The Mom I Want to Be

An environment that encourages exploration and physical development is important for children of all ages. Be sure to allow your baby plenty of space for rolling, scooting and, eventually, crawling. Babies like to grasp and manipulate objects, so be sure you have rattles and other safe toys within easy reach. Make it a habit to wash the toys your baby puts in her mouth on a daily basis. Babies love to look at and reach for moving objects such as mobiles or streamers. Be sure to hang them safely.

 

Large Motor Skills
Play allows children to try out and practice new skills. Your children need opportunities to develop upper body strength by rolling balls and throwing bean bags, and later by pulling themselves up, hanging, and swinging. They need opportunities to strengthen their lower bodies by running, jumping and balancing. Encourage your children to try a variety of physical activities, involving large- and small-muscle skills, but try not to pressure or demand that they excel at every physical task. Remember that children need lots of time and space for energetic, noisy play.

 

Fine-Motor Skills
Using crayons, stringing beads, and doing puzzles are all good ways to help children develop fine-motor skills and eye-hand coordination. These kinds of activities can be tiring for young children, so don’t expect them to work at such skills for long stretches.

 

Developing All Five Senses
Hands-on activities allow children to develop all their senses: sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste. Encourage them to compare the way different objects look, sound, feel, or smell. As they grow, introduce new foods so they get used to a variety of tastes.

 

Safety Guidelines
As your children become more physically active, it can be difficult to draw the line between taking sensible safety precautions and being overprotective. The goal is to maintain a high level of safety while allowing your children to experiment with mild risks that build feelings of competence as they are met and mastered. As your child grows, experience will be your guide. A basic safety guideline is to avoid lifting your child onto play equipment that he cannot climb onto by himself. (Swings are the exception.) Playgrounds should have soft surfaces (such as sand or rubber) to buffer falls.

 

Illness and Infection
Be sure that your children’s immunizations are up to date. Keep contagious children at home. Hand-washing is the single most effective way to avoid spreading disease. Children and adults should get used to washing hands before handling food and after diapering, toileting, or blowing their noses.

 

Things to Remember

ï‚· When you are in the car, all young children should ride in the back seat. Use safety seats for infants and toddlers, and seat belts for children over 4 years old.

ï‚· Give your children the chance to try new activities while keeping an eye out for situations that seem dangerous to you.

ï‚· Try to give your children enough time to follow through with their ideas. For example, let them think about how their fort will look, gather the materials, build it and then play in it once it’s built!

ï‚· Help your children learn how to relax by spending time listening to quiet music or dancing to different kinds of music. Playing in water, sand or mud is also a great way to help children relax.

ï‚· Give your children the chance to use all of their senses. For example, let them handle flour or cookie dough when you are baking, encourage them to smell the lemon juice or vinegar when you are cooking, play different kinds of music and talk about what kinds of instruments they hear.

ï‚· Children need to be hugged, held or rocked every day, many times a day! These signs of affection give them needed comfort and reassurance.

 

Things to Avoid

ï‚· Avoid sending your child to school or to play with other children when they are sick. Make other arrangements for child care when your child is sick and you have to go to work.

ï‚· Don’t store cleaning materials where children can get to them. Keep all dangerous materials on high shelves or in childproof cabinets.

ï‚· Avoid situations when your child has to sit still for long periods of time.

ï‚· Try to avoid providing activities for your child that are too difficult and frustrating. For example, a puzzle with many small pieces is too hard for a 2 year old. If your child is having a hard time cutting with scissors, help her by holding the paper while teaching her the best way to hold the scissors.

 

Try this at Home

 

1. Find opportunities to observe your child in order to find out about what he is learning to do and what he may be ready to try next. How can you challenge him to try something a little harder?

2. Try to build different sensory experiences into your everyday life with your children. While riding to school or to the grocery store, ask your children to name the different sounds they hear. While in the bathroom or kitchen, encourage your children to smell the soaps, perfumes, shaving creams or foods and tell you about how they smell. When walking outside, try touching the leaves, grass, cement, stones, wood or brick and talk with your children about how these things feel when they touch them.

3. Try some creative movement activities with your children. Suggest that they pretend to be a car, truck, train, plane, wind-up toy, rag doll, dog or cat. See what ideas they have and how they move or sound like different things or animals.

4. Turn on the radio and spend time dancing with your children to different kinds of music. See what kinds of movements you and your children can come up with that follow the rhythm of the music