March 12th, 2010 by Dr. Kyle Pruett
Children’s sleep issues are among the more challenging developmental stages for parents to master. But biology is on the parents’ side in this one, because sleep patterns mature over time just like other developmental skills.
- Polls tell us that one-third of American children and their parents sleep together some or most of the time before children start school. Co-sleeping varies hugely by culture and ethnicity. So think about what you want to do, and discuss the pros and cons with your pediatrician.
- Make sure your crib is safe (locking rails), that your older child’s ‘big bed’ has side rails, and if you are co-sleeping, that there is plenty of room.
- The human brain is active during sleep, but the deepest sleep is typically at the beginning of the night. Babies spend more time than older children in stimulating REM sleep, with eye movements and irregular breathing. Don’t worry about all that action in your child’s body – it too is growth.
- Start them young – do not ignore the importance of naps, watch for the yawn, and start bedtime early in the evening.
- The transition from crib to bed is also a time of sleep pattern changes, but most kids want it to work.
- To instill good sleep habits remember that consistency matters so much:
- Bath Time
- Goodnights
- Tuck and Talk Bedtime Story
- Lullabye (yours are best)
- Goodnights
This all sounds well and good, but it is a rare family that hasn’t had to handle some sleep trouble along the way. If your family is trying to re-establish a lapsed routine, stay calm and reassuring. We almost all need more sleep than we get, and it is a tremendous gift to our children to teach them how to sleep well.
Tags: Early childhood development, Infants, Sleep, Toddlers
Posted in Development, Dr. Kyle Pruett, Tips | No Comments »
March 10th, 2010 by Sue Adair
Enjoy this fun activity with your young children and preschoolers!
Bring the ‘snow’ and fun indoors while your children work on their fine motor and counting skills!
Materials
- 12 cotton balls per child
- 1 marker
- 1 egg carton per child
Instructions
- Label each egg carton cup 1 through 12.
- Hide the cotton balls around the room (12 cotton balls per child).
- Have the children walk around the room, looking for the hidden ‘snowballs’.
- Encourage each child to put the ‘snowballs’ in order when they find them (1 through 12).
- Once all the ‘snowballs’ have been found, count them together!
Tags: Fine motor skills, Indoor activities, Preschool activities, Winter activities with children
Posted in Activities, Learning through Play | 2 Comments »
March 5th, 2010 by Dr. Kyle Pruett
Why does a nearly universal event in a child’s development evoke such strong feelings? Odds are – as children we were either a biter or a victim – and often both. Plus, biting hurts and frightens us a lot. And though we know aggression is a normal part of development, regular cruelty is not, and we fear the connection between the two.
Some thoughts to help us manage:
When children first bite, it is often their mother while breast-feeding, and their motive is most probably curiosity – not aggression. Mothers should send the following message to their infant: “Ouch, no and if you bite, you lose the breast – end of discussion.”
- Biting often begins as exploration, but may be quickly associated with out-of-control feelings or feelings of being overwhelmed – with excitement, fear or curiosity. Parents should manage these feelings by staying as calm as possible and firmly saying:
- “No one likes biting, especially me.”
- “You just cannot bite.”
- “I’ll help you stop until you stop yourself.”
- Parents often fear biting at school most. Peers, especially close ones, are fascinated by each other’s aggression, and the dramatic reactions it evokes. Adult overreaction just makes things more exciting! Experienced teachers have radar for when ‘the chompies’ are in the air and become particularly vigilant.
- If all adults involved in a biting incident are convinced that it was not an isolated but willful, premeditated event, both children should be kept safe. Adults should explore the language of what went on and be able to offer alternative responses.
Finally, it bears stating – parents should never bite children back. Believe me, I understand the impulse, but all you accomplish is establishing mutual violence as an acceptable value in your family, embarrassing yourself, and degrading the natural authority you have with your children. They want your help with this stuff, not your indulgence.
Tags: Biting, Early childhood development, Preschool, Toddlers
Posted in Dr. Kyle Pruett, Preschool | 1 Comment »
March 3rd, 2010 by Dr. Kyle Pruett
Excerpt from Me, Myself and I
Your own ideas about how to integrating emotion and learning in everyday moments with your child are probably better than anything I could advise for you personally. But here are some ideas and suggestions that might help you customize those ideas.
Talk with your child. Hopefully, you have been doing that since the moment she was born. Chat with her about what you and she are doing. She’ll become part of the conversation sooner if you express to her what you love about being a parent.
- Encourage curiosity and understand that repetition is a good thing for him, boring though it might be for you. The neurological basis for the insistence on the familiar lies in the fact that when synaptic connections are repeatedly activated by the same stimulation, they become immune from elimination during the brain’s pruning process. They survive to become permanent neural connections that enhance learning. So go ahead and do what your child likes – over and over. This is a good rut to be in.
- Simply being nearby and available while your child plays on his own is so important, as is your willingness to interact. So get down on the floor and stay awhile. Of course, this is hard for working parents, but the effort is worth it.
