Category: useful info

[ kottke ] What Should a 4 Year Old Know? Not the list you might expect. Hoping that we’re on track with this.

What does it mean to teach your children to be resilient? (thanks /karen/).

Marvin Olasky: You mentioned somewhere that as a small boy you saw very little of your father. He came home from practice, closed himself in his study, and you would push drawings and other things under his door to try to get his attention. Did it work?

A short blog post continues to challenge me about how I spend time with Puff: you are not your gift.

Children’s Holiday activities: 30 simple ways to stimulate learning

New York Times Article on Richard Ferber, with some of the history of the theories on babies sleeping. Worth it for the opening story alone (it will make you feel grateful for your own child’s sleeping routine, I hope!).

Long-ish NYMag article about the counter-intuitive effects of praising your kid(s) for everything in general. Better to encourage them to keep trying hard at things, and to keep your praise specific.

The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids

We’ve only taken Puff on road-trips so far, so I was glad to read these insights from Naomi about flying with children. She is a veteran, as you’ll discover, and has some good, against-the-grain advice.

Looking for some books that are suitable for children 5-7 years of age? Check out Chapter Books for Younger Children for some ideas.

This isn’t so much useful now, but I wanted to make a note of it for when Puff is older. Trevor Cairney has 30 simple ways to stimulate learning – ideas for activities in the holidays that will help your kids’ to use their imagination, and have fun.

You’re often not congratulated. People don’t send you flowers and big balloon bouquets exclaiming “It’s a boy/girl” or “Congratulations!”. You’re often left to feel like you’re not a real mother in a room full of women holding, feeding and just having their babies.

Excellent advice on what to do if your friend has had a premature baby from someone who has been through the experience.