Why playing peek-a-boo is so important? 👀

What is peekaboo?

Peekaboo is a classic hide-and-seek game: You cover your face and uncover it while saying, “Peekaboo! I see you!” Another variation is to say “peekaboo” when you cover your face, and “I see you” when you uncover it.

No matter how you play it, peekaboo stimulates baby's senses, helps build gross motor skills, strengthens visual tracking, encourages social development and, best of all, tickles her sense of humor.

Plus, peekaboo helps reinforce object permanence, the idea that even though your child can't see something — like your smiling face — it still exists.

When do babies play peekaboo?

Is there a perfect peekaboo age? Not necessarily. Object recognition develops around month 3, and babies start to better understand the concept of object permanence by month 8. By months 9 to 12, your baby will likely be able to play peekaboo on her own.

In other words, babies of all ages can benefit from peekaboo. That said, once babies begin to laugh aloud (around 3 to 4 months), peekaboo becomes more fun for both of you. Now your cutie has a new way to show her surprise and delight

Playing peek-a-boo strengthens parent-baby bonds. 

There's eye contact, fun, and interactive communication. These are key ingredients to a strong and loving connection.  

Plus, peek-a-boo is a powerful learning tool. Babies love repeated rounds of playing peek-a-boo especially when they develop object permanence. Object permanence is when a baby understands that something or someone still exists even if they are not visible. This is crucial to forming a secure attachment. ⁣🙀🙀

There are more benefits to peek-a-boo. A baby will try and mimic you, which means they are using hands and arms in new ways.  It will tickle your baby's sense of humor. And it's a great distraction when your little one is cranky.

Go watch an amazing TED talk by a 7-year old, Molly Wright, who starts her talk by saying, "What if I was to tell you that peek-a-boo could change the world?" Send me a DM after you watch it and let me know your thoughts. I was so impressed with the message and the delivery..It's titled: How every child can thrive by five 🙊 🙊

I have attached the link:   Link

 

Don't Force Sharing!

 

Sharing is fantastic and unselfish BUT only if a child chooses to share. ⁣

Forcing a child to share may not inspire the values you’re trying to encourage. By the very nature of how a child develops a sense of himself and the world around him, selfishness precedes generosity.⁣

When a child wants something another child is playing with, it’s reasonable to ask the child to find something else to play with until their buddy is finished.⁣ Toddlers can learn to take turns instead of grabbing the toy from one child to give to another.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t encourage your children to be generous. You can do that by being a good role model, having realistic expectations, and being supportive and patient. 

Kids learn to share once they develop empathy. In other words, they are able to understand the world from another viewpoint. Forcing sharing can become something children want to avoid and actually delay the natural development of generosity. 

You can’t teach a 6-month old to “use her words” instead of crying when she wants something. The same thing goes for teaching a young toddler to share. This is a fabulous goal, one that makes us feel proud of our children. But there's a developmentally appropriate time to encourage sharing. In the meantime, being a good example will be a powerful lesson.

Toddlers don't really understand the concept of sharing. They're working on their own development and focused on their own needs. While it's embarrassing when a toddler grabs another child's toy, it's also completely normal and expected. 

How To Avoid Picky Eating Habits

 

I’m going to share 4 simple strategies to encourage healthy and happy eating habits. 🍅🍅

• DON’T praise, pressure, bribe, trick or punish your child for anything to do with eating. Kids want to be independent, even babies. So, the more pressure they feel, the more stubborn they become.

• DO try & try & try & try again. Offer foods, even if your child has refused them in the past. Offer the food at different mealtimes, in different recipes, and with other foods on the plate. 🥕🥕

• DON’T distract your child with iPads or TV as mealtime is for eating and family.

• DO let your child feed herself when she’s able to do so. Many families say, “I have to feed her, or she won’t eat” But you can avoid picky eating habits by not overhelping.

Make happy and relaxed mealtimes your priority and you'll benefit from this mindset in the end. 

Helicopter - Parenting.

What Is Helicopter Parenting? 

          Helicopter parenting refers to "a style of parents who are overly focused on their children,". They typically take too much responsibility for their children's experiences and, specifically, their success and failures. In simple words involved in a child's life in a way that is overcontrolling, overprotecting and over perfecting, in a way that is in excess of responsible parenting." 

How to Parents behave in Helicopter Parenting?  

Helicopter parenting can apply at any age of children. In toddlerhood, a helicopter parent might constantly shadow the child, always playing with and directing his behavior, allowing him zero alone time. In elementary school, helicopter parents may ensure a child gets a certain teacher or coach, select the child's friends and activities, or providing disproportionate help for homework and school projects. In high school or college-aged students with tasks they’re capable of doing alone but the parents do their homework, helping them in wearing cloths, choosing cloths for them etc. 

Why do Parents do this? 

1. Fear of dire consequences:

2.      Parents might fear my child may have a low grade in class, rejection from the school, fear of unhappiness of the child, struggle, not excelling in class etc.  

2. Feelings of anxiety:        

3.         Worry about the poor performance of the child, anxiety of the child injury, about the future, job etc. Worry can drive parents to take control in the belief that they can keep their child from ever being hurt or disappointed  

3. Overcompensation: 

4.         Adults who felt unloved, neglected, or ignored as children can overcompensate with their own children. Excessive attention and monitoring are attempts to remedy a deficiency the parents felt in their own upbringing.  

4. Peer pressure from other parents:

5.         When moms and dads see other over-involved parents, it can trigger a similar response. "Sometimes when we observe other parents over-parenting or being helicopter parents, it will pressure us to do the same," 

    

The Effects of Helicopter Parents: - 

        Helicopter parents start off with good intentions. "It is a tricky line to find, to be engaged with our children and their lives, but not so meshed that we lose perspective on what they need," 

The helicopter parenting effects are widespread, but may include these five factors. 
 

Decreased confidence and self-esteem: 

 "The main problem with helicopter parenting is that it backfires,". "The underlying message [the parent's] over-involvement sends to kids is 'my parent doesn't trust me to do this on my own.'” This, in turn, leads to a lack of confidence. 

Undeveloped coping skills: 

 If the parent is always there to clean up a child's mess—or prevent the problem in the first place—how does the child ever learn to cope with loss, disappointment or failure? Studies have found that helicopter parenting can make children feel less competent in dealing with the stresses of life on their own. 

Increased anxiety:  

A study from the University of Mary Washington has shown that over-parenting is associated with higher levels of child anxiety and depression. 

Sense of entitlement:  

Children who have always had their social, academic, and athletic lives adjusted by their parents can become accustomed to always having their way and thus they develop a sense of entitlement. 

Undeveloped life skills:  

Parents who always tie shoes, clear plates, pack lunches, launder clothes, and monitor school progress even after children are mentally and physically capable of doing the task prevent them from mastering these skills themselves. 

How to Avoid Helicopter Parenting? 

            As parents, we have a very difficult job. We need to keep one eye on our children now their stressors, strengths', emotions and one eye on the adults we are trying to raise. Getting them from here to there involves some suffering, for our kids as well as for us."  

In practical terms, this means letting children struggle, allowing them to be disappointed, helping them to work through failure. It means letting your children do the tasks that they’re physically and mentally capable of doing. Remembering to look for opportunities to take one step back from solving our child's problems will help us build the resilient, self-confident kids we need."