How’s your child’s Eye-Q?

So your baby, that little bundle of joy, is now a handful, er, a bundle of energy. And he’s now in preschool, away from home and its familiar environment, and in a whole new world.

Now that your precious child is in preschool, it is wise to make sure that he/she is happy in his/her new world with his/her newfound family, consisting of teachers and classmates.

For some parents, preschool means letting go of their children (which can be pretty hard for most anxious parents) and exposing them to an environment outside home. It means preparing and letting their children take the first step towards advance learning.

School is a child’s first exposure to the big, wonderful world of learning.

But you may ask, "Isn’t preschool just play school?"

Well, that may be so, but preschool is really designed so that children may learn through play and establish a relationship with learning (yes, just like with their playmates).

Early education expert Raffy Reloza, also a resource person of Abbott Nutrition International’s preschool preparedness advocacy, advises parents to prepare their child every day for advance learning by doing homework early. Knowing the school’s approach to literacy will help parents better prepare their children for school. Children exhibit different levels of readiness to reading — while some are inclined to read right away, others may not be as ready. Analyzing the school’s method and participating in school meetings is a helpful way for parents to monitor and assess their child’s development.

In preschool, math concepts are seen in simple geometric shapes and sizes. Language is learned through working together and interacting in school. Writing may appear as scribbles among preschoolers, but letters or shapes that resemble letters soon pop up as children try to write their own names in their own unique ways. Science, on the other hand, is learned through a child’s curious mind.

To achieve advance learning, pre-schoolers need proper nutrition and guidance. This is the time when children hone up their social interactive skills, improve on their motor skills, sharpen their mental skills, and open up to new interests. The world gets bigger and bigger for kids in school and new knowledge, skills, and new challenges are up ahead.

Doctors advise mothers to give milk to their children for as long as they want as it contains nutrients that help nourish children.It is best taken in the morning for breakfast and before bedtime. In school, it is also healthy for kids to carry a milk pack or a thermos packed with nutritious milk.

For these growing kids, Abbott Nutrition International, a leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical and nutritional products, has optimum nutrition in mind. Now, they are offering Gain School Advance to extend the Advance Eye Q Nutrition System to the preschool children to ensure better vision, better brain, and better memory. Gain School Advance helps assure that our generation of preschoolers may be provided with the proper nutrients to help advance their learning skills in school.

Notes Dr. Ma. Theresa Dumaual, a practicing pediatrician and loving mom to two smart kids, "Nutrients like taurine and choline help support excellent brain development in children during the brain gain period. Although the genetic factor (children inherit their parents’ IQ) plays a part, children should be able to get the complete basic minerals and vitamins they need from milk and complete, healthy, balanced foods."

Probably like most moms, Dr. Dumaual knows how difficult it is to make the kids eat their breakfast when they’re rushing off to school in the morning. "Most of the time, they don’t get to eat a complete breakfast," she whines. "That is why I make sure they drink their milk, which is a complete food."

For choosy mothers who want the best for their preschool children, Gain School is the premium formula milk.

The good doctor gives this prescription: "Mothers, especially first-time moms, must be educated on their children’s proper nutrition."

And with Abbott’s Gain School Advance milk, parents have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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For more information, call Abbott’s Eye-Q hotline at 689-0545 or toll-free number 1-800-10-888-Eye-Q.