6 Benefits Of Playing With Your Baby In Front Of The Mirror – Parenthood
The benefits of playing with your baby in front of the mirror
The mirror helps her to know her body
To help your child get to know his body, have him play for a while in front of a mirror in which he can see himself as a whole. The mirror will teach him what his body language is, and how he sees himself.
If at 8 months it is still early to understand that the image he is seeing is his own, he will get used to it as he grows up. He will get used to seeing himself and connecting the gestures he makes with those he observes “on the other side”. And he will realize that this is his own reflection.
Empathy
When you put your baby in front of a mirror to play, you are helping her to be an empathetic person.
The little one who looks at himself, laughs and finds an answer to his joy, learns to feel empathy for others.
It promotes the development of brain capacities
Whenever possible, accompany your child when he plays in front of a mirror. In addition to observing his own reflection and interacting with it, the fact of seeing that you wear it, kiss it, caress it, gives it great satisfaction.
So, we insist on this point, as he is still a baby he will not be fully aware that it is indeed him. It is the fact of seeing your actions and the relationship that you have with him, you, this other mother who is the same as you, and the baby she is carrying, that produces sensations of pleasure.
All the positive stimuli that you give to your child will help the development of his brain capacities.
He gets to know his environment
From a young age, your child has been attentive to everything that is happening around him.
If you change something inside the room he is in, he will notice it. Just like a decoration specialist would. His goal and his hobby is this: to observe everything in order to know the environment that surrounds him.
A mirror hung in the baby’s room will be of great use to him so that his sight reaches certain places. Places that are behind him, or that are at a different angle from the position he is in. And the mirror also serves to reinforce the knowledge he already has of his own space.
His reflection in the mirror calms him, amuses him and makes him feel safe
A child feels safe and confident when he is with another child.
When he sees this other child smiling, playing, crawling briskly, it has the same effect on him. It calms and relaxes him.
The movement of the body and all the gestures made by this accompanying “child” amuse him a lot. It even entertains him more than playing with any doll or stuffed animal.
If you want your baby to feel all of these effects, place a mirror in their room. Or in any other space where you usually put it to play. You will see that the child who can see in a mirror is delighted like never before.
Psychomotor development in front of a mirror
Take advantage of games in front of the mirror to strengthen motor skills.
Put a blanket on the floor, and the mirror against a wall. Then place your child some distance from the mirror.
If it is still very small, put it on its stomach. You will be able to take advantage of this moment to strengthen his musculature, and the control of his head.
If your child knows how to sit, put him in this pose and let him play in front of the mirror. Place an object near the mirror, so that he can see them in the mirror and close to him, and that he tries to grab the two objects that he can see.
The goal is to make him work with his little body. You will see that he will try to crawl forward.
As you will understand, putting the baby in front of a mirror so that he can play will bring him many benefits.
When doing this, however, you must take into account that babies and mirrors do not always go well together. Thus, this element of decoration and beauty should always be at a certain distance from your child.
