Ways to Support Our Children’s Understanding of the World
How can we support our children in becoming creative, logical, and reflective thinkers?
Our understanding of the world begins in infancy through interactions with attuned caregivers. As we take in our worlds, we develop a sense of self and an understanding of others – this is the process of building developmental capacities.
Wondering where to start?
Try these developmental tips to support your child’s growth:
Tune into your infant:
Responding to all cues teaches children that their actions have meaning and encourages them to respond back to you.
Catch a smile? Repeat the silly face or sing the song again to allow your child the opportunity to respond again.
Encourage back and forth exchanges:
Even before your child is talking, support multiple circles of communication using facial expressions and gestures.
Snack time? Encourage a back and forth by responding as your child points to the kitchen, shakes her head, or gives you a big grin.
Explore emotional themes:
Play out a wide range of feelings in a safe space.
Play time? Let your child chose a favorite doll, stuffed animal or action figure, and get in character. Explore feelings of joy, frustration, jealousy, anger, and excitement as they naturally arise.
Support logical responses:
Challenge your child to make sense by building connections between ideas.
Is your child being nonsensical? Expose the gap between what you were discussing and your child’s response to build space for her to think about how the two ideas are connected.
Ask for more than one reason:
Help your child to consider different ways of looking at a situation.
Playground time? Support your child in figuring out multiple reasons why she might want to go. Are the swings super fun? Does she like playing with the other kids? Does she feel like running fast?
Compare favorites:
Have your children think about what they like best.
What do you prefer? Ask probing questions to help your child think about which shows, books, or restaurants she likes best and why.
Consider the extent of an opinion:
Ask your child the degree to which something is more important.
Sharing opinions? Ask for degrees. Support your child in considering which qualities in a friend are more important and by how much.
Self-reflection of performance:
Let your child practice constructive self-evaluation.
Finishing up a school report? Encourage your child to evaluate her own work. Be sure to keep this conversation constructive!
Need some more support in building your child’s developmental capacities? Connect with us today!
