Jean Piaget has defined the period between the 8th and 12th months as the phase of coordination of the abilities your baby has acquired so far and behavior towards a goal. Piaget, one of the main founders of cognitive development, defined the period between the 12th and 18th months as the innovation and curiosity phase as well as cyclical reactions. If you remember, your baby used to forget about an object as soon as it was out of sight. After the fifth month, he started to make an effort to find the objects hidden in front of his eyes, even if they were out of his field of vision. After 12 months, he can now remember the places where the objects are hidden. After about six months, that is, when he reaches 18-24 months, he will reach the maturity to visualize the objects around him and to predict where he is hiding, even if he does not see it beforehand. According to Piaget, between the 18th and 24th months is the stage of mental combinations and problem solving. It is very soon for you to reach this stage. When you pull back for a moment from the fast-paced hustle and bustle at home, you can realize once again how fascinating the pace of your baby’s development is.
The importance of holistic development
One of the most important issues to keep in mind during these periods is the importance you should give to holistic development. Let’s remember that your child’s developmental areas are interconnected and that one more stage in each of them affects other areas positively. The best thing you can do to support this period is to prepare an environment that will support your child’s development in different ways. You have to give him the time, space, and emotional support he needs. Occasionally you can let your child play naked. Thanks to being naked, your child will get to know his body better, his perceptions will be more open to different stimuli, and he will be able to gain some physical skills more easily. When your child moves naked on the bed, on the grass, on the carpet, in the water, you will be offering him the opportunity to explore many different things together. Let him have an environment where he can move freely; Let him examine the things he finds or want to examine as much as he wants, touch, feel, have difficulties, try to overcome difficulties, etc.
Avoid unnecessary interventions…
Make him feel that you are with him and that you will support your baby when necessary, but avoid constant interventions if possible. Instead of warnings like stop, don’t, don’t go, you will fall, encourage him to try again. Now that your baby has started to walk, he will soon start running and jumping. Running, jumping, climbing etc. Do not forget to protect the head of the ladder for a while, prevent access to the fireplace, and make the area around the pool protected so that it does not climb the ladder when you are not present. After taking these precautions, let your child try new things without fear. If you constantly raise your child with the words “oh, oh, he will fall, stop, don’t do it”, you may cause him to grow up cowardly and become more dependent on everything he will do, and you may have created obstacles in the development of his self-confidence and reaching his own potential.
When you prepare the right environment for your baby and equip it with the right equipment, your baby will be able to do many things on his own without the need for different support or intervention.