Month 14
Choose your topic
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Choose your topic
Your child is showing more and more character and is taking an increasingly active part in your everyday life. Their curiosity is unbroken and they want to understand many things in detail, because children learn on their own initiative.
Helping out is probably one of the best things your child can do during this time. As a parent, you are a great role model and children learn a lot – even unconsciously – by imitation. That’s why it’s worth letting your child help with all kinds of tasks: whether it’s stirring the sauce while cooking, wiping dust with a damp cloth while cleaning or giving the plants a little water. Of course, this is not much help at the beginning, quite the opposite: everything will probably take much longer and there will be one or two mishaps. But your child will be very happy and feel important, seen and needed. And soon they will actually be able to help you with small chores.
You may also notice that your child is now having more emotional outbursts with very strong emotions. It may well be that these are already the first signs of the autonomy phase – also known as the defiant phase. This can be quite challenging and sometimes almost bring you to the brink of despair. Here again: get support! This could be someone else looking after your child and giving you a break, or a professional who can help you with specific tips.
At the same time as experiencing their own strong emotions, children also learn to empathise. They react to other children who are sad, but they also wants to comfort you if they realise that you are not feeling well or that you have hurt yourself. And it’s quite possible that they will comfort you just as much as you comfort your child. This is also the aforementioned learning by imitation.
You may sometimes be amazed at how agile your child is: seemingly effortlessly, they get themselves into the most impossible positions – at least from an adult’s perspective. One reason for this mobility is that children have even more bones than we do. Babies are born with around 350 bones, but an adult only has just over 200. This is because many bones only fuse together later.
If your child takes their first steps in summer, you can also let them explore the world barefoot outside whenever possible. But sometimes the surroundings aren’t completely safe – there could be broken glass on the ground in the park, for example – or it’s too cold to be outside with bare feet. In that case, it’s time for their first shoes. It is important that they have a soft sole so that the child can walk as naturally as possible and practise the proper heel-to-toe motion. The size also has to be right: a shoe that is too small can have a negative impact on growth and lead to poor posture. A shoe that is too big, on the other hand, provides too little support and the child unconsciously clutches with their feet. It is best to seek advice from a specialist shop.