Play has an invaluable role in encouraging child development. But play isn’t just one thing. It’s an invitation to explore, learn and grow. Play opens up a world of possibilities. Full blog
Some parents won’t let anything get in their child’s way. Not even an avalanche.
We’ve all heard of ‘helicopter’ parenting – and you might have heard about ‘lawnmower’, ‘tiger’, even ‘intensive’ parenting, too. Well, now there’s another method to add to your parenting lexicon: ‘snowplough’. Full blog
At this point it seems the evidence is overwhelming—new studies seem to arrive on our desks each week that suggest simply spending time in green spaces can improve our health, both mentally and physically. Full blog
The internet is now 30 years old, making it the same age as the key formulation of children’s rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the intervening years, our understanding of the transformative effects of the internet on both society and children have developed in tandem. Full blog
It’s easy to forget about the little things kids need to learn in childhood beyond book work. There’s so much focus on the ABCs and the 123s that sometimes the developmental things, like how much force to use during certain activities, slip by us. These untestable skills hold their merit. As adults we need to know how much force is acceptable in a hand-shake and how that force differs from what’s needed to use a hammer. These are not things we innately know. They must be learned! Full blog
Children hunger for a taste of freedom. They are strongly driven to get to grips with the people, places and things around them. To figure stuff out for themselves, to learn new skills, and to build their self-confidence and their sense of what they are capable of. Full blog
Did you know that the right brain develops first? It does so by the time children are 3-4 years of age. The left brain, on the other hand, doesn’t fully come online until children are approximately seven years old; hence the first seven years being recognized as such a critical period in child development.
Children as young as eight are being sexually exploited online, Barnardo’s the UK’s largest children’s charity, has revealed. Full article
Those of us parenting in a digital world, frankly, don’t know what we’re doing. Warnings about the negative impact of screen time and social media abound. We are told that the internet is a breeding ground for cyberbullies and predators, a facilitator of social isolation and mental health challenges, and a mad scientist that is rewiring our kids’ brains so they can’t concentrate while also exposing them to an unmitigated cesspit of bad language and porn. These threats — combined with the lack of response from the big players in the tech field — have left parents floundering in a stormy, unregulated digital ocean. Full blog
Play does not have a beginning and ending. It is a fluid, continuous state of being, a way of engaging and learning about the world that has no end at all, if we allow it to be such. But when we turn play into something, when we structure it too much with our need to direct it and have outcomes achieved, play is no longer play for play’s sake; rather, it becomes work. Full blog
