Parents, guardians, and teachers all understand the importance of activity and engagement in the development of our youth. Today, children face a new challenge; technology. Namely, that means reducing screen time for kids. Here is a look at a few good ways of how to reduce screen time for children and keep them on track to live a healthy and balanced life.
People are creatures of habit. Creating a regular playtime for our kids that involves non-electronic activity will help them learn healthy habits. That might look like an hour with their favorite toys or reading and coloring, but keep it engaging. If your child is doing something they like, they are going to be more easily inclined to develop natural habits.
Get Up and Get Out
In today’s fitness-conscious world, the benefits of getting active are no longer a secret to anyone. That also means this is a great opportunity for kids and parents to get active.
A walk through your local park or perhaps a stroll through the historic downtown of a local city can be the adventure of the day. Biking or nature walks are also great ideas to get kids active with their mom and dad. This is a good way of reducing screen time for kids and adults.
Game Night
While it seems that virtually every game is available online, there is nothing like a game night with siblings or the family. Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, and Pictionary are not the same games when played online.
Set aside one night (or maybe two if everyone loves it) a week for game night. The banter, conversation, and moments experienced will provide healthy habits and memories for a lifetime.
Reducing Screen Time for Kids
There are many ways of how to reduce screen time for children. The answer to that question is also only limited by your imagination. For many parents, having children help with cooking or cleaning is an effective way of reducing screen time for kids. Additionally, it is a proven way to teach children values and to help them stay active.
Reducing screen time for kids today means more than keeping them from watching too much television. In fact, television is often the least likely suspect in our world of mobile technology. Keeping our kids active, engaged, and living a life outside of their screens isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it.
Fine motor skills are vital for all people because humans use them to complete even the most basic tasks. Tasks like shoe-tying, eating, and opening containers require such skills. Children develop their fine motor skills at varying rates, but you can help your little ones by having them participate in the following activities:
Sponge Play
Almost everyone has a sponge in the house somewhere. Thus, you don’t even have to leave your house to get started. You can set up an activity to improve fine motor skills with one sponge and two bowls.
Add water to one bowl and leave the other one dry. Next, dip the sponge into the water bowl to absorb the liquid. Then move the sponge over top of the other bowl and squeeze the water out of it. Do this process a few times to show your children how to do it. Then watch as they perform the fun process repeatedly. They’ll never even know they’re learning how to improve fine motor skills. All they’ll know is that they’re having a blast.
Painting
Finger painting is an activity that can be exhilarating for you and your children. It provides several benefits as well as fine motor skill development. Try doing hand brush painting so they’ll learn how to handle paintbrushes more steadily. Then switch over to finger painting because it will allow them to work all the muscles at once and get dirty without any repercussions.
Your children will develop stronger hand-eye coordination and open their minds to artistry. You never know what you’ll help them unleash. You might discover that one of your little ones is the next Pablo Picasso!
Silly Putty Fun
Silly putty can work well for improving your children’s fine motor skills. It’s versatile enough to work all the muscles in their little hands while simultaneously giving them a sensory blast. Hand your kids some putty and encourage them to roll, cut, squeeze, and build things with it. Additionally, you can have them put the putty into pre-cut shapes to see if they can keep it inside the lines.
Stress Ball Use
Let’s face it; little kids love those squishy stress balls many people use to get through rough workdays and complicated lives. They really do alleviate stress, and they feel pretty good in their hands. Another benefit they offer is muscle strengthening, which improves fine motor skills. Thus, you can hand your children stress balls and tell them to practice squeezing them for exercise.
Coin Stacking
You don’t have to invest a lot of money in helping your kids develop their fine motor skills. You can do it using the cash you already have. Round up all the quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies in your possession, and have your little one try to build stacks with the change. It’s an excellent way to get those small muscles working, and it helps with hand-eye coordination as well.
You’re now aware of how to stimulate fine motor development in your children. Try some of the methods mentioned above and evaluate their progress over time.
Being a parent can be wonderful one moment but draining and frustrating the next. Whether they display emotional outbursts, temper tantrums, or general bad behavior, there are many reasons why your child could be misbehaving at home or school. These could be different situations like stress, fatigue, hunger, and other biological causes.
In some cases, it could be communication issues. This behavior can be challenging as it mostly comes at the most inappropriate times. If you’re struggling to manage a misbehaving child, there’s always something you can do to help them improve. Experts recommend treating such children as people with vulnerable nervous systems, not "problematic children."
What Is Normal Behavior for a Child?
Normal behavior depends on a child’s personality, health condition, age, and emotional and physical development. A child’s problem can be challenging if it’s disruptive or doesn’t match the family’s expectations. Good behavior is generally determined based on what is acceptable in the social, cultural, and developmental setting.
Understanding what to expect from your child is the best way to know whether their behavior is normal or not. Remember, your child isn’t perfect. They will make mistakes daily as they learn to live around others, around schools, hospitals, malls, parks, and other public places.
How To Handle a Misbehaving Child. Managing a Misbehaving Child
Here are three tips for handling a misbehaving child.
