Those Awesome Baby Brains!

THEY are awesome from their beginning. Three weeks after conception, they start out with 125,000 cells and thereafter increase in spurts of 250,000 cells a minute. Each little brain continues its explosive growth until at birth its cells number some 100,000,000,000​—as many as there are stars in the Milky Way!

But months before that, while still in the womb, baby’s brain has gone into operation. It is registering perceptions from its watery environment. It hears, tastes, senses light, reacts to touch, learns, and remembers. The mother’s emotions can affect it. Gentle words or soft music calms it. Angry speech or rock music agitates it. The mother’s rhythmic heartbeat soothes it. But if fear sets her heart racing, soon baby’s heart beats twice as fast. A distressed mother transmits anxiety to the babe in her womb. A tranquil mother carries a peaceful baby. A joyful mother may make the babe in her womb jump for joy. All of this and more keeps baby’s brain busy. Even in the womb it is awesome.

Do additional neurons form after birth? The latest research says no. Unquestionably, however, the neurons do continue to grow dramatically in size, while making trillions of new connections with one another. Baby’s brain at birth is only one quarter as big as an adult’s, but it triples in size during its first year. It reaches its adult weight of three pounds (1.4 kg) years before it’s a teenager. That doesn’t mean it contains the knowledge of an adult. Knowledge is not determined by the brain’s weight or the number of its cells. Rather, it seems to be related to the number of connections, called synapses, that are made between the neurons of the brain.

And that number is awesome! A staggering one quadrillion connections may eventually be made​—that is one followed by 15 zeros! But only if the brain has been richly stimulated by input from the five or more senses. The environment must stimulate both mental and emotional activity, for that is what makes the fine network of dendrites grow. Dendrites are the tiny rootlike hairs that reach out from the neurons to connect with other neurons.

There is also a time factor involved in making these connections: They are formed much faster in the young than in the old. The saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” is not true. But it is harder to teach an old dog new tricks. In the aged, connections between the neurons are slower to form and quicker to fade. The price of their forming is the same as it is in the child​—exposure to an enriched, stimulating environment. The mind must continue active! No sinking resignedly into a mental rut! No retirement for the mind!

But the growth that is awesome is in the infant brains. They are sponges soaking up their surroundings! In two years a baby learns a complex language, just by being exposed to it. If it hears two languages, it learns them both. If three are spoken, it learns all three. One man taught his small children five languages all at once​—Japanese, Italian, German, French, and English. A woman exposed her daughter to several languages, and by the time the child was five, she could speak eight languages fluently. Learning languages usually comes hard for adults, but with babies it just comes naturally.

Language is only one example of abilities genetically programmed into baby brains. Musical and artistic abilities, muscular coordination, the need for meaning and purpose, conscience and moral values, altruism and love, faith and the urge to worship​—all depend on specialized systems in the brain. (See Acts 17:27.) In other words, genetically established networks of neurons are specially preprogrammed to be receptive to the development of these and other abilities and potentials.

Understand, however, that at birth these are only potentials, capacities, predispositions. There must be input to make them flower. They must be exposed to the appropriate experiences or environments or studies to become realities. And there is also a correct timetable for such exposures to be most effective, especially in the case of infants.

But when the surroundings are right and the timing is correct, amazing things happen. Not only are languages learned but musical instruments are played, athletic abilities are fostered, consciences are trained, love is absorbed, and a foundation for true worship is laid down. All of this and much, much more, as baby brains are sown with good seed and watered with parental love.

The Push for Genius

“The world could be full of intellectual giants like Einstein, Shakespeare, Beethoven and Leonardo da Vinci if we taught babies instead of children.”​—Dr. Glenn Doman, director of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential.

“No child is thus born a genius, and none is born a fool. All depends on the stimulation of the brain cells during the crucial years. These years are the years from birth to three. Kindergarten is too late.”​—Masaru Ibuka, author of the book Kindergarten Is Too Late!

THE awesome potential of baby brains presents a decision for parents. When do you start special training? What do you teach them? How much? How fast? Some results have been spectacular: small children two to five years of age reading, writing, speaking two or more languages, playing classical music on violin and piano, riding horses, swimming, doing gymnastics.

In most instances the target is the mental rather than the physical. One two-year-old counts to 100, adds accurately, has a vocabulary of 2,000 words, reads 5-word sentences, and has developed perfect pitch. A three-year-old names parts of the cell as they are pointed out to him on a chart: mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi bodies, centrioles, vacuoles, chromosomes, and so on. Another three-year-old plays the violin. A four-year-old translates Japanese and French into English. One instructor who teaches mathematics to small children claims: “If I dropped 59 pennies on the floor, our kids could tell you right away that there were 59 and not 58.”

While some are enthusiastic about such intensive training, others have reservations about it. A cross section of the reactions of professionals in the field follows:

“On the whole the evidence is not very favorable to starting children on academic skills at an early age. There is ample evidence that it can be done. The issue, however, is not whether it can be done but rather what are the effects, immediate as well as long-term.”

“It is a theory that turns children into little computers, it gives them no breathing room.”

