On Thursday, April 18, 2019, PEPS hosted a group of local grandparents gathered together to learn about Grandparenting in the Digital Age. Most of the 25 attendees had similar concerns: Why are screens so tempting for young children; How can we manage screen time for our grandkids (especially when our rules might differ from parent rules); What options, if any,…
Category: Child development
Creative Thinking & Imagination for Child Development
by Cassie McKeown, Bright Horizons Early Education and Preschool Cleo, a 4-year-old preschooler, excitedly told her Mom, “…and then we drank purple milk that came from a purple cow.” Webster defines imagination as “the ability to form a picture in your mind of something that you have not seen or experienced; the ability to think of new things.” Every child is…
Grandparents in action: Getting kids excited about the outdoors
On a bright and sunny morning in July, PEPS gathered a group of grandparents together at the Environmental Science Center in Burien. We decided to drop in on the Center’s Tidepools for Tots program to learn more about how grandparents can engage their grandchildren in nature. We learned more about the unique ecosystem of the tidepools and gathered a few…
Brainy Background and Research on Social Bias, an Interview with Andrew N. Meltzoff and Vroom
Republished with permission from Vroom Hardly a day goes by without stories about racism, sexism, bias, prejudice and stereotyping in the news. How do children learn these attitudes? Can children catch social bias simply by watching adults? A new study by Andrew N. Meltzoff and colleagues from the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, offers evidence that…
The power of connection
Here’s the deal: We need each other. Yes, we human beings need one another to be healthy and to thrive. Brené Brown defines connection this way: “connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” Thanks to…
Comparing Our Babies
You can say that in any groups of parents that you are comparing your kids to one another. That kind of has a negative feeling, right? Well sure, it could have that feeling, but it doesn’t have to. I read a lot of the feedback from parents in PEPS Groups and I’ve led a few of my own and participated…
What You Need To Know About Early Discipline
by Sarina Behar Natkin, LICSW You survived the newborn days, and life with baby is rolling along smoothly. They are full of belly laughs, find delight in just about everything, and their biggest complaints are easily whisked away with a clean diaper, a snuggle, and some milk. As you push your easy-going babe in the swing at the park, you…
Who is my child, really?
Probably the most important thing I’ve learned so far as a parent is to not worry so much about what my kids are doing. To realize that what I’m mostly doing here is giving them a safe place to unfold— not molding them.
10 activities you can do with an infant
“Umm … now what do we do?” I distinctly remember having this thought a couple weeks after my baby was born. Her first days home were a flurry of us trying to figure out how, basically, to keep her alive. How to sleep. Where to sleep. How the heck to feed her. Trips to the doctor to check her low weight. Getting the diaper…
Developing Your Parenting Roadmap
A Tale of Two New Moms I’ve been thinking recently about two types of moms I encounter in my work as a parent educator and parent coach. The first is well-aware that she has been lucky in life. She has been raised by loving, supportive (though, of course, imperfect) parents who continue to support her as she herself becomes a…