Peekaboo is not only a game which babies, starting at about 5 months of age, universally love to play, it also supports their cognitive and emotional growth. Here are some of the reasons why.

• Peekaboo facilitates and enhances bonding. Face to face gazing, smiling and vocalizing are central to early bonding in adult child relationships. Sharing emotional states, feeling and expressing pleasure and excitement with your baby, is an important way of building a strong bond.
• From birth until around 18 months, children are mastering the concept of object permanence, the understanding that a thing or a person continues to exist even when it cannot be seen.   The repeated disappearances and reappearances of peekaboo lay a foundation for the mastery of longer separations.
• Babies are very curious and love discovering new things. Variety in the way you play peekaboo exposes them to novelty and surprise within a familiar and safe context. This helps with emotional regulation and flexibility.
• Peekaboo introduces the idea of turn taking. When your child takes a turn being the one to hide, he is practicing turn taking as well as experiencing the excitement of the game from another perspective.

Here are some guidelines for playing peekaboo with your baby and toddler:

• Start a gentle game of peekaboo by hiding your face behind your hands or a cloth for a second or two when your baby is about 5 months old, or as soon as she starts to react pleasurably to this activity. You can also place the cloth over your child’s face for a couple of seconds so that she starts to experience the other side of the game.
• Vary the duration and rhythm of the game, paying close attention to your child’s reactions. You want to see him looking surprised and then excitedly happy.
• Vary your voice and facial expressions to maintain the element of surprise.
• Make up your own versions of the game as your child grows older, for example, hiding your whole body behind a curtain or door.
• If your child invents his own versions of the game, follow his lead and play along. Your child wants to see you look surprised and excited by what he is doing to you!
• Always pay attention to the optimal level of stimulation for your individual child. If you have a baby who is gaze avoidant, make your expressions smaller and softer and keep the meeting of gazes at reappearance brief and always with a smile. Be sensitive to your baby’s cues. Fleeting eye contact may be all that your baby can tolerate at this stage. Try and remember that a child’s capacity for tolerating eye contact does not reflect on how much he or she loves you!

You can find more tips on parenting and your child’s development by visiting UWS Parenting Support’s website (uwsparentingsupport.com).

Moving, whether to a new house or apartment within the same city or to a completely new city or country, raises many emotions. Excitement, joy, sadness, and stress may be present all at the same time. Young children may not understand the reasons for the move. They interpret events largely through their perception of their parents’ state of mind. Your toddler intuitively knows if you are happy, excited, stressed or anxious. Even in the best case scenario, there may be difficult feelings around saying goodbye to a home, a babysitter, friends, and a school.

Here are some ways that parents can be helpful to their child when faced with a move.

• Young children have not developed a sense of time and telling a child  about a move too far in advance can cause a lot of worry. Even if your toddler has lots of language, she is only able to process what is concrete. Tell her in simple terms that you will be moving to a new house or to a home in a new city. Link your talking about the move to seeing packing boxes in the house or if possible to a time when she can actually visit the new home or see pictures of her new room.
• Toddlers organize their understanding of the world around predictable routines and schedules and moving can certainly disrupt their regular daily lives.   They therefore need to be reassured of all the elements of their life that will remain the same. When talking to your child about the move, emphasize these familiar objects and routines: ” All your favorite toys and books will be in your new room. Mommy or Daddy will wake you up and we will all have oatmeal for breakfast in our new house.  Daddy will still take you to day care and Mommy will still pick you up everyday.  We will still read three stories at bedtime and you will have your milk before you go to sleep.”
• Make a goodbye book. This book will consist of photographs that you take of your child’s routines, environments, and people. Reminiscent of a childhood favorite, “Good Night Moon”, the captions of each photo should be simple and repetitive: “Goodbye Eli’s room,”, “Goodbye living room”, “Goodbye hippo playground”, “Goodbye walking to …(name of school or daycare), “Goodbye doormen”, “Goodbye …. and…. (names of caregivers at daycare or teachers at preschool)” , “Goodbye …(name of nanny or babysitter), etc. A goodbye book can help your child talk about her memories of her old home/neighborhood. Some children will want to look at the book repeatedly, others may discard it and not want to look at it. Both reactions and anything in between are absolutely typical.
• Make sure your child and the important people in his life from whom he will be separating have a calm moment to say goodbye in person.  You can suggest to your toddler to give a gift of a drawing or a photo of himself.  If your child refuses to participate in saying goodbye, it’s ok  to not force anything and to make it short.  All kinds of reactions are typical and acceptable.
• Reading books about moving can be helpful to your toddler. Examples are “The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day”, “Moving House” by Anne Civardi and Michelle Bates, and “Big Ernie’s New Home” by Teresa Martin and Whitney Martin. Read these books when the move is imminent or underway so that they have concrete relevance to your child.
• When possible, allow your toddler to help with packing.  This can be symbolic and not actual packing, but giving him a box and asking him to pack his special things allows him to take an active role in the moving and can help him feel more confident about it.
• When unpacking, it is helpful to set up your toddler’s room first.  She will feel more settled and less worried when she can see all of her special and familiar things set up in her space.
• Be patient and sensitive to regression or changes in behavior.  It will take time for your child to adjust to her new home and she may need more sensitive care to settle in.  Allow for some increased needs around goodbyes, transitions and bedtimes, but try to maintain helpful structures and routines to support their adjustment.
• As we stated earlier, children pick up on their parents’ emotional states. If your move is causing you distress or excessive anxiety, it can be helpful to talk to a child development or parent child professional for support and guidance in figuring out how to talk to your child about the move. Specific, concrete, and age appropriate language is key in helping your child understand and accept the events as they unfold day by day.

For additional support that is specific to your individual family and current situation, email us at uwspsemail@gmail.com or call one of the following phone numbers: 646-345-3071 or 917-902-2050.

Your child’s first birthday is certainly a cause for celebration!  Many families want to mark the occasion with a big, memorable event to surround their child with friends and family.  However, this kind of party can be overwhelming and distressing to many toddlers. At UWS Parenting Support, we recommend very small, intimate and short (1 1/2 -2 hours, not too close to naptime) celebrations for a few good friends and family members. Quiet children’s music, finger food and cake is all you need to give your child a Happy Birthday. Save the big, loud parties for a few years so that your child (if he or she likes big parties, not all kids do) can enjoy it.

• Choose a child friendly restaurant with foods that your child likes.
• Go for your meal when your child is well rested and not too hungry. Eating too close to nap or bedtime will make it hard for your sleepy child to tolerate eating out.
• Bring quiet activities to do at the table to make waiting for food easier.  Crayons, small cars and trucks and play figures are easy to pack and use during these times.
• If possible, have everyone’s food served at the same time rather than asking for your child’s food to come first.  If your child is not too hungry and can eat independently it is helpful to have all the food come together so your child is not waiting for you when she is done with her meal.
• To avoid too much sitting time, take turns walking around the restaurant or outside before the food comes.  Bring your child to sit down as soon as the food arrives for all.

Toddlers can spend endless playtime pushing buttons, turning handles or flipping levers. The classic pop-up toy offers age appropriate play that promotes physical, emotional and cognitive development. Physically children practice fine motor skills by using their little hands to push, pull,and turn. Emotionally and cognitively they explore cause and effect and practice object permanence as they make the character go away and come back. This helps with the real hellos and goodbyes in their daily life. It’s fun to narrate your child’s play by saying, “Hey, where did Big Bird go?” and “Yay, you made him come back, hello Big Bird!”