“Children learn by taking the initiative and exploring their environment on their own. We might be interfering [by pushing mental development] with some other development that’s going on [such as emotional development and social skills].”

Train Your Child in the Right Way​—And Do It From Infancy!

“The period of infancy is undoubtedly the richest. It should be utilized by education in every possible and conceivable way. The waste of this period of life can never be compensated. Instead of ignoring the early years, it is our duty to cultivate them with the utmost care.”​—Dr. Alexis Carrel.

THERE is a need to program both mind and heart. Men may be awed by the dazzling achievements of the mind, but God looks at the heart. Knowledge in the head tends to puff up; it is love in the heart that builds up. Bright minds need loving hearts, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Out of this figurative heart also come acts good and bad. (Matthew 12:34, 35; 15:19; 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Corinthians 8:1) So while it is important to stimulate children’s minds, it is even more important to instill love into their hearts.

There is a built-in starter for this at birth. It is called bonding. The mother holds, cuddles, strokes, and talks cooingly to her baby. Baby, in turn, looks intently at its mother. Bonding takes place, maternal instincts are stirred, and baby feels secure. Some authorities believe that “there is a sensitive period in the first few minutes and hours after the infant’s birth which is optimal for infant-parent attachment.”

A good beginning, but only a beginning. The infant is helpless, dependent primarily on its mother for its immediate needs​—both physical and emotional. Without food the baby starves; it can also starve emotionally. Cuddling, hugging, rocking, playing, loving​—all stimulate the development of the brain. This stimulation has been likened to a nutrient for the brain. Without it the brain is impoverished and stunted for life. And because of this neglect it can also become hostile, delinquent, and violent. Mothering is a priority for the child and for society​—more important than any worldly career!

The Father’s Role

The father is not to be excluded. If he is present at birth, the father-infant bond will begin. As the weeks and months pass, the influence of his role expands rapidly, as is shown by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, a professional in the field of child development.

“Every child needs a mother and a father,” he says, “and every father can make a difference. For a baby, having an active, involved father is not the same as simply having more mothering.” He cites a report that showed the difference in the ways mothers and fathers handle children. “The mothers tended to be gentle and low-keyed with their babies. Fathers, on the other hand, were more playful, tickling and poking their babies more than the mothers did.”

But fathers give children more than just fun. “Where there is an active father,” he says, “the child grows up to be more successful at school, to have a better sense of humor and to get along better with other kids. He believes more in himself and is better motivated to learn. By the time he is six or seven, the child’s IQ will be higher.”

Jehovah God orders a close teaching relationship between father and son: “These words that I am commanding you today must prove to be on your heart; and you must inculcate them in your son and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7) No beginning generation gap here!

Training From Infancy

There are stages or phases in the development of infants through the years from birth to six years: muscular coordination, speech skills, emotional qualities, memory faculties, thinking abilities, conscience, and others. When the infant brain is growing rapidly and these stages arrive in their turn, that is the opportune time for training in these different abilities.

That is when the infant brain absorbs these abilities or qualities as a sponge soaks up water. Loved, it learns to love. Talked to and read to, it learns both to talk and to read. Put on skis, it becomes an expert skier. Exposed to uprightness, it absorbs right principles. If these favorable learning stages pass without proper input, these qualities and abilities will be more difficult to acquire later on.

The Bible recognizes this, so it admonishes parents: “Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) The Keil-Delitzsch commentary renders it: “Give to the child instruction conformably to His way.” The Hebrew word translated “train” also means “initiate” and here indicates the initiating of the first instruction of the infant. Give it according to the child’s way, conformable to his way, according to the stages of his development that he is passing through. That is the appropriate time for him to absorb it easily, and what he learns during these formative years is likely to remain with him.

This is also the opinion of most students of human development: “Nowhere in child-development research have we demonstrated a strong capacity to alter early personality patterns, or early social attitudes.” They admit it can happen, but “more often than not, remediation will not be achieved.” Many exceptions occur, however, through the power of God’s truth to effect change.​—Ephesians 4:22, 24; Colossians 3:9, 10.

Language is a good example of training given at the right time. Babies are genetically programmed for speech, but for such built-in brain circuitry to function at top efficiency, the infant must be exposed to speech sounds at the right stage of development. Growth in the speech centers explodes between 6 and 12 months if adults talk to the infant often. Between 12 and 18 months this growth accelerates as the infant grasps that words have meanings.

He is learning words before he can speak them. During the second year of life, this receptive, or passive, vocabulary may go from a few words to several hundred. The apostle Paul reminded Timothy that “from infancy you have known the holy writings.” (2 Timothy 3:15) The literal meaning of the word “infancy” is “nonspeaker.” Very likely Timothy had the Holy Scriptures read to him while he was still an infant, and thus he knew many Bible words before he could speak them.

The point is, there are specific times in the development of the child at which certain things can be learned easily, almost by absorption. If those times pass without the needed stimulation, however, abilities will not be fully developed. If, for example, children do not hear any speech at all until years later, they will then learn it very slowly and very laboriously, and usually never well.

