WANGANUI counsellors are urging parents to attend parenting classes before their children are born.
Counsellor Marie Skidmore said experts at a recent national conference of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors had repeatedly stressed the negative impact family violence had on children's brain growth.
After more than a decade of research, there were now new understandings of which parents should be aware before they raised children, as the majority of brain development took place in the first three years of life, she said.
Research had shown that infant exposure to violence or shouting on a daily basis caused the creation of unhealthy brain connections and the release of hormones which impeded brain growth.
"People don't realise that even the way you talk to a child and what the child sees and hears in terms of violent and negative behaviour affects that brain development," Ms Skidmore said.
Research showed that the brains of babies and infants exposed to constant shouting, screaming, emotional abuse or violence produced large doses of a chemical called cortisole which triggered the "fight or flight" reaction in the brain and was toxic to brain growth.
"(Cortisole) is like a weedkiller to the growth of a new brain - a brain is like a garden. We all need a little bit of cortisole; we don't need too much," she said.
Developing brains required repeated exposure to positive experiences to develop good connections and to release the endorphins needed to for healthy brain growth, she said.
However, in cases of severe abuse or neglect, a child's brain could grow up to 30 percent smaller than other brains.
Infants constantly exposed to violence or abuse could later become hyperactive and hypervigilant and lack the ability to control violent behaviour, while in adulthood they often became violent, lacked empathy, developed drug dependency, mental problems, suicidal thinking, violent behaviour or became involved with criminal activity.
Wanganui social agencies and schools were dealing with the effects of brain damage due to early exposure to violence and abuse on a "huge" scale, she said.
"It's not race, it's not Wanganui - it's totally to do with our lack of understanding of brain development - we didn't know about this before, but now we do," she said.
Parenting classes could help parents better understand the role they played in brain development.
NZAC Wanganui secretary Jeni Wright said while people already knew they needed to feed and dress their babies, they did not realise the importance of their influence on brain development.
"Three years is a very small window of opportunity and what happens in this first three years can affect the person for the rest of their life," she said.
Parenting classes are provided by Family Counselling Services (3456681) and Family Support Services (3451636) free of charge.
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