When can you begin teaching your baby? Dr. Sally Goldberg answers that question and explains much more about helping your child’s development in this episode. She is a pioneer in the field of Early Childhood Education. She talks about how vital the formative years, birth to age 3, are and the eight stages they contain. She explains how to maximize parenting. She also shares her research on how important it is to keep the immune system balanced and tuned on a daily basis through breathing, moving, eating and sleeping. She shares some valuable visuals which you can view here. Visit her website.
Emmalou Penrod
Today we’re starting the first of our series on parenting coaches. And I am delighted and honored to be able to welcome Dr. Sally Goldberg. She is an author and a pioneer in early childhood education. Dr. Sally, welcome.
Sally Goldberg
Oh, thank you so much, Emmalou. This is a pleasure to be here. And I’m delighted to share with whatever information I can with everybody.
Emmalou Penrod
Well, from what I’ve seen, you have a great deal to share. And I’m excited to hear it. And I love to hear the story. I know you started out as a first grade teacher. I’m a retired school teacher, so right there, there’s a kinship. But tell us about what led you to become the early childhood education pioneer.
Sally Goldberg
What led me to that is something a lot of people relate to, being a mom or becoming a mom. When your baby’s born, something else is born at the same time, and that’s you. You are reborn as a parent, and a parent has a power. The power is to do everything possible for the well being of your child. So that’s the beginning. You don’t know you have that power, but you watch it develop. So in my case, my daughter, who I had a lot of years ago, we don’t have to say the number or an amount of years ago, before there was any official help for people born with a developmental delay. There was a hand full of programs here and there. They were not impressive. And every place I looked threw me back to the power. That’s what I started to feel that. “Now that’s a nice teacher and they want my child to stay there all day long. They want to do all these exercises with her, but she won’t be with me. That’s no good.” So that is the first lesson that you are the first and most important and effective teacher. Because you have something different than anyone else has. You love that baby. And that love is what carries everything that you do. So okay, let’s go from there. I’m going to do anything and everything possible to help my child with a developmental delay. That means she’s behind the starting line in a lot of areas. I want to help her get up to the starting line and move ahead. So okay, what do you do, what any parent back to normal here? What do you do? Read all there is to read about this particular situation. And I have to report there was very little. There were three books. There was one called The First Three Years of Life, and it was excellent, Dr. Burton White, forerunnner in the field. And he laid out everything that was important to do for a child in those years. It was a terrific start. And so then I kept looking. And then there was another wonderful book. It was called Loving and Learning. And I learned a lot from that book. And then there was only one left called Teach Your Baby to Read. That was intriguing, but I wasn’t quite ready for that. So I had my three books and my information, and I had a start. I was gonna learn all these things and do them.
Emmalou Penrod
I just want to make a comment. I love the quote that says, “A concerned mother does more research than the FBI.”
Sally Goldberg
Oh, I love that.
Emmalou Penrod
And that sounds like you.
