Understanding children’s brain development

As a human we have four main parts to our brain. Brain stem – survival mode, anger and fear. Cerebalam – movement. Limbic system – our “emotional” brain, and our Cortex – thinking and learning.

The first three years of the development of the brain can be considered the most important time of a child’s life for influencing their entire life span.

This is because the brain is gathering data. The data that it gathers determines the child’s outcomes. This means we need to be mindful of how we interact, nurture and educate our youngest tamariki.

Infants need to have their basic needs met along with lots of one on one positive interactions with their main carer. This carer may be a parent or relative. However if the child is in childcare it is important they still have one person who meets all of their needs, both physically and emotionally. This encourages the infants oxytocin levels to remain steady so they feel safe, secure and loved. This creates the right environment for their brain to gather positive data (instead of negative data) for future use

Stimulation, noise, changing of carers/teachers etc for vital things like basic needs and emotional needs, can cause the infants cortisone (stress levels) to become higher. When their stress levels rise they become unsettled and their brain gathers negative data.

Homebased Childcare provides an environment with one carer and only a maximum of four children in the home. Here at Just Four Kids we strive to offer your infant nurturing care as close as possible to what you offer in your home.

This information contains research shared by Nathan Mikare Wallis.