The importance of the formative years of childhood

The birth of a child heralds many new and beautiful beginnings. Every year of a child’s life is incredibly precious, especially for parents but as far as development is concerned, the first eight years are the most important. This is the period where a child becomes the person they are going to be in the future and it’s very important that they grow physically, intellectually and emotionally during these formative years. This is also where children learn through observation, as Dr. Maria Montessori most eloquently said “Character formation cannot be taught. It comes from experience and not from explanation.”
To a parent, every second spent with their child is a moment to help build them into an entirely new person. Right now, they may be totally dependent on you but come a few years, your little baby will become perfectly capable of independent thought. However, to help shape them into an independent person lies in the hands of parents where due importance is given to develop them in the formative years of childhood.
So, how is this possible and how do you make sure that you create a challenging environment for your kids to realize their full potential?

Simply, through play. Playtime is absolutely crucial for children and educational toys play a key role in the development of a child. The key is to maximize the learning capacity of kids through mental stimulation, encouragement, love, attention and good healthcare. Expose your child to different educational toys that will allow them to acquire new skills and set goals for themselves. Kids toys helps in the healthy growth and development of kids, particularly during their formative years which spans to a period of up to eight years of age. This early childhood period is extremely critical for the emotional, cognitive, social and emotional development of a child and if the foundation is set during these years, the child is well set on his/her path for a productive and healthy future.

Encouraging your baby to explore the right kind of educational toys can be hugely helpful in this regard. As we all know, learning through practice is the best kind of education and nothing teaches kids better about the world around them and how to interact with it than with the help of toys. It might sound strange and unusual that something as simple as educational toys can teach kids to live a better life but the fact is that even research has proved this. A great deal happens when kids are, as we put it, ‘Just playing’. They are developing habits, attitudes and skills that will stay with them all through their lives. As they play with educational toys, they learn to share with others, give vocal expressions to their fantasies and thoughts, learn to cope with frustration and know how to handle situations.

Just like kids don’t need to be taught to walk, cry or make sounds, similarly, no one needs to be taught how to play. It’s an interest they take on naturally but this doesn’t mean that parents don’t get involved in the process. In fact, the interaction of parents and teachers are critical in the play process of kids and this is probably the best gift that you, as a parent, can give your kids. Just as storybooks foster better imagination and creativity in kids, educational toys foster better growth and learning. Wooden educational toys, in particular, are becoming more and more popular since it’s extremely easy to handle for infants and it can help immensely in their development.

So, the next time you spend too much money on just any toy, think about how it can affect your child’s development. Consider the facts: babies are born with over 100 billion nerve cells in their brains and learning takes place when these nerve cells connect with each other through synapses. By the age of five, about 90% of the brain has already been developed. And in this period, a child’s brain is more receptive to learning than during any other point in time. During the first five years, the brain is most flexible so the more exercised the areas of the brain are, the more lasting an impact it will have on the learning capabilities of kids. Think of it like this – your child is literally like a sponge where their will absorb everything around them at a fascinating speed. This is why a challenging and interactive environment should be created for them so kids will learn to interact and build better social relationships. What they experience today is what they will show in the future. And this is why the formative years of childhood will form the fundamental building blocks for their future growth, happiness, health and development.