These factors are important for your kid's growth : Dr.Shivani Pandey

When we are talking about the child’s brain growth and development then, I would say that these following factors are important.

• Mother’s health

Above all the factors this is mainly important because a child’s brain starts to develop in the womb and if, the mother’s mental and physical wellbeing is not good then, how the child can be?

As we all know in Mahabharat, Abhimanyu learnt the skill of breaking the chakravyuh inside the Subhadra’s womb from his father Arjuna. But, he learnt about how to enter a chakravyuh and was unable to learn how to exit it which later caused his demise. This happened because Subhadra slept when, he was explaining about the exiting technique.

Thus, the child is always in a learning phase inside a womb. So, it is very important to take care of a mother health especially when she is pregnant. As the stress during the prenatal age (inside the womb) can cause problem in later stage of life.

• Environment

The Child’s brain is actually in a developing phase where it can be moulded and turn it into extremely responsive to the stimulus or various situations. A good environment will definitely support the health of the developing brain while, adverse conditions or experiences in childhood can lead to the changes in the behaviour, focus, etc. Cognitive development i.e., a process of brain development where the children are involved in learning and understanding the things around them. This is achieved mainly by themselves and their social surroundings. These all can get ruined if the surroundings are not favourable to them.

• Physical and mental well being

Problem in the psychosocial state of wellbeing of a child could be disturbed during the time when they are inside the mother’s womb as well as during their early age. If they have a sense of danger or threat at that time and no any support then, their physical as well as mental may suffer during the adult age.

• Nutrition

As the seed requires nutrients to grow into a plant or any kind of living organism requires nutrients for proper growth and development. Likewise, babies require certain kind of food with required nutrients for their growth and development. Brain is one such part which really needs to be taken care of in the growing age of your child. Thus, a child requires Proteins, Carbohydrates, Minerals (Iron, Copper, Zinc, Iodine, Selenium), Vitamins, etc.

Less protein can cause Intra Uterine Growth Retardation even in prenatal age. A required or optimum dose of Iron is also important for the intellect, motor functions, anatomical brain development, etc. Zinc is important for the development of a good and functional nervous system as its deficiency can lead to poor memory, learning capacity, etc. Iodine is an essential nutrient in the prenatal and growing age as it’s deficiency may lead to cretinism and problem with the hearing, speaking abilities, low IQ, etc.

• Family and social life

The socioeconomic status i.e., the family earnings, education, etc have a significant effect on the brain development. In a study, it was found that the children from a good family with a good socioeconomic status had thicker brain cortex region than, those with lower socioeconomic status. It takes much more time in maturation in higher society children.

• Interactions of child

This kind of skill a child learns from the time he or she was born. It is important to have a warm and supportive interaction with the growing child as it helps to expand their brain’s connecting networks which later helps them in their life.

• Child Maltreatment 

According to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, about 55 percent of Indian children have experienced abuses in their life. There is an impact of positive and negative things in our life. If, the child’s actions are not responded with good and caring gestures. And if, they were continuously being physically or verbally abused by the care takers then, in the later stages of life that child may suffer from various issues like low self-esteem, depression, violent behaviour, etc. As it takes three years of age to reach 90% of the total size. Thus, you need to be very careful in the early age of their life.

• Sleep cycle

Sleep is necessary for the brain growth and development as it help to keep the brain good with the learning and memorising ability. At least, 9 hours of sleep is necessary for the children up to the age of 12.

 Sources:

• https://www.newamerica.org/in-depth/transforming-early-education-workforce/interaction-biology-and-environment/#:~:text=The%20developing%20brain%20is%20easily,and%20the%20capacity%20for%20learning.
• https://storymirror.com/read/english/story/the-abhimanyu-chakravyuh/z99u5r66#:~:text=According%20to%20Hindu%20mythology%2C%20Abhimanyu,told%20the%20technique%20to%20her.
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-021-00457-5
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/personal-blog-of-suhaib-rafi-mir/protecting-our-children-a-look-at-current-indian-laws-on-child-abuse-50378/
• https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/brain_development.pdf