Am I Doing Enough?

[cwolff]

I always feel like I'm either not doing enough activities with DD or not the right ones, or I'm too in her face.  I'm interested to hear what other parents do with children who are just under a year.  Rachel just started really crawling a couple weeks ago, and is very big on exploring.  So I usually lay on the floor or sit and watch and talk to her while she crawls around her play area.  I will follow her sometimes, and when she picks up a book (which she loves to do) I will scoot over and tell her about the pictures.  However, she loves books when she can sit and fiddle with them herself.  Once I'm there and start talking about the pictures or whatever, she loses interest and moves on.  So I'm not sure exactly what I am supposed to be doing with her.  Is it OK to just let her be and explore, or should I really be trying to get her to interact more with me and "play"?  I will leave her in her play area and do dishes in the kitchen where I can look over at her, and she seems fine.  Except she doesn't like that we have a gate so she can't come into the kitchen.  I talk to her, we listen to music, I help her pull up on things and we go for walks etc.  I just am not sure if I'm supposed to be doing all sorts of fun and inventive games to engage her, or is it OK to just chill out and let her roam and explore.

[Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle]

You sound like you're doing great! When she's happy exploring, I'd leave her to it. It may not seem that she's "doing" much, but just discovering her surroundings and environment on her own is excellent for her. Take her lead. If she picks up a book and is happy fiddling with it, I'd leave her to it. She's probably happy just literally turning the pages and using her fine motor skills and when you try and talk to her about stuff it's probably not what she's into at that time. You will have plenty of reading opportunities, so I'd leave her to it while she's happy. With the kitchen, if you don't really mind her in there, what you could do is set up a drawer that she can have access to and put things in there for her like her bowls, cups, other plastic things or even a few small toys for her to play with. My dd loves emptying hers out and also the teatowel drawer which is right under it and she even uses the teatowels to cover up the cups and bowls. I also let her have a container of onions that she'll spend ages peeling LOL - taking them out and putting back in.

[momtoelise]

Just thought I'd say that your dd sounds a lot like mine!  I do the same things you mentioned & just give her room to explore.  Sometimes after exploring on her own for awhile, she'll come back over to me & 'crawl' on me for awhile, then go out on her own again - I'm kind of like her home base. 

The things she seems to enjoy most right now are rolling/throwing little balls (she's also started handing them to me, which is good for interaction), and taking things out of buckets/baskets/etc.  I'll put new things into a container & just let her explore...

I'll be watching this thread for other ideas!

[Queen Mother]

I just read something last night in the toddler book that made me feel much better: Tracy says to keep in mind that not every minute has to be "enriched" or educational.  That really eased my mind a lot.  Seems like you're doing a beautiful job--keep it up and try not to be so hard on yourself!

[Erin M]

Just like Nikki said, it's no big deal to have her in the kitchen with you, as long as you have your dangerous stuff somewhere inaccessible.  Mine loves to empty out the cabinets and play with the pots and pans.  Around the house she has a few baskets of toys that she empties out and plays with.  I would just follow her lead and she'll let you know when she needs some interaction.  From your description, she seems quite happy, so I really wouldn't worry about doing more than you are.