Active Babies Smart Kids: Online Baby Classes – Information for Educators

We invite all educators and influencers of baby and child development, of parenting and of family health and happiness to join the rapidly increasing number of professionals informing the parents and expecting parents in their care, of GymbaROO’s entirely online series of baby classes for parents of babies: The Active Babies Smart Kids series. Join this growing group of professionals who, like us, are committed to making a massive positive difference to the lives of so many families and to the future of so many children.

Research into brain development clearly shows that in the early years, brain connectivity occurs as a result of movement experiences. The supporting documentation is now vast and undeniably confirms that introducing the correct movement experiences into babies and young children’s daily lives from the earliest months will have a profound influence on neurological organisation, brain growth and future intelligence and coordination. Read more here.

The Active Babies Smart Kids series is an online video series for parents of babies, about the importance of their babies’ first year. In a fun, loving, easy to digest and interactive way, the series shows parents exactly what to do to ensure they give their baby the best start, the correct stimulation and movement experiences needed to lay these crucial foundations for later learning. The series teaches parents how to play with their babies in the best way for brain and body development from birth.

This series already comes highly recommended by many paediatricians, doctors, early childhood experts and the Maternal Child and Family Health Nurses Association of Australia. It is being called: ‘The essential guide for parents’. We created this series for parents of babies (from birth to crawling) and expecting parents, however there are also now many educators and educational institutions also including the series in their staff and students training.

We, and many other professionals, believe that it is the best and most important resource in the world for parents of babies in their first year. The series is now being used, shown or promoted by doctors, paediatricians, antenatal clinics, midwives, doolas, postnatal clinics, Maternal Child and Family Nurse clinics, optometrists, educational institutions, childhood physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors, childcare centres, authors of books and articles on baby development, nannies and more.

By working together with this resource, not only will we be fostering an awareness of the importance of early childhood development in the earliest year, helping to promote happy and healthy development, we will also, together, be working towards decreasing the incidence of; learning difficulties, paediatric obesity, childhood depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and other related physical, mental and emotional issues that can be created by an environmentally related slow start. We are also confident that this series will help to reduce the incidence of postnatal depression.

There are already thousands of parents and babies enjoying and benefiting from the series. We have been absolutely bombarded with comments from professionals and from very grateful and happy parents, thanking us for the series, many of them “wishing they had found it earlier.” Read testimonials here.

There are close to 300,000 babies born in Australia each year. We believe that every Australian parent has the need to know that this resource exists, to have access to the information and to understand the positive impact it can have on their child’s future. Every parent has the right to give their child the chance to be the best that s/he can be.

Read all about the series below: What it is; why it’s needed; how it helps and how it came about.

How to inform those in your care of the Active Babies Smart Kids Series

We invite you to do any of the following:

  • Inform parents that they can find the series at absk.com.au or  http://activebabiessmartkids.com.au/
  • The first episode, tummy time is completely free
  • Place an image and link to the series on your website, you will find a choice of images here.
  • Promote the series through your social media channels.
  • Show any part of the series during your parent group sessions.
  • Ask your local GymbaROO or KindyROO Franchisee to deliver to you some Active Babies Smart Kids brochures.
  • Invite your local GymbaROO franchisee to come along and talk to your parent groups on the importance of the first year to future development and learning.
  • Have one of our senior lecturers come a deliver a presentation to your staff or employees
  • You are welcome to post any of the articles written by our experts and featured on our websites  on your social media channels. You will find theses here Active Babies Smart Kids Articles and here GymbaROO Articles

Expecting parents

The earlier in their parenting career that both partners learn the important developmental information featured in the Active Babies Smart Kids series, the better for everyone. Well-educated parents make more confident parents. Watching the parts of the series appropriate for expecting parents will take them little more than one hour. ONE HOUR to make a huge investment in their baby’s future. See: Active Babies Smart Kids for expecting parents here.

About the Active Babies Smart Kids series: What it is

We have created this series for parents of babies from birth to crawling and expecting parents.

Registration is by email.

The series has been adapted from our internationally acclaimed, neuro-developmental programs and includes 12 x 22 minute episodes full of up to-date, important developmental information, specialists advice and fun, easy activities and ideas that help build key brain pathways for later learning.

  • The first five minutes of each of each episode cover the ‘how and why’ of important developmental areas: tummy time, baby massage, baby exercises, baby’s balance, visual development, speech, hearing, the importance of rhythm and music, primitive reflexes, crawling and more.
  • The middle section of each episode is where parents can join in with their baby to do easy, natural and loving activities to help with development. These are the ‘baby classes’. Each activity is based on fun and learning together with joy and happiness. Parents join in and dance and sing with their babies, do exercises to music, learn massage techniques, do action songs and hand and foot plays, they learn how to use common pieces of furniture around the home to help give their babies stimulation they need and so much more.
  • The final five minutes of each episode features childhood specialists giving answers to commonly asked questions about the original developmental topic of the episode.

Introductory video

The series is designed so parents can join in the activities with their baby from birth, in their own home, at a time that suits them. These activities are also fantastic for bonding.

Babies thrive on activities that are developmentally beneficial and parents thrive when babies thrives. It’s a win–win.

The series also has been made to reflect our nations multicultural nature and each episode includes the filming of mums and dads with their babies.

We continue to keep registered parents up to date on important aspects of baby and child development with the expertly written, high-quality content of our e-newsletters.

