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• Encourage playing with blocks and soft toys, which helps your child develop eye-hand coordination, fine-motor skills and a sense of competence.

• Give consistent warm, physical contact - hugging, skin-to-skin, body-to-body contact to establish your toddler's sense of security and well-being.

• Be attentive to your child's rhythms and moods. Respond to her when she is upset as well as when she is happy. Be encouraging and supportive, with firm discipline as appropriate, but without yelling or hitting. Provide consistent guidelines.

• Talk or sing to your child during dressing, bathing, feeding, playing, walking and driving, using adult talk. Speak slowly and give your child time to respond. Try not to reply with "uh-huh" because your child will recognize when you're not listening; instead, expand upon your child's phrases.

• Be predictable; establish a pattern for mealtimes, naps and bedtime.

• Develop word associations by giving word labels to everyday objects and activities.

• Read to your child every day. Choose books that encourage touching and pointing to objects, and read rhymes, jingles and nursery stories.

• If you speak a foreign language, use it at home.

• Play calm and melodic music for your child.

• Listen to and answer your child's questions. Also, ask questions to stimulate decision-making processes.

• Begin to explain "safety" in simple terms. For example, feeling the heat from the stove teaches the meaning and danger of hot objects.

• Make sure other people who provide care and supervision for your baby understand the importance of forming a loving and comforting relationship with your child.

• Encourage your child to look at books and to draw.

• Help your child use words to describe emotions and to express feelings, such as happiness, joy, anger and fear.

• Spend time on the floor playing with your child every day.

• Choose quality child care that is affectionate, responsive, educational and safe. Visit your child-care provider frequently and share your ideas about positive caregiving.

Excerpted from Caring for Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5, Bantam 1999

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