Sally Goldberg
Oh, what a wonderful thing to say. So probably, yes. And of course, unbeknownst to the mother, because she’s doing what I said, anything and everything possible. So after getting the FBI information, then I look for all the toys that were tools and I could use. And back then, there were little to none. So then, not only did I have what I read, I said I better make everything that there is to make to help my class here, because that was the next step. And I did. So I read all there was to read. I made all there was to make. And every day, whatever it was, always in the back of my mind was fostering this goal, being an FBI agent. And so this isn’t the best part of the story. It led to the best. So I’m out shopping one day, and it was a store in Miami, Florida. It was called Luminaire. And it was a Finnish furniture store from Finland. So it was kind of very modern at the time. And I went in that store to look for a lamp. I was newly settled in Miami, that was my home at the time. And I needed a lamp for a family room. And I walked in that store. Walk in the door, and it was quite interesting. I looked around. And all of a sudden, in a corner of my eye, I saw in the back of the store, a set of three rounded shelves. And then something drew me to them. I went over closer, and there was a sign on the middle shelf. And it said “Educational Toys for Babies.” Now, this is the Finnish furniture store, educational toys for baby. And believe it or not, this many, many years ago, there was no such term. It was not a known entity. And so I looked at the sign and there were three shelves and I was kind of quizzical about what they were, what they could possibly be. And then a very nice salesperson saw my quizzical look. And he said, “May I help you?” And I said, “Yes.” I said, “What is an educational toy for a baby?” And he said, “Oh,” and he took this off the shelf. And he said, “This is an educational rattle.” And at that time a rattle was about the least educational thing that you would think about. But he said that. And I said, “Well, what do you mean by that?” And he said, “Oh,” he said, “Every other rattle you could buy, you can’t see what makes the noise. This one, you can see it.” And I thought, “Wow, that’s wonderful! I don’t want my baby to miss that.” So I said, “I’ll take it.” and I did. And then there were two more shelves. So there was a top shelf. And he took down from that shelf, it was something that had a rope across it. And it had four balls hanging down. And there were two red, and two green. And he said, “This toy teaches cause and effect.” And I said, “Oh?” and he said, “Look, if you pull down on the green one, the red goes up. And if you pull down on the red one, the green goes up.” Wow! I don’t want my baby to miss that! And then there was one more shelf. And this one had a set of wooden block, wooden links. They were like blocks, you could twist them in different ways. And you’re way beyond what a baby would need. But I knew that my baby would get there, too, and need to learn from that toy just like she would need to learn from the other concepts that I didn’t want her to miss. And so I said, as you can well imagine, “I’ll take it.” So I went home with these three toys. Oh, yes, the lamp for the family room. I got that too. But I walked out the store that day, going in a new direction. I learned that everything a baby sees and experiences teaches and is important.
Emmalou Penrod
Oh, yes!
Sally Goldberg
I knew that I had to make a program for her that she would experience and play and learn from. And so that’s what I learned, when I walked out that door going in a new direction. And so that is such a significant part of what I do now. Even surprising myself with that experience. Because if you look on my website, which is Parenting with Dr. Sally, it says, “Everything a person does is important. And every parent should know how to provide the finest experiences.” And then at the very end it says, “There’s not a moment to waste.” Your value, and it’s so important all the time. And the positive experiences lead to positive. You want them to be as positive as they can, so that they read other positive ones. And that’s how it works.
Emmalou Penrod
When you wrote about this on your website, it sounds like, the more you talk, the more your daughter learned, and that she really progressed because of what you were doing.
Sally Goldberg
That’s good that you mentioned it that way, because that’s exactly right. And that’s what spurred me on my experiences. And that led to her experiences. The more I taught her, the more she learned, the more she learned, the more I figured out as a teacher. And so that’s the second part of the story. So I made her these toys that taught her. And by the time she was two, now that’s a long, long time ago, she knew very vocally at two all the colors, all the letters, all the numbers, all the shapes. And she was reading over 100 words very distinctly. We had books that had her words. And these weren’t just any words; these were her words. That’s how I figured out to do that. When she said her first word, I thought, “Oh, maybe if I write it, she will connect the two.” And I was right. So the more she learned, like, baby, and bye, bye. And book, and Addy and car, those were all in there. They were in her book, and they became her reading words forever. So that was a start. So where do we go from here? Well, the neighbors, the neighbors had children older than my daughter, and without any kind of difficulty or delay. And so they wanted to know what I did. And one mother finally, she said, “If I get a bunch of mothers together, would you teach us how you taught your daughter?” And so believe it or not, I have no idea how I did or what I was doing. I didn’t know. But that power was working. And so since she asked me, I said, “Yes, I’ll figure it out.” And I went back to my own drawing board to try to figure out what I did and where these toys were and how I made them and how I use them. And she did her part of the bargain, she got the mothers together. I did my part of the bargain, I came, and I taught them. And so then, that was really the turning point of the story. It was very concrete, we knew what they were. And then eventually I thought, “If these mothers like this so much, maybe other mothers will like it, and maybe I could write a book.” And then I did. And then I did one, and then two, and then three, and then most recently is number seven. And they have a very good idea for number eight that I’ve already talked to the publisher about. So I’m super excited. And it’s focusing on that first year, and the invisible things that people can do. And some that maybe they won’t want to do, if we knew how important the things they can do, it would be helpful to how important these things would be. So anyway, that’s all in the works. And it is very interesting that there’s some solid background that has led to this direction. So I suppose you want to know what’s available.
