The post Video: What behaviour is normal for your toddler? appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Occupational Therapist and Pampers Institute Member, Kate Bailey fills us in in this Pampers YouTube video.
She says that if your baby is described as energetic, stubborn, impulsive or loud, then this is all normal.
Don’t overthink their busy behaviour and take comfort in the fact that your toddler’s brain is developing very quickly. The behaviour you might find worrisome today, will probably not be an issue in a couple of months.
Helpful advice and tips from the Pampers® Institute are available at www.Pampers.co.za and on www.youtube.com/PampersZA Receive emails with information tailored to your baby’s age by subscribing at www.Pampers.co.za/registration and connect with us at www.facebook.com/PampersSA
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]]>The post Video: Make homemade play dough for your baby’s development appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>However, this doesn’t mean that you have to go out and buy novelty items to enhance your child’s development. Instead, involve them in making their own toys.
Occupational Therapist, Kate Bailey, shows how you can make homemade play dough. The squashing and squeezing motion will help with fine motor skill development, plus it’s the perfect opportunity to encourage creative and imaginative play.
Helpful advice and tips from the Pampers® Institute are available at www.Pampers.co.za and on www.youtube.com/PampersZA Receive emails with information tailored to your baby’s age by subscribing at www.Pampers.co.za/registration and connect with us at www.facebook.com/PampersSA
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]]>The post Toddler development: The benefits of reading appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Snuggling up, listening to your mom or dad read your favourite fairytale not only releases feel good hormones; it also helps you relax and fall asleep easily, creating wonderful memories of a childhood filled with love, fantasy and adventure.
This special moment of bonding between you and your toddler also provides you with an opportunity to focus on your toddler’s intellectual, social and ethical development.
While reading;
It doesn’t matter if you are not a great reader yourself, start with simple books and watch your own reading skills improve as you read to your child.
Embrace your inner child and make reading to your toddler a fun time of the day, rather than viewing it as a chore.
Toddlers often want to read the same story over and over again because it provides consistency and predictability, which makes them feel secure. Be patient and let them get more involved in reading the story, especially over time.
Remember this special time of the day with your toddler is about more than just reading. It is a time for them to attach to you, especially if they have been separated from you all day.
As Katherine Patterson, a child author advises, “it is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading, something that will stretch their imaginations, something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.”
Happy Reading!
About the Author: Claire Marketos www.inspiredparenting.co.za
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]]>The post Music and dance may help your baby’s social skills appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>While it has already been proven that people who move in time together in activities ranging from dancing to rowing a boat are likely to bond and work together, the McMaster study is believed to be the first to study the effects on babies.
“Moving in sync with others is an important part of musical activities,” says lead author and doctoral student Laura Cirelli. “These effects show that movement is a fundamental part of music that affects social behavior from a very young age.”
Researchers worked in pairs to bounce each baby in the study, which tested a total of 68 babies.
When the music started playing, one researcher bounced the baby in a forward facing carrier, while the other researcher stood facing the baby and the person holding him.
The pairs of researchers bounced either in sync or at a different tempo, depending upon whether they were in the test or control group.
When the music stopped, subjects were given a classical test of child altruism in which the researcher who had been facing him would pretend to accidentally drop an object to see if the baby would help him.
The babies who had been bounced in sync with the researcher across from them were 20 percent more likely to help than those bounced offbeat.
Cirelli believes her findings are significant towards building a more cooperative social climate and that singing, clapping and dancing in time to music should be an essential part of developmental learning.
Moving forward, Cirelli is now working on a project to determine whether the babies’ bouncing-inspired helpfulness extends to others, or if it is geared solely towards his bouncing partner.
The study will be published in an upcoming issue of Developmental Science.
(AFP Relaxnews)
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]]>The post How does your bilingual toddler learn words? New research sheds light appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Parents raising children to be multilingual often worry about whether the abundance and variety of language can hinder the learning process. But a new study published in the International Journal of Behavioural Development suggests that efficient language learning is just a question of being paired with the right teacher.
Having observed subtle differences between the ways in which monolingual and bilingual infants pick up similar sounding words, Christopher Fennell from the University of Ottawa and Krista Byers-Heinlein from Concordia University, both in Canada, based their study upon the various households in which their infant subjects were being raised.
The parents’ status as mono or multilingual was connected to the infants’ ability to learn.
Adults who grew up speaking more than one language possess a subtle accent in each. Often undetectable by other adults, this accent is more obvious to children.
To answer the question as to whether monolingual children learn best from monolingual parents and the same for bilinguals, Fennel and Byers-Heinlin worked with 61 monolingual anglophone and English-French bilingual 17-month-olds.
It is well known that tots learn words easily, although they often have trouble differentiating between similar-sounding words at this stage, regardless of their mono or multilingual status.
In the study, the children were taught two nonsense words by an adult whose language background matched or opposed their own, depending on the group in which they were placed.
The results of the two groups were compared and tests concluded that monolingual children learn words most efficiently from monolinguals and bilinguals learn best for bilinguals.
“We found that all infants, regardless of whether they are learning one or two languages, learn words best when listening to people who sound like their primary caregivers,” Fennell explains. “Monolingual infants succeeded with a monolingual speaker, bilingual infants with a bilingual speaker, but each group had difficulty with the opposite speaker.”
Earlier this year, Byers-Heinlin was involved in a study that suggests bilingual children prefer native speakers of their respective languages, viewing people who speak with accents as outsiders.
