Tag Archives: early childhood development

I love watching my baby figure things out

October 20, 2016 Zoe

I’ve written so much about learning, about early childhood development. I am always so intrigued by the way that we discover the world, and all the ways that we as parents can help our kids understand the world around them. The first few years of their lives are so important, can make such a difference. And sure, they all learn to do things even without extra fun activities, but it’s just so rewarding to watch them learn and explore. But seeing that understanding in their eyes? There’s nothing quite like it!

I will still write about swimming lessons, and bath time, but this is just a quick post about a specific moment that made me so happy. Last night, Harley was taking a bath. We had already done all the cleaning stuff, naming her body and getting her face wet as training for swimming. So it was basically “free play” in the water. She could just sit there and play with her toys, splash or whatever else she wanted to do. It’s how I generally do bath time, and the ending bit where she just plays can last anywhere from 2-10 minutes depending on how she seems and how bored either of us gets. Continue Reading

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Why I don’t want Harley to skip crawling

October 18, 2016 Zoe

Harley has been able to sit on her own for a while now. It’s absolutely divine – I can plonk her on the floor surrounded by her toys and she will just sit and play for a little while. Sometimes a little while is a few minutes, sometimes it’s way longer, but either way it’s nice for me to get a bit of time not holding onto her, and for her to get to explore on her own. She has learned how to get on all fours and back onto her back. In fact, she’s so good at that I’m hardly able to encourage tummy time anymore; she just pushes herself back up to a seated position. Despite hints of it coming, Harley has been SO close to crawling for weeks but has yet to do it. She does, however, pull herself up to standing. While she might seem poised to jump into the world of walking, I really want her to crawl first.

I know, they are milestones and not set in stone or something, but I do think the crawling thing is important. I don’t want Harley to skip crawling and go straight to walking. Sure, it will be great when she does both, and she already has her own unique way of getting around sorta like an inchworm, but with all the developmental stuff that crawling encourages, it’s not something I want her to breeze past. Continue Reading

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Crawling early childhood development Milestones

Here’s my list of questions for picking out a nursery school

October 11, 2016 Zoe

I mentioned yesterday that I plan to put Harley into nursery/playschool/creche from next year. I really think it’s the best thing for all of us; it will be nice for me to have time to get things done in the morning without her, she can have awesome stimulation and socializing time, and we can both have even more fun when we are together. Plus, I think I’ll be less stressed and chaotic and more able to be present with her, with Dean and with work stuff. So yeah, win-win situation. Of course, I need to find the right school, which means asking the right questions for picking out a nursery school when I go and visit.

There are a few things that I know are different for me than some people, so this list might not be ideal for you but can at least give you a jumping off point. See, at this age, I don’t want any focus on “academics”. This is the time in her life when she is just supposed to play, not be made to sit down and actively learn. She will already be learning so much by playing, exploring new environments and interacting with different people. I also don’t want her exposed to religious education – theological education is fine, so if they celebrate all the holidays or all religions, I don’t mind, but it mustn’t be a religious school in the sense of teaching just one. Anyway, here are some of my questions for picking out a nursery school: Continue Reading

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early childhood development Parenting South Africa

Build a (literal) sense of direction in your kid by swinging

September 30, 2016 Zoe

I don’t like to brag, but there is a cool trait that I have that I am so happy to have. I have a great sense of direction. Plonk me in unfamiliar territory, give me a map or just a vague sense of where I am and where I need to go, and I can figure it out. My internal compass is pretty damn strong, and I do well with remembering streets, landmarks and a general sense of where I exist in space. It has made travel much more enjoyable, as well as made moving cities way less daunting. After driving somewhere once or twice, I can find my way there and back again without too much hassle. It’s sort of like in those Ubisoft open-world games – I sync my map internally and then I can access that info whenever I need it, even years later.

For a long time, I figured this was just an innate trait. I mean, sure, my father taught me about reading maps, and we had cool map drawing classes in my Waldorf elementary school, but in actual fact,I was drawing maps even before then. When my brother would play games, I would be the one drawing maps of dungeons, telling him where we needed to go. He was the one doing the controls, but I was always the navigator. However, after doing some digging, it seems that there was something else I did that helped give me a sense of direction, and it really isn’t hard to pass this awesome ability on to your little one… and maybe even improve your sense of direction, too. Continue Reading

3 Comments Child Development, Health, Parenting

early childhood development Sense of direction travel

What is midline crossing, why it’s important and how to encourage it

August 23, 2016 Zoe

Until I started this parenting journey, I had no idea about midline crossing. I’d heard about it occasionally in other contexts, but I didn’t really understand what it was or why it mattered. I remember talking about it with my mom what feels like forever ago, when Harley first started at TopTots, and even though she has a degree in early childhood education, she was also pretty in the dark about it all. It’s relatively new research, so your parents, in-laws or even teachers might not be aware of it, but ask any occupational therapist about it, and they will rave about how important it is. So, here’s a bit about the whole midline business, and why it’s such a big deal, as well as some ways that I’m encouraging Harley to do it as much as possible.

First up, the what. The main one people talk about is crossing your left-right midline. Imagine a line drawn down the center of your body, dividing your left and right sides. Other midline crossing that is often encouraged is the front to back line, as well as the top to bottom line. For the first, imagine lying down and being sliced in half as if you were making a sandwich, while with the second imagine the typical way that a magician would pretend to slice an assistant in half. Okay, so now you know where the lines are, but why do they matter?

6 Comments Child Development, Geek, Parenting

Brain development early childhood development