What Five to Thrive is

Five to Thrive is an approach where early years practitioners use these 5 building blocks to help and empower parents and children:

  1. respond
  2. engage
  3. relax
  4. play
  5. talk

These building blocks, or interactions, are a series of activities that build healthy brains in young children. They also help maintain healthy brain function throughout life. These blocks may sound simple but they are a bridge between professional understanding of neuroscience and our everyday experience.

The Five to Thrive approach is based on neuroscience which helps to:
  • promote healthy brain development in children and young people
  • maintain healthy brain function through life
  • support recovery from trauma
  • build resilience
These 5 steps are a sequence that we may not think about consciously. For many people the 5 steps, starting with respond and ending with talk happen automatically during our interactions with others. But this is not the case for everyone.

Training our professionals in Five to Thrive

We're training our professionals to use Five to Thrive to work with children and young people in Dorset.
 

Respond

Responding means you're being emotionally available for someone. 
This is important as it develops patterns in the brain for feeling safe and belonging

Engage

Engaging and being in close proximity with someone means the nervous systems can match.
This is important as it develops patterns in the brain for connecting with and trusting others

Relax

Supporting someone with attachment needs to relax them.
This is important as it develops patterns in the brain for self-regulation.

Play

Processing the activity using non-verbal communication and stimulating the right brain.
This is important as it develops patterns in the brain for understanding and managing feelings.

Talk

Creating a narrative and stimulating the left brain. 
This is important as it develops patterns in the brain for making sense of experience through the use of words and narrative.

Advice for parents

Just like when playing with building blocks, if your tower falls, you need to rebuild. So if you’re trying to talk to your child and they get frustrated or upset, you need to respond to how they’re feeling and address this first.  

When your child, (whether they’re an infant, child, or emerging adult), enjoys these five simple activities every day it helps them:  
  • grow  
  • be content in their own skin 
  • make and sustain friendships 
  • have positive connections with you and their family 

By enjoying five key daily activities with your child, you’re helping your child’s brain grow. You will also be supporting their healthy development. The Five to Thrive activities are important at all ages and stages of your child’s life, so it’s never too late to start to support healthy brains.

Five to Thrive guidance videos

Baby

In the first year of life, your baby's brain undergoes significant growth, with around a hundred billion brain cells already present at birth. By their first birthday, their brain is nearly as developed as an adult's. Strong connections between these cells are crucial for various aspects of development, including emotional well-being, readiness for school, learning, socialising, and problem-solving. Caregivers play a vital role in responding to their needs, as babies communicate primarily through crying. Providing love and attention helps them feel secure and fosters healthy brain development. As toddlers reach their first year, their brain is rapidly making connections, leading to exciting growth but also presenting challenges. 

When your baby turns one year old, their brain will be making lots and lots of connections. This is an exciting time because they're learning and growing so much, but it can also be challenging. 

Toddler

Your toddler is becoming more active and independent. They like to explore and figure things out on their own. They're starting to talk more and use gestures to communicate. 
 

But even though they're becoming more independent, they still need your help. Their brain isn't fully developed yet, so they might have trouble expressing themselves clearly or understanding how others feel. This can make them frustrated when they can't get what they want or need. 

So, even though they're growing up fast, your toddler still relies on you for support and understanding. 

Primary school

As your child grows older, their brain is nearing adult size, and they've formed numerous strong connections with your support. These connections aid them in regulating their emotions and actions, building resilience to tackle challenges, and understanding others' emotions. Your child may be transitioning into independence, exploring what is right and wrong, expressing intense emotions, and occasionally acting impulsively without thinking. 

Secondary school and young adults

During adolescence, our brains undergo significant changes and continue to develop until our mid-twenties. Each teenager is unique, and various factors influence their behaviour and emotions during this transitional period between childhood and adulthood. Adolescents may experience improvements in learning, prioritize friendships and social acceptance, seek more independence, contend with intense emotions, engage in impulsive behaviour, and feel fatigue. This fatigue can stem from factors like insufficient sleep, excessive screen time, and stressors such as academic pressures or social challenges. 

During sleep, the brain undergoes "pruning," eliminating unnecessary connections to make space for new ones, a process particularly active in teenagers. This pruning, coupled with the incomplete development of the decision-making part of the brain, can make decision-making challenging for teens, especially regarding academic and future-oriented choices. 

Support and understanding from caregivers can aid teenagers in strengthening their brain connections and improving skills such as self-regulation, resilience, and empathy. Despite facing challenges, teenagers can learn to navigate them more effectively with assistance, facilitating ongoing growth and development throughout their lives.