healthykids
HOW A BRAIN GROWS
Five Ways to Aid Development by Lisa Marshall
Parents that believe playing Beethoven for their infant, invest- ing in educational videos for their toddler or forcing school- age youngsters to sit still and study for hours will help them to build a better brain have another “think” coming.
“P
eople are anxious to do everything they can to improve their child’s intel- ligence, yet many are focusing their energy in places where they are not getting the best payoff for it,” says neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D., co-author of Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College.
In their new book, Aamodt and Princeton University Neuroscience Professor Sam Wang try to dispel what they believe are many myths that have led parents to worry too much about the influence they can have on a child’s cog- nitive development and in some cases, have led to doing more harm than good. Aamodt says that genetics and thousands of years of human evolution have already exerted a heavy influence on a child’s developmental future be-
18 Central PA
NaturalCentralPA.com
fore he or she is born. In the absence of abuse and neglect, and with good nutri- tion and a stimulating environment, a child’s brain “raises itself” in many ways, the authors maintain. Meanwhile, they argue that there is little scientific evidence showing that factors like birth order and exposure to classical music and educational videos have an impact on cognitive development.
“Children come ‘out of the box’ with individual temperaments that strongly influence the possible paths they can take through life,” Aamodt observes. “Most parents believe that they can have a big- ger influence on their child’s personalities than they actually do. They should relax and enjoy their kids more.”
The authors offer these scientifically backed tips for parents and caregivers to influence a child’s developing brain: Don’t stress during pregnancy.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39