The science
The world in which a young child grows up shapes the way their brain develops, and the person they become. The key to a healthy future, is a healthy start.
How our brains develop
During early childhood, the period from pregnancy to the age of five, our brains develop at an amazing rate – faster than any other time of our lives. One million neural connections form every second in the first few years
By five our brain has already reached 90% of its adult weight.
Whilst change is always possible, as Fig 1. demonstrates, early childhood is the period when our brains are therefore at their most malleable.
Early, positive experiences strengthen key neural connections, whilst the absence of stable, caring relationships and enriching experiences can inhibit their development.
This is why parental wellbeing is the biggest single factor for a child’s wellbeing.
So how does that work in practice?
The timing of key experiences or the absence of them can influence the course of the developing brain. Language is a good example of this. By talking to babies, even before they’re able to respond, we’re giving their brains a signal that language is important. This in turn encourages their brains to strengthen the connections which deal with language, accelerating their language development.
On the flip side, if babies don’t receive this kind of engagement, then their brains can be slower to make the connections related to language and this inhibits their language development.
Why parents and families matter
The science is clear that positive early interactions between children and their parents, or other caring adults, support healthy brain development. Parents are most likely to provide nurturing care to their babies if they themselves are nurtured. Parenting can be a demanding job, and it is harder when parents themselves face multiple disadvantages, high levels of stress, an absence of support, or the lasting impacts of their own childhood trauma. To invest in children means also investing in the people around them — the parents, carers, grandparents, early years workforce and others who shape children’s early experiences.
The connections that form first are those that relate to our basic senses like touch, smell and sight. Children use these senses to interact with the world, which then allows them to build more complex brain connections as they develop speech, reasoning, and self-control. Early development influences how we get on at school, in our families and communities, and later in the workplace. It shapes the adults we become, and it shapes our future society. Therefore action in early childhood really does represent a golden opportunity to change the future.
