New Parents And Teens Child Parenting
Good Parents and Kids Parenting Tips
|
|
|
New Parents And Teens Child Parenting |
|
| ||||||
| ||||||
|
| ||||||
|
The baby sleep solution | Baby shower games | Secret to baby modeling success | Baby sign language | Planning baby showers | Baby boy names | | ||||||
|
You are free to use content from this page in your blog or website, in return for a link back to this page from that blog or website.
childrens Books And Educational Toys - Can They Still Be Fun And Have Educational Value
It was no contest. Given a choice between a ball and a book, my son would never have cracked a book binding. Giving him educational toys was a lot like giving him medicine. He didn't want any part of either one. Fortunately, things have changed a great deal in the 20-odd years since he was a youngster. Educational toys, just like children's medicines have come a long way. children's medicines taste good enough that tiny tykes will resist taking them only a little and learning toys have become a lot more enjoyable. For example, today there is great educational software for the family PC. Now, that isn't to say that you can walk into a toy department or a top quality toy store such as Toys R Us and randomly start slinging items labeled 'educational toy' in your shopping cart. You must take care when selecting educational toys. Fortunately, the 'educational' aspects of the toy can be kept well hidden behind the fun the child derives. Toys such as jigsaw puzzles, word games, Disney games, word puzzles and other learning toys are great cognitive educational toys. These toys require that the child use his or her imagination. They develop creativity. They make the child think. These games and educational toys have another, more important, aspect. They are fun. The child has fun while learning to use his or her imagination and reasoning skills. children learn through play and these toys are the tools of play. They are the tools of learning. The key is selecting cognitive development skills and educational toys that are appropriate for the child. For example, teaching a three-year-old to read or do multiplication may seem like a cool idea for your little prodigy, but it is much better to make sure the child is having fun reciting the alphabet and counting numbers with the help of interactive Disney toys, books on tape and other such toys. When the learning play is fun, the child will progress at his or her own pace with only minor supervision from you. Frustrating the child by expecting too much, too quickly will actually retard learning. Jigsaw puzzles are another example of great educational toys. They teach the cognitive skills of learning the relationship between sizes and shapes. They also teach fine motor skills in putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The second key is to tie educational toys and learning to the child's current interests. These interests change as the child develops. Learning is much more fun if it is associated with something that has already captured the imagination of the child. Educational toys do not have to be about thinking and learning. The second category of educational toys is those toys that develop physical skills such as coordination and fine motor skills. Babies begin learning coordination with a rattle. Legos are great toys for teaching the fine motor skills required to assemble the blocks. It is much easier to encourage most youngsters to play with toys that help teach physical skills because stored energy and growing muscles demand stretching and movement. Given the opportunity, what four-year-old won't ride a tricycle miles and miles around the dining room table or up and down the front sidewalk? While riding the trike, the youngster is developing strength and coordination, both of which are important for future development. The various ball games that children enjoy are important for the same reason. They help the youngster develop strength, agility, speed and coordination. They also go one step further. Because most ball games are team sports, they teach concentration, teamwork, good sportsmanship and strategy. These are all important cognitive and emotional skills that will be necessary for the child to develop into a well-rounded and productive adult. So, Mom, the next time your youngster picks up a ball and begins playing with it, you might look at it as a valuable educational toy. One of the most important toys in your child's playroom is you. You need to spend some time, enough time, playing with your child to help supervise play with educational toys. You need to spend enough with your child that you can monitor his or her interests, ensure that the educational toys they are playing with are appropriate and encourage them to have fun with those games. Educational toys are fun as they teach. They are different than schoolbooks and school assignments. Educational toys do not mean tedium and drudgery. Educational toys are designed to teach or develop the child. This brings up a final point. Another important benefit of parental supervision is the ability to keep track of those toys and games that do little to help develop either your child's cognitive skills or physical skills. There are some games and toys on the market that are so complete that they do all of the work for the child. The child does not have to be creative or exercise growing muscles or developing coordination. In fact, these games can actually be counterproductive by promoting lethargy and laziness. About the author: Royce Armstrong is a successful freelance writer with a business and banking background who believes consumers should get the best value for their money when shopping for educational software, children's toys and children's books.