Parenting tips for families with young children in resource kit

SINGAPORE: Families with young children will get tips on how they can nurture their young ones during their formative years, with a resource kit developed by the experts.

The resource kit, "Growing With Your Child", has a handbook and four videos covering the milestones of a child’s development from birth to three years old.

It focuses on five areas of growth — physical, language, cognitive, social and emotional.

The resource kit was put together by the Child Development Network (CDN) of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

It’ll be given out to over 70,000 parents over the next two years through childcare centres and hospitals.

For now, the handbook and one of the four videos are also available on the

CDN website.

The resource kit was launched on Saturday by Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob at the inaugural Child Development Network Parenting Seminar.

Madam Halimah urged parents to play an active role, especially during the early years.

She said: "Children develop faster at this stage than they do at any other period of their lives. Researchers have found that the quality of interactions between a child and his caregivers is the most important in these years.

"Young children naturally reach out for interaction through sounds, facial expressions and gestures and their brain develops when adults respond back to them. The effort invested in building these early relationships is actually critical for the well—being of the child."

— CNA/ck