Why Toys Are Important for Child Development
Play and toys support child development. Playing is what children do. Toys are their tools. When adults shop for tools, quality counts. We want safe ones that work well and enable us to do our best. We look for thoughtfully designed, well-made, sturdy, built-to-last...
Let’s Be Friends-Young, Old, and In Between
Intergenerational Relationships Rock Seniors are important in the lives of children. Research confirms the value of intergenerational connections. Although we think first of grandparents, elders need not be biological relatives to forge deep and lasting relationships....
Intergenerational Play Rocks
Thanksgiving Gatherings Everyone benefits from purposeful intergenerational relationships. The gathering of family and friends to share a meal at Thanksgiving traditionally involves multiple generations. What better time to share activities that nurture connections...
How Worry Eaters Help Children Manage Fears
Everyone Worries We are all afraid of something. So we worry. Children and adults alike. And that’s not altogether bad. In fact, our fears help keep us safe and motivate us to do whatever we can to avoid what we fear could happen. Whether we’re 16 or 60, taking the...
Why I Avoid Licensed Products
Babies As Billboards Here we are 17 years into the 21st century. The only constant is change and that comes at an increasingly maddening speed. Since becoming a grandmother a year ago, I’ve discovered that almost every aspect of “bringing up baby” is different now....
Multiple Benefits of Light Up Toys for Children
Lifting Spirits With darkness falling earlier and earlier, we need a dazzling light show to lighten our spirits. Meteor Storm does that and more. Spinning, bright colored lights in ever changing patterns attract our attention. Captivated, we watch the show and feel...
Mathematics: Numeracy
From Reciting to Understanding When reciting numbers in ascending order or saying the alphabet, young children are usually simply demonstrating memorization skills. Numeracy and literacy require understanding the meaning those symbols and being able to put that...
Mathematics: Geometry
Shapes and the arrangement of relative parts within a whole are the subject of geometry. Consider the construction of spider webs. The arrangement of petals forming a rose. Study the facade of a cathedral. The angles and the fitting together of its architectural...
Mathematics: Measurement
Measurement is a basic math concept for time, quantity, size, weight, and volume. Children learn these properties naturally through play. Think about the concepts learned while filling and spilling, nesting and stacking. Fill the pail. The pail is full. Spill the...
Developing Math Awareness and So Much More
April is Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month. That got me to thinking about ways children learn mathematical concepts during play and through daily activities, observations, and conversations. Consider the infant gazing intently at the face of the person...
Might Hospitalized Adults Benefit From Practices Advocated by Child Life?
Making Hospital Less Traumatic for Children I’ve written about the ways child life specialists make being in hospital less traumatic for children and their parents: advocating for positions of comfort, educating patients in age appropriate ways, providing distraction...
Looking Back, Moving Forward
Previously I wrote on two topics that touch all of us – how our lives can change forever in a heartbeat and how staying calm empowers us to carry on. Lest we forget, the universe sends reminders from time to time. The World Turned Upside Down At birth, every...
Hats Off to Child Life Professionals Worldwide
March is Child Life Month, a time for raising awareness of the psycho-social needs of pediatric patients and their families and celebrating the child life professionals who support those needs. Illnesses and injuries are always frightening. Diagnostic testing and...
Read Across America
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! Your books have had quite an impact these past 80 years. Your wonderfully whimsical words and drawings continue to delight and inspire the young and the young at heart. You encourage us to “think and wonder, wonder and think.” We’re better...
Name This Famous Person
Name an author/illustrator born on 2 March 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts . Need a clue or two? 1. Wrote and illustrated books for adults and children, and holds the rare distinction of having been number one on The New York Times Best-Sellers List for both...
How Do We Decide What’s Best for Our Child?
We all strive to do what’s best for our children. Question is, what does ‘best” mean? Does one size fit all? Should we consider each child and choose options that best fit what we know about that individual and how she learns? Or go with the flow? Once we decide...
Rain, Rain Come Our Way
After years of drought, we experienced the wettest January in more than a decade, and I celebrated every drop. Granted inclement weather poses challenges, from rain slick streets and highways to mud flows and flooding. Yet week after week of sunny skies during the...
Children Learn While Playing
Play is essential. Children learn while playing, and we adults do irreparable damage to children when we ignore this truth. By play, I mean self-directed, open-ended exploration and discovery. When playing, children use of what’s available, decide what they want to...
How to Choose The Best Toy
Looking for the Best Toy? Customers sometimes ask me to recommend the best toy for their child or grandchild, particularly if the child has a special need. Many begin the conversation by sharing a diagnosis. While valuable, this information only addresses one aspect...
Flourishing During the Holidays
Whether your family celebrates Hanukkah, Christmas or both, this year finds the celebrations coinciding. With its eight days, Hanukkah begins on the evening of December 24 and culminates on the evening of January 1. The traditional Christian celebration of Christmas...
Distracted? Distracting? What’s Distraction?
When hearing the word distraction, what comes to mind? According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, distraction has three distinct meanings. The most common refers to anything that keeps us from giving our full attention to something else. Often we view that...
Do As I Do And As I Say
Thanksgiving is our most family-centered holiday. We come together to share a meal and spend time with those we cherish, or at least that’s the plan. I’m aware that often friction among relatives mars the experience, and an opportunity to celebrate kinship and...