Dear Parents:

Your Child is Curious About Everything

Help your child explore her world. Fifteen-month-olds are on the move. They are crawling, scooting, and walking. How exciting it is for them! Their world is full of new things to touch, throw, climb on, fall from, and knock down.

Parents of toddlers need lots of energy.

Your quiet, cuddly baby has become a lively little person and that means you have to be lively too. That can be fun, but it can make you tired, anxious and angry.

Playpens limit learning.

Playpens are okay when you need to rest or to clam down, but keep playpen times brief. Enjoy your child's exploring and help discover new things safely. She needs to learn her surroundings so she can feel good about herself and her world.

Toddler Talk: I'm Learning about Movement

Help me discover how things move. If I like dropping something from my high chair, give me a paper napkin to drop and let me watch how the air moves it.

Bounce!

Give me a sponge or tennis ball to throw. I like to hear the sounds things make when they hit the floor.

Splat!

Tell me the names of things and what they do. Roll, bounce, splat. I will soon find out that things that go splat get your attention!

Keeping time to music.

Bounce me gently on your knee or lap or clap with me in time to music. I like the movement and the music.

Crawling, standing, sitting, walking.

Let me have space indoors and outdoors to practice crawling and walking. I am going to be running by the end of the year. Right now, let me practice crawling, standing, sitting, and walking.

Research in Brief: Reasoning Discipline Is Better than Power Discipline

Dr. Alice Sterling Honig studies what parents do to help their children be obedient and cooperative. Her studies show that parents usually control and guide toddlers in one of two ways: With power control or with reasoning.

Power Control

Power control includes physical punishment, use of force, and taking away objects or privileges. It also includes withholding affection or refusing to speak to the child.

Reasoning Control

Reasoning control means explaining in simple ways that the child can understand why he should behave in certain ways. Reasoning is pointing out that the forbidden actions could hurt or harm others.

If your child throws sand at children, power control might be yelling at her or hitting her. Reasoning control might be telling her that throwing sand could hurt other children and she must stop.

Reasoning control helps parents and children.

Dr. Honig has shown that parents whose reasoning control are better able to control their children's behavior. Reasoning control also helps a child learn to be cooperative.

What's It Like to Be 15 Months Old?

How I Grow

• I like to climb on things and I usually like to do it alone.
• I can climb upstairs on my hands and knees.
• I can climb on chairs, sofas, and tables.
• I can climb out of cribs, high chairs, and strollers.
• I'm always on the go; I can walk pretty well; I can run a little.

How I Talk

• I can say three or four simple words besides "mam" and "dada".
• When you ask me to, I can point to my shoes or parts of my clothing.
• I can let you know what I want by the way I talk or point.
• I can follow simple requests like "Give me the ball."
• I can point to pictures you name, if the things in the pictures are familiar to me.

What I Have Learned

• I like to feel different kinds of things-smooth things, rough things, soft things. I like soft things and smooth things, but I may not like things that stick to my fingers.
• I can throw a small ball, but I usually throw it crooked.

How I Get Along with Others

• I mostly like my own way; I don;t cooperate much.
• I like lots of attention.
• I am easily entertained.
• I can tell when someone I know is absent.
• I can recognize myself in a mirror or photograph.

What I Can Do for Myself

• I like to do things for myself but I don't do them very well.

Play I Enjoy

• I like to turn switches on and off..
• I like to throw things, push things and pound on things.
• I like to spin wheels.
• I like playing with spoons, cups, and boxes.

Children can be very different -from: each other. Don't worry if your child is "early" or "late" in growth. Look for your child's growth in each area. Encourage each new ability. If you are concerned about child's development, talk with your doctor.

Look Mom, I Can Feed Myself?

By now your child has become an expert at putting things in his mouth. This is both good and bad news.

The bad news

The bad news is that lots of things go in the mouth that don't belong there.

The good news.

The good news is this means your child can begin to feed himself. It also means you can eat at the same time your toddler does rather than separately.

Learning to eat with a spoon

Your child will be watching you and will try to do what you do. When he sees you eating with a spoon he will want to practice eating with his spoon, but he will still eat most food with his fingers.

Learning to eat "grown-up" foods

More good news is that your child can begin eating the same foods you eat. There is no reason to buy special junior baby foods. You can easily make your own toddler foods by mashing, dicing, chopping, or shredding the food you eat into small pieces that are easy to chew and easy to swallow.

Games for Growing: Naming Pictures

Purpose of the Game

To help your child learn the names of things pictured in a book.

How to Play

• Sit with your child on your lap.
• Read a picture book to your child.
• Encourage your child to find things pictured in the book. "Where's the rabbit? Find the bird. What is the boy doing? Is he playing with a toy?"
• Finish the story.

Watch Out: These are the Accident Years

Did you know that....

Accidents are the greatest threat to the life and health of your child? More children die and more children are permanently disabled due to injuries that all diseases combined.

Children do not know how to protect themselves.

As a parent you worry about the illnesses your child may get and you must take the same care to protect him from accidents. Your child cannot protect himself.

Garden and house plants can be poison.

