A new talker will often call her caregiver "mommy," which makes parents worry that the child is confused about who is who. She isn...'t. This is a case of limited vocabulary rather than mixed-up identities. When a child has only one word for the female person who takes care of her, calling both of them "mommy" is understandable.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Your child has the capacity to care for more than one person at a time. The affection she feels for her caregiver doesn't diminish... the love she feels for you. Your caregiver isn't your competition. She is your ally.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
By sharing the information and observations with the caregiver, you have a chance to see your child through another pair of eyes. ...Because she has some distance and objectivity, a caregiver often sees things that a parent's total involvement with her child doesn't allow.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It's not appropriate to punish children under three, because they really can't evaluate or control their own actions very well.......To be able to follow rules, to discipline herself, a child has to understand not only the rule, but the ideas behind it. She has to be able to recognize similar but not identical situations where the same rule applies. She has to have enough self-control to stop herself from acting on impulses (a separate problem from knowing she shouldn't do something).LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
For infants and toddlers learning and living are the same thing. If they feel secure, treasured, loved, their own energy and curio...sity will bring them new understanding and new skills.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Adults empathize so readily with a clinging child because all of us (including those who were raised by doting mothers who stayed ...home) have felt abandoned at some time or other as children: it's part of growing up. . . . But you can't stop working because your child doesn't want you to leave her--and you needn't think it would be better if you could.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The books may say that nine-month-olds crawl, say their first words, and are afraid of strangers. Your exuberantly concrete and sp...ecial nine-month-old hasn't read them. She may be walking already, not saying a word and smiling gleefully at every stranger she sees. . . . You can support her best by helping her learn what she's trying to learn, not what the books say a typical child ought to be learning.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Your child should feel entitled to cry when you leave; crying is a natural thing for a child to do when she feels bad. The fact th...at your child cries when you go doesn't mean she will never like day care. It just means she wants you to stay.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Ordinary time is "quality time" too. Everyday activities are not just necessities that keep you from serious child rearing: they a...re the best opportunities for learning you can give your child...because her chief task in her first three years is precisely to gain command of the day-to-day life you take for granted.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »