Sharing information and advice on the most critical time... The first 2000 Days. What are some things you can look out for and some activities you can do with infants/toddlers to get them through the various developmental milestones before they get to school. Also I will share information for the caregivers from age appropriate books to setting up classrooms.
Mucus and ear infection: To help minimize mucus build up don't give your
baby cow's milk. Use almond, rice or soy. It will also help minimize the
possibility of getting an ear infection.
Exposing your infant/toddler to diversity is very important . You should have infant/toddler books that have children from different cultures. You should take your infant/toddler to cultural events . You can just get on the bus and the train and get off at a stop that you usually do not go to and just walk around.
Experience is what builds brain and one the brain is exposed to an experience it does not forget it.
You should also play different types of music for your infant/toddler .You should also discuss the type of music . For example Johnny this music is called jazz.Your infant/toddler will be learning vocabulary and this is also language development . Music teaches listening skills and following directions. These skills are needed for school and must be taught early, when the brain is being wired.
Mosquitoes: To keep mosquitoes away you can boil chamomile tea rub
the tea on your skin that will keep away the mosquitos. You can also wash your
floor with it.
(sessions are for 0 - 3 years old unless otherwise
noted)
Art * Music* Language Development * Story time
* Activities * Cooking * and more
Helping your infant and toddler to have a
healthy start through constant engagement is important and critical. This will
be an interactive session for you and your little one (zero to age 3). Sharing
with parents how to work with their infants and toddlers to develop their
cognitive, social and emotional skills before they start school; using a
progressive approach.
Some days we will have guests facilitate the
activities and discussions.
“We Are Our Brother’s Keeper” First Annual Urban Yoga Foundation Healing Arts Festival
Baby & Wee™
Class
Art * Music* Language Development * Story time * Activities *
Cooking
Part of
healing is helping your infant and toddler to have a healthy start through
constant engagement. This will be an interactive session for you and your
little one (zero to age 3). Sharing with parents how to work with their infants
and toddlers to develop their cognitive, social and emotional skills before
they start school; using a progressive approach. This will not be your ordinary Mommy & Me
class.
"The brain is like a circuit
breaker, in order for your infant/toddler to learn you must provide the tools
to connect the wires" -Daseta Gray
Location: THE BRONX MUSEUM OF THE ARTS Address: 1040 Grand Concourse Bronx, New York 10456
D train to 167 Street
Time: 1pm - 5pm
Cost: Complementary
Teething: take the shell (the outer portion) of an onion boil it in water
and then give it to your teething baby until they stop teething. This will help
to minimize the discomfort they feel. Once you see a little white nub
break through the gum begin giving the onion shell tea to your baby. You will
blink and all her teeth will be in.
You can also give her scallion tea (I believe it is also called green
onion).
Self-efficacy is learning how to persevere at a task until you succeed.
Here is a good example : Your toddler is trying to find the ball because it rolled under the table and a chair is blocking his way. He problem solve by moving the chair out of the way and now his path is clear and he is able to get the ball. You should praise her for the good job that she did by being able to get the ball.
These small acts form the root for the development of self-efficacy skills that will be needed later on. In order for your infant/toddler to develop these skills you must provide the opportunity. This means allowing your toddler to use her brains to figure it out. If the task becomes frustrating for your toddler and she begins to cry. You can say to her "you don't need to cry do you need help" she may not respond then you will say " John let us do it together". Over time he will learn that frustration is natural and there is an adult there that is in tune with him and will offer help when he needs it. Your goal is to have your toddler understand when to ask for help but he must try to do things first. After a few weeks he will begin to associate the word help with the action help.
Brain development is a process and you must be patient while you are building a brain.
Self-Concept is a very important for children to learn during the early stage of development . Young children will begin to indicate this skill by :signaling to their care giver that they have a need, explore own body as your infant becomes a toddler she will strive for independence and will begin to test her limits.
Ajani is now 2.7 months and that is what he is doing for example : Yesterday we were in a hotel and he kept un-locking the door and we keep asking him not to . The third time he went back to the door looked at me and with a stern voice :I said Ajani do not open the door. He is starring at me across the floor , he smiled but I did not smile back. He kept looking at me and is slowly moving his hand toward the door knob . I firmly said Do
Ajani was watching his favorite show . He got up went to the kitchen and came back with an open can of Nutrament . He put it on the table and went back to the kitchen he returned with his sipp cup. He unscrew the top of his cup put the cover on the table and began pouring the nutriment in his cup. He then put the empty can on the table took the cover for his cup and screwed it back on. "Look NaNa I pour Nutrament" Good job Ajani. He began to drink. You poured the Nutrament.
