One of the best tools that I acquired from my Montessori training is Observation. I now love observing children and find myself doing just that wherever I go. It teaches me so much and usually provides me what direction and answers when needed. Most especially it helps me apply my Read more…
My husband recently asked me why I keep dressing our son in “flood pants”.
Husband: Does he need new clothes?
Me: Nope! He’s a crawler.
Husband: What has that got to do with his pants?
Yesterday’s post talked about the symbiotic period and the support needed by the mother. Today’s post takes off where we left off and discusses the support needed by the child The first and most important need of the child during the symbiotic period is LOVE in the form of acceptance. The goal Read more…
The last post talked about pregnancy, today I would like to talk about the symbiotic period, which is the first two months of the child’s life. During this time, the child need his mother and the mother needs her child. They have a symbiotic relationship. He needs her for nutrition Read more…
I mentioned the disadvantages of pacifiers in my last post and one of the commenters, Mo mentioned pacifiers as a way to prevent sucking. I know a lot of people/parents share this sentiment so I just wanted to quickly post a friend’s thoughts on the topic. Before I post it, I have to say I agree with her that sucking is a way to deal with an emotion. It may be boredom, anxiety, hunger or tiredness. All of these emotions can be addressed in proper ways thus eliminating the need to suck.
This is the third part of the supporting development for months 4-7 series. read about gross movement and fine movement.
Development in the first year
In the first two months, the child’s primary language is crying! He uses this to inform you of hunger, tiredness or any discomfort. By the end of the second month/beginning third month however, the child will start cooing. Cooing sounds are vowel sounds like “aaaa”, “oooo” etc. After this stage and around 5-6 months and after a couple of months of watching your mouth speak to him, he will progress to his first syllable which will now include consonant sounds. So sounds like “ma… ma…”, “da… da…”, “pa… pa…”, “ne… ne…”. Sorry to disappoint you but he is probably not calling you even though it will sound like “mama” and “papa” and “dada”but just following the normal language development process.
You can support the proper development of language at this stage by:
Hello! I know it’s been a while but we’ve had some changes here at Nduoma.com and I am trying balance it all and continue to write these posts which I really enjoy.
Ok! Back to the topic at hand. If you haven’t read them already, you can read about brain development and why you need to support it in the early stages. If your baby is younger than 4 months then read the previous post for birth to 3 months.
To remind you of where we left off… in the first three months, your baby could hold his head up and then turn from side to side and then lift it up. He also started off seeing only black and white and then other colors and then started perceiving depths. All of these you supported by giving him interesting mobiles that supported every stage. Your baby was born with a reflexive grasp and by the third to fourth month, he started getting interested in his hands and you might have even noticed him observing them. This is where we stopped at the last post and where we will pick up today.
This is the 3rd post in the brain development series. If you haven’t already, please read the first and second posts before continuing.
Most people assume that all children do in the first few months is eat and sleep. This is inaccurate. Children are born ready to learn and need stimulation of their senses to support brain development from birth. Because the child is not mobile and mostly supine (lying on his/her back) in the first three months, visual mobiles are a great way to provide visual stimulation. I have to mention that I LOVE mobiles! I love making them, I love watching them and most especially, I love watching children watch them. If you don’t know what mobiles are, keep reading to see pictures.
” The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth” – M. Montessori
This is another favorite quote of mine. Montessori believed that education must begin from birth since the child begins the work of constructing his intellect and personality the moment he is born. I actually think the greatness of the human personality begins at conception but that’s another story. Today’s post is going to talk about brain formation and why I agree with the thought that education should begin at birth. This topic is a little scientific but I’ll try to make it as simple as I can.
The Short and Simple Version
A large part of brain development (which is linked to intelligence) happens between birth and the second year of life. Brain development slows down significantly after the second year. Therefore, education is very important in the first two years of life. The education that I refer to here is not necessarily putting the child in school i.e. education as we know it. The next post in this series will discuss the practical side of education from birth.