Tip 57: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

... Who is the prettiest of them all? It got to be my darling baby Haruka and my darling wife Tomomi. From 5 month onwards or maybe slightly before, I noticed Haruka has an interest to look at mirrors. Babies are beginning to observe their surroundings more closely, improve their memory of it and begin to understand the concept of mirror. In fact, after 3 months, the baby would be uncomfortable sleeping in a new bedroom or bathing in a new bathroom (especially if its not a nicely lit room with nice surroundings). I carry Haruka in front of the mirror and wave at the mirror with a smile. She gets excited and then remembers that daddy was carrying her and not in front of her. So she turns back and looks at me. Then, she turns front and looks at the mirror reflection of me waving. Then, she looks at me. Its the same person. There are 2 daddies! She is beginning to try to understand. Mirrors are great ways for an object lesson on surroundings and improving memory of a baby's vision.

Its amazing how a baby learns. Its exponential growth in learning from month 3 when the baby has full control of her 5 senses and explores it. It seems like yesterday, when I was in the baby delivery room and out came Haruka and her first reaction was to turn her head around looking at the new surroundings. She is one curious girl and I am glad her learning developments are good and would be a clever girl one day. All children will be intelligent in this coming era where parents are competing against each other or working together to obtain the best information to provide the best learning environment for children. In a globalized world, there will be not only a competition to be best in maths, computers, science, arts and literature, but also in acquiring as much languages, ability to understand cultures and improve ones communication with anybody from anywhere. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the smartest of them all? Its our God who created each of us, so we may be humbled that we are human and is imperfect but has the desire to strive for the best.