The Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation today launched a broad-reaching outreach campaign to make people aware that providing the right environment for children under the age of 5 is of the utmost importance in ensuring their success in school. The campaign, entitled Help them grow, puts parents back in the spotlight, valuing their essential role in helping children develop the maturity they need to successfully begin their school years.
The Foundation is concerned by the results of a recent study indicating that only half of all parents in Quebec know that the brain's peak learning capacity is during the first three years of life. "This period of childhood is critical, because that's when the brain is most receptive to stimuli," says Michel Boivin, Vice-President, Societal Mobilization, of the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation. "Furthermore, 68% of parents do not feel that society values their role as parents. We want to create a climate that promotes every kind of activity that can help little ones grow and thrive."
Experts associated with the campaign believe that, during the early years, parents are the most important people in their children's lives and are also the best equipped for the job; in fact, parents are a baby's idols. The simplest parent-child interactions during the course of an ordinary day can prevent all kinds of delays and difficulties that may hinder a child's development and ability to learn.
"With Quebec's alarming school dropout rates causing such concern, it is worth noting that early intervention can play a critical role in determining a child's interest in their education and capacity to stay committed to it," notes Germain Duclos, psycho-educator and special education teacher.
It's all decided in the first five years... and even before
While all vital organs - heart, lungs and kidneys - are fully functional at birth, the brain is still developing and continues to be malleable until the age of five. Research shows that the neural connections established in the first five years of life have a determining impact on how a child will think, learn and develop.
"At birth, a baby's brain is just one-quarter the size of an adult brain, but it triples in size until it accounts for 80% of body mass by the age of three," explains Julie Brousseau, early childhood expert with the Foundation. "This is the time when the potential for learning is greatest. A young child's brain is twice as active as an adult's. At this stage, the child is literally learning how to learn. That little brain has to be fed, i.e. stimulated, and some of the best ways are through touch, play and language."