Child Development Principles

Principle #1 Ð'- Involve Infants and Toddlers in Things that Concern Them

I used this principle first hand today when I was visiting the mom that I work with and her son. Mom has had a very hard time changing her son's diaper from time to time because he is now at that age where he is very curious and active and desperately wants to explore the world. Needless to say, he does not want to lie still for more than a couple of seconds. I shared this principal with her today and when I went to change his diaper, I talked to him before hand when I picked him up and explained to him what I was going to do. I talked to him like I would any grown child during the whole process and he was very intrigued with the conversation. He was making his normal sounds, his way of communicating the whole time I was changing his diaper. We had a very interesting dialogue going on but it did show that you could capture their attention while diaper changing by having involving them in the process.

Principle #5 Ð'- Respect Infants and Toddlers as Worthy People

This is a principle that I had never really given much prior thought to but I can now realize the importance. The mom that I work with quite often uses baby talk to communicate with her son and she does not do any explaining about what she is about to do with him. I have shared this principle with her and we will see how she carries through with the idea.

Principle #6 Ð'- Be Honest About Your Feelings

I have shared this subject with the mom I am working with and encourage her to be honest with her son about her feelings, especially when she is not experiencing a great day. I believe that children feel our moods and will often mirror them. I shared with her that if when she talks to him she is always sounding cheery and happy but is not really feeling that way, it may be confusing to him. He hears her on the phone and other times when she is not directing her communication to him. I encourage her to talk to him about how she is feeling, low and depressed or elated and happy. This hopefully will illustrate him that it is okay to express your feelings.

Principle #8 Ð'- Recognize Problems as Learning Opportunities, and Let Infants and Toddlers Try to Solve Their Own

Again, I share this philosophy with the mom because like so many new mothers, she is very quick to rescue her son or jump up and run to him when he falls. Because he is crawling and pulling himself up now, he has become more mobile and of course has times where he is a little unsteady on his little legs. She also is very quick to rescue him when he crawls and gets himself into a situation