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Staying "In the Know"

Staying "in the know" is an important part of parenting at all stages of your child's development. Check back frequently for events, articles, and fabulous bits of information that is useful, accurate and meaningful to parenting and raising children.

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B A B Y - M A S S A G E - F O R - B E G I N N E R S

Babies simply love to be touched. In fact, they thrive on it. It's a critical part of growth and development. All that skin-to-skin contact not only helps you and your baby bond, it can comfort your baby when he's upset and sometimes ease the symptoms of colic. This simple six-step "I Love You" massage can help you get started.

All the steps are shown below for easy printing. You can also look at the slide show version to see the same steps.

http://www.babycenter.com.ph/baby/dailycare/massageforbeginnersprintable/

Articles and Reports:

The Effects of Father Involvement: Father Involvement Research Alliance (2007)

In the year 2002, we compiled the first summary of the research that examined the impact of father involvement on children’s developmental outcomes, the co-parenting relationship, and development of fathers themselves. In 2007, we updated this review by examining approximately150 new research studies in these areas. Although this does not include all of the research on fathering conducted during this period, it does provide an update of key published works on father involvement. In general, the research results reported in 2002 have been strengthened by additional research that we have examined in this period. One of the challenges of looking at the effects of father involvement is to disentangle father involvement from the effects of social class and family structure. We also include here new and emerging findings that provide deepening insight into the complex phenomenon of fathering.

Click here for a PDF of this interesting research

King5 Report: Parent-to-Parent: Getting your Child to Exercise

We all know that kids love to run and play and be physically active. But did you know that exercise helps kids learn? Linda Morgan, author of the book Beyond Smart, explains how movement is good for your child’s brain.

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Parent-to-Parent-Exercise-is-good-for-your-childs-brain-119066934.html

WOW! That's Interesting:

What's my baby saying?: Dunstan Baby Language

Every newborn communicates from birth to 3 months using 5 distinct sounds that signal hunger, tiredness, need to burp, lower wind/gas and discomfort. This is regardless of the language their parents speak. It is not a learned language. Rather, it is a natural way for every baby to express their physical needs.

The 'words' that form the basis of what we have called the Dunstan Baby Language, are sounds that are based on baby's physical responses. These are called reflexes. For example, when a baby is hungry it will start to suck, and as sound is added to the reflex, the 'word' for hunger is produced. These are the baby's first communications, which occur before actual crying develops. The sooner the 'word' for hunger is identified the sooner a parent can respond by feeding, resulting in less crying and less discomfort for baby - and for parents.

Click Here to read more:

https://www.dunstanbabylanguage.com/about.html

Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies

At TEDxRainier, Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another -- by listening to the humans around them and "taking statistics" on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.

http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html