Tag: baby

Categories
motivation

Keep the Children Laughing!

adorable baby cheerful child
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It appears we are living in heavy times. Between plagues and wars, it is enough to bring a person down. But the heavier the situation, the more we need to keep the children laughing.

It is their innocence that gives us hope for the future. Besides, can you really trust someone who hates a child’s laughter?

“Beware of him who hates the laugh of a child.”

Johann Kaspar Lavater
adorable baby cheerful child
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

When a baby discovers something surprising for the first time, their spontaneous laughter can be contagious. I suppose this is another reason I love working in children’s ministry. The pure joy of a child’s laugh is a balm for society’s ills.

I once asked in a post, “Can a baby be too happy?” I thought it was possible then, but not so much today. Bring on the laughter! We could use a lot of it this year.

One redeeming quality of YouTube is it’s easy to find laughing baby videos. I leave you with this clip and pray you will find some joy and laughter on this day. And keep the children laughing!

Best Babies Laughing Compilation

Categories
Babies

Can a baby be too happy?

Cartoon of a girl commenting on a happy baby. The girl says, "You have an attitude problem. You're just too happy!"
Cartoon of a girl commenting on a happy baby. The girl says, "You have an attitude problem. You're just too happy!"

When I’m not feeling in the best of moods, nothing can cheer me up like a smiling, laughing baby. Nobody ever wants to make a laughing baby settle down. After all, what are you going to do? Tell him to act his age?

I didn’t think it was possible for a baby to be too happy. Then I found this article from the 2010 Psychology Today that reported covered Angelman Syndrome.  This is a rare, neurological disorder that has continual laughter as one of its symptoms. My first thought was:

  1. Mom was right. No matter what it is, you CAN have too much of a good thing.
  2. Now parents have another thing to worry about.

Has someone told you to stop worrying about your child, only to discover later your suspicions were right? Or have you worried about something your child did only to find out everything was fine?

Categories
teaching

Are Learner Styles Bunk?

This morning, I heard a news item on how we learn. The conventional wisdom for the last few years was that each of us learn differently and teachers should cater to an individual’s learning style. The main learning styles were the following:

  • visual learner
  • auditory learner
  • tactile/kinesthetic learner
Personally, I’ve always wished one of the learning styles was “gourmet learner.” I’m sure I learn by taste, especially when it comes to chocolate chip cookies.
The premise of the article was there is no scientific evidence that there is such a thing as learner styles. I was very surprised by that, since I’ve heard many educators proclaim it as gospel. What the study suggested is that we find similarities on how our brains learn instead of the differences. After all, all hearts perform in similar ways. Why should we treat our brains differently?
That is where they lost me. It’s true that our organs operate similarly, but we all react to things differently. My stomach loves hot and spicy food. Others find that revolting. Many can’t eat the spicy stuff without paying for it later.
What I could agree on is that everyone benefits from teachers varying their style. No one responds to all lectures/all the time. We need as many of our senses engaged in different ways to keep a student’s interest and make learning fun.
So what do you think about this study? What do you do to keep learning exciting and fun?
Categories
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Birthday Stress

Cartoon of two babies. One says, “€œMy first birthday is next week. Talk about pressure!”

There are lots of birthdays in my family this time of year. I don’t know how we planned multiple generations to have summer birthdays, but I’ll take them. I much rather eat ice cream with my cake in the summer instead of the dead of winter. No pressure for you winter birthday people. I’ll eat the ice cream in January too, if prodded.

Categories
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Graduation Beginnings

This is an illustration of a baby in a cap and gown. I drew this for Illustration Friday. This week’s word is “beginner.” It reminded me of how young we are when we go out into the world with our degrees. We think we are prepared and ready, but really, we are so naive about what is to come. We can never predict the good and bad that will come our way.