Living Arts Weekly: Birth to Three

October 27, 2019

In a houseful of toddlers and pets, you can start out having a bad day, but you keep getting detoured.  – Robert Brault

For more than twenty years, LifeWays has been at the forefront of heart-centered, soulful parenting and caregiving of the child from birth to three.  This week, we want to share with you some great NEW news and also some wonderful articles from our archives about living and loving the wee ones from birth to three years old.

First, the new news.  Rahima Baldwin Dancy, author of You are Your Child’s First Teacher, has created a fantastic new online course.  It will be offered through LifeWays beginning March 4th, 2020.  Please consider joining Rahima for this comprehensive, exciting new course.  Click the box below for all the details!

https://lifewaysnorthamerica.org/workshops_training/birth-to-three-child-development-and-child-care-with-rahima-baldwin-dancy/

Now, for some wonderful Birth to Three resources from our archives:

First, Cynthia’s reflections on living with a toddler (her granddaughter, Eloise):

Life Work with a One-Year-Old by Cynthia Aldinger

Next, some practical suggestions for creating a “YES” environment for little ones from Simone DiMarzi:

Creating a YES Environment

And, finally, an informative and understandable article by Rahima on the development of language in the young child:

One of the best things you can do for your child is to talk to her. Talk to her while you are changing her diaper or giving her a bath. She will usually appreciate the attention and, as a knowing being, will appreciate being treated as a person rather than as an object. And you will be helping not only her language development but her brain development as well. And please sing to your child, beginning when you are pregnant and continuing throughout childhood! The melodic quality of language and the emotions expressed through a lullaby or a nursery game are very valuable for your baby’s development. Comprehension is not the only part of language, although it tends to be overemphasized by our intellectual adult nature. Nonsense rhymes and action verses such as “To market, to market” become favorites of the toddler and teach the melodic quality of language. This kind of interaction is not only valuable for the developing child, but it can also make parenting tasks go more smoothly. For example, getting into the habit of using songs for activities such as washing her hair or going to bed can melt away the resistance of a willful two-year-old.

(To read the whole article, click on the box below.)

Language Comprehension by Rahima Baldwin Dancy

We at LifeWays North America feel fortunate to be able to continue to bring you high-quality, practical and inspirational resources for your life and work with children from birth to three!  Thanks for being part of our LifeWays community.