What really matters- Acting on Personal Interests. Doors & Drawers seem to hold a special fascination for most babies. Whit loved doors to open and close-- the doors in the bathroom, the kitchen, to the house, anywhere. She also loved to get into any drawer within her reach. Instead of saying “no” or getting frustrated with her incessant opening and closing, I babyproofed the lower drawers around the house and let her explore how all the doors worked. Yes, pinched fingers happened but that is part of the learning process. The most important thing is to let your baby act on her interest; by doing so, she develops a strong sense of self with the confidence in her ability to explore and master her world.

How to put it into practice-

Tuning In- Early on I would fret about whitney getting into the drawers again and making a mess or her playing with the doors again and the chance of her getting her fingers caught and hurt. But after realizing that quelling this keen interest in “getting into” or “on the other side of” was a losing battle. I also realized that I was teaching her it was not OK to explore her world by constantly pulling her away. Tuning into and appreciating how much fun she was having, helped me relax and let it happen.

Bridging- Most of the time I would just narrate what she was doing and describe what she was finding, really building language and word recognition more than anything. However, I did find opportunities to help Whit reflect on her personal interests and how they drove her actions. It was as simple as stating them and making them explicit. For example in the Drawer Pulling & Dumping video (see in right column),  I simply narrate her intentions: “Oh, you want to get in the drawer”. and then I scaffold her efforts by cracking the drawer just a tad so that she and get her hand on it and pull it open. Again, providing the minimal amount of support so they do most of it themselves builds the competence and the confidence that they can do it and satisfy their interests and goals.

Discovering & developing Whit’s story-