Some say that play is the work of children.

I agree. Sort of….

The developmental tasks accomplished through playing are what truly matter.

Equally important: What kind of co-worker are you Mommy? The hovering, scampering, secretarial type?  The strict foreman who keeps the trains running on time?  Or are you more of an over-qualified, underpaid, personal assistant to a diva?

Loving, and being loved, develops like any other life skills your baby will master over the course of the next 2 decades: She’ll first practice on you.

Unlike talking, testing boundaries, or taming her impulses — falling in love won’t wait.  It’s the first thing she needs to be able to do.

Blocks are so important to building a child’s skills through play, that I’ve used them to assess whether or not a child was developing on track. Yes, that important.

From the small wooden cubes that babies instinctively like to stack to the brick-sized cardboard ones that are perfect for team projects, blocks are… well… um, a building block of your child’s development across multiple domains.

The best toys grow up with your kids.

The best toys are multi-purpose, versatile, and friendly. By “friendly” I mean that a good toy plays nicely with differing ability levels, developmental stages, and age groups.

For “Most Valuable Toy of All Time”  – a toy that stands up to being kicked around, a toy that is at its best when it is shared, an heirloom that can be passed down from sibling to sibling, I nominate:  The Ball.