Emotions: Birth to 18 Months
The brain learns best when it's challenged with new information.
The University of Georgia's Better Brains for Babies program
reports that babies and children learn certain skills most easily
during particular "windows of opportunity." Read on to find out at
what ages babies reach these windows of opportunity for emotional,
verbal, and logical skills, and learn how to help the process
along.
Emotional intelligence, which involves an understanding of others,
predicts about 80 percent of a person's career success, reports the
University of Georgia's Department of Child and Family Development
(CFD). Emotions such as empathy, happiness, hopefulness, and
sadness are shaped by how the infant is nurtured. With a
well-developed emotional intelligence, a person tends to form good
moral standards for himself. Although emotional intelligence
continues to develop through adolescence, a baby's early
experiences form the basis for a lifetime. Here are some methods
for enhancing your baby's early emotional skills:
Provide a secure and consistent environment for baby.
- Smile often.
- Acknowledge and verbalize the emotions that your baby is
feeling.
- Show empathy when baby is upset.
- Bond with your baby on his level; "converse" through baby
sounds.
- Explain why you're saying "no" instead of just saying it.
- Allow your baby to help in family activities, such as sorting
laundry.
- Express positive feedback for good behavior.
- Explain when and how your baby's actions affect others.
Speech: Birth to Age 10
Babies are born with the ability to learn any language. The more
spoken communication a baby is exposed to, the quicker and more
thoroughly the baby will learn that language. Babies and children
also quickly pick up grammar and sentence construction in a way
that adults learning a new language can't. Here are some tips on
guiding your baby's language development:
- Start reading to your baby at a very young age.
- Talk back to baby's cooing and babbling.
- Point out and name things around you.
- Repeat yourself often.
- Pronounce words clearly.
- Use daily life activities to explain what you're doing.
- Sing songs and teach your baby the words.
- Play language games with your baby, such as nursery rhymes or
patty-cake.
- Consider teaching your child a second language while he's
young.
Math and Logic: Ages 1 to 5
Problem-solving skills are directly related to sight, hearing, and
touch. Interestingly, a baby's math skills are often developed in
conjunction with his musical skills, reports the University of
Georgia's CFD. By stimulating these senses, your baby can develop
strong skills in spatial relations and problem solving. Here are
some ways to do that:
- Give your baby different shapes, objects, and colors to touch
and see.
- Expose your child to classical music.
- Give your baby toy musical instruments to play with.
- Attach a mirror in your baby's crib.
- Carry your baby facing outwards so she'll have lots to look
at.
- Provide an assortment of toys that can be taken apart or put
together.
- Give your baby toys that make noise when she squeezes or pulls
a string; they can teach cause and effect.
- Teach your baby to put things in categories.
- Play counting games.