Ma, how did you give birth to us? Normal or CS?

Ma, when will you and Papa separate?

Ma, will you die too?

Sasha asked me those questions. At times (actually most of the times), I struggle to give her the answer that would satisfy her ever-inquisitive mind. But I had to answer her because if not, she’ll only ask more questions.

Kids say, ask and do the darndest things in life. A fact of life that you cannot avoid or ignore. Well, you don’t have to. Just dig into the wonderful world that your child creates.

Darnedest/darndest is a euphemistic form of damnedest, the superlative of damned; also means “surprising, remarkable, amazing.”

And while at it, there are Interesting Facts about Babies and kids that I bet you didn’t know. At least not yet. Read on.

Interesting facts about pregnancy and childbirth

• Fathers determine the child’s height while mothers their weight.
• Maternal stress affects fetal development. Also, stress hormones released by the mother reduce the placenta’s natural ability to protect the fetus from stress hormones in the future.
• At around the 23rd week, babies begin to startle upon hearing a new sound. Repeating the same noise often would stop the startling.

At around the 28th week of pregnancy, babies begin to smell. They start smelling the same smells as their mothers.

• Even before birth, the brain of a baby develops differently for both boys and girls. However, there is no wholly male or female brain.
• The first three months of a baby is also called the ‘fourth trimester.’

Interesting facts about newborn babies

• Babies are cute because of what scientists referred to as ‘baby schema.’ It refers to certain features such as rounded head, big forehead, large eyes, protruding cheeks, round body and soft surfaces.
• Humans are evolutionarily programmed to appreciate the baby’s cuteness to ensure that babies are well-taken cared of.
• The baby’s brain reaches an adult size when he or she turns one year old; 80% is achieved when the baby turns 2.

Full size is reached by kindergarten although the Brain would not stop developing until the mid-20s. After which, the brain never stops developing – either for better or worse.

• A baby’s brain is like a lantern – it’s not aware of anything. On the other hand, the adult’s brain is like a flashlight – it focuses consciously on specific objects, but tends to ignore the background. Creative people think like a baby, scientists claim.
• Crying is the ability of a baby to survive. A baby’s cry is exceptionally unique. The sound that crying creates trigger emotional responses in the human brain which responds differently to any other sound.
• Also, babies cry with the intonation of their mother tongue.
• The eyes of a newborn baby are about 75% of the size of the adult eyes. However, their vision is blurry. A baby’s vision from 20/400 improves to 20/20 at six months old.
• Newborn babies can taste sweet, bitter and sour. They get to taste salt when they are four months old when receptor proteins that are sensitive to sodium begin to emerge in the taste buds.
• Babies exhibit palmar grasp – a natural ability that happens when you someone touches or strokes an infant’s palm or puts anything on it.

Interesting facts about infants

• Babies are born with a “moral blank slate,” but they tend to know right from wrong at six months old.
• Educational shows for infant do not promote intellectual development. Infants can only respond to things that respond to them. Playtime with your baby is far more valuable than letting them watch ‘educational’ videos or shows on TV.
• Infant TV watching is directly associated with poor language development. Two or more hours of watching TV everyday increases the chance of language delay by 6x.
• Babies would know less than 300 words when their parents rarely talk to them. A child from a professional family hears a million or more words than a poor child.

A toddler often says “mine,” but it’s not a selfish declaration. Experts refer to this as the cognitive achievement to selfhood. The child is beginning to understand that he or she and other kids are separate entities.

• At one year and six months old, a toddler learns a new word every two waking hours. By age 6, the child can understand about 13,000 words although he or she may not necessarily say the word.

Interesting facts about parenthood

• Parents who respond to emotional cues as quickly as possible tend to raise kids who can better regulate their own emotions.
• Parents respond to 50 to 60% of a baby’s vocalization. But scientists discovered that parents should do so 80% of the time or learning will decline. Language development can be also sped up through this process.
• When parents especially mothers hold and stroke their babies, hormones essential for the baby’s growth are released.
• Authoritative parenting, or the parenting style which is more democratic than authoritarian, tend to result in happier, more capable and more successful children.

Children do best when they have at least three loving adults in their lives. These people will be their most important support system.

• Spanking impacts intellectual development. Corporal punishment is linked to lower IQ.

Interesting facts about toddlers

• Children and even adults cannot remember much about before they turn three years old because of what psychologists described as ‘infantile amnesia.’
• Children who have more than 3 hours of screen time has a higher chance of conduct and relationship problems. They also tend to experience more emotional symptoms by the time they are seven years old compared to children who do not.

A 3-year-old’s voice is louder than about 200 adults inside a crowded restaurant.

• Between the ages 3 and 8, a child’s brain tissue uses much twice energy compared to that of an adult’s brain’s. A 5-year-old child needs 860 calories per day, half of that energy is used up by the brain.
• Children begin organizing information related to memory at the age of 7.
• On average, a 4-year-old child asks about 390 questions a day.
• A child’s sense of privacy typically begins when he or she is around 8 or 9 years old.

Play is the most efficient way for a child to learn valuable life skills.

• Parentese or baby talk, which is critical to the development of an infant, is an instinctual response of the parents. It helps babies grasp new words.