Forgetfulness

Wondering why can’t your child remember when you ask him to do something? And when you ask him what he did at playschool, he cannot remember.

Although a toddler (unlike young babies) can store information, they often have problems in retrieving that information from their memory banks. Until their concentration increases they often forget what you've just told them. eg. don't walk on the floor, it's wet. Getting distracted is easy… he wants to get to the toy on the other side of the wet floor. So repeat instructions regularly and try to be tolerant. Limit your instructions to one or two at a time and keep them simple; please pick up your toy and put it in the box.

Retelling information, ie. what he did at school, will also improve as he gets older. In fact, expect the time soon when he will tell you countless, long, long stories.

It is important not to show irritation when your child cannot remember. As he grows so will his powers of remembering. If you'd like to help, the more exercise a memory gets, the better it becomes. Here are four ideas of memory games you can play:

1. Kim's game: line three objects up in a row, ask your toddler to take a good look. Then cover them up and ask what was there.

2. Remember together: After a visit to the park sit down together and remember what you saw and did. If he can't remember, say, do you remember the squirrel? And what else did you see?

3. Magic moments: At supper time routinely ask family members to share a special event in the day.

4. Use reminder notes: Ref the wet floor, put a drawing down on the floor eg. a picture of a bright red line across a pair of footsteps."

For more useful toddler info visit: http://www.babyonline.co.za/