Teaching Your Toddler to Mind Their Ps & Qs – Seriously!

Yes, teaching manners to a toddler may sound about as easy as herding cats and to be honest, you wouldn’t be wrong in thinking that. Teaching etiquette to your children has to start at some point and toddlerhood is as good a time as any to begin teaching them. There are a number of ways you can begin teaching manners to your toddler and none of them require absolute perfection on the part of your toddler – because your chances of winning the lottery are higher than having a perfectly mannered toddler. So where do we get started? You start … Continue reading →

Do you hear what I hear? The Sense of Sound

Like their sense of sight, your toddler has been listening to the world for a long time. In fact, of all their senses – they’ve been listening to the world around them since they were inside the womb. Your baby recognizes your scent and the sound of your voice before anything else. Their hearing is constantly bombarded by the sounds of the world around them. It takes time for your toddler to learn how to shut out the other sounds and filter them. You can help your toddler expand their auditory skills by teaching them to ‘listen’ to specific sounds. … Continue reading →

The Sense of Taste

As we discussed earlier in Your Toddler’s Sense of Smell, taste is somewhat less than refined when your baby is born. Their taste buds are still developing and they are resistant to changes – even those of the sweet kind until they are ready. You’ll notice a reticence in tasting some foods when their sense of smell begins expanding and the same can be said for their sense of taste. Toddlers are, by their very nature, finicky. One good rule of thumb to get into where eating and new tastes are concerned is to let them sample flavors. Never fix … Continue reading →

Your Toddler’s Sense of Smell

Your toddler’s nose is nowhere near as discerning as yours is. It’s important to remember that our senses are heightened after pregnancy. The scent of a dirty diaper is pretty powerful to us, but not so much to our kids. Our body odor doesn’t offend them either – that’s why they’ll snuggle up to you even when you haven’t had a chance to shower all day and you may think you stink, but your child doesn’t notice. This lack of acuity and sensitivity in their sense of smell is part of the reason why your toddler cannot distinguish between safe … Continue reading →

The Sense of Touch – The World is at Their Fingertips

You know, it’s hard to pick out what sense is my favorite sense. After all, I love to feel the silkiness of my dog’s fur and the softness of my daughter’s cheek. Touching is so wonderful – whether the surface is smooth, rough, soft, scaly, feathered or downy. There is so much in the world that our toddlers can discover through their sense of touch. The pages of a hard cardboard book; the roughness of their daddy’s stubble cheek; the softness of your own hair – and yes, your toddler will love to run their fingers through it and tug … Continue reading →

The Sense of Sight – Looking at the World Through Rose-Colored Glasses

The sight may seem to be the easiest of the senses to promote for your little one and the truth is – it is the easiest. After all, you just have to hold things up for them right? The answer to that is yes and no. You see, your toddler doesn’t have your ability to filter out all the background sights to focus on individual objects without some effort. The world is a kaleidoscope of images, colors, shapes and sizes. You can play games like peek-a-boo to sharpen their acuity for focusing on specific objects. After all, when you are … Continue reading →

Stop & Smell the Roses

Too often, as adults, we take the world and our perceptions of it for granted. We accept that we smell certain things when we go to different places. We see different things in different places and we hear different things in different places. We are so used to this plethora of sights, sounds, smells, touches and sensations that we learn to filter them. So while a part of your brain may acknowledge the fresh scent of the roses in your garden, you may not just stop and smell them – but your toddler will. Your toddler is still acclimating to … Continue reading →

Toddlers: Copy Cats By Nature

Our children are natural copycats. They display the ability to imitate and mimic the behavior of the adults around them from birth onwards. In fact, it’s being a copycat or the art of imitating that is one of their primary learning tools. They mimic our expressions. They mimic our behavior. They mimic how we say things. How Else Do They Learn? While there are a variety of ways your child will learn over the years, copycatting and imitating are their primary learning tools. We show them how to hold a pencil or a crayon by placing it in their hands … Continue reading →

Let’s Pretend: How Do You Teach Your Toddler to Pretend?

This may sound like an odd topic, but the truth is pretending play is one of the best parts of childhood and children have fertile and amazing imaginations. Many believe that children spontaneously develop their imaginations and while this may be true for many, the truth is—you can help them to build this skill and talent. How do you help them? Here are a few ways that I have seen other parents as well as myself do in order to help them develop their talent for pretend. Obstacle Course Toddlers love to climb. They love to explore. So take a … Continue reading →

10 Least Favorite Parts of Toddlerhood

I shared with you some of the reasons why I love the stage of childhood we call toddler hood. Today, I want to talk about some of my least favorite parts of this particular stage. I’d like to preface the following remarks with the fact that it’s all right not to care for a particular phase your child is in. After all, not everything is pleasing – the rose may be beautiful and have a delightful fragrance, but the thorns can leave your fingers bloody. With that in mind, here are my 10 of my least favorite parts of toddlerhood, … Continue reading →