What does a child see when he looks at the world for the first time? Research conducted at Smith-KettlewelI Eye Research Institute (San Francisco) and at the University of California (Berkeley), among other places, has measured visual acuity in many babies and toddlers. They have found that in the first month of life, babies have a visual acuity of about 20/120.) So obviously, I am not speaking literally here. I want to explore the mind of a baby and what they see in their new world.
My son, my beautiful smiley new baby boy, who means more to me then all the stars in the sky and all the sand on the beach, is my world. I waited forty years for him to look up at me and know that the man he sees loves him more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow. I want him to see the love in my eyes, the smile and my face and most of all the warmth in my heart for him, even when he has that little brown clump of warmth in his diaper, his daddy adores him so.
What does a child see when they look into the sky to see the sun shining. Do they see global warming? Do they see the earth warming or do they just see the sun’s bright light. Children smile and feel the warmth of the sun; they do not have the worries that some do about pollution and the sun’s evil cancer causing rays. Children have parents to shield them from these things.
A child must be amazed at the world they discover. Whether it is a new toy or the first snow flake that they experience, a child is a like a sponge, thirsting for knowledge.
I see how amazed my son is when he looks up at a ceiling fan. I have tried to get on his level, but I see just a ceiling fan. I wonder if Keegan sees a big spider or an eagle in flight, as the ceiling fan goes round and round. I will always remember his first belly laugh was when he was watching the fan.
Over time, babies learn that they can act with intent and variety. They experience the ability to perform an action differently from the person they are imitating. Eventually they realize internal states, such as desire; further down the line they develop empathy.
The child-rearing implications are powerful: Imitative social games, such as patty-cake, can help create the mental maps of others that lead to empathic feelings.
Every person your child watches might be teaching her something. Young children can watch and learn to imitate anybody they see. This includes family members, babysitters, neighbors, and even strangers.
Do babies know more than we think? The basic answer, which is repeatedly being demonstrated in a myriad of new ways, babies know a lot more than most people used to think. They see more, hear more, understand more, and they are genetically prewired to make friends with any adult who cares for them. The implications of this research challenge some of the standard beliefs on how children should be reared, how they should be educated, and what they are capable of becoming as they grow up. Yale Psychology Professor William Kessen, who has been studying infants for more than 30 years, says in admiration of the newborn baby's zestful approach to life, "He's eating up the world." only one caveat about the new research: "Don't frighten parents! The baby is a friendly computer!"
How babies do any of the things they do is a matter of considerable complexity. Some theorists, like Thomas Verny, a Canadian psychiatrist who wrote The Secret Life of the Unborn Child, believe the infant begins learning behavior patterns while it is still in the uterus. Most experts, however, assume that the genes still carry messages that primitive humans once needed for survival. The so-called Moro reflex, for example, which makes a newborn infant reach out its arms in a desperate grasping motion whenever it feels itself falling, implies some monkey-like existence at the dawn of time. Says Lewis Lipsitt, director of the Child Study Center at Brown and a pioneer in research on babies: "The human infant is extremely well coordinated and put together for accomplishing the tasks of infancy. These are: sustenance, maintaining contact with other people, and defending itself against noxious stimulation."
I am convinced that a child can see and learn from the day they are born. It is a job as a parent to make sure that what they see and what they learn begins and ends with that smile so big, it is the size of a ray of sunshine.
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