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Long Journey Home Once upon a time, I thought I had it all. I had a child, a career, the world at my feet. Or, so I thought. Finding Out Your child Has a Disability: Its Not the end of the World Finding out that a child has been born with a disability, or that a previously healthy child has suffered an injury or disease that causes a disability can be the most traumatic moment in a parent's life. Shock is usually the first thing people experience. It can temporarily paralyze you, preventing you from taking action, or even making rational decisions. In this difficult first period it is always wise to take the counsel of professionals and family members with experience or others whom you trust, while always maintaining the right to make the final decision yourselves. Adolescence - Clues and Advice Be sure to respect the intellectual changes that mark adolescence. Adolescent thinking can and should reflect: abstract notions, the relationships of things to each other and people to each other, multiple responses to the same condition or question and the idea of thinking itself. How To Be A Bad Mother As I sit here and reflect on the past two days and really the past two months, I am flooded with memories of the past and present. All of these thoughts run through my head and I feel so angry and resentful. Let me say I have been mad in the past few years but in complete honesty I haven't been quite this angry and at this point I don't know how to begin the healing process. I am back down that road of self- awareness and concern. See this is the thing, I become angry about my raw deal and the way I have been treated but then it doesn't end there, this is what people don't get about me. I get angry at those who hurt me but then I also turn around and become more angry with myself for not knowing better. I refuse to listen to that inner voice that usually carries me through every hardship in life, I push it to the side and then I think there is no way you can have all this anger and a relationship with God. That will usually get me through every thing I have to go through but this time I feel it penetrating to my soul. Facing the Homeschool Super Mom I know this Mom. She homeschools her 5 children, plus she tutors several other children that are dropped off at her house. AND she's a Pastor's wife. AND she's working on fixing up the fixer-upper they just moved into. Whenever I've been in her house, it's been immaculate. Her children all have perfect manners. They all seem to be way ahead of their grade level. She's definitely gotta be a Homeschool Super Mom. The Importance of Mothers Moms, did you ever question your value as a role model, caretaker, administer of hugs and Band-Aids? I think we all have in today's climate of "do more, get more, have more." Many of us work to bring home a paycheck and others work for our sanity. Have you ever wondered if your children were better off with the baby sitter than you? Scientific studies are beginning to point to the overwhelming value of a mother's love, hugs and support. Nannies, baby-sitters and relatives are terrific. They just aren't as terrific as Mom. Help Your children to Love Reading It is so important to create an environment that promotes the love of reading. Not only is reading necessary for survival in today's world, it is educational, it sparks imagination, it is a stress reliever, provides entertainment and enjoyment, the list goes on. His Toy, Her Toy I remember when my daughter was born. Visions of her and I dressed in pinks and purples sitting in her lacy pink room playing dolls danced threw my head. A year later my son was born ;My husbands vision of sports and trucks revved around like mad men threw his manly mind. 10 Steps To Prepare You For Life With children It's hard to explain to the uninitiated the changes that a child will bring to your life - nothing is quite the same again. If you are an expectant father (or even mother) or just considering the prospect of parenthood, do the following 10-step program so you can learn what you're in for. Babys First Month at a Glance Congratulations on your new baby! You have just brought your baby home and are pretty excited about everything. Perhaps you don't even mind the fact that getting a good night's sleep is getting tougher by the day. Strong-willed child's: Raising a Spirited child Sometimes a change of perspective can make a huge difference for parents when their children's behaviour worries them. This point was evident recently when I was involved in a minor disagreement with one of my daughters. The Homeopathic Nutraceutical Attend as an Alternative to Ritalin You no longer have to use Ritalin or other stimulants to treat ADHD. You no longer have to consider anti-depressants as the alternative to stimulants. There are other choices. Healthier choices. ADHD: Dialogue with a Non-Believer, Part Four Dear Sir, Quality Time' There's a phrase that's become popular over the past few years that fills me with wonder. That phrase is "quality time." We've all heard it, and we all seem to accept it as a real concept. But to the average country person, that phrase is difficult to comprehend. A Chart for Everything For every season, check, check, check, There is a chart, check, check, check, And a chart can replace some of your nagging. A chart for chores, A chart for grades. A chart for homework, A chart for hygiene. A chart for tracking tv. A chart for everything.... I used to spend all of my seasons nagging. The song at our home used to sound like this: "Ron, did you brush your teeth? Joe, is your snack in your bookbag? Mike, are your gymclothes