Learning To Play Together

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Article Summary

Safety first - small objects and sharp edges are hazardous for a tiny baby, so be sure your older child knows the dangers. Although you'll need to watch over your children while they play together, this won't be a burden as you'll enjoy seeing your eldest relishing their new role as entertainer. THE NEW ENTERTAINER

Now that your baby is 7 months old and much more stable, this is the perfect time for encouraging the big boy to really start entertaining the baby.

The little one doesn’t have to remain stuck in her high chair, so she can now safely join her big brother on the floor. In this way they can now interact together at the same level on the carpet (or in the garden on the grass, if the weather is good). You’ll discover that your baby will absolutely love hiding games, with the older child crouching down behind the furniture all over the room and calling out her name so that she can locate him by the sound. This will develop her intelligence because she will need to turn towards the sound location of his voice and mentally represent where he is each time he hides. So do encourage him to play such games with his little sister.

She’ll also enjoy observing her brother setting up all his locomotives and carriages and running them on the tracks, or speeding his cars around the room. She’ll particularly love watching him do head-over-heels on the floor in front of her and pulling funny faces. His laughter will be infectious, and soon she’ll be grinning and laughing too. For you, these will be some of the most endearing moments that you’ll experience. And the little one will adore watching her big brother build tall towers and knock them down again, although if she manages to knock one down, he may not always be quite as pleased! Finger puppets are a great way for the older child to amuse his tiny sister, and they’ll enhance his development in making up narratives to accompany his actions. Also, do encourage your older child to speak a lot to his little sister, making his mouth movements very clear. She’ll most likely try to copy many of the things that he does.

However, there is of course one very important thing always to keep in mind: safety. Your older child will need to learn to make sure that he doesn’t fall on top of the baby when he is cavorting on the floor, and that although his sister can now sit unaided, she still isn’t that stable and can easily topple backwards and bump her head. Also, you need to remind him that he mustn’t leave small objects around that she might swallow (http://pampers.ph/en_PH/content.do?type=101&contentId=2343). All babies are attracted by small objects, although it will still be a couple of months before she’ll be able to use the pincer grip to successfully pick up such tiny things between her index and thumb. Nonetheless, your older child needs to realize that small objects or those with sharp edges are dangerous for his tiny sister, so that he must learn never to leave hazardous objects within the baby’s reach.

Depending on his age, this will be quite a difficult lesson for him to keep in mind in his excitement to entertain the little one, so you will need to keep a close watch on them both for quite some time to come.

Category Tags:

Sibling

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Safety

Article Tags:

games

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sharing

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play