Thank you so much for clicking through to our new blog! Welcome! Our Newsletter and Web Admin teams have been hard at work setting up our new format, and our Advertising Team has been finding ways to bring more value to our members and sponsors. 

I’m including in this first message a small orientation through our new format. The first week of the month, you can plan to see our New Members, our Monthly Birthdays, and an overview of upcoming Events (or keep scrolling). Our first feature article will be up soon, and we will then have weekly articles that publish to the blog covering topics that matter to you. (Have an idea? Shoot us an email!)

This month’s blog topic is one near and dear to my heart: fostering independence in young children. A friend of mine in Berlin told me once that his goal for his children was automation -- enabling them to be able to do as much as they could without him as early as they could. It looked super appealing; we sat at a cafe while his young children watched my two year old play on a playground. We laughed about how robotic this idea sounded, but parts of this plan stuck with us as we started our own family (especially now that there are a lot more moving parts).

We soon learned that independence isn’t just automation, it’s about having a path for each unique child to feel valued, competent, safe, and involved in their routines of daily living. These skills may come more easily for some children than others, and even with an independent child, there may be areas where they require more support (potty training or daycare drop off). Sometimes the path toward independence requires early intervention from an occupational, physical, or speech therapist. Sometimes parents aren’t aligned in what independence looks like, and it can be stressful to try to navigate those conversations about safety, risk, protection, and expectations. Luckily there are some excellent resources out there to help find ways of promoting independence all through the infant and preschool years!

Our upcoming baking event is a great way to explore playing to learn in the kitchen! We can all practice supporting our kiddos while they make something beautiful and tasty!

Sincerely,
Rachel Kammeyer
SMPC President
president@sanmateoparentsclub.org