While aggression is important to human survival, it's not pleasant when it starts to surface in early childhood. In their first years of life, babies and toddlers act in ways that feel aggressive to others, but they are still too young to "know better." It takes a long time and many reminders before young children learn their strength and how it can hurt others. As a guardian/parent, you can help your children develop how to manage their aggression as they grow.
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Helping Young Children Channel Their Aggression
Como ayudar a los nios pequeos a canalizar su agresividad
Unfortunately, experiencing fear and anxiety is an unavoidable part of growing up. As young children move through normal experiences-being separated from parents, hearing sudden loud noises, falling down, going to childcare-anxiety will rise and fall. Separation anxiety is common in the first years of life, and other anxieties come with new experiences and challenges. As a guardian/parent, you can help your child learn to deal with normal fears, and seek help when realistic reassurances fail to help.
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Understanding Childhood Fears and Anxieties
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My 2-year-old Is Suddenly Afraid of the Dark
When Is My Child Ready to Sleep in Her Own Room?
Wetting the bed can be a source of embarrassment for young children, and may become a source of shame as they get older. Even after successful toilet training by age 2, 3, or 4, some children are not able to stay dry at night for a few more years and that is typical. While it's not a serious medical condition, bedwetting can be a sign of a medical or a behavioral problem. If bedwetting starts after years of no accidents, it may signal other concerns. As a parent/guardian, you can learn how to assess your child's situation, and seek help if appropriate.
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Bedwetting Español and audio available
Healthy Children Radio: Bedwetting Audio available
A young child(or young children) may bite to express a strong challenge or meet a strong need. Frustration, anger, fear, fatigue, excitement are all normal(typical instead of normal) emotions for a growing child. These expressions of emotions can lead to teeth sinking into another growing child. Because children bite impulsively, in the heat of a moment(I would cut this), it can be challenging to stop and prevent the behavior from happening. As a parent/guardian, you can learn strategies to see it coming, and to help your child find other ways to express that emotional energy (their emotions).
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Toddlers and Biting: Finding the Right Response
From the moment they enter the world, babies are communicating. Long before they say their first word, babies move, wail, coo, and smile to let you know when they are hungry, tired, or happy. As parent, you can understand your child's communication better than anyone.
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How Language Development Unfolds
How to Support Your Child's Communication Skills
Crying is one of a baby's earliest means of communication and a key to survival. The urge to cry precedes the ability to talk, to wave, or to roll over. It's as hardwired in the infant's brain as the response is in the parent's... impossible to control for the baby, impossible to ignore for the parent. But crying is not a crisis to be averted, it is simply a problem to be solved. Parents can learn how to better cope with crying, and how to become a better detective and determine what the crying means.
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Coping With Crying in Babies and Toddlers
Cómo lidiar con el llanto de los bebés y niños pequeños
Before children can follow rules, they must develop self-control. Babies start developing self-control comes in the first months of life, and children consistently control some impulses the time they turn 4 or 5. Self-regulation takes many more years to fully develop, and adults may still struggle with this skill occasionally! Young children learn self-control through interactions with peers, parents, and other loving adults.
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Setting limits from birth to 3 years
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Are Time-Outs Helpful or Harmful to Young Children?
¿Qué puede hacer un padre cuando se cuestiona en cuanto a una de las herramientas que utiliza más comúnmente para disciplinar?
Tips for babies birth to 12 months
Tips for children 1 to 5 years
Children, like grownups, have different energy levels. Energy levels in children fluctuate. Children typically have larger amounts of energy, and therefore need larger amounts of physical play (outside and inside), and maintaining a healthy diet. If you are concerned about your child's energy, please talk to your pediatrician. Throughout early childhood, getting a healthy amount of physical activity is important to growing, developing muscle strength and coordination, and learning how to move in the world. As a parent(See above), you can help manage energy levels by making good nutrition available and by promoting physical play, indoors and out.
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The Active Toddler
Keeping Preschoolers Active
Energy In: Recommended Food and Drink Amounts
Energy Out: Daily Physical Activity Recommendations
For the first 6 months of life, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding as the sole source of nutrition for your baby. Breast is best, and can be continued until baby turns 9 months, 1 year, 18 months, 2, and longer... as both mother and baby are on board. Breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition, and lays immune system and nutritional foundations for healthy growth and development. While breastfeeding is recommended by AAP, only families can decide what is best fit for feeding infants as there are other options (something like that). Talk to your pediatrician to learn more.
Breastfeeding
Formula Feeding
Starting Solid Foods
Responding to your child's unique needs is a positive, helpful way to help children thrive. Positive parenting comes from making parenting(i would delete) child-rearing choices that reflect your beliefs and values as a parent/guardian, your child's age and stage of development, and his or her(delete) temperament.An approach that is sensitive to children's individual needs is the best way to address the typical challenges that arise in early childhood with empathy and respect.
