ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

I'm not sure what might make the ideas cited on "Baby Movement Principles" controversial, unless some consider paying close attention to the adult role's crucial influence on early development as too harsh an admonition. The fact is research has shown, for example, that very young babies sat up in car seats are at risk for severe compromises in respiratory health. Positions like those jeopardizing the spine and its musculature, including being led by the hands to walk so that balance is not being learned for oneself, are what are harsh in innumerable ways. When what a baby can already do is not appreciated and allowed, what is the message being given to the child? (See How They Move, www.rie.org) "If we help our children build confidence from infancy in their ability to learn, in their own sense of knowing what is best for them, then they will have the capacity to learn for a whole lifetime." Magda Gerber