The Magic of Everyday Moments (6-9 Months)
Remember, everyday moments are rich bonding and learning opportunities. Enjoy the magic of these moments with your child.
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Six-month-olds are motivated, energetic, busy, opinionated and, for the most part, fabulous! They are on the verge of huge developmental strides — intellectual, emotional and physical — and they have many, many things they want to do. The challenge — for them and for you — is that they can’t yet do everything they have in mind. Their fingers aren’t working well enough for them to make objects do what they want. They don’t yet have the balance or coordination to stand up and walk, let alone crawl.
They’ve got so much to say, yet they don’t have the words. But they experience every imaginable feeling, sometimes all at once. Although there is great variation in development at this age, during the next 3 months many of the skills babies are eager to master will, in fact, kick in. Until then, they are likely to get frustrated often; and you will most likely bear the brunt of that frustration.
Somehow, you need to walk the line between doing things for your 6-month-old that she can’t do yet, and finding a way to help her do things for herself. If, for example, she wants to crawl toward a toy but finds herself moving backward instead of forward, you can sit behind her and place your palms against the soles of her feet. Then she might be able to push herself forward and get it for herself. Of course, there’s always the possibility that she’ll be mad if you do that, because what she really wants is to do it on her own. But hang in there — if you’re patient, she’ll learn patience and persistence, too.