Optimizing children's development with nutrition and exploration

Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development. At this time, not only do weight and height increase rapidly, but children's abilities also increase. Your little one is able to learn many things and can accept learning very easily. So, it is important for mothers to pay attention to and support the development of your little one. According to WHO, in supporting children's brain growth and development, there are three important things that must be fulfilled, namely nutrition, stimulation, and parental love.

Give stimulation to your little one according to the development at his age

Every growth and development that occurs in your little one will definitely be different. Depending on the stimulation and affection your little one receives. Lack of stimulation received by your little one and the low quality of the relationship between parents and your little one can hinder emotional, social, physical and cognitive development.

The environment in which your little one grows will determine his brain development, especially at the age of 1-3 years. Ages 1-3 are an important period that cannot be repeated in the next life. During the first three years of life there is a very fast brain development and your little one is very easy to respond to everything he receives from the environment. Much of the brain and neurological development that supports communication, understanding, social and emotional development occurs rapidly at this time.

The fast development of your little one's brain will continue until the age of 5 years and will be complete at the age of 6-8 years. So that during this time, you need to provide optimal stimulation and affection to support the growth and development of your little one. How to provide stimulation? This can be provided by playing.

Playing is an important activity, where this is an opportunity for your little one to explore his abilities. When your little one explores, it takes attention and concentration, so that it can support the development of learning skills, decision making, and problem solving. By playing, your little one can also improve his relationship with Mother and with other children.

Moms can support your little one's exploration by saying "YES BOLEH" at any activity that you want to do. With notes, Mother still accompanies and guides your little one as he explores, so that the little one feels safe and comfortable. Don't limit your little one to exploring their abilities because this is tantamount to limiting your little one to learning and developing.

Nutrition is needed to protect your little one while exploring

Apart from stimulation and parental love, nutrition is also important for your little one to optimize their growth and development. Fulfillment of proper nutrition can support your little one's health. A healthy child is better able to develop physical, cognitive, and social emotional abilities. Little ones who rarely get sick also have more time to explore themselves and develop their abilities properly.

When your little one explores, he is more susceptible to being exposed to various germs, bacteria and viruses that can cause disease. Therefore, protection needs to be provided in a way that is sufficient for its nutritional needs. Certain nutrients can help boost your little one's immune system so that it can protect your little one from disease. One of the nutrients needed is probiotics. Probiotics are good bacteria that are useful for improving intestinal health and immunity.

Mothers must be smart in providing food with complete nutrition, which consists of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Milk is also needed to complement the high nutritional needs of your little one. Many growth milks are equipped with essential minerals and fatty acids to support your little one's growth according to age.

Say "YES CAN" to support your little one's exploration

By letting your little one play outside to explore, it means that you are stimulating your little one's growth and development. At this age, the child's brain is developing rapidly, so stimulation is needed so that the little one grows smart.

Research presented at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience meeting has shown that stimulation of children's age is very important for children's intelligence in the future. This study proves that stimulation at the age of about 4 years can help develop parts of the brain (especially related to language and cognition) even in the next 15 years.

So, from now on, say "OK" if your little one wants to play outside. Prohibiting your little one will only limit your little one's exploration space and also limit your little one's development. Say "YES OK" to your little one to explore. You only need to watch him when your little one plays outside. By playing outside, there are many new things that your little one can learn. Your little one can learn to solve his own problems, also be able to interact and build social skills with his friends.