Day 156 - Leave me alone!

Today's Tip - Let your baby play on his own to encourage learning

Many parents love playing with their babies. And that's not a bad thing at all. But if there's no chance for a baby to play on his own, how is he going to learn to entertain himself? If you're doing everything for him, there's not a whole lot of learning going on.

Solitary play increases self-esteem, and helps prevent the "I'm bored" syndrome later on. And it's easy too. Just give your baby a child-proofed area to explore and let him go nuts. If he can't roll, put him on a mat with an overhead toy bar he can grab for. If he can flip and push himself up, give him some toys on a blanket so that he can practice crawling. If he can support some weight, an exer-saucer or a Johnny Jump Up are excellent bets.

At first these play times will be pretty short, but gradually you can work them up to a longer session where they're exercising their creativity and having lots of fun while learning.

Parenting, Play, Development, Alone, Creativity