Is Your Child Too Old for a Blankie?

Young children may have a “lovey” which may be a blanket or their favorite stuffed animal. Parents often worry if their children are too old to be carrying their “blankie” around. Find out when to consider retiring your child’s “blankie”. Click here to read the article.


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Kindergarten Readiness

This is the time of year parents start to register their kids for kindergarten and they wonder if their child will be ready in September. Many schools use age as the determining factor for kindergarten readiness, but some educators believe that how much experience a child has in a school-like setting is just as important.


Some schools have testing for children before the school year starts. The kindergartners may be evaluated on their physical development, ability to recognize the alphabet of his or her knowledge of body parts, colors and shapes. These tests attempt to judge your child’s level of physical and cognitive development.

What should you do if your school doesn’t offer testing before entering Kindergarten? Below are a few guidelines to look for at home:

Language

Does your child speak in full sentences
Can they explain events they experienced


Motor Skills

Can your child throw a ball, skip and climb
Do they use scissors and hold a pencil


Social & Other Skills

Do they understand the concept of sharing
Can your child dress him/herself
Do they wash their own face and hands
Does your child play well with others
Do they follow rules and directions


There is no way to tell if your child is truly ready for kindergarten. You, as their parent. are the best judge of kindergarten readiness.


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The Top 5 Potty Training Issues and How to Tackle Them

Let’s face it, potty training can be difficult for everyone involved. There can be many issues that parents/guardians face during potty training. This article can help guide you through the top 5 potty training issues. Click here to read more.



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Keeping the Attention of a Preschoolers

The most difficult thing a parent will ever have to do is to try to keep a preschooler occupied. With their short attention spans, you need to have a lot of tricks up your sleeve. This can include arts and crafts, games and learning activities that you know will entertain them. Keeping your preschooler occupied allows them to maintain a healthy lifestyle and learn through activity.


Outdoors
Take advantage of the warmer days to send your children outside. During winter, it’s easy to forget that the backyard exists. A healthy dose of fresh air can help wear kids out.


Arts and Crafts
If you can’t get out of the house on a rainy spring day, try a craft activity. Craft stores have made being crafty easy, even if you’re not a crafty person. Packaged craft-in-a-box activities are very popular with kids. They include making beaded jewelry, bookmarks, birdhouses and more.


Indoor Play Centers
The Y, gymnastics centers, indoor play centers, mommy and me classes, activities of all types to fit all budgets are going on right now in your community. Look in your local paper, check online, and check with your local library or community center for more information on how you can get involved.

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Helping Preschoolers to Celebrate Siblings’ Birthdays

It can be hard for toddler’s/preschoolers to celebrate their siblings birthday. They watch their brother or sister receive all the attention, opening present after present. Here is a great article on how to deal with this issue and how to keep everyone happy during a fun birthday celebration. Click here to read the article



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Interaction is Important for Your Baby’s Development

The first three years of life are extremely important in the long-term development of young children. You can help jump start your babies emotional and intellectual development by providing the right kind of stimulation.

At a basic level, facial expressions, like playing peek-a-boo or smiling can begin to stimulate your baby’s brain from a very early age.


Reading aloud to a baby can provide stimulation and the basic building blocks of speech and language development.


The stimulation your baby receives by touching various types of fabrics, shape blocks and even playing with water during bath time can help develop a baby’s motor skills as well as stimulate their brains.


Hugs, kisses and other positive interactions can help stimulate your baby’s brain and provide emotional development and support to make your baby feel secure.


There is a fine line between providing enough stimulation to your baby and too much. Soothing music and baby massages are a great way to stimulate your baby’s brain why at the same time calming them.

The best way to make sure your baby is getting enough stimulation is to fill their environment with books, colorful objects and pay toys of all different sizes and shapes.


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6 Keys to Help a Child To Become a Good Reader

Since we celebrated Read Across America, I wanted to share 6 Keys to Help a Child To Become a Good Reader from the National Education Association website. This article gives you tips on helping your child to become a good reader. Click here to read the article.

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Teaching Healthy Eating

If getting your child to eat vegetables and fruits has become a battle, get them involved in choosing healthy food by creating a collage of fruits and veggies. This will help them learn about new foods while embracing their inner artist.

What you'll need

* Cooking and food magazines
* Cardboard or poster board
* Scissors
* Glue or a glue stick


How it works
Ask your child what healthy foods they like to eat, and look through the magazines together to find pictures of those vegetables, fruit, or grains. Ask them to pick out items that they like the least and explain why those are good to include in their diet.

Help your child to cut out the pictures and glue them on the poster board arranging items by color. Then hang their masterpiece on the fridge as an easy reminder of what foods are good to eat, or head out to your local farmers market and have your child pick out foods they want to try that are on their poster.

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Fostering Developmental Milestones in Your Child

Do you ever wonder about your child’s development or what you should see at certain ages? This article talks about Fostering Developmental Milestones and how you can help to make the developmental stages positive for your child? Click here to read the full article.


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