• Beats the child;
• Burns the child’s hands or other body parts;
• Sexually abuses the child;
• Leaves the child alone with no one to look after him;
• Denies the child food or drink;
• Locks the child out of the house;
• Curses or shouts a lot at the child;
• Teases a child too much and makes him feel stupid; or
• Demeans a child by spitting on him.

Your child’s brain works in a very special way:

• First he watches, listens and imitates
• Then he compares what he is doing to other things he has already done
• He asks you and himself questions about what he is doing
• Then he tries to do better
• And he repeats, repeats, repeats his actions in order to master them.

In order for children to get a fair start in life, pregnant mothers must be healthy and eat well. If a mother does not feed well, the baby will be weak and small. The diet for mothers should have a variety of foods such as dark green and orange vegetables, meat, liver and fish. Apart from feeding well, pregnant mothers need to think well about themselves and their situations. Unborn babies can be affected by a mother’s stress or depression, which can also leave the mother unable to take good care of her baby once it is born.

While a baby is in the womb, the brain grows more rapidly than in any other stage of infant or child development. And during the first year after birth, the brain continues to grow rapidly, tripling in size by an infant's first birth- day. So, it would make sense for a pregnant and lactating mother to supplement her diet with brain-buil- ding nutrients, primarily the omega 3 fatty acids found in fish and flax oil (one tablespoon of flax oil daily, four ounces of tuna or salmon three times a week). In fact, some nutritionists re-commend that pregnant and lac- tating women take 200 milligrams of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) supp-lements a day. DHA is the primary structural component of brain tissue, so it stands to reason that a deficiency of DHA in the diet could translate into a deficiency in brain function.

All children need love and attention in order to grow well. Children need things to play with but just as importantly, they need loving people to be with and play with. Mother and father are the most important people in this regard who have a lasting impact on the child. Both parents can help their sons and daughters develop well by:
• Talking to the child
• Touching the child
• Hugging the child
• Listening and responding to the child.

Talk about and touch your child when possible: the things you see in the sky, in the house, near the house, at the clinic, at the market. Mention colors, shapes, sizes. Talk about smell and to-uch the flowers, plants and trees aro-und you. Ask your children what sounds they hear.

Set good examples and be consistent.It is important that everyone involved in looking after your child is teaching in more or less the same way. If you and your partner or child-minder do things very differently, your child will not learn easily. She will not know whose standards to follow. She will not be confused.