| |
Research indicates that a young child’s brain grows so rapidly that by
age 3 he has twice the number of neurons, or brain cells, that an adult
has. However, from about age 3 on, the brain begins to prune away unused
or redundant neurons.
Furthermore, much of the brain development in the first years of life is
permanent. If a child is not stimulated early he will likely never
develop his full mental capacity.
Unfortunately the idea many parents have of stimulating the brain
development in their young children is to put them in front of a
children’s television program. Data from the A.C. Nielson Company
reveals that children ages 2 to 5 watch about 25 hours of TV each week.
Besides the negative content of many television programs, one of the
problems of allowing children of any age to view hours of TV is that
staring at images that change every few seconds lessens the child’s
ability to concentrate on anything for an extended period of time. The
child’s brain develops a habit of expecting to be fed multiple messages
in rapid succession.
Much of a child’s success later in life depends on his ability to
concentrate and to have patience to stick with things until they are
accomplished. Too much television, along with excessive video games or
computer use, may raise the likelihood that a child will develop
attention deficit tendencies.
Reading to young children seems to have just the opposite effect of too
much TV. Even children who are too young to understand the meaning of
the words benefit from meaningful intelligent speech. Using complete
sentences has been found to stimulate brain development better than
“baby talk”.
Since a child’s brain development is largely shaped in the first few
years, it is extremely important who will be the child’s primary
caregiver. Some parents believe they can stimulate their children’s
learning ability by placing them in day care settings. However, results
of a study that were published a few years ago indicate that children
who attend extended hours in daycare are more likely to become
aggressive than those who are cared for by their mothers. Aggressive,
nervous behavior is one of the primary hindrances of learning later when
the child enters school.
The window of opportunity for brain development is so short that parents
must make it the highest priority of their lives at that time. Much of
the child’s potential to learn will be set by the attitude his parents
take. If parents curtail their own activities in favor of interactive
time with their children, both they and their children will reap
benefits for years to come.
Psalm 127 says that children are a heritage from the Lord. The New
Testament teachings of Christ make it clear that God expects us to
develop and improve the gifts he gives to us. The Bible tells us that it
is the duty of parents to bring up their children in “the training and
instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)
We must often make a choice between something easy and something harder
but more beneficial. Our natural tendency is to take the easy way and
delay the more difficult things until they absolutely must be done.
Unfortunately, some opportunities that are put off can never be captured
again.
Parents who seek material goals at the expense of their young children
often wish they could turn back the clock and spend more time with them.
But mothers who drop out of the work force for the sake of their young
children are rarely sorry later in life.
God doesn’t call us to do what is easy; he calls us to do what is right.
The right thing is not what is most convenient for us, but what is best
for those God has placed in our care.
Paul Jetter, Upper Valley Community Church |
|
