I have to admit that sometimes articles like this overwhelm me.  You mean just by smiling at my baby, I’ll be helping him develop social skills that will impact him for the rest of his life?!  You’re telling me that simply playing with blocks, my child will be developing language and mathematical skills?!  It makes me wonder if I’ll do enough of the little things correctly and if I miss something, will my child be irreversibly screwed up?!

I realize that most of parenting will be about instinct.  Of course I’m going to smile at my baby.  Yes, I’ll be playing with him…sometimes with blocks.

This article from Parenting is all about how free play makes babies smarter.  It’s really interesting.  I had no idea that my child will be developing his impulse control by playing with others, or that he’s actually developing concentration if he’s so engrossed in his activity that he doesn’t look up when I call his name.    I think what interested me the most is that simple, open-ended toys are actually the best for child development instead of a lot of the electronic toys that simply entertain a child when they push a button. It makes sense – if a child needs to interact with a toy, they’re going to become a more active child.

There are so many things to think about when it comes to parenting!  But this is definitely a concept that makes sense.