I remember lying in my cot; I was about a year old. The lady who cared for me was kindly but I didn’t know her that well. The lead teacher in the small school my mummy had just opened in our house had told the lady caring for me: “Put Peter to sleep, he’s tiredâ€. […]
It just seems to me that those people who are the most resilient in life have somehow had good solid underpinnings from birth onwards. I can really start with my own family. I see my adult children as very resilient and I feel certain that the start we gave them enabled them to have a […]
I suppose I’m fortunate, my idea of ‘designing’ (albeit I’ve never used that term until now!) my children had to do with what happened to their brains, not their fashionable ‘costumes’. Now, I may have failed in some aspects of their upbringing (I usually question my choices/decisions daily!) but I certainly know that their brains […]
There are so many ways you can get your baby responding to you. Babies respond best when they are face to face with you. This happens every time you change their nappy (diaper) — so many opportunities every day for communication in the early weeks of life! Did you ever see a person with earplugs or […]
Reading (and writing too) has gone out of fashion! It was finally confirmed this week when a 60-something recipient of one of my news update emails, relative to both our families’ lives, stated “I didn’t have time to read it so I forwarded it to my daughter-in-lawâ€. I won’t tell you how this recipient spends […]
Jan 14th, 2011 – 10:57 am
With so many toddlers and children under 5 (in my experience) showing serious language delays (receptive and expressive) are we really doing anyone a favour by trying to teach infants a foreign language (from 9 months “when the synapses are at their optimum†as was recently quoted to me). Our programme contains numerous children and their […]
I’ve thought about this before: What makes my conversations with babies different from other carers? Why have the babies and children I’ve cared for individually made excellent linguistic progress? This week I realised what makes the difference and how that expertise can be incorporated into a daycare situation. When I’m holding an older infant who […]
Nov 14th, 2010 – 10:59 am
On this date 33 years ago I gave birth to my first son – the minute he was born he was Daniel! Only in his adult life did he become Dan, Dan Rubin the designer. However, 33 years ago today my early childhood learning curve started. It has been a fascinating ride and to quote […]
Oct 30th, 2010 – 12:52 pm
If parents don’t get what you’re talking about and insist on placing their tiny infants in various types of containers and also putting them in front of a TV screen when they are at home or in the car, we caregivers can no longer be responsible for their child’s developmental delays. Thus far we’ve had […]
Old cars that won’t start when you want them to! Bosses who value $$ above and beyond great employees destroying the high staff morale and capablities the boss constantly tells his employees he wants! Parents who care more about their cars, jobs, hair and fashion than they do their children. Bosses who say one thing […]