(AFP Relaxnews)
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]]>The post Business and Arts South Africa Partners with Nestlé SMARTIES Box-a-Thon to inspire creativity in Children appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>BASA Chief Executive Officer, Michelle Constant believes that art is crucial to the development of a child who feels whole and she says, “Arts and culture inspire creative thinking in adults and drive a level of social capital, humanity and imagination. With this in mind, it makes sense that art should take its rightful place as a key component in the education of our children.”
“The arts help link children to their humanity as they learn to the see the ‘other’ in their world. Through theatre or dance, by way of example, young people are introduced to worlds that are not their own, and they learn to see the differences and similarities giving them a much needed sense of empathy.”
“Parents can play an important role in their children’s art education. Art classes in the afternoon, bedtime stories, nature walks, visits to art galleries and even a fun initiative like the Nestlé SMARTIES Box-a-Thon can do much to open a child’s mind and inspire their creative and imaginative thinking process,” adds Constant.
As a member of the Nestlé SMARTIES Box-a-Thon judging panel, Constant admits that she’ll be looking for confirmation that entrants let their imaginations run wild and that above all, they had fun. From a SMARTIES breathing dragon to an extra-terrestrial creature from another planet, children are invited to be as creative as they wish as they engage with this “Out of this World” competition. “We’re not looking for a perfect artist; we’re looking for passion and imagination,” says Constant.
“The arts have such an important place in our country and can do much to drive our economy. Artists are never in decline, but sadly our audiences are and as parents we have the power to change that. By teaching our children that by embracing the arts they can enjoy a sense of fun, quirkiness and even caring that can only enrich their lives, we can ensure that the arts retain their rightful place in South African society,” concludes Constant.
9Bring the arts right into your home with the Nestlé SMARTIES Box-a-Thon. Once their out of this world model has been completed, children need simply to take a photograph of their inspired design and upload their pic onto www.SMARTIES.co.za. One winner will be the lucky recipient of a family holiday for four to Orlando, Florida in the USA. Runner-up prizes include a Kindly Fire HD tablet with fun and educational games, as well as clothing vouchers to the value of R1 500.
The competition starts on April 15th and ends June 30th 2014. Winners will be announced on August 8th, 2014 on www.SMARTIES.co.za. Terms and conditions can be found on the website.
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]]>The post Toddler development: Your Nursery School tips! appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>The modern trend is to enrol your toddler at a nursery school from three or four years of age. She may have attended a playschool from an earlier age, or may have been happy and content at home with you until now.
While most playschools focus mostly on socializing and playing (for younger toddlers), nursery schools differ in that learning takes place in a more formal and structured way.
Many nursery schools have separate classes or sections for different age groups, so try to find one that will allow for your child’s progress without having to move her unnecessarily.
Trust your instinct when looking for a school, and decide whether the school will suit you and your toddler’s needs with regards to accessibility, safety and hygiene and quality of teaching and care.
If your toddler has never been to playschool, starting nursery school may be the first time that she will be separating from you, so expect her to feel anxious and apprehensive. Try these few tips to ease the transition for both of you!
If your child is still anxious, clingy and cries inconsolably when you leave her at nursery school and after two to three weeks is showing no signs of improvement, consider keeping her at home for a while and trying again later. In some cases, a change of school may be necessary. If the problem persists, consider a psychological assessment.
You may be feeling pressurised to enrol your child in every extra-mural activity on offer. Stimulation in the form of gym, swimming, music, karate, ballet or modern dancing can be most beneficial for your child, but beware of over-scheduling your child.
Choose her extra mural activities with care, bearing in mind your child’s temperament and personality, as well as being aware of the hazards of over-stimulation.
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]]>The post Your toddler is not slow, she is just shy! appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>They understood what was being said and were capable of speech, but were merely reluctant to respond.
“Our findings suggest that inhibited behaviors like shyness don’t hamper language acquisition overall but instead relate specifically to how toddlers express themselves through words,” the researchers say.
For their study, published in Child Development, researchers asked parents of 816 children to file reports on their children’s language progress at home, at 14, 20 and 24 months.
Scientists also evaluated the children at home and during lab visits, by asking them questions and gauging their comprehension and speech skills.
The findings showed that girls showed higher levels of shyness and language skills compared to boys.
To encourage shy children, researchers suggest trying to develop self-confidence, social skills and independence. One easy way is to arrange for playdates with other toddlers.
Better yet, enrolling tots in preschool has been shown to be a highly effective way of speeding up their language skills, particularly when they’re learning with older, more developed kids.
Another study out of Ohio State University found that preschool children with poor language skills showed marked improvement when they were placed in classrooms with higher-achieving classmates.
(Relaxnews)
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]]>The post Let your baby and tot develop through messy play appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Geoffrey Holtes, brand manager for the baby skincare brand, Krayons, says that babies and small children should be encouraged to explore a variety of materials and textures while at play. “Free and creative play is not only fun for the child, but also stimulates the senses and develops a rounded tactile awareness. Of course, you still need to be mindful of what is safe for your child”
Keeping the fun outdoors helps to ensure that the mess is easily mopped up, but cleaning your little one might take a little longer! Geoffrey says that there are a range of bathtime products that are specifically developed to assist in keeping babies and tots clean and moisturised, especially after an afternoon in the garden.
Those that leave a baby’s skin soft and smooth, protecting it from dryness throughout the day or night are ideal.
When bathtime is over, remember to pat your baby’s skin down with a soft towel and once dry, apply a layer of Aqueous cream over your baby’s body. Don’t forget to apply a generous layer of petroleum jelly before securing the nappy.
For more information on Krayons products visit KrayonsBabies on Facebook.
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