Parenting Now Blog

It’s no secret that toddlers and preschoolers love music. But what you might not know is that music plays an important role in your child’s development, benefiting early literacy skills and building fine- and gross- motor skills. A 2016 study from the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute found that having musical experiences ...

In our One-2-One support chats with parents, we get a lot of questions about how to balance working from home when you also have young children and toddlers to take care of.  With summer activities limited and an uncertain school structure next fall, we offer these tips for working from home: Keep expectations for yourself ...

As an infant, did your child excitedly try new foods, only to become more selective as they entered their toddler years? Some parents jump to label their child a “picky eater” if they: Don’t want to sit at the table to eat Play with their food Are fussy about what they eat Refuse to try ...

We’ve made it to summer break! We can say goodbye to remote learning responsibilities (at least for awhile) and gloomy weather, and say hello to the carefree days of summer! Right? Well, almost carefree. As COVID-19 continues to run its course, safety precautions will continue to dictate how and where we spend our summer vacation, ...

As early as 6-months old, babies begin to notice differences in people, including their skin color, hair, and eyes. It's never too early to have conversations about race with your child and there are wonderful, kid-friendly resources out there to help guide you along in the process. Our Parenting Educators have rounded up some of ...

  Routines build a strong foundation for children of all ages, and it’s important that, as parents, we try to provide a routine for the family, even when times are tough. Why routines matters We all do better when we have some structure around us. Routines provide a predictable pattern to our days that helps ...

Children and adults both have a need for control—you’ve seen it when your toddler demanded the red cup instead of the green one you offered, or when your teenager didn’t listen to your advice about wearing protective gear while skateboarding. The topic of power struggles has come up frequently in our One-2-One virtual chats with ...

You’ll hear Parenting Educators focus again and again the importance of taking care of yourself as a parent—and it’s with good reason. You can’t be on top of your parenting game when your own needs aren’t being met. But even under the best conditions—let alone a pandemic—it can be hard to put your needs above ...

During challenging times or periods of uncertainty in our lives, children—even as young as infants—can pick up on our stress levels. They worry along with us as we hear unsettling reports on the news or overhear conversations about being able to pay rent this month or worry about a relative who is ill. It’s important ...

As many parents’ balance working from home, helping their children with distance learning, and trying to meet everyone’s basic needs, communication skills can sometimes suffer under the weight of managing it all. It’s important—especially during times of stress—to give special attention to how we communicate with our children. Here, there, everywhere! There are a lot ...

Whether you have a 1-month old, 1-year old, or 10-year old, chances are you are currently parenting very differently than you were mere weeks ago before schools were closed, events were cancelled, and you were asked to practice social distancing. Parenting under a pandemic is uncharted territory for pretty much all of us. It’s not ...

  Toddlers are in a word “busy.” They have busy minds and busy bodies. Keeping them engaged and entertained all day—especially when preschools, libraries, and your other go-to places are closed—can be exhausting for parents and caregivers.  By now, you probably feel like you’ve exhausted all the resources in your toolbox for keeping your little ...