Hello again friends!
Many parents asked me my professional thoughts and opinions on child development, speech and language development, and even my own preferences and ideas as a mother. One thing that I had become very passionate about since having a child of my own is helping parents to make informed decisions that not only support their child’s development but also match their goals as a parent. Let’s take a look at an example.
Overall I believe that sleep is vitally important for all humans. This is not an exception for you as a parent or for your little ones, I believe that sleep is imperative for overall healthy functioning and especially critical for brain development. I advocate for kids to get as much sleep as possible. However, I believe that how, where, and when your child sleeps depends more on your answers to the following questions. What are my goals for my child’s ability to fall asleep by themselves? What are my goals for my child’s ability to put themselves back to sleep once waking up? What are my goals for my child to be able to self soothe to go to sleep (using pacifiers, blankets, and stuffed animals, etc.). Do I have any goals or aspirations for allowing others to put my children to sleep (think grandparents, babysitters etc.)
Do you see where I’m going with this? Each family has their own set of values, their own goals and aspirations, and lifestyles. I believe in working with families to figure out what are their ultimate goals and how to create manageable steps, break it down and task analyze what do we need to do to get to the end goal. I think about this myself often as a mother. What do I want for my daughter to be able to do in terms of independence, flexibility, and self-sufficiency? What skills do I want her to learn, what values do i want to instill, and how do I want to make adjustments right here and right now in order to prepare her for the future.
I love to live life in the black and white, one extreme or the other. But so much of real life happens in the GRAY areas, the in between and the middle space. Everybody has their own opinions, there are so many voices coming at you from each and every direction. I have no interest in adding to the noise. I want to be able to help equip you with the steps that you need to accomplish your own goals that you have set for your child based on your own values, beliefs, education, and knowledge.
More power to you parent! I got your back!
-Kasey