Toddlers Invent The Silliest Games (And 33 More Reasons To Let Babies Play Their Way)

There’s a reason I never tire of writing about inner-directed play. Infant and toddler playtime is parenting gold. Creating a safe play environment allows us a well-deserved, occasional break, and if we sit nearby, observe and respond, playtime can provide a wealth of inspiration. Parents are typically in short supply of both those things. Can we ever get enough rest or inspiration?  Thrilled and relieved to be...

Shy By Nature (Guest Post by Michael Lansbury)

Growing up, I was labeled a shy child. Silent and withdrawn in unfamiliar social situations, I was not the confident, gregarious kid who initiated games with other children, never mind conversations. I would hang back and watch as the others interacted, bringing as little attention to myself as possible. It always seemed that the other kids knew each other, that they were already comfortable friends, that I was the...

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 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...

Seen, Heard And Understood – How To Nurture Self-Confident Babies

From the moment they are born, babies struggle to communicate physical and emotional needs. First they cry, and then they learn by our example to smile, coo, babble, eventually extend their arms to us, shake their heads, point, gesture, and finally speak words and phrases. Imagine the challenge it is for our babies to make us understand!  Common sense tells us that the more actively we acknowledge our child’s...

How To Help Your Baby Become A Math Genius (Or Not)

Raise your hand if you don’t want a brilliant child. Honestly. Ensuring our child’s good health, happiness, kindness and compassion may well be our highest priorities, but wouldn’t we do all in our power to have the brightest, most talented, top-of-the-class kid? Or, at least, one who doesn’t have to struggle too hard to make the grade? And here is where it gets really unfair. If we didn’t have enough...

Secure Attachment And So Much More – Magda Gerber’s Uncommon Respect For Babies

Yesterday’s 21st Annual RIE Conference proved a stimulating day of presentations by keynote speaker Sir Richard Bowlby, RIE Associates, and parents who have benefitted from RIE’s Educaring approach to child care, including a political scientist / foreign policy expert (Nina Hachigian) and a neuroscientist (Dr. Antonio Rangel). It was an exhilarating event, and I was once again invigorated by RIE’s hopeful...

Respecting My Baby (An End To The Daddy Doo Dah Dance) Guest Post by Michael Lansbury

I grew up in a New York City apartment with five siblings, four of them younger.  By ten years old, I was changing diapers, heating bottles, running baths and wiping spit-up from the walls and my hair. So, I have been intimate with the down-and-dirty of infant care for a long, long time. As a result, I am not intimidated by infants, nor am I impressed. The fact of babies is, of course, remarkable and pure grace. No...