Here this toddler shows his ability to make decision about when he is hungry. He is also independent and fells confident and have self-esteem and his fine motors skills are developed . His eye hand coordination skills are on target. He take bride in his work . All these skills are needed for school and life. His brain development is moving along .
You must provide opportunities for your infant/toddler to be able to develop the skills that she needs.
I have also extended his language skills by adding "the" to his sentence and he is building new vocabulary.
Empathy is the ability to feel another person's emotion or as they say "yes I feel your pain".
It is very important for you to teach your infant/toddler empathy.It begins simply when you smile at your baby and she responds with a smile. She is feeling your emotion . When Ajani learned that he can bite things one day he bit his mom . She pretended to cry he stood up and looked at her and he began to cry also. He was about 16 months old . He has not bitten her since.
He is now able to describe emotions . He uses the words sad and happy . We also have conversations with him where we use these word and point out the behaviors.
Now when he sees a child crying he will say "mama he is sad". The roots of these life skills are planted during years 0-3 when the brain is being wired.
You should be mindful that you are building a brain.
Adaptive Social behavior - Group activities
Your toddler should be able to participate in group activities .This begins early can be with a smile to other children and adults . Reaches out to say hello to other children and adults .
Strategies : Play with child near other children,
take your child to the park, take your child to festival where other children are and allow her to interact with other children . You must allow your child enough space to interact but be close enough to guide if there is a conflict.
Good morning,
Summer is approaching parties, play dates and swimming. It is very important that you take a workshop in infant/toddler CPR and also your child should learn how to swim .Many accident occurs with children who are not able to swim. This site has some great safety tips you can check it out and share it. www.safekids.org
It is very important to allow your infant/toddler to learn hoe to adapt to diverse settings. We are living in a works that is now a village .
Social skills are very important for the work-place later on therefore learning to adapt to diverse setting is very important during these first three years remember the experiences that are given plant the roots for the rest of your life.
Introduce your infant/toddler to diverse settings where a mixture of people are
Have a routine for your household
Provide enough time to transition and explain what is coming next
If your child is in care they should have multi-cultural items there also.
Your infant/toddler must be able to adapt to different social settings .
This means that your infant/toddler should be exposed to different social settings in order to learn how to adapt to the different spaces. You will take your infant/toddler to different places and she will begin to learn that their are certain behaviors that are accepted in certain spaces.
One good example is : visiting grand-ma's house he learns that he can't touch certain items .
A few strategies : be in tune with your infant/toddler by responding to her actions, tone and words.
You are getting your child ready for routines that she will need to follow when she gets to school. Visit us :
Thousands of Toddlers Are Medicated for A.D.H.D., Report Finds, Raising Worries
Photo
Susanna N. Visser presented a report on Friday at the Georgia Mental Health Forum in Atlanta on the diagnosis and medication for A.D.H.D. in young children.Credit Dustin Chambers for The New York Times
The report, which found that toddlers covered by Medicaid are particularly prone to be put on medication such as Ritalin and Adderall, is among the first efforts to gauge the diagnosis of A.D.H.D. in children below age 4. Doctors at the Georgia Mental Health Forum at the Carter Center in Atlanta, where the data was presented, as well as several outside experts strongly criticized the use of medication in so many children that young.
The American Academy of Pediatrics standard practice guidelines for A.D.H.D. do not even address the diagnosis in children 3 and younger — let alone the use of such stimulant medications, because their safety and effectiveness have barely been explored in that age group. “It’s absolutely shocking, and it shouldn’t be happening,” said Anita Zervigon-Hakes, a children’s mental health consultant to the Carter Center. “People are just feeling around in the dark. We obviously don’t have our act together for little children.”
Dr. Lawrence H. Diller, a behavioral pediatrician in Walnut Creek, Calif., said in a telephone interview: “People prescribing to 2-year-olds are just winging it. It is outside the standard of care, and they should be subject to malpractice if something goes wrong with a kid.”
