You are your child’s first playmate, but that doesn’t have to be a cause for stress
A mother soothing her crying toddler offers a live demonstration of how to create a safe space – a chance to reinforce calm in what might seem like chaos to the young child. When a father builds a sandcastle with his child, he is modelling sharing - a beautiful back-and-forth engagement that is a bedrock for learning. Parents travel through these mini engagements multiple times per hour, rarely mindful (understandably!) of the lasting impact that they are having on their child’s life trajectories.
A sensitive and joyful parent is a critical piece of a child’s ecosystem. Yet the current culture puts constant pressure on parents to find new opportunities and activities to prepare their child for academic success. Today, a simple Google search of ‘parenting books’ yields over 200 million results! And that count does not even include the handouts, blogs, newsletters, advice columns and parenting sections online. Telling parents what to do has become a multibillion-dollar industry, with investors ‘capitalizing’ on the ‘economic opportunity’ offered by millennial parents.
Our research suggests that as a caring and responsive parent you are very likely already doing the right things to nurture your children’s 21st century skills and boost their wellbeing.
