Jen Devaney

Want to see a baby make 60 million neural connections? 🧠 Look no further than this fantastic video. As they bide a little time in the car, our hero and his dad engage in this lovely “serve and return” interaction. And it’s hard to tell which of them is loving it more. If you’re a new parent or grandparent, know that these face-to-face, back-and-forth interactions are one of the very best ways to light up your baby’s developing brain. At birth your baby’s brain is home to up to 100 billion neural (nerve) cells - but depends heavily on early experiences and interactions to help create the connections between them that will go on to undergird language and more sophisticated forms of cognition. During the earliest months of life researchers estimate that these neural connections occur at a rate of one million per second - meaning that 60 million or more occur over the course of this beautiful one minute conversation. Talk, talk, talk to your baby. The payoff will be huge. This loving father and son duo was shared to TT by smileybunch.

I’m sometimes asked what initially drew me to the field of early childhood education. From now on I’m just going to show people this video. Bottom line: there is no more joyful an experience than being in community with young children. Their enthusiasm, wonderment, and kindness is unmatched. 🎥 via nobaddays2024 on IG.