Dear Dr. Rene, My son is almost three years old. He is very verbal and cognitive, but seems overwhelmed easily in playgroups. If we are at playgrounds and there are three or more kids nearby, he wants to leave. If an indoor group is loud, or children are misbehaving, he gets extremely upset. He manages better … Continue reading Playdates and Stressed Kids
At any age, if your child is not yet good at turn taking, it can be helpful to role play the process. This means to approach them when they are playing alone and happy at, say, the train table. Pick up the blue train that is not being used and say something like, “wow! The … Continue reading Teach Turn Taking thru Role Play
Downtime is truely unstructured, “go play” time. It’s suggested children have an hour of downtime a day through 10 years old. With the pace of life, downtime can be hard to come by. Here are a few tips to get you started: Turn of the tv and computers – Screentime is anti-downtime. When children are … Continue reading Downtime Play Tips
Developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan, founder of DIR/Floortime and author of many respected parenting books, Floortime offers parents a system of play to encourage language development, social skills, emotion regulation and leadership abilities. Seen as beneficial to all children, this approach to play is often incorporated into therapies for children with speech and language delays, and … Continue reading Floortime Tips
I learned so much at our recent panel discussion on types of preschools, and am excited to share this with you. Each year we invite speakers from a variety of area preschools to speak about their philosophy and the importance of their approach. Each also talks a bit about what happens in the typical day … Continue reading Types of Preschools: From Our Panel Discussion
Dear Dr. Rene, My two-year-old daughter is happy, friendly and affectionate around adults, but, aside from a couple of her friends who recently moved away, she just does not seem to like other children at the moment! When I tell her that we are going somewhere to see her friend(s), she tells me that she … Continue reading Two-Year-Old Doesn’t Like to Play with Others
The topic in our morning Play & Workshop last week was Floortime. Moving forward I am going to post the highlights from each topic weekly. So here goes… Floortime is an approach to play developed by Stanley Greenspan MD. If you haven’t heard of him he is a child psychiatrist who is big in the … Continue reading Floortime
>Tips for Encouraging Independent Play * First, pinpoint any particular needy times and plan accordingly. If your childis an early riser and always in need of company at that time or if they need to reconnect when parents first return home, don’t expect those to be times for independentplay. * Try starting activities together that … Continue reading >Independent Play
>Dear Dr. Hackney, Our four year-old is scheduled to start Kindergarten in the fall of 2008. We want her to be ready. Should we encourage her to “learn through play” or introduce academics? Sincerely,Rina, Mother of oneFour years-old Dear Rina, You can and should be doing both. The idea of “learning through play” is the … Continue reading >Learn Thru Play
Parenting by Dr. Rene 