The baby's first birthday - a major milestone! As well, it is a major milestone for parents as they celebrate having successfully guided the baby through his or her first year. Along the way, there have been more ups and downs than parents can even remember! Some parents tell us that life remains pretty rough at the one-year mark, while others believe that they are beginning to see some light ahead. Our visits with families at around the time of the baby's first birthday are always lively, filled with anecdotes about the family's first year, and - in general - a time for parents to reflect and take stock of all that has happened over the past 12 months.
Three visits are scheduled with families at the 12-month mark. Two of these visits involve the baby, and we spend time visiting with mothers and babies together, with fathers and babies together, and with the whole family together as a group. In families where there is an older brother or sister, we also devote some time to getting to know the sibling relationship, since we believe that babies's relationships with their older brothers or sisters play a fundamental role in shaping their developing personalities. Last, we spend some time with the baby alone (and with the older sibling, alone, if there is a sibling in the family) assessing the children's personnalities and coping styles -- and, of course also check in with the parents without the children under foot, to get their perspective on things.
There are a great many different activies scheduled during the 12 month visits - this is because we try to do our best to get a balanced and accurate portrayal of family life with a one-year-old. If our visits with families focused exclusively on the joys and pleasures of family life, our book at the end of the study would portray family life as a non-stop, fun-filled adventure -- and future parents would quickly become despaired when they began contending with the strains and challenges a new baby brings. On the flip side, if we only focused on the difficulties and hardships, parents-to-be may think twice before taking the plunge themselves! So, to be as even-handed as possible, we arrange the family visits both to learn about playful, fun times and about mild to moderate challenges and frustrations.
We emphasize that it is important for families to come see us for the regularly scheduled visits at 12 (and 30) months, even -- and especially -- when their lives seem a little turbulent or chaotic. This is becaues we think it very important to capture real families lives at the various passageways of family life. Charting the trials and triumphs of co-parenthood is a challenging task for us, and we rely on our study participants to help us chart the pathways accurately and with wisdom.
Feedback from families who take part in the age 12-month visits reflects our perceptions - the visits are packed, a little challenging, but ultimately quite interesting and informative - and fun for th ekids. We will be continuing to welcome families with one-year-olds to the project through May, 2002, and so invite any families who qualify (see the Take Part in the Study page) to contact us to register!