Hot answers tagged development
45
This was a difficult decision for us, as well.
I was convinced that circumcision was the wrong choice for us (despite my upbringing teaching me that all boys should be circumcised), but my wife was hesitant, for exactly the same reason you cited.
I did some research, and we were surprised to find that circumcision rates were much lower than we had ...
40
I personally saw no benefit to circumcising my son.
My reasoning:
Being Different
There's three schools of reasoning often used here. 1: "The son should look like the father." and 2: "Locker room teasing" and 3: girls don't like a guy with a foreskin
The son isn't going to resemble the father (size wise, hair wise, etc) until he's 15+ and at that ...
25
Explaining the reason tasks are required will help the child gain an understanding of tasks. It is developmentally important that children understand tasks - what we are doing and why so as they get older, they can reason through tasks themselves. However, bargaining, while tempting, sets a precedence of ever heightening "price" for compliance. This teaches ...
18
Remember that quality is more important than quantity!
I think it can be a bit easier to go overboard with toys for infants and toddlers, due to the volume you may receive from adult friends during baby showers and early birthday parties that may be more geared towards your family and friends than the baby's friends.
Some toys naturally become favorites (a ...
13
First off, I really like your motivation. My daughter is 6.5 months, and we don't have many toys for her (her toys could probably all fit in a grocery bag), but I am already thinking we have too many.
I was talking to a friend of mine with 8 kids, and I think she has the right idea. She told me that she didn't go and buy special things for her kids to ...
13
I think its also proper to set expectations, many 2 year olds while they "play" tend to do so in parallel not with a lot of interaction. So you may want to be careful in what you expect, so you don't see something that is not there. Significant change is also something to aware of, as Torben notes, and will definitely influence young children who have ...
13
I feel for you. My son is only 2, and the repetition is already very frustrating. Unfortunately, repeating yourself, calmly yet firmly, is the best way to get through to your kids.
While the temptation to resort to yelling is hard to resist (and you're not alone! This article references studies that show that nearly all parents do so at some point), I ...
12
As a programmer i would propose to you the following:
Abstract thinking, Pragmatic Thinking, Higher problem solving. Design Patterns ( Not programming in general but building. Building in sense of building, construction. Did you know that design patterns come from designing buildings and problem solving in engineering? )
Also i would recommend starting ...
12
It's counter-productive to put a standard age on this - it's hugely dependent on your child and to a certain extent your home environment.
My son slept through from 4 months or so, a good friends child still doesn't sleep reliably at 6 years old.
However, reducing the number of naps during the day would probably help. It he's not tired, he's not going to ...
12
In summary, research findings to date might suggest a correlation between television viewing and developmental problems, but they cannot show causality.
There is no evidence that television, even educational programming, has any positive effect on children younger than 2 years old. In fact, some studies suggest it may be harmful.
According to the above ...
12
We had the exact same problem and not only was she not playing enough (in our minds) but we were going crazy reading all the time. We finally put a three book limit per sitting. She brought us books and we would read three and then say it is play time. Later in the day we were willing and ready to read three more. This worked for us and she learned to ...
12
My guess is that she has memorized the number sequence, but hasn't actually made the correlation between the words and the actual amount of things. This a big leap. Have her practice counting as much as you can, but make it fun and incorporated into daily life as much as possible.
Like,
When giving snack "here's one slices of orange, now you have two* ...
11
To be honest I have some problems with these labels. From what I can tell, we are doing attachment parenting, without having ever heard of it, by just doing what feels right and is easy. It's a natural thing to do.
So why attach a label to it? It turns it into some sort of movement, means you have to do it "Just the right way", as described in the books. ...
10
I found this entry at Michigan's Health System with lots of valuable information and links to more information: http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/puberty.htm
Having read this article on Precocious Puberty if it were my son I would take him to the doctor. There is some concern that Precocious Puberty, puberty earlier than 9 years on in boys, can be ...
10
On most developmental profiles, full head control is achieved by around five months. However, all children are different, so some develop head control sooner, some a little later. If a child doesn't have a reasonable degree of head control by 7 months, then I would refer her for a developmental check, but your daughter sounds pretty much on track at the ...
