Journey of 2000 days

Wilkes Community Partnership for Children recently invited community members on a Journey of 2000 days by visiting early learning centers in Wilkes County.  Wilkes Community Partnership for Children encouraged the community to come out and learn why the first 2000 days is so crucial in the life of a child.  Stops were made to visit infant, toddlers, and preschoolers at Double Trouble Early Learning Center, Playworks Early Care and Learning Center, and Wilkes Developmental Day School.

There are only 2,000 days between the time a baby is born and when that child shows up for the first day of kindergarten. Experiences during these 2,000 days have a lasting impact on later learning, health and success. That is because children’s earliest experiences literally determine how their brains are wired; lay the groundwork for future health; and form the foundation of the social and emotional skills needed for academic and workplace success.

With quality early childhood education, children will be school ready; have higher graduation rates and grow into productive citizens and valuable employees. The first years of life hold the most critical periods for brain development. A hundred billion brain cells develop in the nine months that a mother’s womb nurtures a developing person. When the child is born, these billions of brain cells, called neurons, begin to connect to help a child build a useful brain. These connections are called synapses. The number of synapses multiplies to make trillions of connections that form a “map” with increasingly more complex connections. The network of connections influences intellectual capacity, memory, problem solving, and language. Most of these connections are made in early childhood with the first year being remarkably busy!

These first years are the period when the brain has the greatest hope for growth and construction. The synapses are strengthened by exposure to experiences. Experience provides stimulation that kick starts development of the synapses. Expanding from that base then develops more complex connections. Research tells us that synapses that are not stimulated are eliminated. They are pruned. They die. They wither. They are no longer there for use by the child.

One of the most important experiences in shaping a baby's brain development is "serve and return" interaction between children and significant adults in their lives. Young children naturally reach out for interaction through babbling, facial expressions, and gestures, and adults respond with the same kind of chatter and gesturing back at them. This back-and-forth process is fundamental to the wiring of the brain, especially in the earliest years.

Healthy development in the early years provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation.

Wilkes Community Partnership for Children, a local Smart Start agency, is a United Way funded agency. If you would like to find out more about the importance of the First 2000 days visit www.first2000days.org.