Posted by
janet on Aug 31st, 2010
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...
Posted by
janet on Aug 19th, 2010
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 Silent and withdrawn in unfamiliar social situations, I was not the confident, gregarious kid who initiated games with other children, never mind conversations.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...
Posted by
janet on Jul 27th, 2010
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...
Posted by
janet on Jul 16th, 2010
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...
Posted by
janet on Jul 6th, 2010
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...
Posted by
janet on Jun 11th, 2010
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...
Posted by
janet on Jun 8th, 2010
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...
Posted by
janet on May 27th, 2010
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...