Paul Schwartz, professor of psychology at Mount Saint Mary College
You don’t need laptop programs nor do you need classical music playing at nap time to keep that little brain growing. What does increase your baby’s brain power? The following are tried and true exercises that will stimulate your child's brain and promote healthy parenting behavior.
Talking to your child. Whenever they coo, respond in “parentese.” Parentese is the high pitched sing-song style with elongated vowels that most parents use when talking to their babies. Research tells us that this style of speaking to a baby increases a baby’s language skill they will attend to this style of speaking more than conventional speech.
Playing with your child. Play games that allow them to explore their environment and manipulate different size and colored items. This type of exploratory play allows them to use their developing muscles and to begin learning about cause and effect. Engaging in movement games with your child, such as patty cake, is helpful in helping develop eye hand coordination.
Books, books and more books. Books provide your baby with pictures, sounds, colors and textures. Reading to your child, pointing to the pictures, making the sounds of the animals in the zoo along with the pictures, and giving your child the words to go along with the pictures enhances the part of your baby’s brain responsible for receptive language.
READ MORE: Learn your parenting style
Music and Songs. Forget Mozart in the background. Play music and sing songs with your child. This enhances their language ability and it also teaches them rhythm and rhyme. Having them sit on your lap while you play piano or letting them bang on the keys, or using any instrument you have in the house, begins their interest in the world of music. This active involvement enhances their brain power much better than a Mozart tape playing in the background.
Maybe sometime in the future, someone will prove conclusively that Baby Lapware (computer programs for infants and toddlers) and The Mozart Effect (listening to Mozart’s music to enhance intellectual ability) substantially enhances your baby's brain power. Until those days come save your money and use the proven time-tested methods I have listed above. You might not produce the next Einstein, but there is documented evidence that you will enhance the development of your baby’s brain.
Paul Schwartz, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology and education at Mount Saint Mary College.