Human Development

Strong Moms (a newsletter by Similac)
July 2009

"Strong Moms" is a newsletter that I receive every month from Similac since I had my baby girl Zahra (5 months ago.) It comes on several cards that have tips and advice for new moms. This month the newsletter included a lot of tips about spending one on one time with your baby to help his or her development. Here are some that I thought were the most important:

1)Hug and cuddle your baby often

2)Smile and talk to your baby often and sing to her at bedtime

3)Play “Peekaboo” and let your baby look in a mirror

4)Read books to your baby

5)Get touchy feely, and rub different textured fabrics onto your baby’s hands and feet

6)Make trips with your baby (like to the park or the supermarket) so he or she can experience new sights and sounds.

The newsletter echoes the topics studied in chapter 9 of our text, “Human Development”, in the section titled: “The Newborn” as well as the section “Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development. These sections explain how important it is for babies to be exposed to new sights, sounds and experiences. In particular, schemas are defined as “the mental images or generalizations that form as people experience the world.” Schemas in other words organize past experiences and provide a framework for understanding future experiences.” So the tips contained in the newsletter, like letting your baby look in a mirror, encourage moms to help their babies form new schemas. In this example, once the baby has an experience with the mirror, they ’catalog’ what mirrors can do for future encounters with them.