What does being a gardener have to do with being a parent? This edition of the Early Childhood Reader has the answer to that and lots of advice on raising kind, smart, creative kids, even amidst heartbreak — PLUS the science behind why your toddler is the worst hide and seek player ever.
Time: 4 Ways to Become a Better Parent, According to Science
Only four ways? This will be easy, right? Seriously, though, this advice from Alison Gopnik’s new book The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children is solid and focuses on how we should nurture our children, not try to build them. | read now
Science Daily: Mothers’ Early Support Boosts Children’s Later Math Achievement
New research from the Society for Research in Child Development shows that the way parents, specifically mothers in this study, play with their children can increase their math skill development. Labeling, sorting, and counting can all help build math skills, important building blocks of school success. | read now
Parents: 9 Ways to Help Your Child’s Language Development
Step One: Talk, talk, talk. | read now
New York Magazine: A New Theory for How Babies Learn Their First Words
Speaking of language development, Indiana University researchers have some new insight into how language acquisition occurs. | read now
WIRED: If You Want Creative Kids, Hand Them Something Simple
“We seem to feel that we have an obligation to entertain our children every second of every day. And we don’t want to give them two seconds to get bored…Boredom is where creativity is born. Boredom is not the enemy. Boredom is the friend,” according to Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health. | read now
The Washington Post: Are You Raising Nice Kids? A Harvard Psychologist Gives 5 Ways to Raise Them to Be Kind
Dr. Richard Weissbourd, of the Making Caring Common project, has some simple ways parents can help their children grow up kind. | read now
GQ | Patton Oswalt’s Year of Magical Parenting
Patton Oswalt has a lot of jobs. He’s an actor, writer, and stand-up comedian, just to name a few. But after the sudden death of his wife, writer Michelle McNamara earlier this year, he learned that the most important job title, and maybe the one he was least prepared for, was Dad. |read now
The Conversation: Young Children Are Terrible At Hiding – Psychologists Have a New Theory Why
We all know our preschoolers are the worst when it comes to playing hide and seek —that’s kind of part of the fun of it, but why are they so bad? New research offers a surprising conclusion. | read now
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