All My Children

Week Three

If all the children got on well in the second week and all seemed to benefit from playing together, it may be a good idea to keep the same grouping for the rest of the programme. On the other hand, if the adult feels that introducing a different child, either as well as or instead of the original friends, would be a good idea then this would be an ideal opportunity to do so.

By the end of Week Three it will probably become apparent if this input is having any effect. A short, formal observation using the same chart as before may be helpful to see if there are any pockets of major improvement or a noticeable lack of it. Continue Reading »

Elephant, Palm Tree, Boat

Description of game:

In this fast-paced game, children need to think quickly and work together to pantomime different objects.

Most suitable for:

1st through 4th graders Requirements:

• 5-10 minutes
• Any indoor or outdoor space big enough for a seated circle

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Enriching language

Before attempting to encourage your child to learn to read, be sure that you are giving him lots of enriching language experiences. Talk to him as much as possible, involve him in conversation, teach him new words, and tell and read stories to him. Show him that reading is an enjoyable experience so that he learns to love books. While sitting on your lap looking at the pictures of a story he will eventually begin to notice the words and may recognize some of them. Involve him in the story by encouraging him to ask questions and tell you what is coming next. Children like the same story repeated over and over again.

Action songs, finger-play stories and rhymes

By being actively involved children understand the meaning of words, and sentence constructions are enhanced. Songs, too, often introduce children to new words and help them to hear the sounds in words more easily. Continue Reading »

This timeworn phrase is reinforced whenever we behold a baby in deep, relaxed sleep. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could sleep like that?

Well, not exactly.

During the first three months of life, a baby’s sleeping patterns are quite different from those she will experience the rest of her life. A newborn sleeps anywhere from twelve to eighteen hours every day, but this is not unbroken slumber. Her small stomach capacity and her round-the-clock need for nutrients to fuel her rapid growth essentially guarantee that her life will consist of ongoing three- or four-hour cycles of feeding, wakefulness, and sleep. Like it or not, two or three feedings will be on the nighttime agenda for the first several weeks. Continue Reading »

Dealing with colic

According to a long-standing definition, if your baby cries three hours a day three days a week for three weeks, and he’s between two weeks and three months of age, he has colic. A simpler definition, without counting hours and days (and more to the point), is “a whole lot of crying that doesn’t calm down with the normal measures, and the doctor says there’s nothing really wrong with him.” True colicky episodes tend to occur around the same time each day, usually in the late afternoon or evening, and are marked by intense activity on the baby’s part, such as flailing about or pulling his knees to his chest. From all appearances, he acts like he’s feeling a lot of discomfort—and undoubtedly he is. Continue Reading »

There will be many occasions during your child’s life when you will need to determine her body temperature as accurately as possible. Even though the touch of your hand might suggest that your child is “burning up” or “cold and clammy,” this impression based on surface temperature can be very misleading. Most fevers below 102^°F cannot be detected this way, and children who feel warm to the touch are as likely to have a normal temperature as an elevated one. Plastic liquid-crystal strips placed on the forehead aren’t much better and may miss a fever entirely. To obtain a reliable core temperature measurement, your best bet is to use a thermometer in one of these locations:

Rectal temperature most accurately and reliably reflects core temperature, especially in infants and young children. It is typically 0.9^°F (or 0.5^°C) higher than oral temperature. Measuring temperature rectally is specifically recommended for infants under three months of age, for whom significant medical decisions may hinge on the numbers that are obtained. Continue Reading »