Why the Active Babies Smart Kids series is needed

What we know

  • Neuro-scientific studies confirm that what happens in the first year not only matters, it matters a lot.
  • Research confirms that the first year is the most important. What happens in the first year of life is profound and affects all later development.
  • A baby’s brain grows most rapidly in the first twelve months of life and this is a critical period for learning.
  • A baby’s brain development paves the way for their future level of intelligence, along with much of their personality, their health and mental stability.
  • The experiences a child has in the first years of life, especially the first year, are critical for brain development and for laying down the foundations for all future learning. It is during this time that much of the essential wiring linked to learning is laid down.
  • How well children behave, read and learn at school is directly related to the kinds of stimulation they experienced in the years before school. As a result, these formative years shape a child’s future health, happiness, development, learning ability and achievement at school.
  • Research into brain development clearly shows that in the early years, brain connectivity occurs as a result of movement experiences. Introducing the correct movement experiences into babies and young children’s daily lives from the earliest months will have a profound influence on neurological organisation, brain growth and intelligence.
  • Babies who have the right early movement experiences are found to have improved coordination, concentration, memory, perception and improved confidence, communication and socialisation skills.
  • While many of today’s children are not achieving anywhere near their potential, those who have spent their earliest years involved with the GymbaROO program are excelling, academically, on the sporting field, emotionally and in leadership roles. School teachers are describing those who have been through the GymbaROO program as having higher levels of concentration, better behaviour and being generally more socially mature and physically capable than their peers. Read more here.

Parents are babies first most important and best teachers

  • Parents, can have a dramatic influence over their baby’s brain growth and future learning ability.
  • What parents do and expose their babies to will have a vast and long-lasting impact on the development of the child.
  • Assisting parents to understand the importance of early childhood development is the key to helping their children develop into successful learners and competent adults.
  • Extensive research has demonstrated that knowledgeable parents care for their babies with greater competence and confidence.
  • There is also solid proof now linking supportive, attentive parenting to changes in the brain anatomy of babies and children.

Parents of babies need neuroeducation

  • Parents need to be empowered with the latest developmental knowledge to ensure they understand why and how they can assist their babies in developing essential skills for future learning.
  • Every child has great potential that can be reached when their adults have a real understanding of how the growing brains of children develop best.
  • What babies and children need are parents, carers, educators and teachers who understand neurodevelopment and act on this knowledge.
  • What parents of babies need is neuroeducation
  • Experts all over the world acknowledge it. Governments across the globe know it.

Our Government’s acknowledges this on the website: “The early years of a child’s life provide the foundation for future heath, development and wellbeing. A positive start in life helps children to reach their full potential, while a poor start increases the chances of adverse outcomes.”

Britain’s x Prime Minister, David Cameron, in his Life Chances Strategy was that experiences in the first two years of life have the power to alter children’s destinies “for good or ill in this window of opportunity.” With his finger well and truly on the pulse, he proposed that parenting classes are necessary. Cameron highlighted the need “to think big, be imaginative … opening ourselves up to the new thinking.”

The World Health Organisation identifies early childhood as the most important developmental phase throughout the lifespan, with lasting impacts that will affect the individual and the community.

It’s also clear to us all worldwide, that today’s parents need to be educated about what to do with their babies from birth, in a modern, easy to access format from a reliable and professional source.

“If you want to reach all parents, you could do some big, new thinking about how information is delivered. Media technologies are increasingly being used in health and psychological services to deliver information and intervene in people’s lives.” E.Meins Professor, Department of Psychology, University of York.

..and that’s what we have done. The Active Babies Smart Kids series is that exact resource

Children’s brain growth today is being stunted

Our modern lifestyle interferes significantly with the natural, expected, physiological stimuli required for optimal brain development and dramatically affects how our children’s brains are developing.

Children’s brain growth today is being stunted by inactivity, a terrifying increase in screen-time, babies and children being overly containerised in prams, car seats, bouncers, Bumbos and other ‘baby seats’, capsules etc. Babies and children are also being ‘bubble wrapped’ whereby the number and type of movement experiences are majorly reduced for fear of the child getting hurt.

Understanding how lifestyle changes impact on the foundations for learning, and applying this solution is the way forward.

The Active Babies Smart Kids series will also help to:

Decrease the incidence of learning difficulties

Presently one in five children begin school with developmental immaturities that affect learning. Children who progress through the normal, natural stages of development in the first years of life are unlikely to have learning problems when they are at school.

Decrease the incidence of paediatric obesity

One in four Australian children are overweight or obese and studies are suggesting that paediatric obesity and inactivity are on the rise. 24  Recent research has shown that it is as early as the first year that the problem starts for many children because as babies, they don’t get moving and they get heavier and movement gets harder and inactivity becomes easier. Vicious cycle. We need to get babies on their tummies when they are awake, we need to get them moving in the first year. Exercise and activity need to be the habit rather than inactivity.

Decrease the incidence of other related physical, mental and emotional issues

Depression, anxiety, low self-esteem are all serious health issues that can be created by an environmentally related slow start.

Decrease the incidence of post-natal depression

We believe this series could also help reduce the incidence of non-melancholic post-natal depression as it increases parental confidence and encourages bonding.

All this at the same time as saving the Government millions

“It’s a pocketbook issue. The research is pretty clear that an investment in those five years pays big dividends for taxpayers a few years down the road when children do not have to be held back a grade in school, don’t require expensive special education programs, avoid costly health issues and, as adults, stay off unemployment rolls.”8 Chris Quinn

Let’s work together

Everything about this series and us working together to get it out to as many parents and expecting parents as possible makes sense. It’s online. It educates parents. It helps give babies the start they need in this crucially important first year to help promote happy and healthy development.

The more we work together to this end, the more we will positively affect the lives of so many families and the future of so many babies, helping to make the future brighter, one baby at a time.

If you would like any more information or to talk with us regarding any of the GymbaROO programs please do not hesitate to get in contact here: office@staging.gymbaroo.com.au