Welcome back to GrampaSaidSo

The importance of play in developing healthy youngsters cannot be over stressed. Equally important in the same area is parents playing with children and talking to them, even when they’re still too young to talk back.

According to child development expert, Nan Brien, the greatest gift parents can give their young children is a healthy, loving, consistent and nurturing relationship, regardless of whatever other challenges they may face in their environment.

She says, “This is most important because so much springs from that connection with meaningful adults in a child’s life and you cannot just do it once in awhile”.

Brien was formerly associate director of Wisconsin Council on Children and Families and is now a trainer and presenter for the Southern Child Welfare Partnership and board member of the Foundation for Madison Public Schools so she should know what she’s talking about.

She stresses how important it is to talk to young children…

“A lot of people think that because babies and young children don’t have the capacity to talk back they don’t need to talk to them, but they should whether they are feeding them, changing diapers or driving with them in the car,” she said. “That language experience is so important and the more language a child hears in a personal context, the better they are able to function cognitively when they reach school age.”

…and also the importance of free play for children, the kind that engages them in using their imagination and which builds social skills by learning to “negotiate” with other children.

Also crucial, she says, is for children to get sufficient uninterrupted sleep, at least 8 to 10 hours a day. “Regular sleep habits are very important for brain development,” she said. “During sleep we consolidate what we learned during the day to what we remember tomorrow.”

“Chaotic households can lead to kids suffering sleep deprivation,” she says, and so she actively encourages the development of a routine.

She wonders if the present economic climate is putting extra stress on families, making it more and more difficult for them to pay attention to raising healthy kids. As an antidote she says her tips are not hard to follow and won’t break the bank: “getting kids to bed at a regular time is not costly” she points out.

In her former job she raised concerns about the long-term impact of abuse and neglect on young children, pressing for quality child care and early parenting skills. She says she really became aware of the importance of research on early brain development in the mid 1990s and put out several ‘KidsCount’ reports tracking the status of Wisconsin state children.

“Research has a lot to tell us and the challenge is to make sure we follow through and get it out to the public, because it changes so rapidly,” she said.

Your lesson for today: encourage you child to engage in free, imaginative play and get involved yourself in playing with your child, talking with them about you’re doing. Depending on their age they may not understand you but it’s vitally important to their development that you do.

Related posts:

1. Children Learn Language Skills Through Play: How To Help Their Understanding And Speech Development Children Learn Language Skills Through Play: How To Help...
2. Appreciate When Kids Play Kitchens And Enhance Their Creativity When kids play kitchens you must be happy for this...
3. The Importance of Teen Counseling In Today’s World Do not hesitate to obtain teen counseling when necessary [...]Continue...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.