Why are the First Five Years Important for a Child's Development?

From hearing your baby cry for the first time to having moistened eyes on seeing your child’s achievements, parenthood is a pure bliss. From hearing your child’s very first word to seeing them captivating the world through their words, from teaching your child to take its very first step to seeing them growing and taking many more steps of success, who doesn’t wish to see their child excel! 

But do you know that all this depends very much on the initial years of the child’s development? Wondering how? Do not worry, this blog post is at your rescue! Read till the end to discover what impressions the first five years leave on the entire life of the child.

Significance of the Early Years for Brain Development

The first five years are very crucial for the holistic development of the child. The child reaches many significant milestones in this period. Research shows that 90% of the child’s brain development gets completed by the age of five years. Various brain regions control different abilities like thinking, movement, communication and language, and emotions. This allows the child to think, speak, and move in more complex ways.

A child does have all the necessary neurons for the lifetime but the connections between these cells make the brain functional. And the early years are crucial for the formation of these connections. These connections are formed by the everyday experiences and the child’s interaction with their parents and the world around them. So providing the child with the right stimulation for the proper growth of the brain is essential. 

Stages of Child Development

A Child develops majorly in the following five stages of development:

• Newborn (0-3 months)

• Infant (3-12 months)

• Toddler (1-3 years)

• Preschool age (3-4 years)

• School age (4-5 years (and beyond)).

These stages are characterized by different milestones responsible for the child’s holistic development.

Features of Developmental Milestones

Cognitive development: The term “cognitive processes” refers to all the higher-order mental activities like problem-solving, thinking, memorizing, deciphering, and decision making. Children develop a deeper grasp of the world, a stronger memory, increased focus, and improved problem-solving abilities in the early years of development.   

Motor development: Through the processes of gross motor development (learning to utilize muscles like the arms and legs) and fine motor development (learning to use muscles to produce fine movements using the hands and fingers), the body develops in skill and performance over time.

Communication and speech development: Communication is the means of interacting with the world. When people wandering around seem like aliens to the child, communication becomes the medium for the child to relate with them. And it is in these initial years that the child learns to use language. The child utters words, starts understanding the significance they hold, and comprehends what these alien-like-humans are conveying.

Social and emotional development: The feelings and emotions, self-perception and the perception of the world, and the child’s identity blooms in its full swing. Additionally, they form relationships with others and gain social skills and manners.

Impact of the Early Years in the Later Life of a Child

‘First impression is the last impression’, they say. I don’t know how accurately this statement fits in other contexts but in this one it does. The early years leave a lasting impression in the child's later life. The quality of experiences a child has lays the foundation for health, attachments, learning, and behavior throughout life.

Babies' brains are wired for learning from birth, and they develop as they are used. And children’s best learning tools are their caregivers and the toys they play with. So providing the child with a nurturing and stimulating environment including fun and engaging activities is essential for its growth. 

Nurturing a newborn life not just brings joy and contentment but loads of responsibility as well. It’s an unpaid job which is more difficult than even rocket science. The task of directing the child towards the right pathway of growth falls on the shoulder of the parents. And if you’re a newbie in this journey then a plethora of nervousness might creep in your mind. 

But worry not! With the right guidance, you’ll learn to sail in this journey. You’ll make mistakes, along with your child you’ll fall too but learn from your experiences. Find the right sources that guide and help you in creating a safe and growth-oriented universe for your tiny universe. And remember that every child is unique! 

Did this post help you in any way? Let me know in the comment section below :)