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Toddling Through the Silicon Valley

By Cheryl Bac

E-mail Cheryl Bac

About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons incl...  (More)

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Older Kids Only update

Uploaded: Sep 3, 2015
Almost two months ago I posted about creating an "older kids only" section in our living room. Although it did help keep the peace, I've been frequently revising our setup as our daughter becomes more agile and more aware of her surroundings. While I was impressed by her determination to push, climb, and cruise along the barriers, she was clearly frustrated. Understandably, she wanted to play with her brother and the toys on the other side.

Our most recent modification has been surprisingly successful...for now. But like all of the other ones, I don't expect it to last forever.

We took the barriers down and instead made a fort for our son. We still have an "older kids only" section but now it is inside the fort and out of our daughter's view. With her brother and the choking hazards more hidden, she is spending more time playing and less time attempting break through the barriers. Let's see just how long this modification lasts...maybe a week?
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Comments

Posted by LJ, a resident of another community,
on Sep 7, 2015 at 8:13 am

Out of sight = out of mind for now! (Am I remembering something about "concrete operational" in child development?) I wonder if your creative solution you will last a little longer if your younger child never ever ever sees the great toys that are going into the older kid section? Note-- I don't have children of my own.


Posted by Cheryl Bac, a Palo Alto Online blogger,
on Sep 7, 2015 at 6:05 pm

Cheryl Bac is a registered user.

LJ - Thanks for commenting! I bet you are right. However, our son likes switching up the "fort toys" frequently. So our daughter does see the interesting toys both appear and disappear often. Luckily his fort's entrance is pretty hidden and not very easy for a baby to enter. So she hasn't snuck her way in yet.


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