My New Life

Babies are born wondering. They have to piece together the world around them by gathering information, and they do this by observing, experimenting, and asking questions. In this way, children are like little scientists. If you have a toddler in the house, there's no shortage of questions in your daily conversations. But is it a two-way street? How many questions are you asking your toddler?   Jes...

With preschools and daycares in transition and case counts fluctuating, COVID has given parents plenty to worry about. One prominent concern among parents stems from a lack of socialization. None of us are socializing much, but given all the information out there suggesting socialization with other children is important, parents are particularly worried about their children not interacting with pe...

Few topics will spark debate among parents more readily than screen time. It's so controversial! Screens are everywhere. And avoiding them can feel like the domain of super-human parents. Learn some tips to cut down on screens from Dr. Screen-Free Mom: Meghan Owenz. She runs a website, Screen-Free Parenting , with over 27,000 active participants. She is also an Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn...

With opportunities for social interaction outside the family in short supply, many parents are stepping in as their child's primary playmate. Is one way of playing better than another? In this episode with Dr. Shimi Kang, host Jessica Rolph explores the benefits of unstructured play and looks at how play prepares us for adulthood.     Dr. Kang is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and...

Babies' understanding of language comes well before their ability to speak. This also can be the case with their motor skills. Most babies will wave bye-bye before they can say the words. These are a few of the reasons signing works well for babies. It gives them another means of communicating. Plus research shows that babies who learn basic sign language develop pathways for communication sooner...

Giving birth is one experience in your life you will never forget. There are so many emotions in the mix, both leading up to the birth, and on display during the birth!     Host Jessica Rolph met Leslie Schrock when she was in the process of publishing her book Bumpin': The Modern Guide to Pregnancy , which she wrote while she was pregnant with her first baby. Leslie does not consider herself a pr...

Host Jessica Rolph welcomes Rebecca Parlakian to this episode to talk about the power of touch between infants and parents.     Few moments are more tender in those first weeks of life than when your baby reaches out and takes your finger while in your arms. It's the all-important language of touch at work! Social connection is not the only connection at work in that moment; there are neural conne...

Talk to any toddler for more than a couple of minutes, and you will be easily reminded of how thirsty they are for knowledge and information. While humans are continuously learning, we are born with something of an empty canvas and it's the early experiences that we encounter as babies that form the brain architecture to support that learning.   At a birthing class, Jessica Rolph was introduced to...

Ever get the feeling like you are babbling more than your baby? It turns out that going gaga over your baby actually serves a purpose. It helps them with language acquisition! Their brains are taking in loads of information from these back-and-forth interactions.   Jessica Rolph welcomes Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek to this episode to explore the characteristics of this early communication. Kathy is a  ...

Laundry, diapering, feeding, laundry... this is the work of a new parent, and much of it can feel rather tedious. Unfortunately, boredom can sometimes slip into darker feelings of disconnection.     In this episode, Jessica Rolph is accompanied by Erica Komisar, who suggests that one way to stay engaged is to take an interest in your baby's brain development. Erica Komisar is a psychoanalyst and p...

Jessica Rolph welcomes Sami Carrick to this episode to talk about that magical moment of connection with our baby: story time. And all those who have read a book to an infant know that it doesn't always go as planned! We know how important it is to read to our babies, but what should we do if they are crawling out of our laps, crazily flipping pages, or just plain not interested in what's on the p...

Parenting is a time of so much change for you and your baby, a little reliable information can go a long way towards making this new life, a good life.   Jessica Rolph is your host and she is joined by Rachel Coley in this episode of My New Life, a Lovevery podcast, to discuss the common anxiety parents share about their children reaching milestones and comparing to other children's progress. Does...

Jessica Rolph is joined by Veronica Fernandez, who talks about how she takes advice from various parenting approaches and incorporates the best from each. Veronica discusses philosophies such as Montessori, RIE, and attachment parenting. She also shares with us ways to introduce bilingualism to babies and the benefits of it.   Dr. Veronica Fernandez is a new mom, with a Ph. D. in Developmental and...

We all know how important it is to read to our children, but trying to build a baby's math skills can feel like a challenging task, especially if we don't have a positive association with math ourselves.     The good news is, baby is encountering math everywhere, and nurturing a love of numbers is not as hard as commonly thought. After all, we are all born loving numbers!   In this episode, Jessic...

Executive function is a hot topic in brain research. Impulse control is one of a suite of skills associated with executive function.     Jessica Rolph is accompanied by an expert in this field, Dr. Melissa Clearfield, a professor of psychology at Whitman College. In this episode, Melissa shares her research on executive function in babies, along with some grounding advice for parents on connecting...

Play has so much to teach us, children and parents alike. Sometimes parents can get a little too involved in their child's play, particularly with the extra cool toys. When does our guidance become interference? And what amount of direction is appropriate?   Dave Neale joins Jessica Rolph to help us strike the right balance. Dave is a researcher in the psychology of play at the Centre for Research...

Welcome to My New Life.  I'm your host, Jessica Rolph.  When we founded Lovevery,  my co-f ounder Rod Morris and I believed t hat young children and their parents do best when they feel supported.  My New Life is a podcast for parents in search of community and deeper insights into how our babies are developing. The first season is aimed at parents of infants.  I've interviewed experts in child de...