Friday’s report was the latest to raise concerns about A.D.H.D. diagnoses and medications for American children beyond what many experts consider medically justified. Last year, a nationwide C.D.C. survey found that 11 percent of children ages 4 to 17 have received a diagnosis of the disorder, and that about one in five boys will get one during childhood.
A vast majority are put on medications such as methylphenidate (commonly known as Ritalin) or amphetamines like Adderall, which often calm a child’s hyperactivity and impulsivity but also carry risks for growth suppression, insomnia and hallucinations.
Only Adderall is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for children below age 6. However, because off-label use of methylphenidate in preschool children had produced some encouraging results, the most recent American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines authorized it in 4- and 5-year-olds — but only after formal training for parents and teachers to improve the child’s environment were unsuccessful.
Children below age 4 are not covered in those guidelines because hyperactivity and impulsivity are developmentally appropriate for toddlers, several experts said, and more time is needed to see if a disorder is truly present.
Susanna N. Visser, who oversees the C.D.C.’s research on the disorder, compiled Friday’s report through two sources: Medicaid claims in Georgia and claims by privately insured families nationwide kept by MarketScan, a research firm. Her report did not directly present a total number of toddlers 2 and 3 years old nationwide being medicated for the disorder, however her data suggested a number of at least 10,000 and perhaps many more.
Dr. Visser’s analysis of Georgia Medicaid claims found about one in 225 toddlers being medicated for A.D.H.D., or 760 cases in that state alone. Dr. Visser said that nationwide Medicaid data were not yet available, but Georgia’s rates of the disorder are very typical of the United States as a whole.
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“If we applied Georgia’s rate to the number of toddlers on Medicaid nationwide, we would expect at least 10,000 of those to be on A.D.H.D. medication,” Dr. Visser said in an interview. She added that MarketScan data suggested that an additional 4,000 toddlers covered by private insurance were being medicated for the disorder.
Dr. Visser said that effective nonpharmacological treatments, such as teaching parents and day care workers to provide more structured environments for such children, were often ignored. “Families of toddlers with behavioral problems are coming to the doctor’s office for help, and the help they’re getting too often is a prescription for a Class II controlled substance, which has not been established as safe for that young of a child,” Dr. Visser said. “It puts these children and their developing minds at risk, and their health is at risk.”
Very few scientific studies have examined the use of stimulant medications in young children. A prominent 2006 study found that methylphenidate could mollify A.D.H.D.-like symptoms in preschoolers, but only about a dozen 3-year-olds were included in the study, and no 2-year-olds. Most researchers on that study, sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, had significant financial ties to pharmaceutical companies that made A.D.H.D. medications.
Some doctors said in interviews on Friday that they understood the use of stimulant medication in 2- and 3-year-olds under rare circumstances.
Keith Conners, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Duke University who since the 1960s has been one of A.D.H.D.’s most prominent figures, said that he had occasionally recommended it when nothing else would calm a toddler who was a harm to himself or others.
Dr. Doris Greenberg, a behavioral pediatrician in Savannah, Ga., who attended Dr. Visser’s presentation, said that methylphenidate can be a last resort for situations that have become so stressful that the family could be destroyed. She cautioned, however, that there should not be 10,000 such cases in the United States a year.
“Some of these kids are having really legitimate problems,” Dr. Greenberg said. “But you also have overwhelmed parents who can’t cope and the doctor prescribes as a knee-jerk reaction. You have children with depression or anxiety who can present the same way, and these medications can just make those problems worse.”
Dr. Visser said she could offer no firm explanation for why she found toddlers covered by Medicaid to be medicated for the disorder far more often than those covered by private insurance.
Dr. Nancy Rappaport, a child psychiatrist and director of school-based programs at Cambridge Health Alliance outside Boston who specializes in underprivileged youth, said that some home environments can lead to behavior often mistaken for A.D.H.D., particularly in the youngest children.
“In acting out and being hard to control, they’re signaling the chaos in their environment,” Dr. Rappaport said. “Of course only some homes are like this — but if you have a family with domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse, or a parent neglecting a 2-year-old, the kid might look impulsive or aggressive. And the parent might just want a quick fix, and the easiest thing to do is medicate. It’s a travesty.”
