Ask Our Experts: Nurture

“When is the best time to nurture and stimulate my child?”

If I were to give you a seed to plant, and ask of you to provide it with as much sunshine, water and fertiliser, when would you start caring for it? Would it be when the shoot starts to grow or as soon as you plant the seed. You will tell me without hesitation, ‘as soon as it is planted, of course!’

Likewise, our children need nurturing from us the moment they are conceived. Research has shown that the memories of fetuses starts forming around 21 weeks of gestation. A child’s brain has about 100 billion brain cells. The communication between brain cells is called synapses. The first three years of life are a period of incredible growth in all areas of a baby’s development. A newborn’s brain is about 25 percent of its approximate adult weight. By the age of three, it would have grown dramatically by producing billions of cells and billions of synapses as well between these cells.

In a nutshell, a child is ready to learn as early as day one of his life. Every new experience becomes a brain building exercise.

Between birth to 3 months old: During this time, a child should be getting familiar with his rhythm. Singing, caressing, massaging and rocking are excellent ways to stimulate babies in this age group.

Between 4 to 8 months old: A baby’s level of wakefulness starts to increase. It is a great time to tap into the child’s readiness to learn. It is important that a child’s early learning experience is kept joyful and with parent’s accompaniment to build a sense of security. Suitable classes are baby signing classes, music classes or all rounded early learning programs such as the Little Learner class at Trinity Kids Club.

Between 9 to 12 months old: Your baby could be cutting his first teeth or starting to bear weight on those little feet. Maybe your baby is even starting to show increased attachment to you and cries when you walk away. A suitable class at this age is one that provides sufficient intellectual stimulation; allow room for movement for the more active baby and social interaction with other children.

The flipside to the original question is whether we are stressing our child out with early learning. My simple answer is, watch your child’s cues and keep learning joyful experience. What we are seeking here is to indulge in a child’s natural curiosity to learn more and optimize his potential, so that he will love to learn for life.