Posted by
janet on Jan 26th, 2012
“What parents teach is themselves, as models of what is human – by their moods, their reactions, their facial expressions and actions. These are the real things parents need to be aware of, and of how they affect their children. Allow them to know you, and it might become easier for them to learn about themselves.” – Magda Gerber
Of all the skills we encourage our children to develop, social intelligence may...
Posted by
janet on Jan 19th, 2012
I know, “Break-Dancing Baby” sounds exploitive and contrived to me, too. This isn’t. It’s a genuine example of a baby freely expressing herself — an exuberant celebration of natural gross motor development and creative child-directed play. I’ve never seen a baby do anything quite like this.
Hi Janet,
My wife Kristin mentioned that you might enjoy this little video of our 11 month old Siena doing...
Posted by
janet on Jan 12th, 2012
“You know what I have found- NOTHING works all the time. I hear people saying that peaceful parenting doesn’t work and I hear people saying that spanking doesn’t work. Frankly, I can’t think of anything that is 100% fool proof and works for every child all the time.” – Mama Birth
I hear (or read) statements like Mama Birth’s all the time. It doesn’t matter what school of child care...
Posted by
janet on Jan 2nd, 2012
Will 2012 be the Year of the Baby? I’m hoping, yes.
Perhaps this will be the year that babies are finally acknowledged as uniquely capable, full-fledged people. Maybe parents and caregivers will realize that babies are born knowing something about their development and can be trusted to demonstrate readiness for developmental milestones by “doing them”.
If we believe in babies, then we give them opportunities...
Posted by
janet on Dec 16th, 2011
Time and time again I see toddlers benefitting from impulse control – ours, not theirs. Our natural tendencies to project and protect when our children seem challenged invariably lead us to intervene too much or too soon. These good intentions can then spoil rich opportunities for physical, cognitive, creative, social and emotional development.
Rule #1: More often than not, struggles and conflicts we might...
Posted by
janet on Nov 30th, 2011
Hi Janet,
I love your articles. I love the concept of letting your little ones just be alone sometimes. I feel I am constantly trying to entertain my little 5 month old girl, and I want her to be someone that likes her own company in the future and can be creative by herself. I don’t know if my LO is clingy (maybe I’m misunderstanding something) or just used to me being right next to her 24/7?
For the last 2...
Posted by
janet on Nov 5th, 2011
Hi Janet,
I am 9 weeks pregnant with baby #2 and my son is now 14 months old. He is a very happy boy, but loves getting into EVERYTHING! When we say no, he has started throwing tantrums, crying, flailing himself as we try to pick him up, etc. He also pinches my face, scratches my arm, hits me and grabs my glasses. Lately we have had a lot of stress in our life due to circumstances out of our control, but my son has...
Posted by
janet on Nov 2nd, 2011
According to dismaying statistics published recently by Common Sense Media, raising infants and toddlers without using TV as a babysitter has become a countercultural choice — the path less taken. Why are we so stuck on doing something we know is, at best, a waste of time for our babies?
In A Creative Alternative To Baby TV Time, I speculated that parents desperately need breaks from the 24/7 job of baby care,...
