The first 3 years – how babies teach themselves

(Part III – Cultural Expectations of a Filipino Baby’s Birth)

“A child is in the process of becoming, whereas the adults are already made. Therefore we must help the child become.”

The moment of birth is the greatest moment in life. From the silence, comfort, and perfect ventilation of the womb, new babies enter the world. Professor James, a behavioral psychologist, also refers to the “trauma of birth” whenever babies are born. Infants experience a “big, buzzing, booming confusion” like what adults would experience in a steel factory. It is really the babies who suffer more than the mothers.

To cushion this shock, Mother Nature provides the delightful embrace of parents, and the warm reception of the extended Filipino families. To ease the transition into the real world, the new babies must be placed in a quiet, comfortable and semi-lit room, simulating the womb.

Babies’ sensations: Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching

The myriad qualities of the world will be busily sorted out by the babies. Their five senses, the windows of their intelligence, will gradually unfold. During the first three months, they will enjoy sleeping and sucking milk close to their mother’s body.

Babies spend the first months just lying in their crib. Their first lesson is to sense space, so different from the narrow confines of the small womb. An “inner teacher” gradates their zest for life. Then the regular feeding, bowel movement, and sleeping activate the senses of touch, taste, and hearing, by which they acquire the feelings of love and care given by parents and guardians.

Babies who are properly cared for seldom cry loud. They only whimper when they are hungry or wet, knowing that mothers would be ready to feed, burp, and change them. The “absorbent mind” is readily activated when one converses with the infant in complete sentences. Parents should get used to engaging them in cheerful conversation: “Here’s your nice milk… Cerelac… pudding. How fast my baby grows!” If babies purse their lips when drinking juice – “Yes, your orange juice is sour…”

During sleep, quiet classic music will soothe them to sleep, for babies like doves, thrive in gentleness and peace. Since their “absorbent minds” work like a camera, they snap new words readily like a computer. Thus they will learn right away to speak by themselves at the age of one together with their first step. Indeed, all babies grow and learn according to a standard timetable.

The call to independence of movement

The call to independence is exhibited when babies teach themselves to speak and walk, and to work with their hands during the first three years. Watching the various steps they take to be persons is the delight of parenthood. Even babies orphaned at birth can teach themselves.

At three months, when the babies can clearly see, they actively acquire speech and equilibrium as they crane their necks to look up at the face of mama or papa speaking to them. They can roll their bodies on the bed and see more things around the room. Their gurgling and cooing change into babbling at six months. Given a long hall or spacious sala, they could crawl at lightning speed. By 10 months, they can stand up with support, usually walking from one chair to another. The second year is the “explosive epoch” when they keep running. By the third year, they walk with equilibrium.

A staircase excites them and like a mountaineer, they would climb this repeatedly. Mothers should stay a meter away to watch them without touching them, even if they slip down. Fear makes them more cautious while mother’s anxious push help make them careless.

They like to pick up little insects or any object on the floor, automatically putting them into their mouths. This is a peculiar way of exploring their surroundings. Otherwise, they enjoy turning on and off electric switches, the TV, or opening and closing drawers and cabinets.

Babies’ call to independence (language development)

On their first birthday, they make their first independent steps and speak single words with meaning. Most of them are nouns. They learn that everything around them has a name.

By one and a half years their language are tongue-twisters (‘mupper’ combines mama and supper), which only the family would understand. Sometimes they speak in phrases combining nouns, prepositions, and verbs.

Two is the explosive epoch when a toddler disappears and a runner takes his place. Many find this period a nuisance. Yet the twos are workers. Carrying bulky things, watering plants, setting the table, laundering, and sweeping are their forte. Knowing the full syntax of a sentence, the twos cannot stop talking either.

At two and a half, their bodies have better balance, and they begin to slow down and walk longer. New words are absorbed into their vocabularies by the thousands, particularly now that they can walk to more places. Parents can take them out for longer walks.

The role of parents of infants

If babies can teach themselves, what else could parents do? A lot. Observe them. Converse with them as often as you can for language is the music of their lives during the first three years. It is the bond of affection between the child and adult… Prepare the home and garden environment to encourage love for order and work. For example, the bedroom should have a low bed, dresser, and clothes cabinet so they can help themselves. Have a fixed corner for small brooms, dust pan, wiping rags, and small apron.

The washstand and toilet should have a low wide stool, where they can stand to reach the faucet or toilet seat. They must have a small table with small chairs where brothers, sisters, and friends can work with them. An open shelf nearby may hold papers, crayons, and a few favorite toys (remove toys that have been outgrown. Just give them away.) A wall shelf they can reach can hold picture books. As early as the sixth month when babies sit up and crawl, they can already enjoy looking at picture books, usually those with thick pages.

These arrangements will condition them to return things to the proper places. So watch out for the threes! They won’t be content to stay home doing nothing by themselves. They prefer to make up their own activities than be entertained. They will seek more companions and more scholastic directions. Work challenges them more than play. After all they are now “little men and women” in speech and movement!