How I Discovered to Understand My Baby

This episode is all about The Heart Of It curriculum, now known as the Learn With Less™ Curriculum. This episode of Learn With Less features the journey of author Ayelet Marinovich into parenthood. Her creation of the baby and toddler enrichment curriculum, “Learn With Less™” focuses on infant and toddler development week by week along with simple activities to support your baby’s development through the first three years of life.  The Learn With Less Story I’ve told parts of the story of how Learn With Less came to be, but today I want to focus on my story a bit more, because, now, 34 episodes deep, you’ve come to know what you can expect from me. I have been alluding (in the last couple of episodes) to a new resource I’m adding to the collection of Learn With Less resources and services. You know that I believe it’s possible to provide distilled, palatable information to parents of young children – and I think you’ve heard me do that, to an extent, on this podcast with each new episode! You know that I think the beginning of our journey into parenthood (whether as a first-time parent or a seasoned one) should be supported with knowledge about our littlest family members that is timely (as in, we’re presented with it as it happens), and that is actionable (as in, not only the information, but also easily implementable ideas). So, this is not only the story of Learn With Less, but also the story of Learn With Less™, my new infant enrichment curriculum, and why I felt compelled to create it. I was ten weeks pregnant with my first baby when my husband and I moved across the world. Surrounded by new people, new customs, new systems, and struck by the newness of the journey toward parenthood, I was very focused on creating connections. When my baby was born, I decided to combine my skills and my desire to create a safe, social learning space for myself and my baby, along with other caregiver-baby pairs. I started to devise a curriculum that was based on my own developmental knowledge, that of my friends and colleagues in early learning, a ton of developmental research, as well as information and experiences I integrated as a mother along the way. Through this process of development and dissemination, I learned to become more confident as a mother, I learned to listen to myself, to my baby, and to other caregivers. I learned to distill information that was pertinent to me and to the other caregivers around me. Most importantly, I learned just how powerful knowledge is… “I learned to become more confident as a mother, I learned to listen to myself, to my baby, and to other caregivers. I learned to distill information that was pertinent to me and to the other caregivers around me. Most importantly, I learned just how powerful knowledge is…” Uniting through parenthood There are so many divisive topics in the world of parenthood. In the beginning of my experience of motherhood, I really fixated on these issues, because, of course, the choices we make about how to nourish and support our babies matters. I searched for information – and often, I was met with “experts” and “solutions…” when really, what I needed was knowledge. When I stepped back and remembered how much I understood about how babies learn, I began to feel more connected to my baby – and more empowered as a mother.