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Parenting Resources
Infant
Fun Facts
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An infant’s brain will double in size in the first year of life.
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Infants start processing language just like adults at two days old.
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Moving their mouths helps infants listen.
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Research has demonstrated that your baby recognizes your taste in music.
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Touch helps infants understand words.
Check out the different areas of development for infants below. Here you will find what is happening with your infant’s development and how to support each growth area.
Language And Literacy
Children are learning about language even during the first few months of life. Newborns use body language, sounds, and facial expressions to express their wants and needs.
What You Can Do to Help:
- Talk softly to your baby in a calm and soothing voice using normal speech and words.
- Respond to your baby’s sounds.
- Show delight when she coos and babbles.
- Use your baby’s name when you speak.
- Your baby’s crying tells you she needs something.
Thinking Skills
During his first year, your baby is starting to learn about important ideas like cause and effect. He is also developing a sense of safety and security.
What You Can Do to Help:
- Infants and toddlers learn through play. When your baby drops your keys, for example, she wants to see how you will respond.
- Play along with her to encourage her to explore and learn.
- Be patient and have a sense of humor when playing with your baby.
Self Control
Newborns have very little, if any, self-control. It is natural for infants to fuss when they are frustrated. Their tantrums and cries just reflect their developmental stage, not that they are spoiled.
Babies use crying as a way to let parents know that they need something. Your baby needs you to show your calm love and support.
What You Can Do to Help:
- To encourage her self-control, it is helpful for you to stay calm and to show her how to act.
- Your child won’t be the first (or last) to cry at the grocery store, restaurant, or other very public place. Remain calm, try to soothe her, and walk outside with her if you have to.
- Babies thrive on routine. When she can count on regular nap times, cuddling, diaper changes, and feedings, her level of self-control will begin to develop.
Self Confidence
Newborns begin to develop self-confidence when they feel loved and safe.
What You Can Do to Help:
Comfort your baby when she cries and responds to her needs.
Make her feel loved by holding her close and speaking softly to her.
Cheer for her and smile at her as often as possible. Let her know that she is adored.
Toddler
Fun Facts
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A child’s brain develops faster between birth to 3 years of age than at any other time. In fact, by the time they are 3, they have 1000 trillion brain connections, which is twice as many as adults.
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Kids start with using both hands equally and just as proficiently. Somewhere between 2 and 3 years, they start preferring one hand over the other.
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At around 18 months of age, toddlers go through what many call ‘word spurt’ where they start learning new words very quickly. An average 2-year-old learns about five new words of varying difficulty, every day.
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Between 12 and 24 months your toddler’s cognitive development starts to blossom, this is when they will start to develop memories, as well as understand symbols, imitate, and play imaginatively.
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Toddlers can hear everything with their shiny new ears; in fact, toddlers have far better hearing than adults.
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Let your little one teach you a thing or two about comedy. Kids laugh on average 300 times each day while adults only laugh 60 times a day on average.
Preschool
Fun Facts
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Studies tell us that toddlers feel emotion in a more full-body way than adults do.
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Your child is learning to understand other people’s feelings and needs. They can feel empathy for others and can share toys and take turns, at least some of the time.
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4 and 5-year-olds can understand 2 or 3 simple things to do at once – “Get a cup of water, take it to Daddy, and then put the cup back on the table.”
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90% of your child’s brain will be developed by age 5.
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Five-year-olds have a vocabulary of about 2,000 words and speak in sentences with at least five words. They can also recall things like their phone number and the first and last names of their parents.
Language And Literacy
By age three, your child is putting together longer sentences, and using more words. Three-year-olds have favorite stories that they will want to read over and over. Young children learn how stories work through repetition. Three-year-olds also delight in rhyming words. These are important building blocks for learning to read and write.
What You Can Do to Help:
- Encourage your child to make connections between different stories. (Read several stories about airplanes or farm animals, and ask your child about the similarities.)
- Find songs and stories with rhymes. Encourage your developing poet!
- Talk to her about what she is doing: “I admire the way you give your dolly a bottle.”
Thinking Skills
By his third year, your child is developing an understanding of pretend play and he is beginning to understand that a word or symbol can stand for something else. His curiosity about letters and numbers during this period is an important kindergarten readiness skill and will help him learn to read and do math problems later.
- Play together to sort playthings by size or weight.
- Sing the alphabet song, and play with magnetic letters and numbers.
- Make a daily schedule (including naptime, playtime, and story time).
Self-Control
At this age, your child develops a stronger understanding of how to use words to express her wants, needs, and frustrations.
What You Can Do to Help:
- Show her how to express her feelings in words.
- Praise her for solving problems without yelling or hitting.
Self-Confidence
Your child is continuing to develop his sense of independence and self-confidence. His self-confidence grows as he learns to get dressed on his own, and to brush his hair and teeth. He may take pride in putting away his toys or setting the table.
- Encourage her growing self-confidence by praising her for helping with small tasks.
- At the same time, allow extra time for her to complete simple tasks, and be ready to gently redirect her when she becomes frustrated.
Resources
Books
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Best Parenting Books For Newborns: The Happiest Baby On The Block; What To Expect The First Year
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Best Parenting Books For Toddler Parents: Oh Crap! Potty Training; The Montessori Toddler
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Best Parenting Books For School-Age Kids: How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk; Siblings Without Rivalry
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Best Gentle Parenting Books: Raising Good Humans; Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
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Best Parenting Books Overall: The Whole-Brain Child; Your One-Year-Old; Good Inside; The Explosive Child
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Online Class: Transform Your Child’s Negative Self-Talk Into Self-Love
Websites
Metro Parent has been Southeast Michigan’s trusted parenting hub since 1986. We connect families with the best local resources, advice, stories, things to do with kids, and much more.
Macaroni KID is a free weekly newsletter and website that delivers news on all the kid and family-friendly events going on in your community.
Aha! Parenting - Dr. Laura Markham
This website has Aha! moments for parents of every age child, from pregnancy to the teen years, guaranteed to help you create a home with much less drama and more love.
Out of our love for our children came the inception of More4kids.info. Since “kids don’t come with an instruction manual“, our goal is to become a leading provider of information and resources for parents and to celebrate those we call our Children. Our writers are parents just like we are.
Every parent has that moment when they realize they don't know all the answers–whether the question is about choosing a baby name, enhancing their child's learning experience, or having difficult conversations with teens, Family Education has the answers to life’s daily parenting conundrums.
Our mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. At ZERO TO THREE, we envision a society that has the knowledge and will to support all infants and toddlers in reaching their full potential.
American Academy of Pediatrics
Welcome to the American Academy of Pediatrics - an organization of 67,000 pediatricians committed to the optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being of all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.
Most technology wasn't built with kids in mind. We're on a mission to change that. We believe in media that inspires and entertains families of all kinds. In technology that protects privacy and supports communities. In learning tools that prepare students and teachers for success in a connected world. Discover how we're working to make the digital world better for kids and families.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children.
Libraries
