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I like that they started with comparison to other animals, with humans being born "sooner" in the development cycle due to our larger brains. To me, this sets
by ukulele 9y ago
I like that they started with comparison to other animals, with humans being born "sooner" in the development cycle due to our larger brains.
To me, this sets up a nice mental model for the first ~18 months of parenting: your child is still developing the extreme basics, in particular its brain, which is forming pathways based on your actions. So set to work forming those pathways with lots of talking, face time, and letting your child observe the world. After all, it came out to get an "early" start!
- jimktrains2 9y agoMany call the first 3 mo the "Fourth Trimester" for that very reason. The baby is still basically a fetus in many regards. It's around that 3 mo point that they start to really respond to external stimuli in more than basic ways and start to be able to explore their environment.
- EvanAnderson 9y agoHere's a fun point of applicable biology terminology (by way of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altricial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altricial
- SAI_Peregrinus 9y agoExcept that there are plenty of other altricial animals. Many birds, rodents, cats, dogs, other primates, etc. It's not unique to humans.