1. This week looks at physical and cognitive development in early childhood. We have learned how important physical development is during the prenatal period, and during infancy the brain is developing quickly. Give an example of what a parent can do to stimulate cognitive development during infancy. What parts of the brain are affected in the example you gave?

2. Someone once said that you could fill a train's boxcar with all of the research done on the importance of mothers to children, but you couldn't even fill the back of a small pickup truck with the research of the father. Just how important are fathers to infants? How do fathers feel when mothers assume the primary care for infants? What role do fathers play?

Feel free to ALSO tell us what role your father played in your early childhood and the impact on your socio-emotional development.