Avoid Punishing
No matter how irritating a child can get, resist the urge to punish them. Your child could be stressed, and punishing isn’t the best way to handle stress. Children also experience bad feelings. They can misbehave if they’re hungry, tired, sleepy, or annoyed by something. Punishing such a child can worsen the situation and make the child more difficult.
Identify Stressors in Your Child’s Life
Stress in children may involve everything in their life, including yours. It could be their relationships, schoolwork, extracurricular activities, or even your relationship with them or with other people that connect to you, such as your spouse. Some children can act up for simple reasons such as too much light, noise, or odor. When you identify these stressors, you can help your child feel more comfortable and prevent bad behavior.
Find Calming Strategies That Work for Your Child
Before you train your child to calm down, ensure you’re calm when addressing them. Stop, breathe, and react calmly to what they’re doing. Talk to them calmly, and don’t shout even if they become problematic. Every child uses a unique technique to replenish energy and reduce tension. Some children can calm down through simple breathing exercises. You can encourage them to try activities that bring them joy, such as taking a walk, playing with their pet, or practicing their favorite sport.
We Can Help Your Child Be a Child
Do you need a learning program that supports your child’s body, mind, and spirit? At Kids Kingdom Learning Center, we offer a toddler and infant learning program with plenty of hands-on activities. Book an appointment with us to find out if our program fits your child’s needs.
Children need structure and discipline to adjust and exist in the world. It is so important to ensure that you are finding healthy ways to discipline your child that actually work. There are so many methods for disciplining your child. Here are some that are proven to help.
Healthy Methods To Discipline a Child
Children are tough. They try to push your buttons and do whatever it takes to get their way. There are so many methods that work and that can actually help you get your children back in line. The first is that you need to model the correct behavior. Children are creatures of habit and learn from example and from what they see. If they are exhibiting a behavior that you do not like or that is not acceptable, you need to model what behavior you would like to see.
Another great method is to set limits that are consistent and that you have clearly defined for your child. If you have boundaries set, you can let your child know what they can and cannot do, what happens when they reach those limits, and even when they push past them. You also need to remember that when you are dealing with children, they will not believe they did anything wrong if you are not providing consequences for their actions.
With any child, you also need to hear them out. If they do something you do not want them to do, they may have had a reason in their mind for why it was acceptable. It is always ideal to listen to your child and give them the attention they are craving so that you can find out why they do what they do. Not all behaviors deserve or even need a response.
Even if a child is doing something that might not be on task or that might not be the exact behavior you want, it is important to note that not all behaviors should elicit a response from you as a parent. If you have a child that gets praise for good behavior, showing them that you do not respond to bad behavior may be a good way to discourage it.
How Should I Discipline My Child?
Every child is different. No blanket discipline is going to work for every single child. What works for one child may not work for another. When it comes to your child, it is always best to try out a few different methods until you find one that fits your child and helps them act better. You need to take the time to find what works for you and your child.
There are so many methods for discipline to stick to one method entirely. It is always best to take the time to find out what works for your child so both of you can be happy with the outcome.
How to wean your child off a pacifier is often a challenging task for parents. After all, the soothing sucking most likely provided more than comfort to the baby — it probably gave you some moments of peace as well. Ridding your little one of the sucking device requires knowing when to wean off a pacifier and a whole host of patience.
When To Wean the Pacifier
Timing is everything when it comes to pacifier weaning. The Academy of Pediatrics AAP actually recommends pacifier use for up to six months during sleep times to help reduce the risk of SIDS Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. However, after your baby turns one year, they no longer recommend using a pacifier since it has been associated with developing middle ear infections. AAP recommends weaning from the pacifier sometime during the second six months of life.
Dentists have weighed in on the opinion as well. Most dentists agree that it is best to wean away from the pacifier after the first year of life so it doesn’t become an issue with swallowing patterns, tongue positioning which guides the upper and lower jaw growth and developing cross bites.
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry AAPD recommends that children put an end to their non-nutritive sucking habits by the time they are 3 years old or younger. Breaking the pacifier habit by 2 or 2.5 years is best.
Steps for Weaning From Pacifier
While some kids have no problem ditching the pacifier, others are very attached. The actual process of ridding your baby’s mouth from the soothing sucking aid can be extremely tedious and tricky.
Some tricks that have worked for other parents include:
Positive Approach
Always stay encouraging throughout the entire pacifier weaning process. Do not scold the child. Instead, offer praise when they are not sucking.
Modify the Nipple
Start by cutting off a small sliver of the tip of the nipple. Slowly and gradually, cut off more as you go. Eventually, the baby will find that the pacifier no longer provides comfort.
Replacement
Replace the pacifier with another soothing item, like a small blanket or stuffed animal. While this method may simply transfer the attachment, it is at least taking away the physical problems that the pacifier can cause.
Count Down
If the child is old enough to understand, discuss with them a day or timeframe when they will need to give up the pacifier. Count down with fun stickers and excitement.
Party Time
Host a going-away party for all the pacifiers in the house. Make sure it’s not a sudden, surprise party! Talk about it ahead of time, so the child has time to prepare.
Bottom Line
While babies develop a need to suck before they are even born, hanging onto the pacifier well into their toddlerhood can cause some dental or ear infection issues. Know when and how to wean your child off their pacifier, and be sure to give yourself a pat on the back when it’s all said and done.
