Chapter 2: Brainchild: How Babies Are Wired to Learn

The author of our first entry for chapter 2 is Kylie. If you haven't already guessed, this is a picture taken with her dad, Kevin, and she said, "I am a daddy's girl for sure."


Not only is Kylie Daddy's girl, but she's also the youngest in her family. This is her with her older siblings. She said, "Family is a very important part of my life, and they are awesome. The oldest girl is Amanda (the blonde one), then Melanie (the brown haired girl), then Scott, and then I am the youngest!"

My guess is that Kylie's family thinks she's awesome, too. And for that matter, I believe you'll agree that her blog entry fits the "awesome" label, as well! Happy reading.

I have always been very skeptical about all of the “make your baby smarter” merchandise that is so popular with parents today. It was encouraging to read in this chapter that educational merchandise, geared to making parents feel that the material is necessary in order for their child to have a better brain, is completely unnecessary for the proper growth of their child’s cognitive skills. When the book talked about all of the myths about the brain development of children, I felt a wave of relief. Although I do not have kids, it was encouraging to read that the parents of a child are not the sculptors of their child’s brain. If the child has a normal environment to thrive in, their brain will develop just as it is supposed to; no special, educational programs needed.

There were many parts of this chapter that made me think of my nieces and nephew. My siblings are great parents who do not overload their children with information, but allow them to spend time with the things that interest them. Although all of the children in my family are free to explore and learn without rigid guidelines, they all were exposed to educational merchandise. When my siblings became parents they were all swayed, at one point in their parenting life, into thinking that their children needed extra stimulation to have better brains. I have never experienced the privilege of parenting, but I can only imagine how much influence the media’s idea of parenting has on one’s parenting style – and how much pressure parents must feel.

The most common educational merchandise that my family has been exposed to is the “Baby Einstein” DVD series. These items focus on playing classical music for varying ages while showing visuals of different shapes with multiple colors. I never thought twice about these items, but after reading the chapter I see that there is no benefit. Another form of educational merchandise that my family has been exposed to is flash cards of information. The child that has been most exposed to this is my nephew, Joshua. My nephew is a unique child. He is not even three years old and he can read very well. He does not just memorize books, but he actually comprehends what he is reading. He can pick up a third or fourth grade level book that he has never seen before and comprehend what it says. I feel that Joshua is a very gifted child and is truly advanced for his age. His favorite thing is to learn new things and he learns very quickly. Joshua’s parents have used flash cards in response to his wanting to learn new things constantly. He loves his flash cards, and it is always him asking for them and not his parents wanting to quiz his skills. Although I agreed with the book when it said that flash card learning is not as effective as learning things with context, I cannot help but be curious as to whether, in Joshua’s case, there is an exception. He is so advanced for his age that it is difficult for him to learn things that he wants to learn within their proper context. Joshua learns so fast that it is difficult for his parents to keep up with him. New learning material gets really expensive at his accelerated rate. Flash cards are an easy and much less expensive way for him to have access to what he wants to learn. In his case, I have questions with what child development people would say with what would be the best way to raise such a gifted child.

Chapter two reminded me of things that I have learned about child development. One of the things that I was reminded of when reading this book was that children excel the best when their parent is conscious of their interests and needs. Children learn the most when the lessons are geared in a way that they understand it and it is not just memorization. The most crucial thing for a child’s development is to provide a positive and loving home environment. I also was reminded of the fact that as a consumer, it is our responsibility to be an informed consumer. Taking something as fact without researching it at all on your own is irresponsible to yourself and to your children. Being informed about how to look at research and see what is legitimate and what is not is a great tool that I learned from studying child development.

Although the reading reminded me of multiple child development concepts that I have previously learned, the reading also gave me questions about child development. After taking so many child development classes and adding the new knowledge to what I believed to be true about children before classes, it has been difficult not to question myself regarding the way I interact with children. It is difficult for me to truly trust myself with the skills that I have acquired by being exposed to children. I feel like I have been exposed to so much information about child development that I have to go through my knowledge to make sure that my actions toward a child are supported by research. This process makes my actions with children much more reserved than I feel that I would be if I were not as informed. It is important for me, and every other future or current parent, to take the knowledge, provided in child development courses, and apply it to their parenting style, but to not completely question your own ability.

I am so glad that I was able to read this book because I have always been passionate about raising my future children in a loving and cognitively-encouraging environment. It is amazing to me that the general public jumps on any new concept that the media comes up with, regardless of the validity of the research behind it. After reading this chapter, it is more evident to me how important it is for parents to not take everything they hear about child research as truth, but research themselves what is truly best for their children.