Now you see it, now it’s gone... forever? Object permanence through your baby’s eyes
Can you imagine believing that if you couldn’t see something, it no longer existed? Life would be both hard and yet full of surprises when something came back! Some scientists think this is what life is like for young babies – until they develop the concept of object permanence.
Are they sleeping through yet?
Have you been asked if your baby sleeps through? Seen the TikToks of parents telling everyone how their baby has slept through every night since a week old (or something like that)?
Sleep is one of the first aspects of a children’s development that tests our determination not to compare. If your baby wakes multiple times a night you might be desperate for the secret to uninterrupted sleep!
What IS the secret?
The still face experiment and what it tells us about talking to your baby
Your baby's smiles and coos probably give you all the encouragement you need to keep chatting. But it's good to know that these conversations support your baby's development. When you smile and talk to them, they learn how to have a chat and make friends. And even if you can't respond straight away every time, waiting for a moment helps them to develop resilience. The still face experiments tell us more about the importance of these early interactions.
The still face paradigm is an experimental design first developed in the late 1970s to see if babies were active participants in communication. In research using this approach, scientists watch babies during three different interactions with an adult. First, the adult responds as they usually would, then they interrupt the interaction, keeping their face still or neutral, before returning to their usual interaction.
What babies and birdsong have in common
Incredibly, scientists have observed that many of the skills babies use when they are learning to babble are similar to those of some songbirds learning to sing.[1]
Breastfeeding tips and discount code from Bshirt
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Outdoors is a great place to paint and draw
When you notice the changes in the environment as the seasons progress, encouraging your child to notice the differences and paint and draw out doors will produce really great work based on observations and freedom to use colours and self-expression.
Do you remember? Simple ways to support your child’s cognitive development
Your child’s memory and concentration skills develop in conjunction with the experiences they have, the people they know and the places they go to. This is because for everything we experience, our brain combines information from our senses with our body’s reactions and our lived experience to create meaning[1]. As cognitive skills develop, and children encounter more things, their brain can recall these moments as memories to help it make sense of what is happening and know how to react to new situations.
This is not always a reliable, or linear, process. You may find yourself surprised at times when your child recounts events from long ago which you thought they had forgotten about, or they bring up something in a context you'd never have expected.
Using the stairs – a simple way to get more activity into your day and great for your toddler’s development too!
We all know keeping active is important; but despite your watch telling you to move more, or a daily goal of 10,000 steps, the reality is that most parents don’t have time for sport, the gym or an exercise class every day. Which is where the stairs come in as a perfect way to fit in a bit of extra movement for your and your toddler.
As well as being vital for our bodies, physical activity can help us manage stress and sleep better. It's good to think that every minute counts and exercise in various forms and guises can be spread across the day. Physical activity is important for our physical and mental health, it can help us manage stress and sleep better.
Seesaw science, how your child learns physics as they play
Do you remember learning about forces and pivots in science lessons?? You might possibly remember diagrams of the forces acting on a seesaw, but surely all of this is way too complicated for your child?
We aren’t going to suggest introducing written equations to your child just yet! But the wonderful thing about giving them lots of time to play and move is that they are experiencing these forces in action.
