Reading books on parenting or scouring the internet for some quick tips on child psychology seems to be passé for many. In the hope of making the best of their children’s development in the early years, parents are enrolling themselves and their babies, who are not even a year old, in classes that promise to help develop the infant’s motor and sensory skills. Most participants are nuclear families experiencing parenthood for the first time, without the support or wisdom of their parents or grandparents.
Over the last year, at least four companies have launched parent-toddler classes in different outlets in Bengaluru. These classes, conducted by ‘early childhood educators’, promise to help improve a child’s sensory and motor skills. In one activity, for instance, parents sit in a circle as an instructor shows them different techniques to massage their baby.
Depending on the age of the child, there are exercises that will help improve the child’s auditory and olfactory senses. Play areas are used to monitor and improve motor skills.
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Muktha Vikas, who had enrolled in a baby-sensory programme when her child was nine months, said her favourite session was the one that focused on how to induce sleep in a toddler. Her daughter is now a year-and-four-months-old. “The minute she enters the class, she is ready to jump and play,” she said.
K. John Vijay Sagar, associate professor, child and adolescent psychiatry, NIMHANS, said that such programmes, if conducted by trained professionals, focus on stimulating multiple modalities of the child. “It is important to ensure that various sensations such as taste, touch and hearing are stimulated in the first three years to avoid development delays,” he said.
He, however, added that these classes were only required if the parents or caregivers were not able to spend enough time with the child or provide adequate stimulation and exposure.
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