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Infant - Month #29 |
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Developmental Milestones |
Your child is attempting to gain a deeper understanding of the world around her. She is making connections, drawing conclusions, and will soon begin making predictions that will take her from asking questions towards being able to answer them herself. Modeling will be an important role for you at her "why" stage of development. There are ways to turn the years characterized as being the terrible twos into the teachable twos by simply reexamining your approach to certain situations and by allowing a multitude of opportunities for your child to explore cause and effect relationships. What is your level of expectation? Do you have high or low expectations? You will get back what you invest. Children want to please, so set your expectations high but within reach, and your child will rise to the occasion. The most vital piece in setting a high expectation for learning and behavior is to provide an element of choice. Your child wants to feel in control of her environment. Construct a comfortable and threat-free environment to enable her to learn in a relaxed setting that is free of hesitation, embarrassment, and/or a sense of self-consciousness. Providing reasonable choices to help eliminate power struggles will assist in getting you the results you desire both developmentally and behaviorally. Remember to praise your child for her efforts no matter how big or small they may seem. Most all children hit a stage when their common response to any situation will consist of the same three letter word, "why." No matter what reason you give to answer your child's question, she will probably retort with another "why" and then yet another. This domino effect might leave you feeling exhausted from the redundancy. You might even begin to answer with the notorious "because I said so" phrase. This phrase could be followed with a slight twitch or cringe as you quickly realize you are beginning to sound like your own parents. Rest assured. There is a rhyme and reason to why your child might seem to drive you crazy, just as you probably did to your own parents years ago. |
Cause and Effect Activities |
The following collection of simple activities using various common objects all show your child that one action will cause another occur. Ball Play:
Water Play:
Other Fun Investigations:
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From a Parent's Perspective |
Many of the listed cause and effect activities only took a few seconds to do with my child. She wanted to spend more time in the bathtub as we introduced more water play activities. My child even came up with a few more things to investigate like dipping the washcloth into the water and holding it up high to watch how the water dripped from the soaked towel. I was able to then help her understand that if we were to wring it out a little before holding it high, not as much water will drip. She now wants to be in charge of washing her own hair because she understands the process for dumping the water from a bucket onto her head to get her hair wet, moving shampoo around on her head to form bubbles, and spraying her hair with water to rinse the bubbles out. In just a week's time, she has a newfound sense of independence because of her ability to make connections. My child also loves to help in the kitchen. Baking seems to be her forte as she loves to perch on a stool in front of the stove, watch her masterpiece rise in the oven, and yell with excitement when the timer sounds. She is still having difficulty kicking a ball. Balance is not her strongest suit. As she gains more coordination and stability while doing very different tasks with both feet at the same time, I believe she will master the art of kicking. She does, however, understand the concept of what the ball is supposed to do and how it is intended to move to the new location. Having the desire to play with her older brother seems to provide her with some motivation to keeping practicing. Understanding cause and effect relationships will allow her to become more in tune with how things work together in a concrete way, then, hopefully, she will be able to synthesize more abstractly, make predictions, and draw her own conclusions. This means that eventually she will be able to answer her own "why" questions with more ease. |
How Your Life is Changing |
The terrible twos might be the beginning of an occasional meltdown, a series of misunderstandings, and confusion for both you and your child. Maybe your child's behavior at two has been outstanding, and you feel that you were able to slip by that notorious terrible stage. If so, congratulations; however, beware because it can sneak out at three, too! This so called terrible stage is often characterized by less than desirable behavior exhibited by a child. Your approach will make or break this phase of development. Your child's disobedience can be curbed. You will wonder what happened to that baby stage as new emotions arise and the battle for control begins. As the parent, you will feel that "I am the parent; therefore, my child shall obey me." Your child will be learning enough about the world around her to want control over her environment. Strive to eliminate the onset of battles. Pick your battles wisely and consider the following suggestions to head off the anticipated meltdown or inevitable confrontation.
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Activities |
Lets Learn Our ABC's Colors Bake your ABC's Run To Your Letters So Much Paper Pine Cone Bird Seed Fall Into Fall |
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