Compared to the number of stars in the Milky Way, your baby’s brain has over 100 billion neurons at birth. During the first few years of life, your baby will develop trillions of neural synapses, which are connections between brain cells—pretty impressive, right?
But here’s the thing: Synapses, or connections between brain cells, that aren’t “wired together” through stimulation are pruned and lost during a child’s initial school years. Despite having some neurological hard-wiring responsible for cognitive development and skills, such as the capacity to learn any language, an infant’s brain is more malleable and ready to learn than an adult’s brain. Furthermore, it is astounding to know that a toddler’s brain has twice as many neural connections as an adult’s.
The first two years of a child’s life are the most rapid in their brain’s ability to form connections. It is also a time when your child can pick up almost anything you showcase or practice. Plus, the foundations for learning are also being laid and developed at this crucial point in time.
Therefore, you must put all your efforts into providing your child with the best learning opportunities. Still, if you don’t know where to begin, reading Dr. S. H. Jacob’s book Your Baby’s Brain, Intellect, and You can help. This practical parenting guidebook has over 200 plus illustrated play activities and explanations of what your baby is trying to grasp at the 6 stages of cognition in the first two critical years. This understanding of the development of cognition is an important feature that helps parents understand how their baby’s mind works. Understanding the fundamentals of cognitive development during the first two years empowers parents to build on the activities illustrated in this book. It also provides an important perspective on educating children in the long run.
While this parenting guide will ensure that your young child’s brain is prepared for years of learning, you can also try out the below ways to provide an additional boost to your baby’s brain power during the initial development years.
Have some pre-planning: Ensure to take care of yourself and stay healthy while you are pregnant. The nine months of baby development in the womb is extremely critical. You need to eat and absorb nutritious and highly enriched protein food to deliver a healthy baby. Also, make sure to quit any type of drug or harmful habits while taking care of your fetus, as any specific drug can be destructive to your baby’s brain.
Play interactive games: Your Baby’s Brain, Intellect, and You emphasizes doing, not memorizing letters of the alphabet, names of things, etc. The core of the philosophy and psychology of the book can be summed up by the phrase “to do is know.” The emphasis for developing a smart baby is on proving your baby with meaningful, stage-based activity. The goal is to create minds that like to explore, discover, and invent new ways of doing things. So, take some time and interact with your baby using the activities provided in this book. How we physically interact with the world encourages your child’s young brain to develop and grow healthy.
Develop trust by paying attention and focusing: Hold off on checking your phone while your child is playing. Instead, get on the ground and interact with him for some time. Babies will naturally feel emotionally safe with you and will have more energy to devote to the pleasures of learning, exploration, discovery, and invention. Research tells us that play is the key to developing intelligence.
Talk with the baby: When your infant coos, respond with happy vocalizations and slowly draw out your syllables in a high-pitched voice while talking with the baby. This will help them pick up your words, and they will absorb your tone and action, which will further make it easy to develop their brain and communication abilities.
Did you know many studies have proved that interacting and talking with infants from an early age will make them expressive and confident in the long run? Dr. S. H. Jacob’s book Your Baby’s Brain, Intellect, and You will highlight valuable techniques and interactive play activities that you can implement and practice to ensure your child thrives.
Spread your joy and enthusiasm for your child: Your body language, sparkling eyes, attentiveness to babbling and baby activities, soft cuddles, hugs, and smiles should all serve to support your child’s endearingly kind nature. When you devote your love and affection to your baby, they will adore it and will respond with the purest form of love.
Visit https://shjacob.io/ to learn how your baby’s mind works and how you can help them become smarter and more competent. Plus, you can also order Your Baby’s Brain, Intellect, and You and learn and discover many practical techniques and interactive play activities to help them grow and be successful.