“No don’t touch”, “no don’t do that”, “no don’t go there”, “no”, “no”, “no”!
How many times a day do we tell our little one no for one reason or another, whether it’s based on their safety and well-being, or out of frustration and convenience?
As much as it is important for us as parents to set boundaries and give consistent discipline to our children as needed, being overprotective and not giving them room to learn, explore, and helping them have the freedom and the confidence to learn, grow, and yes, even make mistakes can hold them back, make them more frustrated and anxious, and can hinder their development.
In this article, I’ll go over why giving your little one the freedom to explore will benefit them in the long run and how to do it in the best and safe way possible.
Build Curiosity & Confidence
Encouraging your little one to be curious helps them in seeing how things work, to problem solve, develop & enhance skills, allow them to build confidence in their abilities, secure a solid relationship with you as their parent, and allow their mind to be open to the world and all it has to offer them.
Exploration and freedom are essential as it establishes a life-long pattern to learn that’ll build curiosity to try, to make mistakes, and to not be afraid to try, try again.
And as you are hands-on in their exploration, it’ll encourage them to continue on as they see you are actively interested and excited about what they are doing, building self-confidence in a positive environment.
As their curiosity and confidence grow it’ll help your little one to then become a more able-bodied, independent, and positively contributing human being.
Build A Healthy Body & Enhance Cognitive Skills
Creating a safe, open, and supportive environment will allow your little one countless opportunities to encourage progress in their cognitive skills and utilize their ever-growing bodies in an effective way.
Giving them the freedom to move, groove, and explore will help your baby to take in the world around them and help their body and mind to effectively work in tandem.
A mobile baby is entertaining, scary, and exhausting. But by making your environment work for both you and your child it can be a little less scary and exhausting, and a lot more fun.
Make their toys, books, and other safe items scattered and easy for them to explore, handle, and get to.
Messes and accidents happen, but effective, positive growth in a safe and open environment will bring out the best in you and your baby.
Taking in milestones from rolling over to using safe furniture to guide them along as they learn to walk, to using their hands to feel and grab, to trying new foods and testing out their teeth can again be exciting for both of you as they feel able to test and try, and you take in such incredible moments in a safe manner without becoming a helicopter parent, making it the best of both worlds.
Build Engaged and Active Little Humans
The more your baby feels that they are welcome and encouraged to explore and grow, the more they will feel invited to positively learn and experience the world around them, and allowing them to be become engaged, intrigued, and active human beings in the long run.
Giving them freedom within a positive structure and order allows them to be healthy in their physical and mental growth.
With my own baby, as we go on our morning walks, I allow him the freedom to explore and engage outside, even taking the time to pause and allow his senses to process what is taking place around us. From the flowers and trees to the vehicles passing by, to the puddles of water, sticks, and rocks he finds, I allow and encourage him to take everything in while also looking out for his safety.
I don’t simply tell him no and move on or to hurry up, but I either take him away from a situation and talk with him over and over again about what we are seeing or why we don’t do certain things, which gives him the right messages to continue to grow and building in him positive self-confidence.
Doing so then reassures him that I’m there to promote his development and am looking out for his well-being.
Journey On Little Explorer
In weegy.com, there is a quote that says, “The six environmental messages that invite children to enjoy, experience, and learn through the environment include: Freedom, Structure and order, Nature and reality, Beauty, Social Environment, and Intellectual Environment.”
When we as parents create, promote, and positively watch over our little ones to be free to explore we are setting them up to not aimlessly do so but want to do so.
They will then embrace life-long learning and exploring which will then in turn help build them into healthy, active little humans now and into the future that we can be oh so proud of.
Now I’d like to hear from you: What was a fun, interactive activity you did growing up that you have continued doing with your own family?
Please comment below and share this post if it has been of value to you or could be of value to someone else.
**If you enjoyed this article, feel free to check out these other great & insightful posts:
🎉https://stephanietracywrites.com/fun-important-games-to-help-in-your-babys-development/
🎉https://stephanietracywrites.com/12-things-ive-learned-in-my-first-year-of-being-a-mama/
🎉https://stephanietracywrites.com/second-month-with-baby-these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things/
🎉https://stephanietracywrites.com/7-fun-meaningful-family-traditions-thatll-unify-encourage-teach-both-you-and-your-child/
About the Author
Hi there! I’m Stephanie Tracy, a freelance writer and blogger for hire. I specialize in physical and mental health, parenting, and self-development. I create engaging, inspiring and useful content to help businesses progress in making their viewers into customers. When I’m not writing, you can find me on the floor happily playing with my baby boy, walking in the park with my family, or indulging in a movie marathon with my husband.
I enjoy looking through a post that will make people think. Also, many thanks for allowing me to comment! Jillane Early Saxena
You bet, and thank you for coming by my website and commenting on this article!
I hope you will stick around and continue to find value in my future content.
An intelligent point of view, well expressed! Thanks! Sherye Noach Rodd
Thank you very much, I appreciate it!
I hope you’ll continue to stick around for more content like this and that it’ll be of value to you as this article was.
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Why thank you, I appreciate that!
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Thank you very much!
You are welcome to reference my article for sure. Thank you again for taking the time to comment and I’m so glad that this article has been of value to you.
Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you penning this post and also the rest of the site is really good. Alia Nickolas Hump
Thank you very much!
I make sure to take the time to write from personal experience, as well as do my research on these topics to make them insightful and useful for readers like yourself. I hope you continue to find value in my future content as well.
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I’m so glad that you were led here by your Dad and hope that it is a huge help in your personal life. Parenting is a constant learning curve and a wonderful ride. Hope you continue to stick around and find valuable content in this space!
You’re very welcome, happy to help!! I hope you will continue to follow and find value in the content I create in the future.
Parenting has its struggles but I hope to continue to provide helpful and insightful content that can help alleviate those issues and make it less stressful and more joyful.
Thank you very much!! I definitely aim to create content that informs and inspires wonderful audience members such as yourself.
Thank you and you’re very welcome, happy to help!!
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You’re very welcome! I hope you continue to find content that you find value and inspiration from.
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Hi Steph. My name is Kenneth McKenney and I first of all want to say how awesome these articles are. I have learned so much in this one alone and you continue to do such great work for not only parents like me but anyone out there that needs a positive message!!
As for fun interactive activities, I continue to sing karaoke with my family when I can. It is usually every holiday that we come together and not only eat (that’s another one) but sing as long as we want!! We dance! We laugh!! And bring a bit of joy into our own lives!
Thank you Kenneth for sharing your awesome family activities! Music and eating are definitely great ways to make positive connections with loved ones.
I’m also so glad to hear that you have found value and help in these articles.