Important Joy of Parenting

Important Joy of Parenting
Facing the enormous responsibility of caring for an infant whose brain grows 175% in the first year, can be balanced by the sheer joy of holding this fascinating new person in your arms. What are we supposed to feed this baby to help healthy growth ? How do we treat this person who has a very distinct set of demands? How do we understand the changing needs of baby?

Baby has come to learn and be loved. Baby needs nurturing. Books and organizations exist that emphasize the physical and emotional needs of physical closeness to you and those significant and consistent people you chose to care for your baby. As baby experiences each moment of this new life, new brain cells are made, new neural pathways are created. Every gesture you make , every mouthful of food you give, every word you speak is stored away in an ever increasing network of information.

Your baby learns about life from you and other significant care providers: how to eat, how to smile, how to communicate, how to love, how to enjoy, how to learn. All waking time in the first year would optimally be with a real live person. This gives baby maximum input of how humans live their lives. So many fine nuances of behavior that you may take for granted are learned just by baby seeing you, hearing you, feeling you with him/her. Baby catalogs everything away as life knowledge. As soon as possible, baby will imitate whatever you have shown him/her.

Here comes the joy part. What are you showing your baby? What will get hard wired in his little growing brain as the things to try to mimic? Instead of having baby be an escort in your adult, high tech hard to mimic world, how about you learning about the simple unplugged joys of life again? Hugs and kisses are at the top of the list. Taking time to talk to baby, and repeat his/her babbling back are second. This is your chance to unwind from the high tech web you can easily get caught in today, and remember what it is to simply appreciate the moment, starting with your littlest person.

As you learn to see what baby sees, a simple game of Peek-A-Boo can be great fun. You can spontaneously make up a simple song or rhyme to say to baby. No problem with a critical audience there. Baby accepts whatever you say a good. Baby learns everything from you. And when baby shows interest in the cute wall decorations you put up over his changing table share the joy of the moment. Let yourself express and feel that simple pleasure with your child.

This shared time together is the bond that gives your child life teachings and early skill development. From this simple shared appreciation of all that is around baby you become his best teacher for all life. This special relationship can be with several people who baby sees regularly; Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, Grandma, Grandpa, and a regular Care Provider. You all become life coaches for baby, people he/she can trust to learn "the plays of the game".

Find the simple fun of exploring baby's little world with him/her, then you can think of simple fun things to expand what baby sees and learns. As baby grows and sits up , name out loud the objects you are using around or with him/her; examples: blanket, spoon, cereal, cup, juice, bowl, table, kitchen, crib, bed, diaper, drink, diaper, bath, water, ducky. You will naturally expand to 2 words phrases like: "wash hair", "food's coming", "sleep time", "get dressed", "change diaper", "let's go". This basic language play is important and seeing baby gradually catch on can be a source of parental joy.

As baby becomes toddler, you will have many opportunities to enjoy simple pleasures with him/her: Autumn leaves, winter snow, spring flowers, summer walks. Art projects can be finger painting on a drop cloth, graduating to washable markers. Later you can make a stamp out of a raw potato half, press it in the finger paint and press designs onto paper.

As a toddler, art and language fun can easily grow into sharing simple picture books with your child. It becomes a natural outgrowth of your earlier shared fun times to point at a nose in a picture and then point at your child's nose, saying "Nose" both times. Later on, you can point to words, then picture, saying the word both times. Pick books with art you will enjoy because your child will love to share the fun of the same book many times over. Include outings to the library, children's playground, and simple picnics. Then you will be well along the way of the Important Joy of Parenting.