Listen Up!
What your child has to say is just as important to them as what you have to say is to you. Remember this when your little one is trying to express their thoughts, dreams and fears. Listen attentively and offer your own advice or guidance should they need it.

The Power of Play
Did your child have more fun playing with the box the toy came in than the toy itself? Most toys today have taken the fun out of imaginative play. Manipulating toys and giving them life develops reasoning and problem-solving skills as well as creates a base of simple knowledge of how things work.

Parenting with Pruett: The Tender Touch, by Kyle D. Pruett, M.D., advisor to The Goddard School®

The way we handle our children physically is crucial to their developing self-esteem. We convey our children's inestimable value through the ways we touch. As important as words are over time, the way we are with them from the beginning matters more than what we say.

In addition to the value of a loving touch, we parent best when we stay emotionally available and warm with our children. When we are able to sustain this availability as a constant through our "parental tone"–through feeding, bathing, dressing (when they are babies), meals, limit settings, awakenings and bedtime for older children–it helps us stay responsive to our children's cues. That's why it's best to pick up those crying babies in the first six months of life and see what the problem might be, no matter how many times you have done it before. Or to put your arm around the pouting toddler and say, "I'm right here–what do you need?" If you are lucky enough to figure it out, the baby or toddler will respond instantly, and if you're not, at least you've shared a good, if noisy, cuddle in the meantime. There is no harm in showing him you are there for him and you care enough to try.