Self Esteem

By the time children have reached age 8, they have developed four different types of self esteem. These are academic, social, athletic, and physical appearance. Academic self esteem is built off school subjects, while social is from relationships with others such as peers and parents. Athletic self esteem is based on sports and physical activities, while physical appearance is based on, well, appearance.

Encouragement

I would advise to get interested in whats going on with them at preschool, and try and do similar things at home. Reading to your children is always good, but if you can tie it in with what they are already doing, it will stick easier. There are also games that you can used to interest them in learning, ones that involve counting or writing. Now, there are also games on the computer, such as webkins and other little sites, that have games like these built in! Getting them toys that help recognize shapes helps as well, though I don't know what those toys are called lol. What is most important is to show your child you are interested in what he or she is learning. That is one of the most motivating things there is.

Sensitive Periods

When it comes to sensitive periods in brain development, you must start early. In chapter six, the sensitive period it spoke of was language development. While researchers have not been able to find the exact boundaries of the sensitive period, it is shown that the ease at learning language does decrease over time. This goes to show that the younger, the better.

I explained to my friend about how both her and her husband would be contributing 23 chromosomes, but it would be her husband who would be contributing either a second X chromosome, or a Y chromosome. If he contributed another X, the child would be a girl, and if he contributed a Y the child would be a boy. I also advised her that if she was going to have a child, try to have it as young as possible, because the chances of downs syndrome increase by large amounts as you age.