Another stork-themed twist on a classic game is Stork Bingo.  Create bingo cards with the letters STORK written across the top.  Ask each guest to fill in their bingo card with baby items that they new mother will need.  As mom opens her gifts, each guest can mark off any gift listed on her sheet.  The first one to “bingo” wins!

Incorporate take-home favors for each guest into your shower games by playing an easy quiz game. Give one of these personalized baby shower compact mirrors to each guest who gets a question correct.  Possible questions can include “When is baby’s due date?”, “What color are the father-to-be’s eyes”, or “How many siblings does the mother-to-be have?”  Baby shower favors can also be used in a purse scavenger hunt – the first guest to produce a specific item (like a pen, a credit card, baby picture, etc) from their purse wins a prize.

There are a number of generic baby shower games that work well with any theme.  Some can be modified to fit into your stork theme and others work well just as they are.  It’s fun to have one or two games at your baby shower, but don’t overdo it.  Remember that the focus should be on the mother-to-be and her upcoming miracle!

Parents can help their children develop a language for expressing and dealing with feelings by giving the feelings names.  While doing so, parents have a responsibility to manage their own feelings to help children deal with theirs.  Sometimes our own childhood experiences creep into how we handle emotions with our children.  For all of us, there are some feelings that give us trouble.  For instance, difficulties with such feelings as anger and aggression may spill into our parenting.  If we cannot tolerate angry feelings, we might try to prevent our children from displaying anger by saying “That’s no reason to be angry!”  when in fact a child may have good reason to be angry.  Through the use of play, you can provide children with some emotional avenues for anger, fear, and anxiety.

A Self-Concept Emerges

Between their second and third birthdays most children become fairly competent language users.  They readily use the personal pronouns “I,” “me,” and “mine,” particularly to defend ownership of their toys and possessions.  They have great difficulty letting anyone else play with something that is theirs.

Around this time, your toddler can refer to himself by his own name.  Sometimes, when playing with dolls or superheroes, your toddler may reenact earlier events.  Different roles may even be assigned to the dolls.  If you sit down and play directly with your toddler, you can get a glimpse of the inner workings of his mind.  This glimpse may be both delightful and unnerving, since you may observe firsthand how your child views your parenting style.  Many parents have heard their sweet little girl harshly send her favorite doll to her room because she didn’t “behave.”

By three years of age, your child has a good sense of “me” and “you” and of “self’ versus “non-self.”  With better cognitive capabilities and a wider repertoire of experiences, the three year old has internalized memories of the significant people in his life-his parents.  As their sense of self grows, children’s personalities become more representative of what they will be like as they grow older.  Preferences and dislikes are readily displayed in how they react with the world: for example, some children already prefer very physical activities, while others choose quiet, sedentary play.