Development and Learning Stimulation

1. Our child development is normal. Why does he/she need more learning stimulation?
According to recent studies, critical brain development occurs between the ages of 0 to 3 years old. Early learning stimulation affects the structural design of the brain, which influences their future abilities to comprehend, concentrate, learn, react, and socialize. Early learning stimulation can promote brain development, build learning habits, allow kids to explore their talent and to reach their maximum potential.

2. How can we encourage our child to learn?
Once toddlers learn to walk, there's no turning back. They are not babies any more and they enjoy seeing, hearing, imitating, smelling, touching, and feeling the things that are all new around them. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, and caregivers, need to spend more time with them to promote active learning activities such as
Talk and read to them more;
Introduce music to them and sing/dance with them more;
Let them use fat crayons or markers to scribble/color more;
Let them have more time for free play, both indoor and outdoor;
Let them play more with hands on toys to use their hands more; and
Cut TV and video game time.

3. Our child likes to play around and doesn’t pay attention to book reading. What should we do?
Toddlers are naturally very busy and curious little people, so it's important to have a routine for reading daily. The more you can read to him, the better. There are tips to help toddler focus more during reading:
Read anytime your child seems in the mood or choose regular times (e.g. bedtime) to read.
Reading times can be brief, about 5 to 10 minutes, and then gradually increase.
Read books that your child enjoys, read aloud, and read clearly.
Use voices and animal noises to help your child get excited about the story.
Let your child point, touch, name the pictures, and answer questions as you read.
Let kids turn the pages one by one until the end.

4. Our child really like particular couple of baby books. So we read these books again and again for several months. Does our child get enough stimulation by reading the same books?
Toddlers love repetition, but reading more different books exposes your children to a wide variety of words, sounds, and sentences thereby expanding their vocabulary and enhancing their reading abilities. You can offer several books for your child to choose from, praise your child's selection, repeat one of her selection and add one to two different books daily.

5. As parents, we are so busy and hardly have time to read and play with our kids, what can we do?
Understandably, balancing work and parenting is hard and time is limited. However, it is critical to take even minutes out of the day to read and play with your children. Reserve this time for just you and your children. Not only does it enhances your child’s learning abilities, but also allows you to enjoy time and connect with your child.
6. My child likes to watch TV and we select educational TV programs for him/her. Why do we have to limit TV time?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends kids older than 2 years of age should watch no more than 1 to 2 hours per day of educational, nonviolent TV programs. Also, children younger than 2 years of age should have no exposure to TV. Too much television can negatively affect early brain development. Kids who watch TV will enhance their non-active life style and could become dependent on TV for entertainment, and do not discover enough active learning activities like talking, reading, playing and interacting with others, all of which is essential for a child’s healthy cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development.

7. Our child plays in the room while we are watching TV. He/she doesn’t watch TV. Why do we have to turn off the TV?
According to recent studies, a TV is more likely to capture a child’s attention than the games they might be playing. The bright colors and lights, loud sounds as well as the rapid, changing images, inundate your child’s brain causing them to focus on the TV. If you turn off lights and keep TV on in a room, you will find TV image lights reach every corners of the room. Your young child is torn between watching/listening to the TV and the activity that they are doing creating conflict. This conflict has the ability to negatively affect how they pay attention and concentrate. Please turn off TV whenever your young child is playing in the room. Let them focus on the positive learning activities on their hands.

8. Our child has been exposed to TV for several hours a day in childcare center or baby sitter’s house. What can we do?
TV can have harmful effects on your child’s learning and social development. Therefore it is important that you check the daily activity schedule in the childcare center or babysitter’s house before you send your kids in. You also should communicate with the childcare facility or babysitter well to keep the TV off and to provide more book reading time, drawing time, music time, social interacting time, and active playing time to educate and entertain your children. If childcare or babysitter is unable to adjust to your children’s needs, try to send them to a place that will.

9. Recently we brought video games “Shooting Turtles”, which is colorful. Our son/daughter likes to play it. Is it a good idea to let kids play colorful games early?
It is not recommended that children under 3 years old play video games. This is the stage of their peak brain development. This is the stage children build up their learning habit, playing preference, and life style. Video games with their bright colorful sparkling lights could slow down young kids’ brain development, held other positive learning activities, enhance non-active life style, and negatively affect how your young children interact in the world.

10. Our son/daughter likes to scribble everywhere and bite crayons frequently. When is a good time to introduce crayons to them?
Before giving any child crayons, make sure they are non-toxic and safe. Big crayons are more easily handled and less likely to be broken by toddlers. Parents should show toddlers how crayons are used and also provide persistantly supervision whenever your toddler holds a crayon. Kids start to spontaneously scribble at 12 to 15months age. Let kids express their talent at this time.