Our health and wellbeing tdt for this week was to watch 2 videos that explained why the first 4 years in a child’s life are the most important. Both videos showed that human babies are actually born prematurely compared to all other mammals due the ever-growing size of their brain. For the babies this means that their brains are still developing when they entre the human world and are influenced by the environment around them. In both videos the speakers talked about the importance of the environment around a baby and this is because brains develop as consequence to relationship. An example given in both videos was about the effects of a child being brought up in a family in which there is domestic abuse. It could be seen that this causes the brain to look for threatening behaviour in all situations and causes very high levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, to surround the brain.

Both videos emphasised the importance of children having a significant other during their early years. Children need consistency in other environments they are in, such as school, as they may have a hectic and inconsistent home life. Therefore, if they had consistency within nursery or school then the brains development will allow the child to have a more successful adulthood as they had a consistent environment in which a significant other showed them care and protection helping their brain to develop in a more positive way.

After watching both videos I am beginning to understand some of the importance of myself as a primary practitioner in a child’s development. These videos have shown me how important it is to have a consistent classroom in which the pupils can feel welcome and cared for, they feel encouraged and supported and most importantly it should be a place where they can be themselves and not have to worry about anything. Providing this environment should help with brain development, especially in the early stages, and help the children to reach their full potential.