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Show -Succeddfui tarenlliood u 3 BY IV " ' ! I MRS. CATHERINE CONRAD EDWARDS' , J Associate Editor, Parent' Magazine What can a seven-months-old baby do? Sit up? Eat from a spoon? Probably. However, It really depends on the particular child In question. For each child Is an Individual Indi-vidual who will progress at his own rate. How then can you check up on your baby's progress? One good way Is to consult some of the findings find-ings of the Yale University Clinic of Child Development. By observing hundreds of babies and young children chil-dren day by day, Dr. Arnold Gesell and his associates at Yale were able to determine at what ages a little lit-tle before or a little late the average aver-age baby will be ready for certain achievements, ready to reach for something, sit up, roll over, creep and so on. The records and "behavior profiles," as Dr. Gesell calls the summaries of the findings find-ings of his clinic, are published In the books, "Infant and Child In the Culture of Today" and "The Child from Five to Ten," and they can help parents to understand what to expect of their children and what their children need from them at different stages of their development. develop-ment. At about seven months the baby Is beginning to have a social sense, to know that there are others besides be-sides himself and to enjoy a change of company. Also, if your child is seven months old, the Yale findings indicate that he will probably be able to do the following things: Sit in a high chair. Skillfully eat food from a spoon, but not yet ready to wield the spoon himself. Handle two objects at once, no longer dropping one toy when offered a second. Make his hands work separately one grasping, one pushing. Focus his eyes, recognize familiar sights, show Interest In changes of scenery. Remove socks and booties often with a frequency that drives mothers to distraction. But for the baby it Is a tremendous achievement achieve-ment to put his foot where his eye cart see it, to direct his fingers to his toes, to grasp the sock, and to separate foot and list! The seven-month-old baby enjoys his bath, not only for the good feci of air and water against his skin, and the lovely rubbing and patting mother gives him,, but for the commotion commo-tion he himself can make in slapping his hands against the water and kicking his feet to make choppy waves. It Is interesting to see if your seven-month-old baby is able to do all these things, but if he Isn't, you'll have no need to worry for If he's lively and healthy, he's merely mere-ly developing at his own rate. No on can hurry a baby's development by urging and certainly not by worrying, and any attempt to do so may result in emotional damage. But parents can do a great deal to help a child achieve his best all-around all-around development if they are aware of his needs and his abilities at different ages. |