To teach your child healthy decision making and to build self-esteem.
Hi, I wanted to explain why I asked my editor, Kevin Boerup, to put a little chick footprint at the bottom right corner of my books. It is to encourage your baby to learn to make decisions, it will also make reading together more fun. When your baby is old enough to understand the idea, could you suggest that he or she touch Poppy’s footprint when done looking at that page? Then you can go on to the next page. Your baby might want to look for a while at certain pages and visually explore the wonderful illustrations Clara Bennett designed. Taking the time to enjoy each page can be an interactive part of your storytime. Each of us needs control in our lives and your baby does too. To encourage healthy decision making, your baby will need to be in charge of certain age-appropriate choices throughout life. And deciding what and how long to look at these illustrations are a simple way to foster early stages of autonmy.
In my private practice I often explain to families how important it is to define who’s choice it is to make a certain decision. In family life there are Parent Only Decisions, Child Only Decisions, and Negotiated Decisions (where parents and kids have the ability to make mutually agreed upon decisions). Starting as early as possible, giving your baby age-appropriate Child Only Decisions will foster healthy self-esteem. It also helps soften the blow when your child needs to back down and accept your Parent Only Decisions. For example, when your child wants ice cream 5 minutes before dinner, you can say,”It is a Parent Only Decision when you get to have ice cream and it won’t be right now, but it is a Child Only Decision which kind of ice cream you choose after dinner. Maybe you can think about what kind you will want later.” The sooner you start defining who is making a decision and what is an appropriate decision for your child to make, the fewer arguments and meltdowns you may have in the future.
So enjoy the Poppy footprints and see how much fun it is to watch your little one make choices.