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Responding to Your Child's Unique Needs
Maximize Love, Manage Stress
It is distressing to hear your young child cry out in the night, terrified by bad dreams and scary nightmares. If your instinct is to go to her right away, assure her she is safe from harm, and comfort her while she calms down... your instinct is spot on. Nightmares and night terrors are common in preschoolers from age 2 to 5, especially when they are overtired or under stress. As parent, you can learn tips for preventing the intensely scary dreams, and for dealing with them when they occur.
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Nightmares and Night Terrors in Preschoolers Audio available
My Child Keeps Waking Up At Night
What Can I Do About My Toddler's Nightmares?
As a parent or caregiver, you play an important role in helping your little one get enough sleep. While sleep challenges are very common for babies and toddlers and even preschoolers, parents can do a lot to help your young child begin building healthy sleep habits. Learn more about how sleep patterns change as your child grows.
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Infant Sleep Recommendations
Coping with Sleep Challenges Birth to 3 Months
Sleep Challenges: Why It Happens, What to Do
Rock-a-Bye Right: Safe Sleep Recommendations
Separation Anxiety and Sleeping Trouble
How to Keep Your Sleeping Baby Safe
Safe sleep for your baby
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Talking About Babies, Toddlers, and Sleep
Una conversación acerca del sueño de los bebés y niños pequeños
Temperament describes a child's personal "style" - the way he or she experiences the world. Is your child highly social or is she slow-to-warm-up? Is your child flexible when faced with change, or is he troubled by unexpected transitions and prefer routines? Understanding a child's temperament is a critically important part of parenting.
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Temperament Shapes the Way We Experience the World
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Coping with Defiance in the Early Years
Babies start learning to talk at birth, just by listening to the sound of voices talking around them. The more words they hear, the more their brains will develop and learn. By age 2, most children are expressing their needs and ideas with some words, an important stage in communication development. When children grow up hearing two or three languages spoken at home, they easily become fluent in all they hear. As parent, you can do more than just talk to and around your baby to help him learn. Adding music, games, books, and conversations will help your little one learn to talk, listen, and play.
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Let's Talk About It: 5 Ways to Build Language
Tips on Learning to Talk
What Can I Do to Help My 10-Month-Old Learn to Talk?
As young children move through the toddler zone of ages 1, 2, and 3, parenting can get pretty interesting. As you help your little one learn to cope with big feelings, you may need to learn to cope with tantrums. When toddlers' emotions are bigger than their vocabularies and communication skills, they tend to get loud, physical, and overly expressive. As a parent, you can help a child learn to let off that “meltdown steam” or how they can express themselves or communicate their feelings in healthy, non-destructive ways... by jumping in place, hitting a pillow, or pounding a drum. Remember that tantrums are a natural progression of child behavior that can start as early as one and typically diminish between age four and five. Because children don't always know how to handle strong emotions, they tend to act out in seemingly disruptive ways. This includes uncontrollable screaming, crying, hitting, kicking, and flopping on the floor. Caregivers can assist children coping with tantrum behavior by giving them positive ways to express their emotions. This could include jumping in place, hitting a pillow, pounding a drum, or taking some deep breaths. If you are concerned about the intensity or frequency of the tantrum behavior, reach out to your pediatrician or service provider.
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Toddler Tantrums
Toddlers and Challenging Behavior: Why They Do It and How to Respond
Responding to Toddlers' Irrational Behavior
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Tantrums, Defiance, Aggression, Oh My!
Learning to use a toilet requires two things: first, the physical ability to control bladder and bowel activity, and second, the emotional maturity to learn to connect internal urges (need to go) and external behaviors (get to the bathroom). It sounds simple to adults, but learning to manage the "go" actually requires a complex set of skills and timing. As parent, you can learn the signs that signal your child is ready for toilet training (or not), and then create the circumstances for serious success. Remember that accidents are a normal part of the process, and should never be punished or criticized.
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All About Learning to Use the Toilet
Are Accidents Normal?
Emotional Issues and Bathroom Problems
The foundation for trust is established very early in life when babies feel safe and secure in the world. It's impossible to "spoil" a baby in the first few years, so trust your instincts to hold, cuddle, love, snuggle, comfort, rock, and sooth your sweet little one. The more love, the better. The more comfort, the better. As parent, the more you can maximize love and minimize stress, the better for your baby's present wellbeing and future ability to trust.
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Birth to 12 Months Old: Forming a Trusting Bond to Nurture Learning
Maximize Love, Manage Stress
Your worries are valid, and should be taken seriously. If you are concerned about your child's growth and/or development, a developmental screening or evaluation can determine if your child needs further assessment, or if progress is within a typical range. Michigan and most states have an Early Intervention screening program for children from birth to age 3. If you have a concern, simply call your local school district and ask for their "Part C/Early Intervention" team. Ask them to share results with your pediatrician, and be persistent until you get answers and assistance. Find your school district at https://www.greatschools.org/school-district-boundaries-map/
SOURCES: healthychildren.orgzerotothree.org
