If you’re someone who would say “Oh, I can’t handle letting my kids make a mess! It stresses me out too much!” …Well, first step, let’s differentiate between “wet mess” and “dry mess”. These aren’t strictly liquids vs solids here. We’re using the words “wet” and “dry” in a more abstract way than that. But … Read more
On my recent post about children being developmentally ready for games with winning and losing, somebody asked me if the same information applied to video games, which was a great question. I think the umbrella term “video games” is pretty huge, and that sometimes makes it really hard to talk about what we’re talking about. … Read more
Once you’ve “taught” them how to use something (even accidentally), I notice these things happen: -they start to believe there is a “right” way to play with the toy -they fall into a pattern of only wanting to play with it the “right” way -if the “right” way is tricky, they may want you to … Read more
PSA: Everything is “sensory”! (And, again, like I mentioned yesterday…”sensory” is actually an adjective, not a noun…that’s me being pedantic, but it is something that really indicates to me whether I’m talking to somebody who knows what they mean and what they’re talking about, versus somebody who’s trying to communicate in a jargon that they … Read more
To speak in very general terms of averages — because that’s all I can talk about, is average child development, not your kid’s specific child development — 5-6 is when children start to really become aware of winning and losing, but they still can’t handle it well yet. This is the age of racing ✨everywhere✨, … Read more
If a child called “oppositionally defiant” could label the adults in their life, what kinds of things might they call them? Needlessly antagonistic? Endlessly demanding? Perhaps their adults themselves would receive the diagnosis of ODD — Overly Dictatorial Disorder. What about a child called “pathologically demand avoidant”? What might they call their adults — the … Read more
PSA: Everyone is “sensory”. 😊 (A second, more pedantic, more pet-peevy PSA: “sensory” is an adjective, not a noun!) Everyone in the world has a sensory system. Everyone interacts with the world around them through that sensory system. When people say a kid is “sensory”, they usually mean it as shorthand for “sensory-seeking”. But it’s … Read more
When you start to understand how thin — or nonexistent! — the dividing line is between “playing” and “learning/growing”, suddenly so much more of what children do makes sense. And suddenly so much more of when adults do/don’t choose to correct them about it seems…totally nonsensical or arbitrary, from a child’s point of view. My … Read more
Another play invitation set-up from a recent weekend… Okay, so this is a little “extra” as far as I usually go with setting up play for my kids, but I was intrigued by the idea. You add a drop of food coloring to milk, toast some white bread, set out some paintbrushes, and let the … Read more
Kids need room to play, unimpeded and unhelped, on materials that are at their level and above their level and below their level of ability to climb and interact with. They interact with things at their level and below their level to explore mastery. Their body learns what it has already learned, and reinforces and … Read more