5 Important Things To Know About Your Child’s Brain Development

Healthy child brain development starts with these 5 foundations.

It’s 11:00 pm and you’re exhausted but you can’t sleep.  If you are like me this is when all the thoughts about my parenting insecurities come to rear their ugly head (or if I’m really lucky they creep into my brain at 4:00 am after getting up to pee since I still can’t make it through the night 5 years after my second child). 

Am I doing enough to support their development? 

Have I missed the boat on teaching them skills when they were younger because I was sooo tired? 

Will they be successful in life?  You get the picture. 

I want to assure you that all these thoughts are normal.  The pressures to keep up with the Jones added with our constant access to social media has only heightened our insecurities.  

The good news is that brain research continues to tell us what impacts our children’s brain in the most powerful are not fancy toys or endless academic related tasks.  

Actually, there are 5 things at the foundation of brain development that don’t cost us a dime as parents that are critical to get right and lead to increased brain power later.  

I want to simplify parenting for you and put your fears aside that you are doing your best and that if these 5 things are going well your child’s brain is able to grow and learn new skills.  If they aren’t going well, I’m here to help you get your child’s brain on the right track.  

1.CONNECTION

This is the most important thing we can work on with our children.  When your child is connected, they feel safe and secure. Connection is the only way to ensure that your kids will listen...This one is important!  I repeat...

Connection is the way to get your kids to listen!  

Don’t believe me?

Try this at home.

Instead of yelling across the house for the 5th time for them to put their shoes on..wait until you can walk with them to their shoes and then get down on their level and ask them to have a race with you to see who can get their shoes on the fastest.  

Kids want to please.  

They are born needing and wanting human connection.  

You will also hear the term strong attachment in the parenting world.  Healthy connections form strong parent-child attachment. Strong attachment has been proven to lead to healthy social-emotional and cognitive skills. 

 It helps to build a child’s self esteem and sets them up for the ability to regulate their emotions better.  All of these skills also build the foundation for academic success later in life. 

Want more ideas on how to connect with your child? Grab them here!

2. SLEEP

Kids need more sleep than adults (Although some days I’m not sure I believe what research says).  

A well rested child is one that shows more self-regulation and whose brain is better capable of learning. 

Not sure how much sleep your child needs?  Print off this free printable.

This is a critical piece to get a good handle on early in your child’s life.  It does take patience and consistency but it is one of the most important skills to teach your child early on in life.  Studies show that sleep deprivation can lead to all sorts of learning difficulties later (I’m sure we can all relate to that...mommy brain anyone?)

3. MOVEMENT

Play is the “work” of the child.  

It is how they learn social rules, figure out how things work, develop strength, practice their language skills and learn how to be more independent. 

The child’s body also needs lot of unstructured play time to develop all of their sensory systems.  Developing the senses is one of the most important foundational pieces in developing good self-regulation and leads to success with academic related skills later in life.  

Sounds complicated, right?  

But actually, the best way to develop this process is easy.  

Just get outside and play, move, climb, jump, explore, run, and swing with your child.  

This can all be accomplished by visiting your local playground often, going for a hike, riding bicycles...the possibilities are endless for outdoor fun.  While we live in such a technology rich world, it is so important now more than ever to make sure we balance our children’s screen time with activities that will promote critical developmental skills for lifelong learning.  

4. NUTRITION

You are what you eat, right?   How do you feel at the end of a long day after drinking a few Starbucks and scarfing down your child’s leftover mac-n-cheese?  I don’t know about you but I feel more like napping than learning to master new skills.  

A few years ago, I took a class with my son to learn more about the brain and strategies to help his learning in school.  One of our assignments was to write down everything my son ate for 3 days and note the sugar content in each item. Then we had to measure out actual sugar in grams and put that amount into a ziploc bag.  

Holy Cow! 

I am fortunate to have boys who eat a variety of foods and I thought we had it easy and were going to rock this challenge.  Well, let’s just say that we surpassed the recommended daily allowance of sugar before noon all three days.

(Btw..the recommended amount is less than 25 grams or 6 teaspoons per day for a child age 2-18).   A couple of waffles, a dollop of syrup and ½ cup of juice was apparently not the brain food my children needed. 

While we are far from having perfect diets in our home, we have changed many of the products that we used to buy and have replaced them with ones with less sugar.  

We also noticed a huge change in my son’s behavior and ability to focus after making these changes. If you’ve never paid much attention to labels on your kids food, I encourage you to take this challenge too.  It really shed light for me and my son still talks about the challenge 2 years later.  

5. THE 3 P’S (PEE, POOP, PAIN)

Your young child may not have a good understanding of what’s going on inside their body yet but that’s where you come in to be their detective.  

Part of meeting basic needs includes drinking enough liquid to keep all the insides working right.  You can monitor this by taking note of your child’s pee and poop schedule.  

Typically, a child can hold their age+2 in ounces (for example, a 4 year olds bladder can hold 6 ounces maximum).  Which means you can expect lots of trips to the potty after 1 juice box.  

Hydration is important because it directly correlates to the next P (Poop).  As an OT, I’ve spent the last 20 years analyzing and discussing others poop in too many inappropriate places to mention.  If there were such a thing as Poop expert, I may hold that title.  

Your little ones poop can tell you so much about what’s going on inside.  And most often, constipation, upset stomach, food sensitivities and diarrhea are the cause of pain (the 3rd P) which present as behavioral issues in our young children.  

Getting to the bottom (Pun intended) of your child’s tummy issues is important.  Read more about “What is my child’s poop telling me?”

How well are these 5 foundations established in your child?

Brain development is a complex process but supporting your child’s brain development doesn’t have to be complicated. Spend time each day focusing on one or more of these foundations and your child will be set up for success in the academic world later.

Comment below on how you’ve succeeded with these foundations. Your comment could really be helpful to another family that is struggling right now.

And don't forget to grab your free printable here.