Babies need our care, they need security, food, protection ... but also affection and love. At this point, almost all of us are aware of the importance of caring for our baby not only in the purely physical, but also in the emotional. And it is that precisely with that attention we will help you strengthen and strengthen your emotional and social development. And all with love.
Obviously the emotional, as well as the cognitive, is gradually developing (well, it is really giant steps, but you understand me), but that does not mean that we are not born with the capacity to feel emotions. What we learn over time is to identify them, name them and manage them.
Let's review the emotional and social development of babies in the first months:
The babies from 0 to 3 months They already enjoy, yes, they enjoy the game with other people. Little by little they become more communicative and begin to be very expressive with both the face and the body (sometimes making us enjoy real shows, right?).
They also begin to mimic our movements and facial expressions, including, to our delight, the smile. In these first months the social smile appears, that is, a smile with a communicative purpose towards others.
Between the 4 and 7 months Babies already react to the emotions of others (mainly to the reference caregivers). Enjoy the game with others (remember that this is one of the main ways of learning for kids).
That is, the emotional and the social is present from minute one and both are interconnected. One of our missions as parents is to help them in their learning and development, right? Well, let's see how to enhance your emotional development in these early stages of your life.
Look at him, touch him, smile at him
Human beings communicate not only through language, but our gestures, our behavior, also serve to convey a message (nonverbal behavior). And in these ages in which language is, never better said, in diapers, the smile and our facial gestures are very important communication channels.
Look, smile and touch (caress) could be the three basic rules essential to interact with our baby in the first weeks and months. Our attention, our gaze, makes you feel safe, taken care of, and even "listened to", just as happens to adults. What feeling does someone give you who doesn't look at you while you talk to him? Well that happens to the kids.
With the touch We transmit calm, love, we make them feel cared for. At the same time we are "teaching" that emotions are shared through touch.
And of course smile at you, no matter how much sleep we have accumulated. Precisely the smile will be one of the first social behaviors, related to emotions, that our son will return to us voluntarily, so with more reason.
Each child marks their rhythms and preferences
Although in the end almost everyone seems more like what we might like to believe, the reality is that each person is a world, and more when we talk about children. It makes no sense to walk by imposing ways of reacting or expressing emotions. Daddies who have several children will know what I mean: what works for one may not do it at all for the other.
Your baby will mark you how he likes to be treated, to talk to him, to caress him ... From our interaction will arise "the rules" that work for our little one.
For this we must be attentive to the signals that our son sends us to his gestures. No one like us, that we are with him so much time, to meet the little one and his way of communicating and expressing how he feels.
Always return the smile, or the gesture or the babble
The first smiles of babies usually occur while they sleep, and although they make us melt with love, the ones that truly make us lose our minds are the following, the volunteers. With them they are already expressing emotions.
In addition to smiles, as I said before, around 3 months they already imitate us, which we must take advantage of because it is a platform for total emotional learning. That imitation It is their way of making us understand that they want to interact with us and communicate, hence it is so important that we respond.
When our little one smiles, let's do it too. With this dynamic, he will gradually establish associations, understanding that our smile is a response to his, and with that he will lay the foundations of communication (for example, the dynamics of shifts), of the game, etc.
Protodialog
Talk to him, always. Obviously, his language development still does not allow him to grasp the meaning of our words, but the one that we speak to him, that we respond to his babbling, helps him to establish the rules of communication.
Further, feel heard, as much as it seems to us that they are nothing more than unintentional reactions, it makes its self-esteem and self-confidence Start forging hard. Being there to tell us their things is something that parents always, always, must do.
Specifically, and summarizing
- If he smiles at you, smile at him. If you cry, offer comfort. That is, let's be present, let him know that we are there.
- Talk to him, read him, sing to him. We can tell you stories, how the day has gone (as strange as this may seem) ... Take as a routine "to have constant conversations" with our little one.
- Return information about your gestures and emotions. For example, if he cries we can make a sad face and say “My little one is sad, right?”.
- Touch him, caress him: as I said before the communication of emotions is not produced exclusively by speech, touch is very important especially at this early stage.
As small as we think emotional education must start from day one. In fact, with our hugs, kisses and words we are already providing education about it. Let's do it with care.
Photos: Pixabay.com
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