It is very important for your toddler to learn how to cooperate with peers and adults. Many adults say " John don't listen". He is hearing and listening to what you are saying ,however she is not cooperating with your request. At age two toddlers want to assert them selves plus they are not able to understand the concept of "No or don't do that ". They are discovering the world and wants to get into everything. You must be patient but firm and begin to set limits. "you may say John please don't jump off the couch ". Since he has been doing it he will begin to wonder why now I cant do it. There are different stages to development and the stage for him to jump off the couch is going. He proved that he is able to and had enough time to get over the fear of falling.
This is going to take a while before your infant adhere to your request by cooperating but you must be consistent and your toddler will begin to get the message. Remember once she gets the word with the action you will not need to teach that skill again. Your toddler's brains is being wired so it takes a while for her to make the connections.
It is very important that your infant/toddler learns to interact with peers ( by playing) . This begins at home with the family . You should play with your infant/toddler. Many parents like to say "he does not know how to share because he is an only child". My question is how will he lean if he is not taught it is the same for everything else.
The ability to play is a kill that your infant/toddler needs . At home you should play and introduce vocabulary such as :my turn, your turn etc. Your toddler/infant should have a variety of items to play with. Your infant/toddler must be give the opportunity to play alone also. Sometimes your infant/toddler wants to be alone you should have a quiet space for alone time.
You should also take your infant/toddler to different places that will give her the opportunity to interact with peers. You may say that my child goes to daycare but she sees those children every day.
Your infant/toddler must be able to interact with adults and have the skill to seek help when needed. This will not happen by chance . At home you will need to walk your introduce your infant/toddler to the concept on asking for help.
When your infant tries a new allow her to try a few times and when she expresses frustration usually crying and throwing the item down. You should say to her " Angela you don't have t get frustrated come and I will help you". Then you bring her back to the activity and say " let's do it together. You will both complete the task. Now give high five and say look we did it.
The idea is for your toddler to understand the action that goes with the word and when she should use it. You will do this until she is able to ask for help when she gets frustrated. Once she gets the word aligned with the action she will build on it . She will be able to control her emotions and will be able to do a good job at self -regulation. This skill also helps to builds self-esteem. You are building language skills .
Social development refers to a young child's ability to develop positive relationships with adults and peers. As babies gets older their relationships take on a different perspective. Relationships begin when you bring your baby home and begin the "dance" responding to your baby's needs by being in tune with her and learning how to read her cues. Your baby is not verbally able to communicate you therefore must learn her cues . Your baby will begin to develop trust by knowing that her needs will be met. Your baby will also begins to learn self-regulation ,the ability to control her feelings (emotions).
If your baby is crying you know that she is hungry ,you will say" Sue I know that your are hungry I am making your bottle". You should have her observe you making the bottle.
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We decided it was time to incorporate conversations with parents outside of our Baby & Wee™ sessions because many parents have questions that we are not able to answer within the 1 hour session. Some we can however there are usually others and we run out of time.
Tea & Tots™ please join us for the first conversation and share the event with others. Conversation: What does quality care during zero to age 3 look like?
Tuesday, June 10 11am - 12pm Location: Gran Piatta d'Oro 5th Ave between 116 & 117 St NY, NY 10027 Cost: $10 in advance/ $15 at the door. Paypal payment accepted Reeshemah@SabreeSpecialEvents.com
Last week Friday we attended a wonderful conference with our fellow childcare professionals. One of the topics discussed was safe sleep. I wanted to share this video with you.
On Monday I went to visit a friend who has not seen Ajani in a few months. There were several staff members around. One said, (in Ajani's presence) I hope you are bad and playing in mud.
I said, "playing in mud, sand, water etc." is being curious not bad.
Both I and my mom do not support the use of the word "bad". It is very negative and has effects on a subconscious level. It is better you say and encourage your friends a relatives to say, "being busy"; "being curious" etc. positive and encouraging words.
I sometimes wonder where this phrase came from and the toddler isn't being bad. Perhaps lack of knowledge of what toddlers are typically doing at certain stages. Which reminds me take a look at the documentary Babies and it will give a great overview of the typically stages all babies go through regardless of which country they are in.
The next time someone starts to formulate the sentence, "she is being bad" stop them and find positive words because a great deal is in a Word.
