Don’t let those early years of your baby go by
Focusing on young minds: Niroshi Embuldeniya. Pic by M. D. Nissanka
“The main message I would like to give parents is to spend time with your children and do not underestimate those important years between 0-5. Give them that much needed stimulation, make it fun for them and play – they learn about the world through us,” says Niroshi Embuldeniya.
For the past 15 years, mother of three, Niroshi has been dedicated to helping new and experienced parents through the initial years of their children’s lives with her parent and child development group, Mums and Bubs Sri Lanka. Despite an extensive background in Industrial Economics since graduating from the University of Warwick, it was only after the birth of her first child and whilst working as a banker in Australia that she recognized the importance of education in children aged 0-5 years old. Having lived in the UK, Dubai and Australia, Niroshi would keenly observe the different ways in which each region approached early childhood education and eventually began her own experiential training first at Hey Dee Ho, a music presentation company which provides specialist educational programmes for babies, toddlers and preschoolers and Caulfield Grammar School where she worked as the Playgroup Coordinator.
On her return to Sri Lanka in 2012 she gained further experience at the Chitra Lane School for the Special Child and annually attends international educational conferences like the Global Education Forum. “Sad to say I’m the only Sri Lankan who is there at this forum while there are multiple people from every imaginable country there – we’re missing out on learning about new educational systems, about procuring equipment and the facilities we need – so much needs to be done to develop education in Sri Lanka.”
On the origins of Mums and Bubs which she started in 2013, she says, “When I started playgroups in Sri Lanka, I realized that a lot of parents were in a rush to get back to work and they were leaving their children in the care of uneducated nannies who didn’t necessarily have the capabilities or the know-how on how to give the babies in their care the stimulation and the attention they needed other than the very basic requirements of food and sleep and keeping them clean.”
These early years of a child’s life are crucial to their overall development, Niroshi stresses, adding that a baby’s brain is initially 1/4th the size of an adult’s brain, however will double in size during their first year alone and by age 5, their brains reach 90% of the size of an adult’s brain. She says, “Children need meaningful play experiences to help connect the billions of neurons they are born with, so my job is to give them stimulation and give the parents the skills on how to stimulate their babies’ brains so that they can make the most of that development opportunity.”
Through her parent and child bonding activities which are all exclusively play based, she explains that these exercises help babies and children to develop essential confidence and social skills, fine and gross motor skills, speech and language development and cognitive skills. For instance, she highlights the importance of the oxytocin hormone and how simple actions such as cuddling your child can help release oxytocin which in turn aids with the child’s brain development. Encouraging a child’s scribbling can also be construed as a development activity which helps the child to connect the left hemisphere of their brains with the right hemisphere.
Niroshi says that she educates parents on how simple things like these go a very long way – “so many things need to be developed in children before they can even hold a pen and begin to write – even something as simple as climbing a tree develops their finger strength so that they can learn to write.”
Hence sessions include Music Movement and Play, Sensory and Art Play, Outdoor Picnic and Play for Gross Motor Development and even excursions for enriching educational experiences.
In addition to the play-based activities used to benefit the children and form a parent support network, holistic value-added services where visiting specialists such as nutritionists, dentists, certified first aid and Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) practitioners and speech and language therapists offer their expertise can be availed of.
“To see children grow from apprehensive babies to confident, babbling toddlers brings me enormous joy,” says Niroshi.
She adds that she is interested in training other like-minded educators. “I strongly believe that for a nation like ours to progress, a change in our education offerings is key. I would like to help transform this landscape starting with the youngest minds. Especially during these troubled times, it is more than apparent that for a country to prosper, a sense of unity, community and empathy is required. If the education system can embody a real understanding of our little people’s minds and needs, we would be able to provide programmes that display more sensitivity towards their holistic development and hence create a more sustainable future.”
For more information on Mums and Bubs Sri Lanka visit www.facebook.com/mumsbubssl
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