Emmalou Penrod
Yeah. Tell us how you’re helping parents now.
Sally Goldberg
So I don’t want to say I’m doing parenting classes, even though I am. I’m doing Parent Information teaching. And I’m doing these by ZOOM. They’re being sponsored by my community center where I live here in Arizona, but they are via zoom and available to the whole population. And so these are focused on baby, child, parents of any age child interaction, that keep the baby/child/person as healthy and active and interactive as possible. And so, look at it another way. You have a program that’s called Achieve Parenting Success, and it has three arms to the program, different ways by age and stage to keep the body tuned. And then you have different ways by age and stage to keep the mind tuned. And with a sound mind in a sound body, you release this spirit to be free, free and healthy and happy and going in a positive direction. And so it’s focused on the word wellness, because that’s the heart of the program. Once you’re as well as you can be, you are functioning at your highest level. So it’s ages and stages. And within this framework that produces the wellness that’s so important today. So on the baby level, ages and stages, is the newest book, which is already published for a couple of years, Fun Baby Learning Games. But it’s about promoting development through the games at different ages and stages. And we get so caught up in development. And it’s about learning or smartness. Nope, development comes like this, development is promoted by the interactions of the people that interact. And it focuses on three major areas: cognitive, or the learning, the motor, and the moving, and the social and the interaction. And all of those interact. And they also promote a bigger area on language. And then language interaction then helps to create the end or the final stages of who we really are. It’s our self esteem, the growth of a positive person full of self awareness of in a positive way. So that’s a little summary of development. And now, let’s see any other thoughts about something you’d like to hear about,
Emmalou Penrod
I want to interject a quick note that I highly recommend, if you’re just listening to this podcast, that you go to my YouTube channel and watch the video, because Dr. Sally, in her years of research has come up with some excellent diagrams that help you understand how you can work with your child and help them develop their full potential. I’m excited just thinking of what this can do. If every baby were able to have, you know, having more parents who are familiar with these concepts, these procedures. And it’s far more than just educational toys. It’s a whole new way of parenting that allows that child to reach their potential. I love the way you’ve explained it. So I just want to make sure everybody gets to see those diagrams, they are brilliant, Dr. Sally.
Sally Goldberg
That is really wonderful. And what you put, you kind of hit the nail on the head, because it’s not any one thing. I always say it’s not reading one more book, it’s not doing one more exercise is actually hugging, holding, loving, caring. So if you know that that’s the main thrust of what you need to do and want to do, you’re never going to run out of things to do, it will all come from inside. And then if you know it’s such a broad concept of learning, and motor skills, and social skills, and remember the big circle was language. And here’s what you love to hear is what you love to hear, that when you review the literature and you look at it from this point of view that I’m talking about parenting, parenting is the input that you provide. It says you find out that the most important input on later development comes from a high quantity and quality of language. So very important. You want to leave your baby sitting around with, and I have to be very gentle about saying this, with a pacifier in his or her mouth? When if you could, if you could, and if you can pick up the baby, and talk and hug and communicate, oh my god, of course you would. So if you know that you’re not wasting your time and only not wasting it, you’re using it in this powerful, exciting way.
Emmalou Penrod
You talked about the interactions, and there it is right there. There was emotional, physical, the mental, all those neural connections that are being made, and
Sally Goldberg
And they’re being made. And yeah, that very positive, exciting, interesting, interactive way they’re set. They’re setting in the brain, the synapses, the pathways, that’s what you’re gonna get. If you forget about that, and you allow some of the other experiences to set in, then you’re not being as effective as you could. So we have that in perspective, it’s not a mandate, and it’s not anything to feel guilty about. It’s more exciting than that. It’s a tool to have, to use as much as you can, in appropriate ways at the right time. And take advantage of, and that’s what you find so exciting.
