Congratulations on the birth of your new baby! Whether this is your first baby or your fifth, you will find this a time of recovery, adjustment, sometimes confusion and frustration, but—most wonderfully—of falling in love. Babies younger than four months old have very different sleep needs than older babies. Once you learn your newborn baby’s … Read more about Newborns and Sleep: Understanding Sleeping Patterns
A recent trip to Florida did more than force me back into a bathing suit. Traveling with my five-month-old required me to face an even bigger fear: altering his daily routine. At first I resisted, fearing that the slightest deviation would result in chaos. While our friends sunned themselves by the pool and strolled on … Read more about Real World Routines: How to Balance Routine and Spontaneity
While many children seem to have memories like steel traps when it comes to learning song lyrics or favorite stories, they often cannot seem to remember to put their toys away, and even remembering to brush their teeth each day seems impossible. If this sounds like your child, try the following guidelines to help develop … Read more about Memory Boosters: How to develop and improve your child’s memory
Bringing home a new baby can be an exciting, overwhelming, and nerve-wracking experience for a new parent. Often it feels as though this tiny little creature demands so much time and energy—as if all your little baby is capable of is eating, sleeping, and crying. But that’s not really the case. Your new baby is … Read more about Baby’s Motor Development: From Rolling Over to First Steps
It used to be that you grabbed your bag, jumped into your car, and went on your merry way to wherever you needed to go. But now that you have a baby? Getting out of the house requires the production and coordination of staging a Broadway show. Sigh if the following checklist sounds familiar:
What to expect in the first 12 months. Our family recently celebrated the first birthday of our second child. At her party, I reflected on how much she has grown and learned since her birth. She is no longer the helpless infant I held at delivery. Although still a baby, she has blossomed into a bright-eyed, interactive, mobile, … Read more about Enriching Your Baby’s First Year: Development and Growth
My mother always said that the best parents are “lazy” parents. Her theory, as I understood it, was that these parents don’t jump up every time their kids need something so that children learn to entertain themselves, enjoy themselves, and become more independent. In couples, lazy parents, theoretically, have more time for each other because … Read more about Lazy Parents Have Happier Kids
As a parent, you are your baby’s first teacher. Swiss philosopher, Dr. Jean Piaget, upon whose theories many of the foundations of Early Childhood education have been built, once said, “Young children are explorers and it is the job of the adults around them to provide the experiences and materials to stimulate their development.” Parents … Read more about 7 Homemade Toys for Baby
Any mother who has ever heard her own words parroted back to her by a young child knows all too well what good listeners children can be. Often, it seems, they’re listening when we don’t even know it! Infants appear to focus on the human voice shortly after birth, and some research indicates they can … Read more about Helping Kids Find Their Learning Styles: Learn By Hearing
Remember the feeling of exhilaration you had the day your baby was born? You gazed at his tiny face, amazed by that absolute perfection and innocence. Did you suspect that he was already hard at work, examining his world, collecting information and beginning to construct the foundations of his future self? As babies, children begin … Read more about Helping Kids Find Their Learning Styles: Learn By Seeing