- Nothing beats reading. Children don’t learn interactive, conversational language from TV because it does not respond to them. Language and eventually reading are learned from being actively engaged in speaking and reading with others – hearing parents and caregivers talk to each other and waiting for the child to respond.
- Children learn best in the context of their daily lives and when the amount and kind of stimulation fits their temperament, level of development, interests or preferences, and mood. Pressure to perform or conform to high expectations can lead to stress that can sabotage learning through burnout and confusion.
- Young children do not need to be taught how to think. Science is careening ahead pursuing fascinating findings and ideas about how, even whether, children this age actually do think. But our ignorance dominates our knowledge embarrassingly. We are still understanding why they even want to think in the first place. It is like walking or talking, unfolding in due course when the maturational timekeeper tells the mind-body duality, “Johnny: it’s time?”
- The five-second check-in. Since most of us don’t spend our days staring endlessly at our toddlers and preschoolers, it is important that you take a few seconds to assess the mood, or state your child is in before you join in his doings, ask him to do something or simply interrupt him. This is the feeling state that will determine his ability to understand or comply with whatever you might need, no matter how small. If you are not tuned in, he probably won’t hear (i.e. learn).
- Join your child. Follow her lead in activities she is already involved in. Don’t take over – it will turn her off. But if you want her to learn, become a partner in the exploration she has begun. Add a ball to hide in the pots and pans scene, or move close and take her hand if she is wary of a dog on a walk. Don’t instantly rescue (unless safety is an immediate concern) because you will lose one of those interesting moments of tension that could be mastered, leading a child to a wider, more complex understanding of the world.
- If your child balks at a “learning” moment with you, it could mean you didn’t read the five-second check-in right. Back up and let your child know you know what she is feeling first. (“I guess you weren’t quite through,” or “It’s hard to have to stop when you are having fun doing X.”) When the feeling domain feels appreciated, then the learning domain is less burdened.
- If your child needs redirection after you have connected with his mood or feeling, ask softly what he might enjoy doing. If you still have no luck make two suggestions of things he might do and help him choose. He will probably need some pump-priming from you, since you can manage your own mood apart from his. Remember, how you are in such moments, is as important as what you do.
- If it’s important for you to initiate an activity that will bring you pleasure and you know it could be good for your child, like reading or going for a walk, stabilize your own mood first. Only then can you help your child regulate hers. Once done, then she can crawl up on your lap or get out the door and learn. For some kids, it’s the other way around. But for the majority, in the feeling and learning dance, it isn’t always possible to say who is leading.
Tags: Early childhood development, Emotion and Learning, Learning through Play, Playing with your child, Preschool
Posted in Dr. Kyle Pruett, Tips | No Comments »
March 1st, 2010 by Sue Adair
Introduce your children to healthy eating by involving them in the lunch preparation. Children have a tendency to eat and try new foods that they helped to prepare. And children who help in the kitchen build their confidence which makes them feel important and proud.
Avoid brown bag boredom and try the following healthy, easy and fun options. Bonus – your children will want to eat these choices!
Turn lunch into an adventure:
- Cut sandwiches into playful shapes with cookie cutters. Children are more excited about eating a star- or dinosaur-shaped sandwich because it makes the experience fun! Choose cheese or deli meats to replace breads and cut them into fun shapes, too.
Make lunch fun by including a dip:
- Yogurt is a great dip for fruit.
- Provide hummus for veggies.
Use a variety of ‘sandwich’ options:
- Bagels, pita bread, wheat wraps or crackers.
Consider packing applesauce or yogurt as a treat in lieu of a ‘sweet’ dessert.
Tags: Lunch at school, Packing lunch, Preschool
Posted in Nutrition, Tips | No Comments »
February 25th, 2010 by Sue Adair
Try this fun indoor activity with your child!
Materials:
- Clear dishwashing liquid
- Pre-mixed tempera paints in a variety of colors
- Aluminum foil muffin pan
- Paint brushes
*Children should have adult supervision throughout this activity.
Directions:
- An adult should mix about 1 Tbsp. of dishwashing liquid with 1/2 Tbsp. of paint. The mixture should have a creamy consistency, like house paint.
- Pour various paint colors into the wells of a muffin pan to create a pallet.
- Children can paint ’sunny day’ scenes on windows and sliding glass doors. Use a different brush for each color.
TIP: Keep paint away from windowsills and woodwork. To remove the artwork, or to fix a mistake, wipe with a moist paper towel.
Tags: Art, Painting, Winter activities with children
Posted in Activities, Art | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2010 by Sue Adair
Michelle Obama recently announced “Let’s Move,” a national campaign to combat childhood obesity through fitness and nutrition programs. Placing children on the right path to living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential, and that is why Goddard initiated its “Get Active” campaign. Every day inside and outside the classroom, 360- plus Goddard Schools nationwide take great strides to get preschoolers, toddlers and infants up and moving.
