Our first Health and Wellbeing input focused on the importance of relationships particularly for children. In the early stages of our lives we are constantly adapting to our environment and as part of our TDT for Health & Wellbeing we were instructed to watch two videos related to relationships in early years and the connection with brain development.
The first video with Doctor Suzanne Zeedyk, she introduces the fact that babies brains are incredibly flexible and adaptable. She emphasised that a significant amount of brain development occurs in those early years but it does not just simply stop at 3 years of age, it continues into adolescence in later life. An interesting point that stuck out for me in particular was how the brain copes with certain situations. In a class, not all children will come from the same background, there will be a variety and what was interesting was that a child’s environment can have such a significant impact on their brain development. The example used in this video was the effect if a child was living in a home where domestic violence occurs. The child needs to learn how to cope with this threatening environment and to do so is by monitoring when these violent acts occur. Doctor Suzanne Zeedyk made it clear that this can then heavily impact the child as they will struggle to then focus their attention on other things in their environment.
In the second video, detective chief John Carnochan highlighted very similar points to the previous videos as he also emphasised the importance of the first few stages in life. He talks about how, as a society, we need to support these children living in these harsh circumstances or environments and also their parents/carers. A particular point that made me think about how practitioners can help and one of the most effective methods was to simply smile at children. It’s fascinating how such a small and simple action can create such a big impact on a child’s life as it can help brain development especially in babies.
It was clear, after watching these videos I realised that teachers can be that significant adult in a child or young person’s life. A vital message that was illustrated throughout these videos was that children need consistency in their lives and teachers can offer that consistency by creating a safe and secure environment where children can thrive. Teachers are role models for their children and can demonstrate to them on a daily basis what good relationships are and how they can build good relationships. I now further understand the importance of these issues raised and in the future when I become a teacher I can offer a comfortable environment where every child feels supported.
