Simple Ways to Connect With Your Baby or Toddler

It’s Simple, Really: all you need to remember is how to play, talk, sing, or moveIn this episode of the Learn With Less® podcast, Ayelet brings back a chat with two women who helped shape the journey of the entire Learn With Less® infant and toddler curriculum. Manuela and Gwen, two mothers living in London, became parents at the same time as (and along with) Ayelet. Together, they created and maintained a community for new parents and caregivers, by learning alongside each other, and learning alongside their babies. This process of interaction and modeling, of learning and discovering, of exploring and experimenting, is what we discuss in today’s episode.We cover the ways in which, through the powers of observation and the benefit of learning through a developmental framework and in community with each other, these new parents learned to find the confidence to play with, connect with, and support their babies. We discussed:* What types of activities helped to guide their children (using simple materials they already had)* How they learned to use play, communication strategies, music, and movement to support all areas of their children’s development* Why community, simple play ideas, and learning about child development have completely shifted the parenting and lives of these three mothersQUICK ACCESS TO LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:Attend a Learn With Less® Class: stop winging it and raise a great human from day one – without having to buy a single toyDownload the Learn With Less® Infant/Toddler Development Blueprint, a straightforward guide helping you connect early learning with the simple things you’re often already doing, building confidence and capacity, and raising a great human from day oneUnderstanding Your Toddler: A Month-By-Month Development and Activity Guide For Playing With Your Toddler From One to Three Years, by Ayelet MarinovichUnderstanding Your Baby: A Week-By-Week Development and Activity Guide For Playing With Your Baby From Birth to 12 Months, by Ayelet MarinovichLearn With Less® Bundle: grab our best infant and toddler resources and save 70%!Apply to become a Learn With Less® Licensed Facilitator: create lasting impact in your life and community with a high quality, evidence-based, plug & play “caregiver & me” programTEXT TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODEAyelet: I’m joined by Manuela and Gwen and we are sitting here in London… And we are just regaling the past. And I thought that there are not many more appropriate people than the two of you to help tell the story of how this whole thing was started. Because we met, actually, the three of us while we were still pregnant with our first. Yeah.And we met in a prenatal yoga class and I remember actually one of the first days that I met you, Manu. Well that I was just amazed by, you were just like the stuff you ever got, a long, beautiful dark hair and this just perfectly pregnant belly.And I was like, wow, she’s so cool. She’s so Italian. And, and then we walked out and you got on your motorcycle and you put on your helmet and you just sped away. And I was like, “wow, I can’t wait to see her next week.”Manuela: Pregnant on the motorcycles… not advisable! But… it was that, I know.Ayelet: A very easy way to get around in London.Manuela: And I also remember the first time I met you! I remember as yesterday. This woman, this girl, actually. I remember a lovely light, sunny day.