The Best Investment:: Preparing Your Child’s Body, Mind and Soul for Life’s Adventures

By Marnie Prudencio

What do Steve Jobs, Confucius, Nelson Mandela, Jose Rizal, Gandhi, Robert Kiyosaki Margaret Thatcher and J. K. Rowlings have in common? They all have great minds. All people who have great minds also have one thing in common. The basic structure of a great mind is a fully functioning and efficient brain.
Protecting and nurturing the brain at an early age is every parent’s responsibility so that children can maximize their potentials. When the parents are gone, their children will be able to live independently and be productive members of society.
This book will share a mother’s journey and a doctor’s experience on how the principles of brain development and child care can be applied so that a child can be the best that he can be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marnie Prudencio
• Release date: Mar 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301791668

Book preview

The Best Investment

Preparing Your Child’s Body, Mind and Soul for Life’s Adventures

Marnie Moya-Prudencio MD

(MD,FAAP,FPSDBP,PTRP)

Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician

Copyright 2012 by Dr. Marnie Moya-Prudencio

Edited by Michelle Joaquin

Illustrations by Ezrah Panganiban

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission.

Smashwords Edition

Licensing Notes

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Dedication

To my son, JR, who has been my greatest inspiration in writing this book

To my husband, Lito, who has been my greatest supporter in my book writing journey

To my parents, Romy and Vilma Moya, who have loved me unconditionally and supported me all these years

About the Book

What do Steve Jobs, Confucius, Nelson Mandela, Jose Rizal, Gandhi, Robert Kiyosaki Margaret Thatcher and J. K. Rowlings have in common? They all have great minds. All people who have great minds also have one thing in common. The basic structure of a great mind is a fully functioning and efficient brain.

Most personal development books focus on improving the minds of people so that they could reach their utmost potential and to be the best that they can be. Focusing on improving the minds of people by starting early in life would make the task easier. The basic structure of the mind is the brain and protecting and nurturing it at an early age is every parent’s responsibility so that children can maximize their potentials. When the parents are gone, their child will be ready and able to live their own lives.

I have seen a lot of potentially brilliant minds destroyed by preventable conditions like german measles or the intake of alcohol during pregnancy to name a few. How can a person’s mind achieve greatness when the basic structure of the mind is damaged early in life? This book will share a mother’s journey and a doctor’s experience on how the principles of brain development and child care can be applied so that a child can be the best that he can be and have the ability to live independently and be productive members of society. Preventable causes of intellectual disability will also be discussed. It also will go into explaining the value of early intervention when a child is noted to have delays in development.

Foreword

Dr. Marnie Prudencio was one of the most earnest students of our Project Author class. Form the time that she pitched the idea to me, I believe that her book, The Best Investment, would be a valuable gift to anyone who seeks validation that investing time, love, care and attention to one’s child is priceless. I pray that Dr. Marnie’s book will be required reading even in college so that young adults will be prepared for parenthood early in life. If you are a parent, expectant parent or health practitioner who gives counsel to parents, then this is a must read! Congratulations, Dra. Marnie! Project Author is proud of you!

Ardy Roberto

Founder – Project Author,

CEO, Salt and Light Ventures

Best – Selling Author of 7 books including The Heart of Healing, Ang Buhay na Hindi Bitin, and Ang Pera na Hindi Bitin

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Brain Development Made Easy

Chapter 2: What To Do During Pregnancy and After Delivery

Chapter 3: The First Year of Life

Chapter 4: The Toddler Years

Chapter 5: The Pre-School Years

Chapter 6: Other Investments

Appendix

References

About the Author

Acknowledgments

I am so overwhelmed with so many different emotions right now! I can’t believe that all these ideas swirling in my head for the past 7-8 years will finally be seen on print. Giving birth to a son is something I can’t describe with words. Giving birth to ideas I have in my head through this book is another interesting experience.

I am so grateful to God for giving me great people and the things I needed to make this book a reality.

A million thanks to my parents who have raised my brothers and me and showered us with unconditional love. A child raised in this loving environment would do the best they could to make their parents proud.

Thanks to my husband for his support and to my son for his inspiration.

I am grateful to all my mentors at the Child Neuroscience Center of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center for sharing their time, knowledge and experiences not only in the field of child neurology but life in general as well. To Dr. Mimi Avendano and Dr. Alexis L. Reyes who gave their precious time in looking into my manuscript and giving me their comments and recommendations. I am also thankful for my mentors in general pediatrics at the North Carolina Baptist Hospital for instilling in me the