Your Baby’s First Three Years Are Crucial To Their Future
Your baby’s first three years are crucial to their future. The experiences they gain in this time are essential for their future development. As for you, it is obvious that you will remember the first days after giving birth because of the exhaustion you feel. But you will also remember those times because of all the changes that the arrival of a new baby brings.
During the first few months of their lives, it is your job to do everything you can to take care of your child. You feed him every time he is hungry, you take care of him, you cuddle your baby, you watch over him or her at all times. You’re doing all this as a new parent, even if it means living with some pretty bad dark circles under your eyes.
As a parent, it is instinctive to do all those things for your newborn baby (nature is very smart). You automatically know how important the first days of your baby are. But did you know that their first three years are crucial to their future? Do you want to know why? Then keep reading.
Your baby’s first three years are crucial for their future
UNICEF has conducted some studies that provide important data on this. Your baby’s first three years are decisive and will forever affect their future.
During these early years, your baby will form the mental faculties that he will have as an adult. After those first three years, your little one is no longer a baby and they will reach a higher level of development, growth and maturation.
Their development in the first three years mainly influences their cognitive, personal and emotional development. What are the main areas of development today? Let’s find out.
The most important areas of development during your baby’s first three years
During the first three years of your child’s life, there are very important areas of development. Let’s take a look at them.
Language
During the early years of your child’s life, they will begin to assimilate and decode language. However, a child cannot perfect a language in just three years. It’s complicated. But babies are capable of learning more than one language, even several at once. These children are bilingual or multilingual.
At this point in their lives it is easier to learn languages because they are constantly listening to two or more languages. This encourages them to acquire any language they are exposed to. However, this is only possible if parents talk a lot with their children and their little ones see how their mouth and lips move when they talk. That way they can learn to articulate words.
By the time your child is about 6 months old, they know many words and begin to repeat individual syllables. After that, they will gradually expand their vocabulary later on. By the time they are three years old, they can already talk to adults. However, their language will continue to improve until they are about 6-7 years old.
Social and communication skills during the first three years
It is important to stimulate your child’s social skills from an early age. The only way to do that is to get them to interact with other people. Children learn during their first years of life by living and interacting with others. This gives them the tools and resources they need for their future relationships.
Cognitive
The brain doubles in size during the first three years of life. During this time there is a lot of brain activity and development. Your child will learn and interact with basic concepts. In addition to a healthy diet, all the experiences they gain in this phase will have a major impact on their development.
Emotional
Proper emotional development in children depends on whether or not they have a close family relationship with those around them. This will help your little one develop a strong personality, self-confidence and good self-esteem. Their personality will begin to develop in the first three years.
Babies will begin to know who they are and how important they are to those around them because of the bond they have with their parents. The UNICEF study we mentioned earlier suggests the important role the affective bond plays in development. The more affection a child gets, the fewer problems it will have when it grows up. This will be crucial for developing the rest of their skills.
Motor skills
During this stage, your baby will develop many motor skills. In the first few months they will be able to hold their own head up, fixate on objects, move their arms and legs, turn around, use their arms, legs and hands to crawl, and eventually they will be able to stand and walk. There are many motor milestones that they will reach in the first 1000 days.
Conclusion
Your baby’s first three years are crucial to their future. You have seen the importance of different areas of development at this stage. In addition, you have learned about the important role that affection and love play when it comes to the proper emotional development of your child.
An unstable family environment, where there is not enough love, can cause serious behavioral and health problems. That is why it is vital to give love to your child. Not just during this period of their lives, but throughout their lives.