Am I Doing Enough? Understanding Your Baby & Toddler

A Co-Production from Learn With Less® and the Play On Words PodcastAre you constantly wondering if you’re doing enough as a parent? Do you feel pressure to “get it right” when it comes to your baby or toddler’s development? In this episode, In this co-produced episode, of the “Play On Words” podcast and the Learn With Less®” podcast, Ayelet Marinovich of  Learn With Less® joins host Beth Gaskill of Big City Readers.Ayelet Marinovich is a pediatric speech-language pathologist, parent educator, & founder of Learn With Less®.She’s the author of Understanding Your Baby & Understanding Your Toddler, 2 incredible resources that remind parents: you don’t need fancy toys or complicated activities—your everyday interactions are already powerful learning moments.We talk about:🧠 Why you don’t need more stuff to help your child learn✨ How to feel confident that you’re doing “enough”👶 The surprising ways babies and toddlers learn best📚 Simple, evidence-based ways to support early development🎵 Why everyday routines (yes, even diaper changes!) are packed with learning opportunitiesIf you’ve ever doubted yourself as a parent, this episode is your reminder: you are enough. 💛Helpful Resources Related to This EpisodeThe Learn With Less® Infant/Toddler Development BlueprintAyelet’s books: Understanding Your Baby & Understanding Your ToddlerConnect Learn Play – Digital / Printable infant, toddler, and pre-school aged ideas to provide simple, enriching ways to support early development through play, language, music, and movement – using everyday items – helping you Learn With Less®!Learn With Less® Fundamentals CourseBig City Readers CoursesAyelet’s Musical Album, Strength In Words: Music For FamiliesConnect With UsAyelet: Facebook / Instagram / PinterestBeth: Facebook / Instagram / PinterestText Transcript of The Podcast EpisodeBeth: Welcome back to the Play On Words podcast. I am so excited and a little bit nervous today to have Ayelet Marinovich here from Learn With Less® to talk about: Do kids really need toys to learn and thrive? If you don’t know Ayelet, she is a child development guru, parent, play based learning specialist, and speech therapist too, right? So many things, I’ll let you introduce yourself, but this is an episode (I already know) is going to be so great. So welcome to the show.Ayelet: Thank you so much for having me. Beth. It’s great to be here. Yay.Beth: Okay, so tell us a little bit about you and Learn With Less® for the people who might not know you!Ayelet: Sure. So again, I’m Ayelet. I have been a speech and language therapist since, gosh, 2009 / 2010. When I became a mom in 2014, I was far from where I grew up, which was here in California. My partner and I had moved to London, and so I was pregnant and had my first child there, across the pond. I was really looking for, number one, community. Number two, a way to utilize the knowledge that I have in my professional arena, and connect that with creating connection points with other new families. So I started leading caregiver and baby classes with my own child, just in my community, out of our home.