The Socially-Emotionally Savvy Newborn | By: Committee for Children This week's blog comes to us from Program Developer Tonje Molyneux, who is, at the time of this posting, still pregnant. By the time you read this, the child I’ve been playing host to for the past forty weeks and four days will have hopefully chosen to make her glorious debut Earthside. Pregnancy does nothing if not try one’s patience! It also offers opportunity for frequent introspection. For me, this has meant introspection in the traditional sense of the word as I examine my thoughts and feelings about pregnancy and becoming a parent. It has also meant a more literal form of introspection as I look inward and ponder the life developing inside of me. Engaging in the latter has brought up questions about the social and emotional abilities my newborn child will bring with her into this world. Today we know that neonates are not born the blank slates we once thought they were. They arrive with needs that extend beyond sleeping and eating, and with abilities that surpass the reflexes typically associated with healthy, newborn behavior. But to what extent will my child arrive prepared to engage on a social and emotional level with her caregivers and others in her social network? Apparently newborns come wired with an extraordinary array of abilities that help them navigate their environments and guide their social and emotional development. Within the first few hours and days of life, newborns exhibit: A preference for “baby talk” that helps them understand our emotional intentions and may help them learn to speak An ability to recognize their mothers’ voices, and a preference for them An ability to recognize their native language A knowledge of and preference for faces, particularly those with open eyes and happy expressions An ability to recognize their parents’ faces A preference for looking at people who make direct eye contact with them An aversion (sometimes to the point of distress) for faces with neutral expressions Greater interest in things that you are looking at An ability to imitate facial expressions An ability to show empathy This impressive skill set implies that newborns come ready and willing to engage on a social and emotional level with those around them, and that this engagement is an important part of their early development. Their ability to identify voices and faces, communicate, and understand the hearts and minds of those around them will serve them well in making sense of the social and emotional world that awaits them. Knowing this as a new parent adds another layer of meaning to the many moments I will spend gazing at, smiling at, and talking to my socially and emotionally savvy newborn.