Toddlers + Young Children

What happens when we trust our child, and when is it hard for us to do that? For our Swaddlers conversation, a lot of the discussion centered on trusting our babies when it comes to sleep (theirs and ours) Trusting that they are waking for good reasons — developmental changes/growth (which might wake them on their own, but also means they might need more nursing), teething, feeling rested from late naps Finding ways of meeting our needs and their needs. For example, when o

We've been exploring Kristen Neff's work on having fierce self compassion and applying it to motherhood. Practicing this level of self compassion means to offer yourself the same amount of protection that you would your child. It means talking to yourself with as much love as you do your child and loving yourself just as much. You may find that it's necessary to sit with these invitations for a while first, practice often and offer yourself the opportunity for a re-do for mor

Developmentally we can expect two and three year olds to focus for about 5-10 minutes. Some little ones can play happily and independently for up to 30 minutes however it’s expected that they will want you to be nearby so it may be helpful to keep that in mind. In the past, we've talked about the benefits of uninterrupted play when we explored Yes Zones and essentially what we're talking about now is an extension and will continue to be an extension throughout childhood as t

Community play like going to the park, music classes, play dates, playgroups and library meet-ups can be exciting but also overwhelming and full of new firsts. Here are some of the suggestions we’ve shared in group: Sharing is not developmentally expected. It’s normal for toddlers to want to keep their toys safe or not want to stop playing to give the toy to a friend. It’s also normal for toddlers to take toys from one another as they work through some of the social expecta

Some babies are happy to sit at the table peacefully and eat with no end in sight while other parents find it hard to keep babies at the table. As always, there are a variety of perspectives. You can either keep very clear expectations with simple mantras like "your bottom stays in the seat at the table" or you can opt for the other direction which is to choose your battles carefully and meet them where they're at: consider getting on the floor for a picnic, offer smaller tab