To encourage children to “Get Active,” here are some simple and helpful ideas that you can do at home with your young child:
1. Take It Outside – Limit “screen time” and encourage your child to go outside and PLAY. Have a relay race, set up an obstacle course or bring back one of your favorite childhood pastimes like hopscotch or jump rope.
2. It’s In Your Nature – Take your child on a nature walk. Use this great opportunity to talk to your child about plants and animals you see while getting fresh air and exercise.
3. Get Dramatic – When you’re transitioning a child from one activity to another – like play time to dinner time – ask them to move like their favorite animal. Hop like a kangaroo, slither like a snake or waddle like a duck.
4. Be a Good Sport – Preschool age children love to learn the basic rules of popular sports and games. Take this opportunity to talk about sportsmanship.
5. Be Free – Remember free play? Let go of some structure, and encourage your children to use their imaginations in their indoor and outdoor play.
6. Stretch It Out – Preschoolers love basic yoga moves. Take a few minutes each day to stretch with your little one.
7. Put Some Movement In Your Music – When you sing songs or listen to music with young children, encourage them to dance with scarves, make up movements to go with the lyrics or just DANCE and move their bodies to the music.
Tags: Childhood obesity, Fitness & nutrition
Posted in Fitness, Nutrition, Tips | No Comments »
February 22nd, 2010 by Sue Adair
What counts as exercise for youngsters? Anything that involves moving!
Children exercise all the time without even knowing it. Running, jumping, dancing, touching their toes, crawling, playing sports or outdoor games; all of these are forms of exercise. Exercise can also be a great way for families to spend quality time together. Research has shown that families who regularly eat dinner together are happier and their children have more self-confidence; this also applies to families who participate in activities together. Going hiking or playing games together is a good way to exercise.
Keeping children’s muscles and bones healthy is especially important because they are growing. A healthy combination of diet and exercise in childhood generally leads to adults with healthier lifestyles. Although children should never be told to “watch their weight,” parents should ensure that that their children are eating well-balanced diets rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruits and lean protein.
An added benefit of exercise? Children who play sports and are physically active develop higher self-esteem and do better in school.
Tags: Early childhood development, Fitness
Posted in Fitness | No Comments »
February 18th, 2010 by Dr. Kyle Pruett
As a (former) pediatrician and child psychiatrist for three decades, I increasingly respect the significance of children’s fears in shaping our shared everyday lives. Inconvenient though fears of the dark, animals, water, and monsters may be, they are meaningful clues about what children are trying to master about their world.
Worries all mean something, and we let our children down when we ignore and belittle, not to mention waste opportunities to master, so let’s spend a minute to understand them better:
- Fears appear like clockwork in childhood. The adrenalin fears stimulate heightens learning of vital lessons, like when to run in the face of real danger, when to cry for help, and eventually to distinguish what is really dangerous (speeding cars) from what is not (family dog).
- Fears only seem to emerge ‘from nowhere.’ Actually, they typically surface during periods of accelerated development – when children lose their old equilibrium while looking for a new one. Actively toilet- learning toddlers are often more afraid of the dark than before or after they get the potty thing solved.
- Stranger anxiety begins when children start to crawl around and need to be more aware of who knows them and who doesn’t.
- Other common fears which emerge and fade with predictability during preschool years may be insects, animals, loud noises, the dark (and its imagined inhabitants – monsters, witches, ghosts), high places, and parental loss to name a few.
Listen thoughtfully to your children as they describe their fear. Their fears have their reasons, though they may not be instantly clear to you. Reassure your children that you’ll help them feel better- get your flashlight out and check under their bed. Cuddle them a little extra during such times, and let them slip back toward babyhood a little. Finally, when children work it out, remind them that they worked it out. This will help them as new fears emerge.
Posted in Dr. Kyle Pruett, Tips | 2 Comments »
February 16th, 2010 by Sue Adair
It is never too early to talk to your children about tolerance and diversity. Studies have shown that by ages three and four, children have an awareness of the differences in other children. They can recognize variation in skin color, language and customs as well as recognize obvious differences.
Cultural and lifestyle differences are common in everyday life, and may be confusing for young children. To help your children become more familiar with differences, start on a small scale. A solid understanding at a young age will encourage acceptance as they grow.
Teach your children about their family history.
Make a family tree together and explain customs or traditions your family practices. Dress up like your ancestors and cook an ethnic meal to help your children understand their family’s culture in a fun way.
Teach your children about other cultures.
Ask your children’s friends or classmates to teach them about their cultures (e.g., holidays, celebrations) and lifestyles. In turn, encourage your children to do the same.
Lead by example.
Make diverse friendships and encourage your children to do the same. Show your children the most positive way to interact in the world.
Make diversity a part of everyday life.
Fill your home with multicultural art and literature. Take your children to museums and libraries to provide them with as many multicultural experiences as possible.
Tags: Diversity, Tolerance
Posted in Tips | No Comments »
