. Let those brains connections and neurons fire up and grow by creating an atmosphere of learning from day one.
Following this new hop as well as those on my Monday link up page:
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I talked a lot to my baby boy from the beginning, and I’ll admit it, it felt awkward. But I’m so glad I did! It helped both of us I think.
Thanks for sharing and for linking up with This Momma’s Meandering Mondays!
You are so right – Education begins right at the start. And ‘play’ is absolutely essential. It is sad that we separate ‘schooling’ and ‘education’ out from all the other parts of our children’s days. They learn by doing, by living, by experiencing the world around them.
Enjoyed your post, thank you!
I so agree with your statements. We need to make every moment a learning moment. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and showing your support.
I was never into baby talk. Even my mom said she didn’t think it was the way to talk to babies and that you should jut speak normally. Don’t have kids but I know through watching and subjects like Sociology and Science that babies are very intelligent and pick up from their surroundings early on. What a thought provoking post Mary. Thanks.
Thank you Sheena. I am so glad it inspired you. 😉
Hopping by via Magnificent Monday blog hop
Thanks Mary, this is exactly what we should all be doing. In the UK at the moment, the an OFSTED (schools) inspector is suggesting we should send children from disadvantaged backgrounds to school at age 2 to close the gap. Apparently these children are already 19 months behind when they start school at the age of 5. All this is going to do, is alienate parents and children and reinforce class differences in society. Perhaps if we supported parents to be able to provide the opportunities you suggest in this post, we’d be far better off! Thanks for sharing this and for popping by my blog, it helped me to find this 🙂
This is an awesome message to moms… and dads… that can’t be restated too often Mary, we have the ability to make huge difference in our children’s lives, from the moment of conception forward. If you want to be a parent, you’ve got to be willing to invest everything you’ve got into the wellbeing and teaching of that child. Your daughter was clearly blessed, Mary, because you gave her all of that along with abundant love! Would that every child could have those things!
I’m amazed as I keep learning about how important it is to love and cuddle babies! I feel so blessed to have been born into a family that provided love and nurturing and to have been able to pass it on to my kiddos when they were babies.
Thanks for coming by and linking up!