Why_Are_Families_so_Important_for_Babies_

Why are families so important for babies' Families are not the only people who play important roles in babies life’s, many different people contribute to the environment that makes an impact in a babies life, whether physical or emotional needs. As stated in Rai and Flynn (2004, page 40) “the consistency and quality of the emotional relationship is more important than the biological relationship.” In order for babies to grow and develop into a well balanced child they need  to be encouraged to form close relationships to those around them. With positive relationships babies will learn and develop to their full potential and become secure with their confidence and self esteem, it is again stated by Rai and Flynn that “even close relationships is not with a child’s parents, as long as a child has someone consistently there for them, they are likely to be ok.” Families play an important role in providing for their babies, love, comfort, stimulation and security to develop and form a close relationship. The mother of the child does not need to be the sole carer, fathers, childminders and family members such as grandparents can also provide this role, babies are able to form a close relationship with more than one person. Physical development. A child’s physical development skills are developing at a fast rate throughout their early years, Babies go through a number of physical development milestones, from being able to hold their heads up to rolling over, crawling and walking. Physical development is one important factor for early learning, Babies learn through their senses, initially they explore the world by their own movements, their tongue and their touch. Two different types of physical development are gross and fine motor skills. Fine motor skills is the use of the hands in co-ordination with the eyes. This allows children to perform very delicate procedures with their fingers, with the eyes influencing the precise movements of the fingers. The ability of children to use two legs and walk and involves their whole body. The whole-body movements are described as gross motor. Social and Emotional Development Emotional communication, understanding of self ability to manage our feelings, understand and know other people, relationships, interpersonal skills and moral behaviour. Emotions are central in all aspects of human activity, emotions are vital to cognitive development, because emotional reactions lead to learning, it is also vital to sound behaviour,. Babies emotional reactions like crying, laughing and smiling affects others interests in powerful ways. Infants cannot  describe how they are feeling, they use emotions to communicate, facial expressions and body movements. Emotional development is the growth of a child's ability to feel and express an increasing range of emotions appropriately. Social development is the growth of a child's ability to relate to others and become independent. The Understanding children (2007) DVD band two and three shows that babies need love and affection or they become insecure. Rai and Flynn (2004 page 40) state that if relationships are secure, the child is able to trust that others will protect them when they do not feel safe, this will give them the confidence and ability to explore the world around them. P.I Number  Speech Development The first stage of development in the process of children learning to use language is the pre-linguistic stage. Babies use this stage to learn how to communicate with others. As they grow children gradually put two words together to form a mini-sentence. Books are a good way to promote speech development, looking at pictures together and describe what they can see. Repetition helps your child to understand and remember the language that they hear. Children learn speech sounds gradually, saying the whole word back to your child is the best way to encourage language and speech development rather than correcting them. It is also helpful for your child if they can see your face when you are talking to them, this helps your child to watch and copy the movements that your lips make as you say sounds and words. Talking about everyday activities foe example putting away the shopping, This helps your child to connect language to the world around them. Using objects and gestures to support your child's understanding of instructions and questions foe example point to their coat when saying "Put your coat on please" The mothers In band one of the DVD were talking to the babies in a happy voice and the child was smiling back at them, the mothers were giving constant eye contact whilst holding or touching the child and in turn the child was watching what the mother was doing or saying. Some mothers were copying the child’s facial expressions and noises and the child repeated this to get a response, Vice versa the mother would pull a face or make a noise and the child would copy her. Rai and Flynn (2004) page 28 “Daisy sings and laughs with Mia” Cognitive Development Cognitive development is the development of all mental activities, remembering, understanding, planning , creating, reasoning, problem solving. Cognition is the under process and product of the mind that leads to knowing. Cognitive development is crucial for survival and this factor is the one that makes human beings stand out from others. You can aid your baby's intellectual development through play. New born babies answer to things that they see, hear and feel. Rai and Flynn (2004) page 28 “Daisy sings and laughs with Mia” Families are so important to babies because they are he babies foundation. The baby needs a background for guidance and support to become successful in life. In order for babies to grow and develop into a balanced child they need t o be encouraged to form close relationships to those around them, this is why it is vital that those babies grow and develop a close relationship with the “significant others” in their environment.  With positive relationships babies will learn and develop to their full potential and become secure. Their confidence and self esteem will grow as they grow.