Baby Einstein
Choosing Child Care: Your choices for home based care
All we want is to find the perfect someone who will be really invested in taking care of the baby. But the irony is that when you want the most information and strongest standards of quality, you won’t find it for infant care. So most of us start with our closest family and keep widening the circle of possibilities until we come to a solution we can afford and think will work. There’s no point in pretending; child care is do-able, but complicated. (more…)
Dads: They’re not trying to be perfect Moms
Last week I was doing some research on father’s engagement with their babies and ran across a short report with a blazing headline: “I’M NOT A SUBSEGMENT!” Published by Yahoo Advertising Solutions, the report gave some interesting statistics about the central role many dads have in the everyday duties of housekeeping and child care. From 39% to 60% of 1000 dads surveyed reported that they are primarily responsible for (more…)
Hype vs. Reality for Developing Your Baby’s Brain
A few months ago, I attended a lecture from a speaker who talked to parents about the remarkable nature of brain plasticity. She was a Ph.D., well informed about brain anatomy, who told us that we could achieve almost anything with specific brain training for our children. Then about a week later I read a blog post written by a popular parenting educator that suggested the same thing. I’m sure it won’t be long before someone will be pitching a “Build-a-Brain” business on the ABC television show “The Shark Tank.”
At the opposite end of the spectrum I attended a scientific meeting of neuroscientists and developmental psychologists who are doing research on brain development. It was VERY CLEAR (more…)
Special Needs: When Research is Your Only Hope
There is no doubt about it. Sharon Fiedler-Shimanovsky is a warrior woman. Just six years ago, she was happily raising her infant son, Miles, with her husband Boris Shimanovsky. Elated to find out she was pregnant with her second child, Sharon had family, friends, career, and home–everything had fallen into place.
But then came a shocker that kept Sharon and Boris in the wringer for the next 3 years. She was diagnosed with Stage III, triple negative breast cancer during her 10th week of pregnancy. She made the choice to take the greatest risk and fight for her unborn child, her life, and her family. She and the baby made it through chemo and his delivery. Sharon underwent additional chemo, major surgeries and radiation intended to head off any risk of further malignancies.
As life returned to a new normal, Sharon and Boris were More >
What’s More Important: Nature or Nurture?
When Baby first arrives, most of us spend a lot of time just looking, thoughtfully, at our newborn and wondering “Who are you going to look like?” or more importantly, “Who are you going to act like?” We definitely spend a fair amount of time wondering and waiting for our babies to show us who they are. Let’s just say we let nature reveal itself.
It doesn’t take long before we start thinking more about our plans for Baby rather than Baby’s designs on us. We make plans for our personal contributions to Baby’s self-concept, social development, and learning. Some parents I have interviewed have very specific goals in mind for their infants (Brown University—Class of 2030!), while others are more general (good, kind, generous), or religious (at one with God, faithful to morals and ethics). (more…)
New Year’s Revolutions
A few years ago, I opened a book and out fell my New Year’s Resolutions from decades past. I looked at it and laughed. I was getting ready to write many of the same resolutions all over again. The funniest—because I have now deemed it impossible to achieve unless I was critically ill, was to “weigh an honest 115 pounds.” Those days are long gone; given up as a lie even on my driver’s license. All the other things on the list were similarly honorable aspirations, especially, “pay more attention to my husband.” He says he is still waiting for the “Year of THE MAN,” pointing to himself, of course.
My sister Shelley, the pragmatic type, laughed when I told her about my discovery. (more…)
