Author name: Mara Maas

Everyone, including children, experiences occasional feelings of anxiety when they worry about what might happen in the future. In healthy situations, anxiety can fuel motivation, help us recognize danger and stay safe, and it can help us identify areas in our lives that need improvement. Sometimes, though, anxiety can be excessive and unhealthy to experience. […]

Unfortunately, in our modern culture that values work ethic, discipline, and productivity, we have largely come to associate playtime with wasted time. While it is important to learn how to behave and exist within a structured, scheduled environment, play is most definitely not a waste of time, especially for children (of all ages) whose brains

When it comes to picking eating kids, pediatricians have seen it all — from kids who don’t like vegetables to those who eat only pureed foods, refuse anything that isn’t sweet, children who only eat orange-colored foods, or kids who won’t try anything that isn’t pizza, dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, peanut butter, or cheese. If you

While our experiences in the world can shape who we become as individuals, we are all born with a unique personality that guides our responses to those experiences throughout life. Infant temperament — not to be confused with infant temper, the speed at which an infant becomes angry — is a vital part of an

In our modern world, where much of our interactions, information, entertainment, and even responsibilities are found and fulfilled with the use of screens, managing screen time has become a concern for many parents in their own lives and in the lives of their children.  How much screen time is too much, and what can we

During the first several years of life, a child undergoes impressively rapid and extensive growth, development, and learning to achieve different types of developmental milestones, including physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and language. Reaching appropriate language milestones is vital to a child’s ability to communicate and interact, and their social and emotional development largely depends upon

Kids today hear lots of stories about their parents and grandparents exploring their neighborhoods, trying to build treehouses in the summer, and spending hours practicing make-believe in the backyard. In other words, kids today hear about unstructured play, but they don’t experience it as commonly as today’s adults did during their childhoods. Although parents have

Infants begin life with a liquid diet of breast milk or infant formula. At around six months (no earlier than four months), babies are usually ready for their parents to begin gradually introducing solid foods. However, parents should be sure that their infant is ready to tackle this developmental milestone and that they understand how

Why is the sky blue? Why do dogs bark? Why do your feet smell bad? Why do I have to wear my coat? Why can’t we have ice cream? Why do we have to go to the store? Why can’t I have a new toy? Why, why, why!  If this string of questions sounds familiar

For new parents, one of the biggest challenges is learning, working with, and improving their new baby’s sleep patterns. Infant sleep cycles, however, are much different than those of adults, so understanding the infant sleep cycle can help you understand and work to improve how your baby sleeps.  What Is a Sleep Cycle? Everyone who