Many kinds of garden and house plants are poisonous if eaten; oleander and castor bean are especially dangerous and can be fatal. Some plants cause vomiting, others cause changes in children's heart rate, body temperature or bowel movements. Know the plants in and around your house. Be careful of plants that have hairy leaves, milky juice or sap, or thorny leaves, fruit or seed pods.

Watch your child at all times.

Young children are growing and developing all the time. Their ability to do things changes suddenly. In no time at all, he can reach for a hot cup of coffee in your hands and get burned. Often accidents happen because parents are not aware of what their children can do suddenly.

Prevent accidents.

Here are some ways you can prevent accidents:

• Protect your child from falls with stairway gates and window guards.
• Don't leave chairs near open windows or cabinets.
• Cover electrical outlets.
• Keep you child away from hot stoves and heaters.
• Avoid scalds by turning the water heater down to 120° to 130 ° F.
• Lock doors that lead to dangerous areas.
• Keep dangerous substances locked up or safety capped.

Be Good to Yourself: Know When You're Really Stressed Out

We all feel like the world is closing in sometimes. You may feel like you have too much to do, not enough time, not enough money, nobody to help out. If you feel that way sometimes, you're not alone.

Stress signals

When stress gets too heavy, you might have headaches or trouble sleeping. You may feel angry all the time, even nothing's happening. Stress can do real harm to your health and your relationships with your family, children and friends.

Stress is normal.

You can learn to recognize the signs of stress in your own body. You may feel your muscles get tight, your hands might begin to sweat, or your breathing might be heavy and fast. Ulcers, migraine headaches, asthma, and high blood pressure can come from stress. Find help for too much stress. What can you do about it? First, remember, that it's normal to feel stress when you're a parent. All parents feel stress sometimes. Talk to other parents about how you feel. Learn what other people do when they get "stressed out".

Try different ideas for coping with stress, such as self-help groups, parent stress hotlines, exercise and time out for yourself. You can be in charge of your own stress--find out what works for YOU.

Homemade Toys That Teach: Touch Treasure Box

Purpose

This toy helps toddlers learn about the different ways that things feel. They learn how to tell one feel from another. The toy also gives them a chance to collect and learn about the shapes, colors, and sizes of different objects and materials.

Materials

• Small cardboard box, like a shoebox
• Crayon
• Small touch treasures collected by the child
• Glue (check the bottle to be sure it says "non-toxic" or "child-safe"

Making the Toy

Print your child's name with crayon on top of the treasure box. With your toddler's help, glue small objects of different textures and shapes inside the box.

You can include pieces of sandpaper, scraps of wool, fur, sticks, small toys, shiny lids, rocks, and so forth. Make sure these things are not sharp or dangerous and make sure they're not small enough to choke your child.

Playing

Your toddler will enjoy just looking at and touching the things in her treasure box. Encourage her to tell you about the objects.

Talk about the objects.

You can tell her which ones are hard or soft, which ones are big or little, which are round or square. You and your toddler can take turns talking about the objects.

Make special treasure boxes.

You might want to have separate treasure boxes for special kinds of things. For example, a box of all round things or things that are all hard, all furry or all shiny. You can take walks to collect natural things like leaves, cones, and flowers for an outdoor treasure box. You can make a treasure box of things from a special occasion, trip or person.

Beware of Infant "Bean Bag" Cushions

Infant "Bean Bag" cushions have caused babies to suffocate and die. The infant cushions are filled with plastic foam beads or other materials that conform to the body of the infant--especially the face, when the infant is placed on the stomach.

The chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission says, " Although production of infant cushions has stopped, we need to prevent any future deaths. If and consumers still have one of these infant cushions, they should stop using it immediately, return it to where it was purchased, or destroy it or throw it away."

Consumer Watch: Graco Converta-Cradle

Owners of Converta-Cradle swings, produced by Graco, should be aware that the company has recalled the cradle portion of the swing due to possible infant deaths and breathing problems.

Owners of Converta-Cradle swings with straight legs should stop using the cradle portion and call Graco at 1-800-942-1700 for information about replacement of the cradle.

Safety Tips: Falls

Even though you child is perfecting his walking skills, he will still fall. He is now beginning to climb and jump and run as well. A chair left next to a kitchen counter or table allows him to climb to dangerous heights.

Lock the doors to any dangerous area. Use gates on stairways and window guards above the first floor. Be sure the gates are safe. Remove sharp edged furniture from the room he is in.

Your child is now able to throw a ball, jump, run, pedal a tricycle and move at lightning speed. His abilities are so great now that he is able to get himself into an endless variety of dangers at home and in the neighborhood.

Fence they play yard. If your child has a serious fall, call your doctor.

Child, Inc's WARMLINE helps Delaware parents with nonmedical child related concerns by listening, providing support and information, and offering referrals.

Call (302) 762-8938 from 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., Monday - Friday
and 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for help.

A trained WARMLINE facilitator will answer your call. If you live below the canal, call 1 (800) 874-2070, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday.

Best wishes in the weeks ahead!

Great Beginnings   is sent to you by:

Patricia T. Nelson, Ed.D.
Family and Child Development Specialist

This issue has been adapted from Parent Express, by Dr. Dorothea Cudaback, Cooperative Extension, University of California and her colleagues throughout the national Cooperative Extension System.

GB-15M
4/28/98