Psychology Poll: Part One of Two

[melwil]

I'm doing a questionnaire for my Human Development class, and as well as normal paper and pen I want to try Live Journal. Please fill it out for me, and the second part which will be my next post. I'm looking for a good sample, regardless of whether you have children or not, how old you are or what country you come from. Please pimp this around for me!



[Poll #330335]



Go to the second part . . .

Comments

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

There were a couple of them that I'd give different answers than were offered.

When a parent gives a baby new objects or toys, how would you expect the baby to respond?
I'd say "With ambiguity"--attraction/repulsion response. People (from babies on up) are both attracted by and fearful of new things. A baby won't put on the same act as an adult; s/he will indulge both instincts. I don't think this is quite the same as confusion.

What should a parent do when the baby begins to crawl?
On this one, the answer is, for heaven's sake, don't freak. Yes, you might want to remove really valued or unique things at first, but if you have a crawler, some stuff is going to be broken. It's a good time to start teaching the word "No." My cousin had an approach I appreciated when her baby started crawling up stairs around a year old. She said, "No, [name]." (Baby had already made the primal mistake of showing that she knew the word.) If the baby kept crawling, it was "No," again. I tried to pull her down from the stairs, but my cousin said "No" to me as well--"She knows what she's doing."

Finally, with enough firm "No"s and no picking up and cuddling, baby understood that she was not where she was supposed to be, and was not being remotely cute. She stopped and crawled back to the kitchen.

The same goes for touching things that aren't supposed to be touched. Sooner or later, the baby has to learn the word "No."

[krazykitkat.livejournal.com]

"No" is a good word.
Of course you do get the children like my brother who would wait till mum was looking at him and then touch the powerpoint, knowing full well he wasn't allowed.
A sharp "Ahh!" (can't quite spell that sound) when they're in a situation that is potentially dangerous and needs to be acted on straight away also works wonders.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

When Meg started crawling, we childproofed pretty heavily, but there were some things we couldn't remove -- like the CDs. Those because our "no" teaching items.

Meg understood "no" from a very young age. We tell Meg not to touch the (whatever) in a pleasant voice, and she usually stops (or is redirected). If she doesn't stop, we boom out "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" in a loud, firm voice. She stops. (Sometimes she runs to us for comfort, too.) Most of the time, she's pretty aware that what she's doing isn't appropriate. (She's 1 1/2 now, and the boundaries are set.)