Baby Minds

Citation

Field, S. (2001), "Baby Minds", Health Education, Vol. 101 No. 2, pp. 90-91. https://doi.org/10.1108/he.2001.101.2.90.2

This book looks at how parents can stimulate and develop their babies’ minds from birth until the age of three, using games and simple everyday situations. As a mother of a six‐month‐old boy, I was intrigued by the ideas suggested by the authors and have had a great deal of fun trying them out on my son. The book is an easy read: it is set out in a way that allows busy parents to read in‐depth about the theories and research relating to the development of different areas of a baby’s mind, or alternatively quickly access sections which give age‐appropriate activities to try out with a baby.

The book begins with some background reading about the brain and how we can stimulate and develop it. It discusses the structure of a newborn’s brain, the “making” and growing of a mind. This is written in a light‐hearted way (as is the rest of the book) with plenty of analogies and case studies illustrating and relating the theory to everyday life, making it accessible to all. The rest of the book is organised around six intellectual skills, namely problem solving, memory, language, reading, mathematical thinking and creative thinking. Many of the activities they suggest you carry out with your baby, such as singing nursery rhymes, using toys such as shape sorters, asking questions when reading a book with your baby, are things that most parents naturally do with their child. However, I found having an understanding behind how these activities developed my baby’s mind made them even more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Each chapter opens with a discussion relating to the particular intellectual skill, backed up with research and case studies on babies in America. Throughout the chapters the authors give “tips” for parents which are activities/games parents can utilise with their baby. These are split into age‐appropriate sections e.g. from birth plus, six months plus, nine months plus, 12/18 months plus. The activities are all very practical and do not involve expensive gadgets or a large amount of time from the parents.

This book enables parents to understand and wonder at some of the mysteries behind developing babies’ minds, and then become excited about how easy it is for us to adapt things we already do with our babies, to stimulate the various parts of their brains. There are also some simple games to try out, which my baby loved and I had never thought of, or thought my baby would be able to respond to at such an early age.

I would recommend this book to any parent, it is easy, interesting and fun to read. As a new parent I have learnt a great deal about how to stimulate my child intellectually without trying to develop a “super baby”. I have found that having an understanding of why I am doing such simple repetitive activities with my baby has given purpose to them and hence are much more fulfilling and enjoyable.