Parenting Matters, Cynthia Martin

Babies don’t seem like they are learning a great deal in those months after they are just born but they really are. This is a time in your child’s life that comes around only one time so what you do now is critical.

 

Your baby’s first interactions are with his family. It is the family that gives the baby a strong bond that allows him to learn about trust. He develops this bond by the time you spend talking with him, watching him, setting limits and enforcing rules. It is pretty easy to do but you need to be sure to do it so that he learns to depend on you. When you don’t do these things you are not being an effective parent for your new baby.

 

Too many parents slightly ignore this time. Maybe it is because they are tired from lack of sleep or maybe the everyday demands of feeding and diapering are taking all their energy so they don’t talk to him or read to him. From the earliest days babies take a lot of time.

 

This is one of the reasons the United Way of Clallam County has funded a program called Great Beginnings-An Early Learning Initiative. They have funded classes for children from birth to around age 1.

Parenting Matters Foundation is one of the grant recipients of one of these classes for in Sequim.

We invite new parents to join us for classes from 6-8 p.m., beginning on Tuesdays Oct. 2-Nov. 27. The classes will include Getting to Know Your Baby, Babies as Intelligent Learners, Providing Physical, Visual and Tactile Stimulation, Learning to Read Babies’ Minds, Gaining Support and Baby’s Emerging Sense of Self. During these classes, which will be taught by Elna Kawal, there will be a free dinner, free child care with activities for older siblings and a free children’s book given to each child each week.

 

These classes are being offered because of the importance of developing the trust of your baby in these early months. It means you respond when your baby cries; he doesn’t cry because he is spoiled at age 3 weeks or 3 months. You feed him when he seems to be hungry; he isn’t asking for anything special but just to respond to being hungry. He is totally dependent on you and you need to show him that he can trust you.

 

It doesn’t seem like it is so important to do these things with a baby but it is. It is the basis for your child succeeding in school, developing relationships with his friends and bonding with you.

 

There is a lot you need to do to be a good and effective parent. 1) You need to be strong but also flexible. 2) As a parent you need friends — people you can talk to and share your issues with. 3) You need to remember that being a really good parent is partly natural but it also is partly learned. That is why we are having this class. 4) It is easy to forget that we all need help from time to time and this is one way to get some. 5) Your help is needed to help your child learn to communicate — communication begins on day one. 6) It is critical to give your child the love and respect he needs; without that he will not thrive.

 

So if you or someone you know has a baby, talk with them about this class. Talk with them about the importance of each day to a baby and how they can provide their baby with the basics in life that are so important. Call 681-2250 to register for this valuable class and they won’t be sorry.

 

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and director of Parenting Matters Foundation, which publishes newsletters for parents, caregivers and grandparents. Reach Martin at pmf@olypen.com or at 681-2250.