Free guide · 2 to 5 years
She is already copying you. Give her 10 good things to copy.
As promised: 10 small daily habits worth letting her watch, with one line to say out loud for each.
Do it slowly where she can see. Say your line. Don't ask her to copy.
Our picks as parents, not a list from a study. The line is not a lesson; it is what you would say anyway. If she wants to join, give her a small job of her own.
Mornings are slow enough for her to watch your hands closely.
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Fold your bedsheet, even badly.
Say: "I fold my sheet so the bed is ready for tonight." 
Greet the elders first, in person or on a video call.
Say: "Good morning, Dadi. Did you sleep well?"-
Put your shoes back on the rack.
Say: "Shoes go home too."
Outside your home, she watches how you treat people.
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Put the phone face down when someone talks to you.
Say: "Tell me. I'm listening." -
Hold the lift door for someone.
Say: "After you, aunty." -
Say sorry when you bump into someone.
Say: "Oh, sorry! Are you okay?" -
Wait in a queue without your phone.
Say: "Let's count how many people are ahead of us."
Evenings show her how a day ends in your home.
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Read your own book for ten minutes.
Say: "This is my book time." -
Light the lamp, then sit quietly one minute. Keep the flame and the matches out of her reach.
Say: "One quiet minute, then dinner." -
Say "I was wrong" to your partner, calmly.
Say: "I was wrong. Sorry."
Five things we all do on busy days. Tap for the swap.
No guilt here. We all do these. One swap is enough to start.
One habit a day, for 7 days.
My father at his plants. He went every day. Missed a day? She learns from most days, not every day. Tick when you do one. It saves on this phone.
0 of 7: Start today.
In one study, small children copied an adult's unnecessary steps too, and even the way the adult did each step.
At least 75%, up to 94% of the time, depending on the step.
Lyons, Young and Keil, PNAS, 2007 · 3 to 5 year olds in a US lab, opening puzzle boxes.
Go deeper
The children copied steps that plainly did nothing, even when the task pushed them to skip them. The researchers think small children treat everything a grown-up does on purpose as meaningful. An earlier study the authors cite found that chimpanzees skip such steps. Our reading, not theirs: this may be why a habit as small as tapping the remote twice gets copied.
I am Manjunath. I built a maze for my daughter, and these guides are what I learnt on the way.
My father travelled 20 km every day to care for his plants. That quiet dedication is what raised me.
Read my story →You are folding the bedsheet. She grabs one corner and makes it messier. What do you do?
Wanting to join is the copying working. A job of her own keeps your work moving and her hands busy. Our advice as parents, not a study.
One slow thing she can do while you do yours.
On our mazes she guides each piece home with the magnet pen, slowly, with no lights and no sounds. Sit with your own book beside her. Play a board yourself first, and she will want the pen.
See the four mazesCopying is one way children learn, not the only one. Every child is different, and she will not copy every habit. Talk to a children's doctor if by 18 months she is not copying you or saying any words, or by 2 years she is not putting two words together.
Krishna's Farm Friends
Every baby animal goes home to its mother. Birch wood, sealed magnets, EN-rated paint, no batteries. Krishna's story on the back. 15 months and up.
Diwali offer till Oct 30: use code FEST100 at checkout for ₹999.
See the maze See all four mazesLet's build childhoods worth cherishing.