What can new parents do to prepare for a smooth transition back to work? New parent tips on going back to work - a calm and successful return to work from maternity leave. #newparents #maternityleave #newmom #returntowork #postpartum #goingbacktowork #learnwithless

The post Going Back To Work After Baby, With Lisa Abramson appeared first on Learn With Less.

What if you already had everything you needed, right there in our home? What if the "best" toys for your baby were hidden, in plain view, right there in your home (or attached to you)? What if you were given the recipe: exactly what you needed, instructions for what you might do, the developmental impact of the activity, and sample "scripts" to get you started actually implementing the activity - so you know exactly what you're doing...? What if you realized you were already doing so many of the "right" things to support your baby's development?

The post The One Phrase New Parents Actually Want To Hear appeared first on Learn With Less.

How do we raise emotionally intelligent children? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Kelli McCarty, a marriage and family therapist and founder of Toys With Intent, to discuss the ways in which we can raise emotionally intelligent children, how play factors into emotional intelligence in our young children, and Kelli's top tips and resources for integrating social/emotional development and social cognition into play. The basic takeaway? So much of it comes down to intentionality in the tools we choose to use in our parenting and in our homes.

The post Raising Emotionally Intelligent Kids Through Play appeared first on Learn With Less.

What is a postpartum mood disorder? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Dr. Katayune Kaeni to address the topics of postpartum depression, anxiety and OCD. Dr. Kat is a psychologist and specialist in maternal mental health and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. She works with moms and families to heal from the difficulties of depression, anxiety and other mood changes that can happen during conception, pregnancy, miscarriage, loss of a baby, birth and postpartum. In addition to her professional training, she also draws from her own personal experiences with the challenges of postpartum to discuss this topic. 

We'll hear about her own professional and personal background, and how it is she came to do the work she's doing now. There are so many misconceptions about the various ways hormones can affect our postpartum experience (and beyond!). Dr. Kaeni gives us a brief overview of the differences between the "baby blues," postpartum depression, and postpartum anxiety, dispels some of the common myths about postpartum mood disorders, and tells us what, in her opinion as a professional who works with families struggling with the transition into parenthood, are the best places to start for new parents experiencing postpartum mood disorders.

The post Perinatal Mood Changes and Postpartum Mood Disorders appeared first on Learn With Less.

How does development influence baby and toddler sleep habits and sleep changes? Ask any new parent and sleep struggles are a top issue! If you want to know how to get baby sleep through the night, and you're curious about a baby sleep schedule, learn more from a sleep consultant! #babysleepconsultant #babysleeptraining #babysleepthroughthenight #babysleepschedule #toddlersleepregression #toddlersleepthroughthenight #learnwithless

The post Developmental Leaps and Sleep appeared first on Learn With Less.

What is it like to grow up with multiple languages? Raising bilingual children has become a hot topic over the last few decades. We are starting to understand more about the brain benefits of being bilingual or multilingual, but what does it actually look like to raise a multilingual family?

The post Raising A Multilingual Family appeared first on Learn With Less.

Positive parenting, positive discipline, and parenting infants and toddlers. We know there is no "correct" way to parent, but how do various parenting styles impact our child's brain development?

The post Positive Discipline and Brain Development appeared first on Learn With Less.

Open-ended art activities for infants and toddlers. Creative development ideas for families: pairing child-directed art activities with book appreciation never felt so easy. On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Julia Linsteadt, one half of the brains behind KidArtLit, whose goal is to make it easy for families to ignite creativity and a love of reading in their children.

In our conversation, we discussed the inspiration behind KidArtLit, what process art is and how young infants and toddlers can partake in it, and tips and resources Julia has for parents of infants and toddlers who want to pair early literacy activities with art making.

The post Pairing Process Art and Early Literacy Experiences appeared first on Learn With Less.

On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Renee Peña Lopez, a special education and early childhood educator, to discuss how executive functioning is related to foundational learning and play in early childhood? We got the scoop about how to make play more purposeful to support this important part of brain development in infants, toddlers, and beyond.

We speak about Renee’s journey into the kind of work she does and why she’s so passionate about it, what executive functioning is and how it’s related to learning and play in early childhood, Renee’s favorite ways to make play more purposeful, and additional resources she recommends to families interested in seeking out resources about executive functioning, learning and play.

The post Learning, Executive Functioning, and Play appeared first on Learn With Less.

How to survive and thrive in the first year of motherhood: one mother's celebration story. On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Rachel Kammeyer, a speech-language pathologist, long-time listener of the Learn With Less podcast, active member of the Community LAB, and mother to William, who has just celebrated his first birthday at the time of this recording.

The post Surviving And Thriving In The First Year of Motherhood: One Mother’s Celebration Story appeared first on Learn With Less.