I had the opportunity to speak about protecting the power of play to childcare providers at the daycare and youth program centers near where I work for my day job. This lecture covers play development and various forms that it takes, explains the step-by-step development of pre-writing skills, and talks about the essential skills … Read more
Here’s an unconventional tip for parents who are sensory-sensitive or get “touched out”. First of all — there’s nothing wrong with you if your preferred level of touching, snuggling, hugging, wrestling etc in a day is less than your child’s. There’s nothing wrong with them, either. It’s just a normal need for them to have … Read more
Ultra-washable paint: 50% washable tempera paint 50% dish soap or bubble bath or old shampoo that you have left over after switching brands That’s it. Mix those two together. It will create an extremely washable paint. Because of the soap, it is also very runny. This is a good activity for toddlers or young children … Read more
When I introduced watercolors to my children for the first time (back when they were 3 and 2), I thought that the concept of dipping the paintbrush in the paint, wetting the paint, cleaning the brush after each go, etc, would be way above their level. (Spoiler alert: I was correct.) So instead I just … Read more
(At the time of my writing this, my son was 3 years old.) Yesterday evening was the best meltdown we’ve had in a long time. How’s that for a starter sentence? This is an incredibly long post, but I wanted to detail out exactly how this went and what I was thinking and doing, so … Read more
Two stories about power and powerlessness. A child and an adult were entering a classroom, together, one on one. The child skipped ahead of the adult through the open door of the classroom, zigzagged to the left and the right, saw the mini trampoline in the room and beelined toward that, did a single jump … Read more
Okay, after my last post, you might be asking, how do we give kids power and autonomy? Honestly, a different way to ask this same question might be, how do we protect their right to their own power and autonomy? Because in the absence of adult interference, kids will find the ways that they want … Read more
One of the most asked questions that I ever get—both in comment form, and in email form. I finally took the time to really write out a very long post answering it. Q: How can I help my child when they’re already at the crisis point—the point of melting down, hitting, kicking, throwing, etc? Assuming … Read more
On my Facebook page, I asked adults to share something that their child had been doing that was frustrating or upsetting to them. I then invited people in the comments (myself included) to respond, from the perspective of the child…what the child might be thinking or learning or trying or not-trying and how it’s getting … Read more
It is extremely common and normal for children to reverse or invert letters when they are learning to write, or confuse those letters when they are learning to read. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. Take any other image or object in the world, and flip it horizontally, or look at it … Read more