No warning—knowing what’s about to happen

Imagine that you are concentrating on reading a book or watching TV and a giant comes up silently behind you and, without warning, grabs you under the arms and sweeps you up in the air or wipes your face with a cold, wet face washer.

Sometimes we overlook the importance of telling young children, especially babies, what is about to happen. This is an important act of respect, even when they may be too young to understand the words. They often get the message through gestures. They may understand a lot more than we think they do.