Hi, I’m Tracy Solomon. Isabela Granic is a great friend and highly-respected colleague of mine. When she asked me to join this blog, I have to admit that there was some hesitation. For one thing, compared to Is, I am a cyber toddler. Blogging and social networking are two things I've actively resisted so far, for a number of reasons. But let’s face it, it’s the wave of the future and it’s where our children will be interacting soon enough (if they aren't already). Spurred by Isabel’s enthusiasm, I started reading the blog and, you guessed it, I was hooked. I think what really struck me was how much the blog reads like the kinds of conversations she and I frequently have about motherhood, work, family life and oh yes, juggling it all!
While we have lots in common, we are also lucky enough to have some complimentary differences. Isabela has twin boys as you know, I have one 5-year-old son. He is a child of passionate interests and some unusual abilities that really keep me on my toes. Isabel’s expertise in developmental psychology is more in the social and emotional development arena, mine is in cognitive development. My key interests are in symbolic reasoning (how children learn to decode media from pictures to videos – fiction and non- to books and eventually school texts) and spatial reasoning (how children learn to navigate) and also at the intersection of these; children’s comprehension of maps, scale models, graphs, rulers etc. All of this is, of course, related to more formal learning which is how I came to my current research in early mathematics education. Although these areas are where my own research is focused, as a developmental psychologist, I'm pretty much interested and reading up on all aspects of development; basically, anything that changes over time for children. After all, you cannot just slice the emotions or the thinking and reasoning out of the child and study it in isolation. The challenge, or the puzzle, is that it’s all going on together!
It’s been an interesting journey weaving this knowledge into parenting. Funny what happens when your emotions are involved and the stakes are so very high. I may give advice, but I just as often ask for it. Frankly, my parenting and my research are that much richer since my son was born largely because of everything I've learned from other parents. I'm very excited about the chance to be interacting with you on this site. I’ve already learned a lot from what I’ve read. I hope that you too continue to find the blog useful in all sorts of ways.
While we have lots in common, we are also lucky enough to have some complimentary differences. Isabela has twin boys as you know, I have one 5-year-old son. He is a child of passionate interests and some unusual abilities that really keep me on my toes. Isabel’s expertise in developmental psychology is more in the social and emotional development arena, mine is in cognitive development. My key interests are in symbolic reasoning (how children learn to decode media from pictures to videos – fiction and non- to books and eventually school texts) and spatial reasoning (how children learn to navigate) and also at the intersection of these; children’s comprehension of maps, scale models, graphs, rulers etc. All of this is, of course, related to more formal learning which is how I came to my current research in early mathematics education. Although these areas are where my own research is focused, as a developmental psychologist, I'm pretty much interested and reading up on all aspects of development; basically, anything that changes over time for children. After all, you cannot just slice the emotions or the thinking and reasoning out of the child and study it in isolation. The challenge, or the puzzle, is that it’s all going on together!
It’s been an interesting journey weaving this knowledge into parenting. Funny what happens when your emotions are involved and the stakes are so very high. I may give advice, but I just as often ask for it. Frankly, my parenting and my research are that much richer since my son was born largely because of everything I've learned from other parents. I'm very excited about the chance to be interacting with you on this site. I’ve already learned a lot from what I’ve read. I hope that you too continue to find the blog useful in all sorts of ways.
Welcome! Here's a question you might have some insights on that I've been pondering: To what extent is letting toddlers play with the touch screen interface on the iPhone/iPodTouch harmful/not harmful? We are a 'minimize screen time' family and have even gone so far as to just cancel cable television (no time to watch it.) Our 16-month-old has probably watched less than 3 hours of television with us total in his life. But is he completely captivated by our iPhones. We let him play with them a bit, but after a few minutes I end up telling him to put it away and play with something physical (like blocks). However, he's getting quite good at manipulating the interface, so it's probably doing something for his fine motor skills! ;-) Here's a pic that amused me:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynmillett/4012893820/
He likes the Doodle Buddy app quite a lot.
I should also mention that he gets additional screen time from Skyping (video-chatting) with his grandparents and I think he is understanding what that is to an extent.
Posted by: Lyn | October 19, 2009 at 03:30 PM
The thrill about the iPhone for your child is probably in the fact that his actions are causing an interesting consequence. He's making it happen. And in the toddler world in which so much is decided for you, the thrilling sensation of control, being the cause behind the effect, is hard to pass up. Clearly, playing with the iPhone would not be a great activity for a 16 month old for too long, but a few minutes of fun is probably fine.
re: Skype
This is a type of media I hadn't thought much about. It's related to some of the research on the early understanding of pictures and videos. Perhaps I'll write my next post on this. Thanks for the idea.
Posted by: Tracy | October 20, 2009 at 10:31 AM