Why is it that when looking for suitable toys, it's so so difficult to find anything that contains less than exactly one gazillion pieces? When you choose two toys, what you're actually getting is two hundred separate and distinct objects. Oh, it's great to see the excitement of mini-me digging into a new toy, checking everything out, and handing all the pieces, but then what happens exactly 37 minutes later?
Child development is often an uneven process, and happens in fits and spurts. Interestingly, it's been argued, notably by Dr. Harvey Karp, and probably others, that children from birth to about 5 years of age are essentially replicating the evolutionary process, and moving right along at about 4,000 years per hour, give or take a thousand or few years.
Consult the experts, but don't rely on them. There are "experts" out there for everything. In many ways, this makes sense, with the advent of market segmentation and specialization, and the ease and volume at which information can be distributed.
What's the best school, and how does a parent get their kid or kids into that best school? This is a topic that can reduce otherwise highly educated people into blathering idiots devoid of all rational thought, except during those lucid moments when they become merely stupid.
At one time, there were all sorts of home tips that fell under the heading of folk knowledge. Less was often more. Good folk knowledge usually always used (and still does use) the general principle of pulling, rather than pushing. This is the reason why many folk remedies, tips, and tricks had lasted for as long as they did. Retro-fitting hand-me downs, cough and cold remedies, home processing and storage of food, making impromptu toys, knowing when to tell which classic story, any many other everyday ways of doing things out of necessity are no longer in widespread use.