Emmalou Penrod
Yes. And and you talked about wellness, body, mind and spirit. And I also believe you talked about how to build your immune system that this wellness, isn’t this a way to do it? Yeah, I think everyone right now is interested in how to strengthen their immune system, and especially their child’s.
Sally Goldberg
Absolutely. I’m so glad you’re hit upon that, because it’s the key factor right now as the foundation for any kind of parenting input is building that immune system. And a lot of people, most people, any people don’t really know what that means. And it doesn’t really, it’s not, how do I say it, it’s not the technology or whether they have a technical term, it’s not that, it’s what I talked about before the parent child input focused on four areas. So breathing, movement, food, and sleep. Those are the four areas of input that need to be as high level as you can possibly make them all the time. And the good part about that is you do them all the time. We all do. We all breathe, move, eat, and sleep every single day. So you can’t say I’m going to eat one meal, and I’ve eaten right for my whole life. You can’t say I’m going to sleep right for one night, and I’ve done all my sleeping, right? You can’t say I’m going to move today. And then I don’t have to do that for the rest of my life. And then for breathing, do you know that you breathe 25,000 times a day? And you don’t even have to remember to do it, because it’s that important. But what we can do is learn breathing techniques, believe it or not, that build and strengthen the lungs. And that’s a key word for today. If you learn about deep breathing, and breathing in certain ways that are beyond the 25,000 that we don’t know about. We can add a whole bunch every day all day long that we do know about deep breathing, relaxing, breathing, calm breathing, and that’s what builds your immune system. So I like to say even one more way is that we all have air to breathe. That’s what we breathe. We breathe air. We don’t breathe specific chemicals, we breathe air. And here’s what happens when you breathe in the air and you breathe in, in a strong way. It helps your blood system circulate that oxygen and other nutrients all throughout your body to keep it well. And that’s why it’s so important to be aware that breathing and breathing in a strong way is a way to keep your immune system memory away. It’s the number one it’s under that we wanted to pass that on to children, techniques so that they know about it for the breath and then ways of eating and ways of moving and ways of sleeping, all covered in these Parent Child classes, that gives you tools to use for yourself, of course, and with the right age and stage of your child.
Emmalou Penrod
Wow, what a powerful gift. So how do parents contact you? Can they find all this on your website?
Sally Goldberg
Definitely on my website, which is earlychildhoodnews.net. And that’s pretty significant, because I keep you up to date with the most current early childhood news. And then also on that website is Q&A. So I love that part the best, answering the questions, I can answer them on the website, and I can answer them privately. And I have no problem answering them in any unlimited way. Because I love to. It’s the most exciting thing that I do is answering those questions and getting the information out. And then there’s one more new way, there’s a new website that was just opened by one of my colleagues, Denise Meredith, and she’s a children’s book writer. And believe it or not, her website is for parents and grandparents of children ages three to six. And it’s encouraging them to read to their children 15 minutes a day, I was gonna say at least but least is not the right word. And it’s not to be ritual, not to be a punishment, it isn’t that. It’s wonderful ways about reading to your child. And she asked me to be the parenting expert on that site. And I love doing that answering Q&A on there. And also relaying that information that I relayed to you, which tells you that the most powerful input for later success in school and in life is a high quality and high quantity of language. So all that’s there and her website is readtokids.us. And that’s how that one is. I write all the links and all the information and all the contacts. And I hope I communicated some very important and happy information that people can use in such a wonderful positive way.
Emmalou Penrod
Oh, you have, you have, Dr. Sally. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for sharing the benefit of your years of research and your wisdom.
Sally Goldberg
And remember, I would never have known how important every minute, every second is, if I didn’t find this (the rattle) by chance.
Emmalou Penrod
Yeah! And you still have it. Awesome!
Sally Goldberg
That’s right.
Emmalou Penrod
Dr. Sally, you have a great day.
Sally Goldberg
Okay, thank you. Thanks for asking me to join you and it was a great pleasure.