Parenting

Solo Engagement – Fostering Your Toddler’s Independent Play

A mom asked this terrific question in response to Independent Infant Play – Make It Happen: Hello Janet, I was reading this and wondering if you have any suggestions for older children who may not have had “independent play” as infants? Unfortunately I was in college for my son’s first 18 months (he’s 3 1/2 now). Happily my mother wanted to and was able to watch him while I finished my degree, however,...

Independent Infant Play – Make It Happen

In A Creative Alternative To Baby TV Time I suggest following infant expert Magda Gerber’s advice to develop a baby’s natural ability to play independently.  A recent commenter on the post, Mary Ellen, asked some questions and raised issues I thought worth sharing: i still would like to know what a parent is doing (or not doing) for a baby to play independently for 3-4 hours straight…. i would also like to...

The Secret Language Of Babies

Romance was in the air at a recent parent/infant class, and it was definitely one for the cameras, but interrupting those astonishing minutes to document the action could not have been further from my mind.   Mila and Julian, 3 and 4 months old respectively, were on their backs on the rug by their moms. The infants soon took notice of each other, began engaging, and spent several minutes captivated. Mila twisted...

Can You Say “Yes”?

My sisters and I had my mom pegged, and we never grew tired of teasing her about it. When we asked my mom for something and she said, “We’ll see”, it always seemed to lead to a “no”. “Maybe” usually turned out to mean “yes”. So we would whine and beg, “Just say maybe, pleeeeeze!”  Now that I’m a mom and have learned that parenting is an endless list of really hard decisions that can make...

Uniquely Me – 6 Ways To Help Our Children Know (And Love) Themselves

I spend a lot of time in my head, and one of my favorite ponderings is nature vs. nurture.  How much does parenting matter?  We toil and we fret.  We read the latest round of confusing, conflicting studies and opinions.  We stimulate, teach, parent the way we were parented because it worked just fine, or do the radical opposite because it didn’t.  We hover, free-range, stress and (according to the New York...

A Creative Alternative To Baby TV Time

The last thing you’re going to catch me doing is provoking parental guilt. So, I’m going to assume you’ve heard all about the hazards of TV for infants and toddlers: potential language delays, obesity, ADHD, and aggression are all things we’d like to prevent in our children if we can. But it doesn’t surprise me that parents ignore the research (and the American Academy of Pediatrics advisory) and turn on...

The Fascination With Babies (A Traveler’s Perspective)

On my way to LAX to take my daughter to camp and spend some one-on-one time with her, I was excited, but also uneasy and unsettled. I felt like I was ditching school, neglecting homework. There was also a twinge of something even more anxiety provoking I couldn’t quite place, as if I’d left the stove on.  All because I’d made the last minute decision to leave my laptop at home.  My husband had gently nudged...

A Lesson From Babies…It’s Okay To Struggle

Last week’s parent/toddler class was all about feeling ‘stuck’.  The previous week, 21 month old Audrey had wedged herself between the bars of the wooden climbing structure and looked at me with a worried expression. “Are you stuck?” I asked. I moved close and — without touching her — talked her through pulling her legs out from between the bars and reaching to the bar below so that she could...