What Do You Need to Know About Child Development? 

For us parents, it’s good to know some important things about child development. This way, we’ll know how to support our children and better help them have a bright future. 

It’s not only about the genes 

Genes still play a role and can give some children certain advantages. Thankfully, it’s not the whole story. That’s because for those advantages to manifest, it requires sustained support from the parents. It’s like a child’s potential will remain untapped if he or she is not given enough materials and resources to work on. 

Also, early experiences and environmental factors can actually modify certain genes. Those still have an influence on whether some genes are turned on or off. In other words, experience and environment can affect the children’s mental functionalities and capabilities (including the ability to focus their attention and retain information in memory). 

Early stress and adversities might have lifelong effects 

As mentioned, early experiences can have long-term effects on children (e.g. whether certain genes are turned on or off as well as the level of their mental abilities). In addition, early experiences can result in permanent or long-term biological changes. Those early experiences, especially chronic stress and adversities, can lead to physical and chemical disruptions in their brains. This can affect their behaviour, learning capacity and even overall physical development. 

The first 3 years are crucial 

Why are the early years crucial and why do they affect long-term health and mental outcomes for children? 

One reason is that a great deal of brain architecture is shaped during the first 3 years after birth. Although our brains still continue to develop during our adolescent and adult years, the first three years are where “a lot of things happen.” That’s because the brain is still highly susceptible to influence and stress. It’s like the brain is easier to shape when still young. 

As a result, we parents should be cautious when we’re raising our children in their first three years. It’s important that they gain positive and fun learning experiences to support their rapid brain development and long-term cognitive capacities. Whether at home or at the early learning centre, the experiences our children gain can have huge influence on how they develop and realise their full potential.