Don’t Fix These Toddler Struggles (I Love This Video)

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...

Teaching Babies Language (And Much, Much More) While They Play

If we want our babies to receive all the many, well-documented benefits of self-directed play, Rule #1 is taking care not to interrupt. But that certainly doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be responsive — quite the opposite in fact. Our infants and toddlers, whether playing alone or with peers, appreciate assurances that we are paying attention – subtle reminders that their self-chosen antics intrigue and even...

10 Secrets To Raising Good Listeners

Listening skills are essential to learning. Children who listen well not only develop strong language abilities, they find gaining knowledge in any subject easier, less stressful and more successful. Since attentive listeners retain most of what they hear in the classroom, they don’t need to study as much (a big plus, especially in middle and high school). But listening is a growing problem for young children to...

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...

Just Tell Me You Understand – The Secret To Nurturing 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...

Naked Americans

When children misinterpret song lyrics, words or expressions, their mistakes are often more descriptive — and certainly more amusing — than what was originally written. Kids hear the darnedest things! And by hearing through the ears of our children we can share their fresh, innocent (and sometimes even more sensible) point-of-view of the world. I was driving my two younger children to the morning...

My Baby Can’t Read! (5 Ways To Encourage Language Development)

A mother in one of my parenting classes expressed dismay that her baby did not like books. Ella, an infant less than a year old, would not sit still to be read a story. Even when Ella was allowed to turn the pages herself she reportedly squirmed and indicated her disinterest. When I heard this story, two different ideas occurred to me. The first was that Ella was an active infant, who seemed to be working...