How Little Ones learn

Proverbs 1:8 NIV
Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching

Parents and family are a child’s first teacher. Even as an infant, when the baby cannot talk, they are like little sponges, soaking up all that is around them with their senses.

The baby receives stimulation from touch as the adult holds, rocks and plays with him.  Water and temperature play an important role in touch stimulus.  Make sure that the temperature is carefully regulated in both air and water temperature.  Air temperature that is too hot may cause a difficulty of breathing; water temperature that is not hot may blister the sensitive skin. Or temperatures that are too cool may encourage colds. I had to learn that even though I monitored our baby carefully, do not dress the baby or child based on your comfort levels. Babies have a tendency to be a little “hot natured”. You may see them kicking off blankets or working out of socks. Check their hands and feet to see if they feel cool to your touch. That is a good indicator or the level of clothes that may be needed to meet their needs.

Taste is very strong because an infant has taste buds in its whole mouth not just on its tongue. Now, as the baby grows up the taste buds then become limited to the tongue but the sense of taste is very strong and the taste buds are very sensitive to the slightest seasoning.   Foods that you introduce to them early in life needs to be reintroduced later. As the child’s taste buds change, so does their taste and determination of “like” or “dislike”. As parents, we tend to limit the foods that we introduce to our children based on our taste and likes. Please open up the possibilities with food. Present foods to your children that vary in texture, color and spice. 

Sight and hearing work together during the early months because the eyes are blurry at the beginning and the rods and cones don’t work as well so black and white sight begins and then the colors are added to sight as the eye develops.  Depth perception does not develop in the beginning and is added even after the colors are introduced. During the sight development time, hearing is very important. It is during the early years…. Volume needs to be monitored and controlled. The hearing brings in a lot of information about the child’s surrounds, the atmosphere or tone of the room. The mood of the adult that  is interacting  with the child. With the fragile bones in the ear adjusting to the level of activity in the new world outside the womb, it is suggested that you limit the volume of noise and again gradually increase the stimulus and volume.

Knowing that the baby in your arms in constantly collecting data and learning, even when you think that they are not paying attention needs to bring cautious to the activities that are conducted in the baby and child’s presence.  At all times, act as though they are watching.

Before the child speaks, the vocabulary in building up and stored in the brain. Now… this vocabulary can be received from television, conversations that they hear, radio and direct interaction. They are not learning just from the one-on-one time that you think that the child is listening.  You may be surprised with the words that come out of their mouth when they begin to speak. It is not pleasant to see and hear out “no so good side” in our children.  So… with that in mind remember that we have the opportunity as parents to support and bring up Godly children in the light of God’s word.

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord    Ephesians 6:4 NIV