We here at Lifestart love sharing some of the many wonderful topics covered in our Growing Child magazines. These are the magazines we use in our Growing Child Programme which is part of our home visiting service. This is certainly a service I wished I had when I became a mother. And in my opinion (and that of many of my friends) it’s a service that should be available to all new families. Fingers crossed the day will come. For now though I’m going to give you an overview of our Growing Child magazines and why we think they are wonderful.
However, before I go any further it is so important to know that we here at Lifestart know each child is unique. All develop at their own rate. We looked at this in detail in the blog ‘Who is the typical baby?’ Deirdre the author outlines that the ‘typical’ child doesn’t actually exist. It is simply a concept used to describe what you may expect to find developmentally at a particular age. Please remember this when you are reading the Growing Child .
So let’s delve into what you can expect from the Growing Child Collection. To start with there are 60 issues in total. Each issue looks at one month of a child’s development. For example, issue 36 would look at what you would expect of a ‘typical’ 36 month old. Topics in each issue outline what to expect from your child based on the developmental stage at that age. And I am proud to say every issue has lots of know-how and tips on how to help you support your child’s development across all their developmental domains.
Developmental Domains in Early Childhood
Do you know there are four key developmental domains? In the world of child development these are known as the emotional, social, intellectual and physical domains. Growth across these domains helps us understand the growth and change experienced by our children. Take a moment and just think about how much a child grows and changes from birth to five. Astonishing, isn’t it?
There is lots of evidence out there now helping us understand what impacts on our children’s development. Leading researchers are now telling us that a baby’s brain undergoes an amazing period of development from birth to three. In fact evidence now suggests that babies learn more in the first two years of life than any other period of their life!
The important message to take from this is we need to engage with and stimulate our baby from day one. Stimulation across all your child’s developmental domains can be achieved through simple everyday activities. These of course are covered on a month by month basis in our Growing Child magazines.
A Whole Child Approach
Another key thing to understand is that development in one domain does not happen in isolation. Development in one domain is always linked to development in another. For children to develop holistically stimulation across all these domains is critical. Children who are physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally rounded tend to be healthier and happier.
‘The Whole Child Approach’ is central to Lifestart’s Growing Child Programme and this is reflected in every single issue of the Growing Child magazine. Topics and tips are fun and engaging, supportive and based on the latest research in child development. Issues 1 – 24 are now available in digital format and hard copy issues are available for 1 to 60. All formats are available from our online shop. And Issue 1 in digital format is free to everyone – so enjoy!
