Infant Brain Under Construction

Please, the baby’s brain is being wired
Don’t flood it with images from a screen
His fears and feelings are still unformed
His sense of self has no clear boundaries
Let his desires link up with his surroundings
Dr. Piaget calls this a time for ‘rapprochement’
When the child learns to connect inside with outside
The infant’s embryonic brain has excess neurons
Which are whittled away by programmed cell death
Which is called apoptosis, and all this happens
As proper reflex arcs are inscribed in nerve tracts
And perceptual templates lay the groundwork for thought
So when he sees Mama come out from behind a door
He learns that a warm embrace is soon to come
When something enters a box, then re-emerges
He learns the principle of containment in space
Which underlies thinking about inclusion in sets
So he needs stimuli from his natural setting
To knit his desires with his vision of the world
He’ll learn cause and effect from life around him
So don’t hit him with bursts and splashes of color
Don’t bombard him with cyborgs shooting ray guns
Don’t plunk him down in front of a screen
His brain is being wired, so please
Cut down on the baby’s screen time!