The Mom I Want to Be

 

Simple toys and games offer a wealth of learning to your growing toddler.

 

Enrich your child’s predisposition to explore her feelings about her world through play and curiosity with a variety of activities.

 

Physical Play
Assuming your 18-month-old is a steady walker, give her access to climbing toys and swings. Stairs are perfect and irresistible, but only with supervision. Also try:

• Wading pools (supervised 100 percent of the time).
• Push-pull toys and doll carriages — great for strength and balance.
• Large trucks or vehicles for scooting on or in — build body confidence.

 

I concur in the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics against walkers. These toys cause 25,000 injuries annually — way too dangerous. No electrical conveyances, either. These are also dangerous, teach nothing, and are absurdly expensive. Buy books instead.

 

Small Muscle Development
A sturdy chair at the sink or a pan of water evokes extended exploration with sinking, floating, melting, and dissolving, especially when you add ice cubes, watercolors, and soap for bubbles. Also offer your child:

• Finger-painting mats combine the interest in the texture and feel of paints with the visual delight of their colors.
• Play dough satisfies the drive to manipulate, tear, pound, feel, and dominate.
• Sturdy paper and big, chunky crayons (washable and nontoxic) let kids express their drive to make images.

 

Motor and Problem-solving Activities
Getting dirty is a treat for toddlers. Take them outside so they can:

• Experience mud, clay, and sand.
• Gather sticks, stones, shells into piles.
• Investigate their surroundings.

 

Inside, satisfy the desire to manipulate by providing blocks of varying sizes and shapes for building and knocking down over and over and over. Nesting toys and dolls, too, are often particularly interesting to toddlers. Given how hard they are working on separation and autonomy issues, being the boss of making things appear and disappear can be great fun! Blocks, toys, and pieces that fit, thread, or hook together are especially rewarding.

 

Language and Communication
Large, cardboard picture books with colorful, detailed illustrations that you can look at with your toddler are ideal. Turn the pages slowly and draw your child’s attention to each figure by pointing and sounding interested yourself in what is being depicted. Simple descriptions of the figure or the action will keep her interested. Leave books in accessible places — even in her crib — so she can get them herself.

 

In addition, dolls and stuffed animals let your toddler explore how her world fits together. She can put toy mommies and daddies into trucks and drive them to “go work.” She can adore or revile stuffed animals, depending on the need to work out a feeling, all without consequences.

 

Unscheduled Time
The capacity to be alone is an essential skill for all of us to develop. The ability to be alone without being lonely gives us time to rest, reflect, and relax without necessarily needing to sleep. Toddlers can begin to develop this skill. Exhaustion, both physical and emotional, creates overwhelming tension, and quiet time is one of the best antidotes