Parenting Articles

Who is Colleen Brunetti?

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Colleen Brunetti is an amazing woman, wife, mother, and more. In April 2010, we first met Colleen when she joined the Signing Time Academy and certified as a Master Instructor. At the same time, she started her business Little Hands, Big Ideas, which entails both sign language and holistic health coaching. In Fall of 2010 Colleen collaborated on the Homeschool Guide and the Down Syndrome Guide. In October of 2011, Colleen became our Potty Time Specialist, writing and overseeing the Potty Time blog as well as the Potty Time Facebook and Twitter accounts. In 2012, Colleen started writing for the …

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The Power of the Spoken Word: Why Talking With Your Baby Sets the Stage for Language Success

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By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C. As your baby grows, their receptive language (what they can understand) will develop more quickly than their expressive language (what they can express with words or signs). It is in these early months that you really want to start capitalizing on the engagement that comes with receptive language. Words communicated to baby are crucial to language development. Studies have shown that it is vitally important that babies hear a vast array of spoken language, even from day one.  In fact, breakthrough work in one study, resulted in a book entitled Meaningful Differences: Children of the …

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Media and Children Under Age 2

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By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C   Between videos that promise little geniuses, to toys that light up and engage babies with electronic stimulation, to strong recommendations from leading experts on the “best” way to raise your baby, it can be a little overwhelming for parents to discern what the best choices are for your family.   In particular, there has been a lot of concern about media viewing for infants, with the American Academy of Pediatrics going so far as to say there should be no television for children under the age of two. This is a pretty strong-handed guideline, …

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How to Make Smart Media Choices for Your Child

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By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C. Media is pervasive and prevalent in our society. Our job as parents and caregivers is to not only steer children away from topics and content that may not be age appropriate, but to also actively teach our children to be wise consumers of media. What your child can and should watch, and where they watch, depends a great deal on their age and maturity level, but there are some good guidelines you can follow at just about any age. WHAT TO AVOID No media in a child’s bedroom – keep media use to open family …

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Encouraging Interactive Play for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Tips for Parents

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by Loretta Gallo-Lopez, MA, LMHC The American Academy of Pediatrics has indicated that “… play is healthy and in fact essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping them manage stress and become resilient.” Interactive play has been shown to enhance social communication and connection. Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulties spontaneously engaging in interactive or social play. The following tips will help to encourage and support this type of play for children with ASD. Make every effort to play with your child several times each day for 15 …

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Spoiled or Secure? Meeting baby’s needs, without going overboard

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Spoiled or Secure?  How to meet your baby’s needs – without going overboard By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed. C.H.C. From the very first moment a baby is placed in the arms of a parent, the opening steps to establishing a sense of safety and security begins. As with all things parenting, there are many schools of thought on how you should best respond to your infant. However, as Susan Spieker, the director of the Center on Infant and Mental Health Development notes, “This is a dance back and forth. Every family works it out different…The key is to give babies a secure enough base …

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Talking to Children About Traumatic Events

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By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed. The events in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15th began to feel too familiar. A few posts about “something” on Facebook, a few minutes later the picture beginning to become clear. Knowing within such a short time that real horror had happened. Spending the rest of the day purposely shielding my six year old son from all available live media even while I scrolled frantically on my phone for updates, and to check in with loved ones who might be in harms way. Everyone in our nation has had to grapple with …

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Proud To Be Me! Teaching Body Awareness Using Signing Time

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By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed. Children have a lot of natural curiosity about the world around them. From the question of why the dog has a tail, to how the car works, to those sometimes hard to field questions about the difference between boys and girls, there seems to be an endless amount of things in our world for our curious little ones to ask about and explore. Perhaps one of the most important set of questions to address are those related to bodies. One only needs to look as far as the nearest billboard or the TV commercial currently on …

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5 Easy Ways to Teach Responsibility

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                              By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed. We all want to raise our children to become responsible people. The kind of children who will do their homework and be kind to their friends, the kind of teenagers who will respect the rules and return the car on time, and the kind of adults who will keep a good job and visit you in your old age. But how in the world do you start to teach responsibility to those wiggly little wide-eyed hurricanes in your care right now? …

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Bully-Proof your Preschooler – Part 2: EMPATHY

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Bully-Proof your Preschooler – Part 2: EMPATHY In our last article, Bully-Proof Your Preschooler, we featured tips and signs for helping young children deal with aggressors. Today we’ll take a look at empathy and its role in prevention.  Why empathy matters Empathy is the ability to understand and identify with another person’s feelings. It includes regulating one’s own emotions and is central to success in social relationships. Children who are empathic are less likely to use aggression. Empathy has to be taught  Although there is evidence that the human brain may be pre-wired for empathy, just ask a group of toddlers to share …

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