Dad, you can help to build a strong brain for your baby and toddler. When you interact directly with your child to talk and play, you actually build millions of neuron connections in your baby’s brain. You really are “Superman” for your baby because you are the trusted hero that helps your baby grow a stronger brain!

It is amazing new science. Every interaction you have directly with your child actually contributes to their brain growth. Millions of neurons connect in your child’s brain every time you talk directly as a loving adult to your child. As a trusted adult and loving father, you can make a huge difference for your child that creates major benefits for their entire life. Every time you are able to Talk. Read. Play. Count. or Sing. with your child in those first months and years of life builds brain connections that will literally help them for their entire life.

Some fathers think that the play time and the talk time they have with their child is just a pleasant thing to do. It is much more than pleasant. It builds neuron connections at a rapid rate in the brain of the child. It is important time because caring, direct interactions and talking directly in loving ways to your child makes a real difference in the future capabilities of your child—even when the child might not appear to be responding in ways that look like the child is understanding the words or listening to the conversation.

Here is an excerpt from BabyCenter.com on tips for dads for bonding with and nurturing your baby. Each of these activities helps to build neuron connectivity for a stronger brain and emotional wellbeing for life.

• Have cuddle time. Be a trusted cuddle person for your child.
• Let your baby know how happy you are to see him or her. Happy sounds are loved by babies. Make your baby laugh when you can and that laughter will actually make them happier and more capable at multiple levels.
• Talk and sing to him regularly, with your eyes looking into his eyes and your face up close.
• Play with him every day if you can. Or play often if you can’t do it every day.  Newborns can enjoy playtime as much as older babies. Your style of play may be different than your partner’s, and that’s okay. Your baby will love playing with both of you and being different increases their ability to interact with a world that isn’t always exactly the same.
• If you can find the time, carry your baby in a sling or front carrier on walks or as you go about your daily routine.
• Read to your baby regularly. Hold him in friendly and caring ways as you read. Reading at the earliest ages teaches your baby the wonderful linkage between written words and meaning and reading with you teaches your child that you care about him and you want him to be happy and to have a good life.
• Mirror his movements and echo his coos and other sounds and vocalizations, in those first weeks and months. These sounds are the first steps to communicating with him and baby brains very happily add millions of connections every time they hear their baby sounds spoken back to them by a loving and trusted adult.

Here are more great articles and resources we’ve found for new dads. Check these out as well.

• Zero to Three – Daddy Matters with La Guardia Cross
• Psych Central – 10 Tips for New Fathers
• Today’s Parent – A Rookie Dad’s Guide to Newborns
• New Dads Survival Guide
• Dads Adventure – A Bootcamp for New Dads
• Baby Center – Should I Worry About Spoiling My Baby
• Baby Center – Top Tips for Dads on Bonding With Your Baby

Dads can make a huge difference in the life of their child. Mothers are wonderful and grandparents are really great and fathers are special. Be special for your child. Read, talk, count and sing with your child and your child will be happier, more ready for school and for the next levels of education, and your child will have the sense of self esteem that comes from knowing that her father is on her side.

It is good for every child to have a sense that their father is on their side. That can be done by doing the things recommended by this website—and there are huge benefits for neuron connectivity that will happen in the process that medical science did not understand very well until a very short time ago.

We now know that science. Use it as a loving father to make a better world for your child.