{"id":1637,"date":"2010-10-06T16:53:45","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T23:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=1637"},"modified":"2025-11-02T21:47:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T04:47:37","slug":"age-appropriate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=1637","title":{"rendered":"Age Appropriate"},"content":{"rendered":"

One piece of advice my mother gave me that has truly served me well, was…<\/strong><\/p>\n

They’re old enough when they can do it themselves.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

She meant this to caution me from putting a child up on a jungle gym before they were ready for the height.\u00a0 If that child can climb up on it themselves, they were ready for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I used this to teach myself restraint in “over-helping” my boys when they were babies.\u00a0 Instead of lifting them onto anything, I used words to encourage them to do it themselves.\u00a0 Often with my hands nearby to catch them if it was the first time or a watchful eye if they were trying again after failing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet this wonderful advice applies to many, many things as your child ages.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are they ready for junk food?\u00a0 Well, can they open the package themselves?\u00a0 Some of those containers are a bitch!\u00a0 If they can master that or scissors.. I say you’re ready!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The same applies for a soda.\u00a0 If you can open the can without help or a spill or (God forbid!) an explosion, then you’re old enough to drink it.\u00a0 Of course, I’m going to regulate how much you drink by never buying it!<\/strong><\/p>\n

My oldest (gotta love the OCD personality!) regulates himself and his brothers when it comes to age appropriate t.v., video games and internet viewing.\u00a0 He’s constantly asking what a program is “rated” M for Mature, T for Teen or what.\u00a0 Since he’s recently a Teen, he’s doing this to make sure his “younger” brothers are NOT watching or playing something beyond their level.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s kind of nice he’s looking out for them… OR is he trying to get them into trouble!
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One piece of advice my mother gave me that has truly served me well, was… They’re old enough when they can do it themselves. She meant this to caution me from putting a child up on a jungle gym before … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-narcissist-secrets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1637"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1661,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions\/1661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}