Dear Miss Faith, I am working on slowing down and letting my almost-3yo daughter be involved in my tasks, but I'm struggling. Not just because I have trouble slowing down, but also because my daughter has trouble with it too! She often wants to do the next step, but we hadn’t even finished the step we were on, and so i start trying to work faster and faster to stay ahead of … [Read more...]
Archives for 2013
Ending Bath Time Gracefully
October 12, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Hi Dear Readers, This post comes from a conversation I had with my Ongoing Membership group, available for folks who have taken my Tele-Class, Joyful Days with Toddler & Preschoolers (next session starts tomorrow!). In a recent call, a mom asked for some advice on how to bring Bath Time to a close in a more enjoyable way. Her 2.5 yo son loves being in the bathtub, but the … [Read more...]
Last Tele-Class Before My Maternity Leave
October 2, 2013 · by · 4 Comments
Dear Readers, If you're looking for some inspiration for your parenting or caregiving, I'd like to invite you to sign up for my six-week Tele-Class, Joyful Days with Toddlers & Preschoolers, starting October 13th. This class is a combination of live conference calls, readings, video footage of me interacting with the children in my (former) home daycare Rainbow Bridge … [Read more...]
The Website Is Having a Makeover!
September 18, 2013 · by · 3 Comments
Check out the new Joyful Toddlers website! Many thanks to my web redesign team, Kay Diamond and Wahhab Baldwin, with logo design by Aditto Chan at 99designs.com. This has been a labor of love on Kay & Wahhab's part as their expertise was far beyond my budget. But because they are my lovely Father (web programmer) and Stepmom (web designer), and have recently retired, they … [Read more...]
Sharing & Taking Turns
September 2, 2013 · by · 5 Comments
Dear Miss Faith, My daughter and I participate in a toddler play-group and some mothers are very insistent that their children practice sharing, while I tend to think that sharing will come with time. What are your thoughts? Dear Mama, I think that our adult idea of sharing (I’ll use it for a little while, then I’ll give it to you even if I’m not done, and you’ll use it for … [Read more...]
4-Year-Old Overstimulated on Play-Dates
August 30, 2013 · by · 1 Comment
Dear Miss Faith, I enjoyed your post on children getting overstimulated, but wonder if you could talk a bit about older children. My oldest daughter is 4.5 and while she doesn't get aggressive with other kids, she seems to get overstimulated even with just one other child on play dates, or sometimes even just with me, with big physical activity. I've tried removing her for a … [Read more...]
An Outdoor Summer (Miss Faith Guest Post)
July 25, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Hi Everyone, Check out my guest post on the LifeWays North America blog. It's called An Outdoor Summer, and I share some of my tips for making it possible to spend long stretches of time outdoors with your little ones during these lazy summer months. … [Read more...]
Overstimulation and Aggressive Behavior
July 23, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Dear Miss Faith, My 2.5yo son has a lot of trouble in noisy situations where there are large groups of children. He is normally a kind, friendly child, but when in noisy or crowded spaces he loses all impulse control, running away from me, crashing purposefully into other children, knocking other children down, and grabbing toys. The grabbing he does in these particular … [Read more...]
Building Competence
June 25, 2013 · by · 2 Comments
Dear Miss Faith, My son is almost four, I'm struggling with teaching him how to dress himself, pull down and up his own pants for going potty, etc. He seems to have no interest in learning whatsoever, and when I ask him to "try before mummy helps", he only does so halfheartedly. Any suggestions? … [Read more...]
Acting Up to Get Attention
June 21, 2013 · by · 6 Comments
Dear Miss Faith, My younger son is 19-months, and has recently become very curious about sticking food up his nose or deep into his ears. I'm concerned about this. The first few times he did it, my husband and I reacted with a sharp, "No!" Now I think he is continuing to do this for the attention, but it's not like I can ignore it because if he gets something lodged up there … [Read more...]
