Play On!

Stuart Brown, founder and president of the National Institute for Play, had a great opinion piece titled "Let the Children Play (Some More)" in the New York Times today. We need EVERYONE to read this article! In addition to physical and safety needs, what young children need most for optimal brain development is loving interaction and PLAY! It is critical that this information is shared with all parents, educators, and decision makers. We ALL benefit from children with well developed brains. I want to thank Mr. Brown for his work in helping to make this become common knowledge!

Brain Development and Breastfeeding …. Lots of benefits!

August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month. This month is dedicated to promoting the many benefits to both a mother and a baby through breastfeeding.

Did you know…. the absence of touch, and the absence of eye contact with an infant, leads to limited brain growth? Breastfeeding provides both of these important influences on brain development. The close nurturing time provided while breastfeeding helps in meeting the basic needs for nourishment and love. These caring times spent together create a secure attachment for an infant, which is critical to healthy emotional development. The first 18 months of life are the most important months for a baby to make those critical emotional connections in the brain. This important aspect of development happens through consistently tuning into and meeting the baby’s needs.

Breast milk can make a difference for your baby.
· Breast milk is the perfect nutrition for your baby.
· Your body keeps it at the perfect temperature. No guessing is needed.
· Breast milk can help protect your baby from infections like pneumonia, ear infections, bronchitis, and urinary tract infections. Chronic childhood diseases are likely decreased with breastfeeding.
· Breastfed babies can have less risk of asthma, obesity, and diabetes,
· Some studies are showing that breastfeeding is correlated to higher academic achievement. (American University (AU) and University of Colorado (Denver) studies)

Breast milk benefits the Mother
· Mothers who breastfeed have a lowered risk of premenopausal breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
· Breastfeeding can enhance the bonding process.
· Breastfeeding makes night time feedings easier with no formula measuring and bottles to warm up.
· Breastfeeding also provides calorie burn and assists with losing weight after pregnancy.
· AND…. It doesn’t cost anything!

For more ideas on making critical emotional connections and helping your baby’s brain develop order, the Love Your Baby brain development packet at http://www.braininsightsonline.com/. This is the first in The Brain Development Series.

For more on breastfeeding go to: http://www.breastfeeding.com/

News from braininsights

View the August Braininsights Newsletter here

Shared via AddThis

Free Brain Development Webinar

Brain Development: You Can Easily Make A Positive Difference!

The brain is an amazing organ that allows each of us to think, feel, learn and act. It is exciting to know how experiences can have a positive impact on the developing brain— and it is not complicated to understand! Join early brain development specialist and award winning author, Deborah McNelis, for an informative session to learn how, with simple, enriching activities, you can make a positive difference in the connections made among your child's 100 billion brain cells. This session will be interactive, and you can ask questions.

Wednesday August 5 at 8:30pm - 9:30pm Eastern Standard Time (EDT)/7:30 pm-8:30 Central Standard Time

Click here to register now! (It's FREE!)

SUMMER IS HERE! : SUMMER BRAIN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES FOR PRE-SCHOOLERS

The brain does not like to be bored and children will let you know that!! Summer is an opportunity for LOTS of family fun! The warm weather brings the chance to enjoy lots of learning opportunities outdoors. Even though we are in tough economic times, there are many ways to enjoy fun and cost free time together.

Up In The Air
Provide a blown up balloon for me to play with. Have me bat it in into the air and try to keep it from touching the ground.
----- My brain is developing the ability to better coordinate my visual skills with my advancing movement abilities.

Listening Walk
Take me on a “listening walk”. While we are out walking have me listen for and talk about all the sounds I hear. Ask, “Do you hear a bird, a car horn, the wind,” etc. After the walk have me draw a picture about what I heard.
----- My brain needs to learn to focus on specific sounds while other sounds are screened out. This helps me focus and will help me to hear the sounds in words when I learn to read.

Follow the Path
Using a piece of chalk outdoors, make a path of dots for me to follow. Ask me to step on the dots and suggest different ways for me to move; hopping, jumping and so on!
----- Movement activities help get more oxygen to my brain. My brain uses over 20% of my body’s nutrients and oxygen.

Ball of Fun
When outside, create a game of accuracy by having me toss a small ball into bowls or paper cups at various distances. Help me count the number of times I get the ball in the cup or bowl. Count in English then count in Spanish.
------ At this age I can count, but my mind does not understand the amounts that go with these numbers. My brain will start understanding what numbers mean when I have practice counting real objects.

Enjoy a wonderful summer helping your child’s brain develop while having lots of fun!

Adapted From: Play With Me While I’m Three and Let’s Learn More While I’m Four, by Deborah McNelis found at www.braininsightsonline.com

Looking for Child Care with Brain Development in Mind

The need for quality child care is frequently discussed and written about recently. (Thankfully!) However, why quality care is so important is not always fully understood. Knowledge of early brain development provides the answers. The following information can help parents ensure the care their child receives is quality care.

First as a caring parent, it is extremely important that you understand that 90% of your child's brain develops before kindergarten. It is the experiences your child has that primarily influences how the brain is wired. It has been found that child care professionals with higher levels of education often have more knowledge of overall child development. You need to ask about the education and training of the providers.

Relationships are critical to brain development. Loving interaction is what wires the brain best. Due to this, it is essential to look for child care that provides high numbers of teachers to the number of children. This allows the child care professional the time to provide the caring interaction and nurturing a child needs throughout the day. In addition, the brain does not like chaos. If the caregiver is responsible for too many children this may create too much stress for a child.

Children are born ready to learn and explore. Children's developing brains need fun, hands-on experiences. Learning is best when all of the senses are used through exploration of real objects. A child care setting needs to recognize and provide this type of environment for optimal learning.

Research has shown programs that consider the parents as partners in the child's development are the most effective. It is important that you feel welcome and included as a part of your child’s care and development.

Regular routines, a safe and healthy environment, nutrition, and sleep are all very important to the child's brain development as well. These are additional areas of inquiry as you look for quality care.

You are going to feel so much better about where you leave your child while at work, when you know the loving, fun, safe, and interactive care your precious child's brain needs is provided!

Photo by Anissa Thompson

CELEBRATE!— The Week of the Young Child – April 19 – 25

It is so terrific that the National Association for the Education of Young Children dedicates a week to the importance of the early childhood years! This week provides us the opportunity to realize how our society benefits from optimal development in the pre-school years.

This week highlights the knowledge gained from scientific research that demonstrates that the experiences young children receive in the first three years of life are crucial to brain development. These studies prove that brain development is determined by the daily environment and experiences, rather than genetics alone. This as so exciting to realize, it means we can easily ensure each child has a well developed brain!!

Our increasingly technically and socially complex society cannot afford to continue to allow large numbers of children to miss out on the positive experiences they need in infancy and early childhood; the costs of lost potential and increased rates of emotional and behavioral problems, are too high. Brain research show us what children need; we just need to guarantee that every child receives it!

Celebrate the Week of the Young Child by making a difference. Simple ideas to promote this week are to tell your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors what you've learned about brain development, donate books or a game to a preschool program, contact your representative to encourage support of programs for children and families, read to a child waiting at a food pantry, or simply compliment a parent you observe having a positive interaction with their child.

Happy Week of the Young Child!