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Diversity is the fundamental presumption that allows us to become who we want to be in this world.
For our children who deserve to live in a world where they can safely live a life as who they are, teaching them about diversity could be a good start.
Toys are not merely playthings. Toys form the building blocks for our child’s future. They teach our children about the world and about themselves. They send messages and communicate values. And thus, wise parents think about what foundation is being laid by the toys that are given to their kids.
Wise parents also think about the number of toys that children are given. While most toy rooms and bedrooms today are filled to the ceiling with toys, intentional parents learn to limit the number of toys that kids have to play with.
Throughout my ten years as an Occupational Therapist, I have seen and continue to see a decline in kids’ social, emotional, academic functioning, as well as a sharp increase in learning disabilities and other diagnoses.
Your kid is part of a whole generation that can swipe right before they can write. And because of that fact, you’ve become a little paranoid with how they interact with technology. It’s one thing to curb screentime, cut off the Wi-Fi, or investigate the feasibility of becoming Amish. But instead of taking their tech away (or just running away), why not just teach them how to use all of it responsibly and for their benefit?
I know you think I wear yoga pants and athletic T-shirts because I spend my days doing pilates while my kids practice Mozart on their harmonicas. But, I’m here to tell you, I wear them because they’re stretchy...
For a decade and a half, the big chocolate makers have promised to end child labor in their industry—and have spent tens of millions of dollars in the effort. But as of the latest estimate, 2.1 million West African children still do the dangerous and physically taxing work of harvesting cocoa. What will it take to fix the problem?
Break out that giant collection of toy cars and stick a piece of tape marked with a letter on top of each one. Then have your kid line them up in alphabetical order and sing the ABC song while pointing to the car with the correct letter.
Every parent has lost their temper with his or her child. In fact, researchers say there are signs parental yelling is on the rise. Sue Shellenbarger has the latest research on how to avoid blowing up, and mother of two Leigh Fransen shares her story.
Many parents can relate to tears and hurt feelings during childhood but for those with a sensitive child, they are likely presented with these strong feelings much more often. Parents of sensitive children observe their little ones worrying more deeply about what others around them think and being more emotionally reactive. However, these kiddos also tend to make amazing friends because they are so intuitive and are able to easily empathize with others.
Understanding what they are feeling is crucial for children to grow healthy. Here is the card game that will make your child talk about their experiences of a range of emotions, their body’s physical reactions to emotions and strategies for overcoming overwhelming emotions. It’s a great resource for home and school, and it’s available as a free printable.
What makes you, you? Psychologists like to talk about our traits, or defined characteristics that make us who we are. But Brian Little is more interested in moments when we transcend those traits — sometimes because our culture demands it of us, and sometimes because we demand it of ourselves. Join Little as he dissects the surprising differences between introverts and extroverts and explains why your personality may be more malleable than you think.
My husband and I thought we were done having kids after we had our first two. Then when our youngest was 3 and we had just celebrated chucking the diapers—surprise!—pregnant! We rolled with it, and now I can’t imagine life without our three kids.
Children get cuts, scrapes and bruises. Curious and brave, kids are constantly playing and exploring. It’s part of growing up. But playtime that seems harmless can turn into something much more serious within seconds.
Using laser pointers to play pretend rocket ships or make the family pet run back and forth looks like fun. But an eight-year-old boy’s experience with laser pointers is proof of the serious damage they can cause. Johnny Marshall was at his sister’s school fair when he saw a laser pen at one of the vendor booths. After some begging and pleading, his parents gave in and bought him the toy. Johnny was playing with his new toy at home when he shone it into his eyes out of curiosity — something that many children might do. Within a quarter of a second, he was left with a thermal burn and permanent damage to his retina.
This little machine is loaded with lessons about engineering and mobility. The gearbox teaches kids how gear ratios affect speed. And when it walks, the robot's feet can slip unless you add a dab of glue to them. That's a great introduction to problem solving: increasing friction to create traction and enable faster movement.
It isn't uncommon for a baby to be born with a few wisps of hair, but that requires little maintenance. So, what do you do when your newborn enters the world with a full head of hair? Why, you embrace it, of course - like these proud parents did!
This FREE Robot Shape Matching puzzle includes 6 shapes: triangle, square, circle, star, hexagon, trapezoid.
Father and daughter relationships are some of the sweetest, and what better way for dad to bond with his little girl than to master the art of doing her hair.
It starts from carpet: 200,000 bacteria...PER SQUARE INCH.
A college professor in Kentucky is getting a ton of online praise after a photo of him babysitting a student’s kids so she could take her final exam went viral.
We all know how difficult it is to be consistent with parenting. The area of discipline is even fraught with a lot of hand-wringing, usually out of guilt on our part. We've lost count at how often we've given the kids a pass from an infraction that would have meant automatic suspension of iPad privileges if it happened on a day when we're not distracted (read: bone tired).
Dr. O’Neill then explained the typical symptoms of childhood depression: Lack of joy, abandoning play, self-isolation, saying things are not fun, negative talk (I am stupid, no one likes me, I can’t do things anymore), lack of energy, inability to enjoy their favorite activities, inability to stay focused or participate in child-oriented activities, crying easily, being inconsolable.
Dr. O’Neill then explained the typical symptoms of childhood depression: Lack of joy, abandoning play, self-isolation, saying things are not fun, negative talk (I am stupid, no one likes me, I can’t do things anymore), lack of energy, inability to enjoy their favorite activities, inability to stay focused or participate in child-oriented activities, crying easily, being inconsolable.