ready? Ash, have you done your reading log? Ron, did you finish your math? Ron, did you vacuum the living room? Joe, did you do your social studies? Joe, is the trash at the street? Mike, did you clean the bathroom? Ash, are the dishes put away? Ron, did you brush your teeth..." We had no time of silence and no time of peace. The constant sound of my voice annoyed ME, and I know it annoyed my child's. Multiply four child's, eight daily responsibilities, about three reminders per task, and I was averaging close to 100 nags per day. Since we posted the chart, I only have to ask, "Is your chart done'" Even on bad days, nagging is only a fraction of what it was before. During school, we have chores for daily work and charts for weekend work. In the summer we have a chore chart and a very popular television spreadsheet. The boys make their own charts for homework and grades. I also have charts for me; keeping up with what is required of me is hard to remember. Charts can be prepared on a spreadsheet or word document with chores and tasks written. Visual learners may benefit from charts generated using pictures. Whatever the method, charts can provide a tangible reminder that will make the difference between a task being completed, left hanging, or forgotten. Give every season a chart, and you may discover that it will help you find more time, including a time to speak of something besides chores and homework! We have an Excel spreadsheet with examples of different types of charts that I'd be happy to send you. Send an email to goaskmom AT goaskmom.com and request this free resource. Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) for Teen Drivers Drivers 16 years of age have little driving experience, putting them at high risk for traffic accidents. A series of five research papers published in a September 2002 supplement of Injury Prevention addresses reducing this risk. The papers introduce and make a case for graduated driver licensing (GDL), the system of laws and practices that gradually introduce young drivers into the driving population. They Call it Puppy Love My son is 6 yrs old. He came home the other day from school and stated that he had two girlfriends. I asked him who they were. And he said one was in his class and the other was in the other Kindergarten class. He said one of them asked him to be her boyfriend, and the other he just liked, so she was his girlfriend too. He liked her so he assumed she was his girlfriend too. Motherhood is a Perfect Adventure How often do you think of family life as an adventure or delightful experience? If you and your children are having a good day, then you might buy into this idea. However, many of you are probably laughing hysterically now. What is delightful about the children fighting for the umpteenth time today? Sometimes I bet your family life feels like a jungle with screeching and swinging monkeys. How Do I Get My child to Read' Well first off, please to don't institute the hour of mandatory reading that so many schools and parents are so keen on these days. You want to encourage a life-long love of reading and frankly you would be much more likely to succeed by banning reading in your house then by turning reading into yet another chore that needs to be done. Secondly, you want to make sure that your child doesn't have some learning disability that makes reading hard and uncomfortable. Even a child who makes good grades can have some undetected condition that makes reading difficult. Check with your child's teacher and/or have him tested if necessary. If there is a learning disability present, experts can help your child with strategies that will make reading easier and more enjoyable. The best time to instill a love of reading in your child is before they can read. Read to them at bed time. Please don't play a bedtime video. If you are too busy to read to your child then you can play a book on tape. Just make sure that reading is part of a bedtime ritual that is comfortable and pleasant. The number one way to instill a love of reading in your child is to be an avid reader yourself. When your little girl comes to you wanting to play Barbies, you can say "One moment sweetie, I want to finish this chapter". You will be showing her by example that reading is even more fun than Barbies! If you hate to read then have yourself tested for a disability. Again you will be demonstrating how important reading is. Also think about instituting a "quiet" time during the day when you read and must not be disturbed. It would be a perfect time for them to read as well. Talk about books while eating dinner. You also need to make sure that there are plenty of books in the house. The library is great but you must also own books. They need to be available. Having no money is no excuse. There are plenty of used bookstores and flea markets with cheap books for sale. Libraries often sell books and sometimes even give them away. When I started an on-line used book store, I was immediately inundated with truckloads of books from friends who needed to clear out. Just let people know you want books and they will start to appear. Believe me! Make sure there is a wide variety of subjects and titles. You never know what will spark your child's interest. Renee's Mommy is Here I still remember the scene vividly. I was getting out of my car at the baby-sitter's house and a little boy comes running out the door. The little boys begins to yell - "Renee's Mommy is here!" I remember stopping in my tracks and thinking - "Oh, that is who I am now - Renee's Mommy." My whole identity is now Renee's Mommy - or is it?
|
| home | Parenting site map | Privacy policy |
| Copyright © 2011 parenting.babyinfocenter.com |