10
If he's getting frustrated, following directions in itself probably isn't the problem. More likely, either you haven't provided a developmentally-appropriate level/type of direction, or you've chosen a project that is too much for him. Even a toddler can follow directions if they are simple enough and if he is being directed to do something he can ...
10
The main point is that kids crave and need stimulation and it's important for their development that they get it. So if they are not getting it from toys or from television they need to get it from somewhere.
The best place to get that stimulation is from their parents. So if you don't use the alternative this can be a big task; it can be tiring and ...
10
Well, my experience is different (up to now), as our son, who is "only" nearly 4 years old,
does not have access to TV or video games etc. yet and
is very, very interested in spending time with us (his parents)
For older children I wonder:
What about the parents, you're talking about? Do they really want to spend more time with their children?
Many ...
10
One objective reason for the obey first, ask questions later approach is that when your child is in imminent danger, you don't have time for explanations and negotiations. Also, children that young do not plan ahead to act in their own best interests, even by their own definitions. They will cry for an hour because they want to play instead of putting a ...
10
Not every child develops at the same rate, and it may not indicate a problem if your child is behind on one or two milestones.
Most children do speak 5 or more words by 15 months. As I understand it, though, it isn't particularly uncommon for children to be a bit behind on this.
Perhaps more troubling is your statement that your son doesn't seem to ...
10
At 10mo the cognitive development of a child's brain is not capable of comprehending or responding to discipline effectively. It's all about managing the environment. That's not to say you can't try to communicate and begin to form the cognitive capabilities. But a frowny face will be just as, if not more, affective as voice tone. (Mirror neurons are the ...
10
If your daughter doesn't want to stay on her tummy then she's not going to, it's simple as that and there's not a thing you can do about it. Once babies learn to roll around it's up to them. All you can do is make it a safe environment with lots of good things to play with then let them get on with it.
As for why she doesn't want to be on her tummy who ...
10
A 15 minute attention span is perfectly normal for his age.
In fact, 15 minutes is pretty good.
Dr. Roy Benaroch, a general pediatrician, wrote this on his blog regarding toddler attention spans:
Normal toddlers can have a very short attention span. At times, they’ll zoom from toy to toy like a hummingbird, barely touching one thing before moving on ...
10
No, a child will not teach themselves to develop a new "language" to express themselves, at least not by any generally accepted definition of the term "language".
Language is a complex tool used by multiple people or a community. A single child who is never exposed to verbal language does not make up their own... what would be the point if no one ...
9
What you're seeing is probably the fact that the eyesight is not fully developed at birth, because proper eyesight as we know it takes several months to develop.
In the beginning, newborns can't make any sense at all of what they're seeing. They have no depth perception so everything is two-dimensional, and they only really perceive things that are very ...
9
Circumcision removes a huge portion of the most sensitive erogenous skin a boy has. What possible reason could one have for doing that unless for religion? (As far as I know this means Jews and Muslims only, and, specifically, not Christians.)
The arguments about hygiene are flat wrong. The foreskin, even after the synechiae attaching it to the glans have ...
9
I am not a pedagogue, but I've been told children in their early years can comprehend numbers which are the same of their age. Two year old's can comprehend two, Three year old's can comprehend three, and so on...
Counting to ten is not the same. That is more like reciting a nursery rhyme. My daughter of two and a half can count to ten, in that manner. She ...
9
I can imagine that he's feeling uneasy at being moved from his grandma and dropped into full-time daycare that abruptly.
Usually, you'd start daycare just a few hours a day and gradually increase to full time.
I understand that with evebody working full-time as well, it's hard or impossible to provide a transition phase.
I think two weeks is not enough ...
9
My son is the same, as was I. It's pretty normal. So normal that when I showed up to daycare with my mouth duct taped shut (because Spider-man doesn't have a mouth), the social workers understood. The teachers still had to call them in- probably some kind of policy regarding duct tape on children's mouths- but it was more hilarious than anything else, ...
8
I started when I was 6 or so—I didn't have any particular pre-requisites, I just liked exploring (especially on the computer!). I actually found QBASIC on the computer myself, had no idea what it did or how to work it, and asked my father—I had no idea it was to do with "programming" or what that was—but he just showed me how you could tell the computer to ...
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