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Peek-a-boo!
Playtime helps baby develop an optimistic outlook on
life.
Karen
Millard
karen@feedyouroptimism.com
FeedYourOptimism
http://www.feedyouroptimism.com
A
babyís unselfconscious laughter is one of the happiest sounds youíll ever hear.
But did you know that by playing with your baby, youíre doing much more than
simply having fun?
Those adoring gazes you share; all those games of
patty-cake; the suspense-filled moments waiting for the jack-in-the-box to
appear and the excited laughter when it does, are all helping baby develop an
optimistic outlook on life and an ability to regulate his own
moods.
Newborn babies are helpless in more ways than one. Unable to
affect their own circumstances in even the smallest of ways, theyíre also unable
to control their own feelings. When theyíre sad, theyíre sad. Thereís nothing
they can do on their own to change their emotional state. They depend entirely
on mom, or other caregivers, to soothe and comfort them; to help them navigate
out of a sea of unpleasant sensation into calmer waters.
In fact, experts
say, the job of regulating a babyís inner state is one of the most important
tasks of early parenthood. A mom who is responsive to her babyís cries is
teaching him that it is possible to move from a state of distress to one of
contentment.
Of course, before many months have passed, baby will have to
learn how to accomplish the feat for himself.
And this is where playtime
comes in.
When you spend time playing with baby, making him coo and smile
and laugh, youíre initiating and - most important - sharing his pleasurable
experiences.
All this sharing, or what experts call ìpositive
amplificationî of babyís emotions, helps baby learn to invoke pleasurable
sensations in himself and to tolerate greater intensity of sensation before
becoming overwhelmed.
And you thought you were just playing
peek-a-boo!
Karen Millard is writer-in-residence at http://www.FeedYourOptimism.com Give
your optimism a boost and learn how you can make a difference in this
world!
This article provided by the Family Content Archives at:
http://www.Family-Content.com
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