Toddlers are the little ones with lots of emotions but struggle to handle them. They want to be treated like an adult but also be dependent on mommies and daddies. They are confused for what they want but once they know they want they want it so bad. They are getting better at communicating but sometimes they struggle to communicate. They want to be happy always and their giggles can melt your heart but as they are not able to regulate their emotions so they cry a lot and it can break your heart. That’s a toddler in a nutshell.
Toddler Brain
If you ask any parents of their experience with toddlers, they all mention of toddler tantrum for sure. If the tantrum is in public then parents find it embarrassing but trust me, it is embarrassing for your kid too. They do not want to cry or to give you a hard time, they are in fact having hard time handling their emotions. Toddlers do not want to have tantrums, but they are not capable to understand logic and reasoning as that part of the brain is not developed yet.
When babies develop into toddlers there are so many changes and so many developments that it’s just amazing and surprising. The amount of neural connections they have at the age 2 is so much higher than that of an adult. If kids get the required experience in their early childhood then they get retain the neural connections else they lose it which is essential too. Early experiences is the base for future learning, behaviour and health.
(Image from Urban Child Institute)
The below video from Harvard University explains this phenomenon:
Experiences Build Brain Architecture
The below article explains the brain architecture and it is dependent on early experiences:
All these are so fascinating, I have researched so much into them and I try to use these information to help me design the experiences for my kid consciously. E.g. what kind of games should we play like motor skills enhancement or sensory or just good old bringing kid to playground or walk through parks and so on. Also toddlers are like monkey see monkey do and I guess every parent try to be very aware of how they are behaving before kids.
That’s their brain but their bodies change, they grow in size and get so many more teeth especially the molars. They decide what to wear and have grown a strong feeling regarding their likes and dislikes. They like one dish today and if you give them the same one tomorrow, they might not like it. They do not like prams anymore (at least in my case), but can not walk for long. I presume these all sound familiar to you too (hopefully).
There is such a competition in these modern times of teaching toddlers man made education so much like A, B, C or other stuffs like that but early years they do not need any education at all. They need to play all different kind of games and activities to enhance their experiences to help develop their brain. If they are primarily exposed to memorising activities like memorising alphabets or A for Apple or anything that is not necessary to learn, their overall development is affected.
According to the book, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards by child psychologists Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Diane Eyer, the pressure to boost intelligence by memorising is because of the misinterpreted science and superb marketing. Every toy these days are marketed as educational toys, they are no longer just toys. They pointed out that family playtime including independent playtime, family dinner time, reading out loud, and so on are so much more crucial. Brain of preschoolers are developing at an accelerated rate but letting them shed some of those is essential for not hindering the future progress so extra learning stress should not be encouraged. They also make the obvious point that a child drilled with meaningless facts and forced repetition may grow to resent even the idea of learning.
‘Einstein Never Used Flash Cards’
‘Einstein Never Used Flash Cards’: How our children Really Learn