Read to Your Child From Babyhood

When do you begin? From the beginning. Read to your newborn. ‘But he won’t understand!’ When did you start talking to him? ‘Why, right away, of course.’ Did he understand what you were saying? ‘Well, no, but . . . ’ Then why not read to him?

With the infant in your lap, your arm around him, holding him close, he feels secure, loved. Your reading to him is a pleasant experience. It makes an impression. He associates a feeling of joy with reading. Babies are imitative, and parents are role models. He wants to copy you. He wants to read. He plays that he is reading. Later he experiences the joys of reading.

Because of this comes another big benefit​—he usually becomes no television addict. He does not sit glassy-eyed watching thousands of stabbings, shootings, murders, rapes, fornications, and adulteries. He can turn the TV off; he can open a book and read. Quite an accomplishment in these days of illiteracy and TV addiction!

It Takes Time to Love a Child

Of course, it takes time to read to children. And it takes time to play with your baby, to play pat-a-cake and peekaboo, to watch it as it explores, initiates actions, seeks out novelty, satisfies curiosity, stimulates creativity. Parenting takes time. And you had better start while your children are babies. That’s often when generation gaps start; they seldom wait till the teens. Robert J. Keeshan, broadcaster to children as Captain Kangaroo, tells how it can happen:

“A small child waits, thumb in mouth, doll in hand, with some impatience, the arrival home of a parent. She wishes to relate some small sandbox experience. She is excited to share the thrill she has known that day. The time comes, the parent arrives. Beaten down by the stresses of the workplace the parent so often says to the child, ‘Not now, honey. I’m busy, go watch television.’ The most often spoken words in many American households, ‘I’m busy, go watch television.’ If not now, when? ‘Later.’ But later rarely comes . . .

“Years go by and the child grows. We give her toys and clothes. We give her designer clothes and a stereo but we do not give her what she wants most, our time. She’s fourteen, her eyes are glassy, she’s into something. ‘Honey, what’s happening? Talk to me, talk to me.’ Too late. Too late. Love has passed us by. . . .

“When we say to a child, ‘Not now, later.’ When we say, ‘Go watch TV.’ When we say, ‘Don’t ask so many questions.’ When we fail to give our young people the one thing they require of us, our time. When we fail to love a child. We are not uncaring. We are simply too busy to love a child.”

It’s true, loving your child takes time. Not just time to feed its body with food and put clothes on its back but time to fill its heart with love. Not love weighed, measured, and rationed out but an overflowing and “irrational love,” as Burton L. White, author of The First Three Years of Life, calls it. He said: “It is very unwise for working parents to transfer the primary child-rearing function to somebody else, especially to center-based care. Now, I’ve had a lot of tomatoes thrown at me because of that statement, but my concern is what is best for babies.” He is viewing this as “what is best for babies,” yet realizing this ideal is not always possible economically where one or even both parents must work.

Discipline​—A Touchy Subject!

A lot of tomatoes are also thrown at the Bible because of its counsel on discipline. “The one holding back his rod is hating his son, but the one loving him is he that does look for him with discipline.” (Proverbs 13:24) On this verse the New International Version Study Bible footnote says: “rod. Probably a figure of speech for discipline of any kind.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines “rod” as a “sceptre, as an emblem of rule.”

Parental rule may involve spanking, but more often it need not. According to 2 Timothy 2:24, 25, Christians are to be “gentle toward all, . . . instructing with mildness.” The word “instructing” here is translated from the Greek word for discipline. Discipline is to be given with regard for children’s feelings: “And you, fathers, do not be irritating your children, but go on bringing them up in the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah.”​—Ephesians 6:4.

Psychologists championing permissiveness say if you spank your child you hate him. Not true. Permissiveness is hateful. It has loosed a flood of juvenile delinquency and criminality throughout the earth and caused anguish to millions of parents. It is as Proverbs 29:15 says: “A boy let on the loose will be causing his mother shame.” Under the heading “Strict vs. permissive parents,” Dr. Joyce Brothers says:

“A recent study of almost 2,000 fifth and sixth graders​—some of whom had been reared by strict parents, others by permissive ones—​produced some surprising results. The children who had been strictly disciplined possessed high self-esteem and [were] high achievers, socially and academically.” Were they resentful of their strict parents? No, “they believed that parental rules had been set up for the children’s own good​—and were an expression of parental love.”

White says that if you are strict with your child, you need not fear “that he will love you less than if you were lenient. Children in the first two years of life do not become detached from their primary caretakers very easily; even if you spank them regularly, you will find they keep coming back to you.”

The Best Lecture of All

It is you. Your example. You are your child’s role model. He listens more to what you are than to what you say. He hears your words, but he imitates your actions. Your child is a copycat. So, what do you want him to be? Loving, kind, generous, studious, intelligent, industrious, a disciple of Jesus, a worshiper of Jehovah? Whatever it is, be that yourself.

Hence, train your child from infancy, when its brain is growing fast, soaking up information and feelings for mind and heart. But if those crucial formative years are past and the godly personality has not been instilled in your child, then what? Do not despair. Change can still happen and is happening for millions, both young and old, by God’s power. “Strip off the old personality with its practices,” God’s Word says, “and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.”​—Colossians 3:9, 10.