I should have started these posts sooner, but better late than never! Here are all the fun things we did at Creative Play for Toddlers, Week 1! We’ll be painting with different materials through the coming weeks, and this week we used chopsticks: We sang the Good Morning song: “Good morning, Daniel, Good morning, Daniel, […]
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Favorites from this past week! 9/24/16
Happy Saturday! Here are some interesting, and helpful things from around the internet this past week: Skill-Building Approaches to Anxiety-Fueled Work Avoidance – “Behavior is a way of communicating, and a symptom of an underlying problem. In my experience, when you dig into the roots of work avoidance, you find skill deficits in initiation, persistence, […]
How to Make a Waldorf Hand Kite
These are super easy and fun to make for little ones! I’ve made several of them over the past couple years, and this time my 3-year-old actually got into it and wanted to help me: Materials needed: 2″ wooden ring (I use these ones) 3/8″ ribbon, different colors (like these) Directions (these are so simple): […]
No one grows out of needing hugs
When was the last time I hugged my big girl today? I’m not sure I had. I had spent the whole day carrying around my 3-week-old, only touching my 3-year-old to lift her up and down from the counter when we were baking, and when I was gently moving her away from covering her brother’s […]
Favorites from this past week! 9/15/16
Good morning! It’s Thursday and we’re about to head into the weekend! Here are a few things I’ve found this week that I thought were worth the read…let me know what you think. Empower the Child Through Language ~ this is a really sweet article on the importance of using real names and words (as opposed […]
Behavior Charts…if you’re going to use them, here’s how:
Are you thinking about using a behavior chart for your child? Have you tried one already but it wasn’t successful? Let’s talk about this for a minute… When we say ‘behavior chart’ what we usually mean is a token reinforcement system. A token reinforcement system is used to increase behavior we like, behavior we want […]
Grandma’s Law
Have you ever said to your child, “You can’t have dessert unless you finish your dinner”? Or maybe something similar along those lines? There’s a name for that particular strategy: The Premack Principle. The Premack Principle states that high probability behaviors can be used to reinforce low probability behaviors. What does this mean? It means […]
The Power of Talking-it-Through
My daughter is 3 now. Which means we’re handling a whole host of new scenarios and challenges… and the term ‘threenager’ often floats though my head. But really, she’s just continuing to become her own person, discovering herself and her personality, experimenting with things she likes, doesn’t like, and trying very hard to be more […]
A Little Parable for Mothers
(I found this parable, typed on a worn, yellowed paper, in my Grandmother’s home, when we were cleaning after moving her to assisted living. She passed away in July, 2015.) The young mother set her foot on the path of life. “Is the way long?” she asked. And her guide said: “Yes. And the way […]
Reinforcement vs. Punishment: Defined
Learn the definitions of reinforcement and punishment.