Building Blocks for Positive Child Growth
Parents often align positive growth with the high performance and achievements of children. However, positive child growth is a combination of emotional growth, physical growth, cognitive growth, and social growth. Let us get familiar with the building blocks of positive child growth. We can categorise these building blocks into parental support, encouragement, opportunity to grow, and cognitive health.
Parental Support
Parental support can be seen as the first building block of child growth and holistic development. The safety net, love, and support parents and caregivers provide help set the foundation for positive life experiences. Parents are the first source of learning at home so that children can learn healthy eating and active living habits from them. The eye contact, physical touch, cuddling, and celebratory words parents use can reduce negative behaviour in children. Parents can also incorporate an authoritative parenting style, setting firm limits on discipline, but their actions are nurturing, supportive, and responsive.
Encouragement
As discussed, parents play a crucial role in the building block of child growth. Their words of encouragement play a significant role in building children’s positive self-image. Parents can use a technique known as ‘labelled praise’ to comfort their children by demonstrating cues such as smiling back or talking about the behaviour they appreciate. Likewise, parents can give one-on-one attention to their children by performing activities together in play centers for kids, such as playing a game of soccer or playing fetch with their pets. In this manner, parents can fulfil the esteem needs of children and receive recognition and respect for their accomplishments.
Opportunity to Grow
A fantastic way to give children the opportunity to grow is to enroll them in summer camps and playgroups from an early age. The social interaction and learning children get in the STEM programs can be a great way to grow their motor and analytical skills. Considering that our children may face stiff academic and professional competition as they grow, STEM programs provide computer coding classes for kids that help them develop their mathematics, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills from an early age. Kids learn to build robots and towers through fun exercises, while they also learn team-building skills through shared responsibilities.
Mental and Cognitive Health
One of the best ways to improve children’s mental and cognitive health is to assist them in completing analytical tasks. Parents should look for indoor play areas for kids for physical activities that can help improve children’s memory, attention, and cognitive function. According to the National Institutes of Health, children who engage in at least twenty minutes of exercise or playing activity develop better memory as physical activities change specific brain structures that improve cognitive control. Improved cognition improves the detection of syntactic errors, spelling performance, and language understanding. The mental and cognitive health building block resonates with Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory, where children construct their knowledge through exploration and play.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that parents play a crucial role in assisting positive child growth. From an early age, when children are toddlers and in preschool, the labelled praise of parents, positive affirmations, and encouraging children to take responsibility for their actions leads to confidence and develops self-esteem. As children grow, the positive behaviour children experience during social and home activities helps develop cognitive skills that are key to future success.