A Post About Bin Laden’s Death

Whether talking about his life or death, I struggle with giving this man more than his 15 minutes of fame.  To be sure, in my opinion, he didn’t even deserve that much.  Many people have strong feelings about last night’s events.  Many will be discussing them today and for days to come.  When doing so, Read More

A Plan To Play

After sitting down with another parent who felt self-conscious and unsure of how to play with her child, I had a thought:  Playing doesn’t come naturally to every grown up and that’s okay.  Why not use the Dana’s Kids blog to give parents a “Plan to Play?”  I want to be clear that feeling “unable” to play is a Read More

My Favorite Things: Using Photographs with Children

All children love seeing themselves and the important people in their lives in photographs.  For babies, photo albums can be used to support language development, recognition of their loved ones and caregivers, and are a great transition object for day care.  Toddlers enjoy labeling all of the people and things they know.  For twos and threes, photographs help Read More

My Toddler Won’t Get In The Stroller!

Ah, toddlerhood! You can see the pleasure on your child’s face as they relish in their new found capabilities. But this time can also bring challenges. I hear it all the time…my squirmy toddler won’t get into the stroller! My advice?  Grown-ups need to have a bag of tricks. Early walkers and toddlers hoping for Read More

A Wonderful Sight: First Steps

We recently (finally!) had a sunny day in NYC.  I love being outside, feeling the sun on my face, relaxing in the park.  Little did I know that on this sunny day I would be a part of a young family’s “first.”  I watched as the young couple encouraged their daughter to let go of Read More

5 Ways to Enrich Your Young Child’s Fine Motor Development (3-5 years old)

I thought about naming this post “big work for little hands” but decided to go with the title you see above.  That being said, my discarded title brings up an important point.  I believe strongly that typically developing children accomplish tasks when they are ready.  Developmentally, not all little hands are ready for big work.  The activities Read More

Another Smile Inducing Post

Some time ago, I worked with a child who was having a hard time internalizing the rules.  Cognitively, he totally understood what he should and shouldn’t be doing at any given moment, but he just couldn’t seem to stop himself.  It’s what educators call poor impulse control.  This was also a child who loved animals.  Read More