As the temps get lower and the days get shorter, kids need more indoor sensory activities. One of the options you probably remember from your own childhood can take on a new shape for your own kids. First we need to think outside the package: Making your own soft modeling dough can be just as much fun as playing with it! And you don’t have to have a lot of ingredients or even a lot of cooking skills. In fact, making nontoxic "dough" for kids to mold and play with is easier than making homemade c …
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The #1 Dictionary.com definition for futon is a bit passe’: “a thin mattress, usually filled with layers of cotton batting and encased in cotton fabric, placed on a floor for sleeping, especially in traditional Japanese interiors, and folded and stored during the day.” It is true, though, that traditional Japanese futons were cotton-filled mattresses used for sleeping on floors and folded to clear floor space during the day.Modern futons, of course, are a bit different from that. Originally a fo …
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Weekly rhythms are important, especially for the stay-at-home parent with preschoolers. Why? There’s little, if any, built-in rhythm to the week. Important routines can give way to either monotony or rigidity, though, so it’s important to keep them in their place, as we discussed in a previous post. Just like our daily and weekly routines need to serve us, not the other way around, your family can benefit from seasonal traditions that serve you, wherever you are in life.Put Fond Memories in Thei …
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No, your child doesn’t need all the toys. Or clothes. Definitely not all the electronics. Not even all the furniture or all the books. So what three things DOES your child need?A Healthy Imagination“The imagination is absolutely vital for contemplating reality, not just those things we take to be mere fantasy,” explains Paul Harris, a development psychologist and Harvard professor who studies imagination. Sometimes we as parents can get too caught up in how we present imaginary characters (such …
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Why is it that one kid can effectively study for a test in only an hour and get an “A,” while another kid in the same class can spend a few entire evenings studying and still scrape by with a “C-“? While there are several variables that come into play, like how the child’s learning style coincides with classroom presentation and a child’s natural interest level and ability to remember facts, there are some ways any person can train his or her mind to remember, well, pretty much anyth …
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If you’ve read Calm Kids, Part 1, hopefully you understand a little more about your child’s fight-or-flight response. As you begin to empathize with your child’s feelings of panic — whether they result in attempts to escape or lash out — you’ll be on the path to helping soothe them and create the kind of calm feelings they simply can’t force themselves to feel. Over time, as you equip and repeatedly guide your child in creating a sense of calm, your child can learn to see feelings of panic as tr …
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Do you find yourself telling your child or children to “calm down”? My guess is that maybe, possibly, you’re not exactly calm when you give that directive, either. Often, the effect is that those words — and the added stress of an extra responsibility (paired with frustration over clearly not meeting expectations) — are often counter-productive. If you’re at home, perhaps you typically send the child in need of calming to his or her room. Maybe sometimes, that works. But all-too-often, the effec …
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Part of encouraging healthy sleep for your kids includes incorporating bedtime rituals. While what you include in those rituals isn’t nearly as important as their presence and regularity, we thought we’d share some definite favorites.Time To Tidy UpVisual clutter can be counter-productive to restfulness; of course, toys strewn across the floor can also provide safety hazards for sleepy feet trying to make their way to the bathroom in the dark. For those reasons, making sure to tidy up your child …
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“Authenticity” is one of those words being tossed around a lot these days. Merriam-Webster defines it as “real or genuine, not copied or false, true and accurate.” Pretension is out, and reality is very, very in. How does this cultural value relate to your parenting? According to the Danes, it’s part of the recipe for raising happy kids. After over 30 years of ranking as the happiest people group on the planet, they should know. Ironically before “Reframing” in the acronym “PARENT,” “Authenticit …
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Just like “Authentic” comes before “Reframing,” it may be significant that in the acronym “PARENT,” “Empathy” comes before “No Ultimatums.” Holding the title of “Happiest People on the Planet” for over 3 decades, Danish parents claim that these characteristics help explain what makes them and their kids happier than the rest of us. The phrase “No Ultimatums” might run contrary to the authoritarian leadership and parenting styles that we’ve historically seen, but hey, who can argue with happiness …
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