"See babies as people in their own right, naturally deserving of our respect. See babies not as helpless beings but as active, phenomenal learners with an innate urge to explore their world and the people in it, from birth. When we see babies in this way, our practice will naturally change for the better." - Lisa Sunbury Gerber
There’s nothing better than a spotless house. But, to tell the truth, for many of us cleaning our house is not on our list of our favorite ways to spend time. Today, we would like to share some ingenious tricks to help you make your living area sparkling clean. You’ll be amazed at how many household items double as cleaning products and home improvement tools.
Biles, a 19-year-old gymnast for Team U.S.A., is already the most decorated gold medalist in world championship gymnastics history. In Rio, she is on the fast track to becoming the best in the world, again, being an odds-on favorite to bring home as many as five gold medals.
Room sharing tips can be so helpful to second-time mothers. When I was pregnant with my second son I worried about how sibling room sharing would go. I looked all over the internet for reassurance that my baby and my preschooler would be fine sharing a room. We live in a very small home and while baby would be staying in our room at first, the two boys would have to bunk together eventually.
A mom's letter to the doctor who suggested her abortion of her daughter upon the diagnosis of Down Syndrome reveals a truth we all should ponder about. The letter reads:
The in-laws get in after long travels for the holidays, and the first thing they want when they walk in the door are hugs and kisses from their darling grandbabies. Super sweet. Except when the kids aren't feeling like freely giving affection. What happens next?
A study found that youngsters smacked up to the age of six did better at school and were more optimistic about their lives than those never hit by their parents.
They were also more likely to undertake voluntary work and keener to attend university, experts discovered.
The research, conducted in the United States, is likely to anger children’s rights campaigners who have unsuccessfully fought to ban smacking in Britain.
We see "kid friendly" on a snack food and we think it hits all the nutritional sweet spots: not too much sugar or trans fats or garbage-y preservatives. Alas, we cannot believe everything we read. Although God knows, we keep trying!
Most parents of children with special needs want new laws to promote the rights of their children, and better education for them, a survey has found. The survey polled 835 parents with special needs children aged nine and below and was commissioned by the Lien Foundation, a philanthropic house. Findings released yesterday showed that close to three-quarters of parents polled agreed that new laws are necessary.
While it is rare condition, it has serious dangers: hampered personality development, impeded growth in later stage, etc.
What are signs of pink eye in children? What are the remedies? Pink eyes are often commonly ignored, but improper treatment can lead to recurring pink eye cases that become increasingly resistant to treatment. NEWBORNS ARE PARTICULARLY AT RISKS for pink eye and ensuing complications that lead to serious health damage.
We all want our kids to be compassionate, but teaching your child to stop bragging comes with challenges. Here are some tips that can help you: SHOW them what bragging looks like, ASK them how they would feel, UNDERSTAND their desire to share their accomplishment, and TEACH them how/to whom they should express such desire.
When facing an excruciating battle, say an ongoing fight against leukemia, having a best friend to lean on for support can be just as important as all the doctors and medicine.
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend in which she divulged to me that her 10-year-old son has an Instagram account. Because she and I usually see eye to eye on most parenting decisions, I was surprised. When I asked her about it, she explained that, for her son, she has rules and privacy settings in place to protect him. She told me she’s had conversations about appropriate photos and internet safety. She said she trusts him and wants him to develop good judgment online.
Find out why apologizing for your mistakes makes you a more effective parent
A fourth grade girl sits in my office, tears in her eyes. She had a really hard week. She struggles with anxiety and inattention in the classroom, and that makes learning difficult on a good week. That wasn’t what brought her tears, though. She can cope with the mixed emotions that go hand-in-hand with learning problems. What made an average week terrible for this little girl was peer conflict.
The other day, I reached out to a friend I hadn't spoken to in two years. "Where have you been, Jennifer? What have you been up to?" she asked. I thought about these questions long and hard. Physically, I had been in Colorado, and I had been working on my own business, but I couldn't tell her what I'd been doing. The truth was, the last year had been total, sleep-deprived blur.
I cherish the notes I receive from my children—whether they are scribbled with a Sharpie on a yellow sticky note or written in perfect penmanship on lined paper. But the Mother’s Day poem I received from my 9-year-old daughter was especially meaningful. In fact, the first line of the poem caused my breath to catch as warm tears slid down my face.
How can you keep your kids safer without being their full-time watcher?
Here are tips by Randy Dean, the author of bestselling book at Amazon, for making sure the robots work for you and not the other way around:
According to a 2002 Traffic Police campaign which advocated the importance of belting up, a properly fitted child restraint system can reduce fatal injuries by up to 75 per cent and serious injuries by 67 per cent.
Here are some safety tips for parents:
1) It's illegal for anyone under the height of 1.35M, regardless of age to be unsecured
2) Make sure children are secured in a restraint appropriate for their age, height & weight
3) Have your children seated at the back & try to avoid placing child seats in front....
Hand-held screens might delay a child’s ability to form words, based on new research being presented this week at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco. This preliminary study is the first to show how mobile devices impact speech development in children, raising a question that fills the minds of many parents: How much time should my child spend with a mobile device?
The story chronicles Potter's struggle 19 years after defeating the insidious Lord Voldemort. The now-adult wizard works for the Ministry of Magic and is struggling to reconcile with his past and raise three children of his own. Rowling is credited with the idea for the play.
So junior is starting infantcare as you bounce back from your maternity leave. Or perhaps, you have just enrolled your 2-year old in childcare, so she can socialise with other children. Here’s what you should know.
Here are some common literacy practices in US schools (and everywhere) that research suggests are NOT OPTIMAL use of instructional time:
So your kid wants to write books? Great! All they need to do now is spend months hunched over their Fisher Price desk refining a book proposal; find a literary agent; wait for the lit agent to find a publisher; go through a million rounds of edits; fight about the cover design; and then, finally go to print. They’re number 4,453,632 on Amazon’s bestseller list! Hurrah!
Teaching Children It’s OK to Fail