When your baby is born there is one thing we all seem to forget- what have they seen before and up to this point?
The womb!
Everything your child sees from birth is absolutely brand new, never seen nor explored before. The only thing your child has familiarity with are, your voice and sounds you listened to during pregnancy. Air is brand new, feeling empty spaces as they stretch since womb eviction, clothes, nappies everything your new baby encounters is for the first time!
By the time your child is one, they are still seeing things that are still ‘for the first time’, yet they still may not have the language skills required to share this information with you. this sponge has been absolutely laden with an overwhelming capacity of brand news and it is easy for them to become completely overwhelming (I don’t think I would fancy learning the world from scratch). Mobility happens around this age too, so the world that your child learned through sitting, now is accessible and available to explore and make their own judgments as to whether these are safe spaces or should certain things be ‘off-limits’, this doesn’t mean you should turn your house into a fortress! You should let your child risk assess, there is an amazing clip on YouTube so you can see children and their natural ability to spot risks and what they are prepared and not so prepared to do. Giving babies the experience of learning for themselves they will naturally learn safe approaches, but as this video also shows, you also need to supervise your children (and not try this experiment yourselves!)
Children learn by doing rather than being shown, therefore support rather than taking over is key, it also shows you how our own reaction to what the child is doing can play a huge role in how children react and if they are inclined to try or steer away from trying new things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WanGt1G6ScA&t=99s this one is a longer and older version of the same experiment.
By the time your child turns two, their brains have learned so much, but their poor brain is working far faster than their mouths can verbalise these thoughts!
Not only are they desperate to now communicate everything they have learned and ready to give you this information, but they are also now beginning to realise they can be independent too. They can no say no (and occasionally yes), they are beginning to understand the things they like and dislike and want to make it clear to their grown-up. This is what causes those terrible endless tantrums!
This is the time for children to show their unique personality and frustration, while at the same time it, unfortunately, becomes our turn to become a little more patient (even though it feels like a mini-war).
Be kind to yourself, your child, and work through this time together
