Category: parenting tips

Make the Most of Family Time

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Family time is essential, but unfortunately seldom for many families. Between work, school, chores and other daily tasks and worries, it can be hard to find some time to really sit down and relax with one another. No matter how busy life can be, there are some life hacks that can help to maximize family time, regardless of your busy schedule.

Collaborative Meal Time
Studies have shown that families that eat together, and make a habit of sharing sit-down meals, fare better in many aspects of their lives – outside of familial bonding, kids who eat dinner every night with their families are shown to perform better in school and develop key communications skills as well. But making dinner, or any other meal, is only half the battle, so why not include the rest of the family in on the gig?

Having kids read instructions, gather and measure ingredients and perform other culinary tasks can help their reading, math, problems solving and even their domestic skills. Additionally, kids who help prepare their food are more likely to try new things or even eat their vegetables. But most importantly, by making and sharing meals together, you’re also creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Involve the Kids
Errands can get in the way of things you might want to do more, whether it’s family game night or going to a movie. But sometimes simply spending time in the same room together can be enough. If you can, try to complete menial chores like organizing, folding laundry, or even cleaning together with your kids. Getting chores out of the way is important, but completing them together can help make a difference. If you can find ways to compromise, like going through your receipts while kids complete their homework, can still provide for time together if while you’re getting separate things done at once.

Weed Out Time Wasters
Many of us do things out of habit and may not realize just how much time out of our day we spend doing those things. Scrolling through Facebook, checking email, playing games and other distractions can take up more time than you realize. While it’s still essential that everyone in the family have time to themselves, you might find that you do certain things more than you realized and that you could do with some cutting down.

Revise Your To-Do List
It’s easy to overload your To-Do List, and many people feel like their list just never ends. It may help to take another look at your list and see what’s actually feasible. One great way to do this is to categorize your tasks by priority. This way, you can still have important things listed that you may not get around to today, but don’t feel so bad about completing tomorrow. And while you’re revising and reorganizing your list, make sure to schedule in some family time! Time can easily slip away from people, especially those with already busy schedules, but penciling in a reminder is a great way to tell yourself that you should take a break and consider what’s really important in life for a moment, and make some memories.

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How To Raise Smart Kids

Posted on | by KD Novelties
Many parents would like to think that their child is smart or will grow up to be smart and successful in some capacity. While a person’s IQ largely depends on genetics and nutrition, there are some things that you can do in order to help raise a smart child. Exposing your child to new things, expanding their minds and their areas of interest, allowing them to have new and exciting experiences, and a wealth of other things, if encouraged early on in life, can help you raise a child with a love for learning.
Reading Personalized Books
Make reading and music a part of their lives. Reading is an essential skill, and learning to read can allow kids to learn a plethora of other things. Reading comprehension skills are great for understanding abstract concepts that can help push the limits of your child’s mind as well as their imagination. Learning to read and play music also has similar capabilities, and studies have shown that children who play instruments generally perform better academically as well.
Make math part of the conversation. Math can be a difficult topic to weave into everyday life, but it can be easier than you think. If your child is familiar with basic math concepts like addition and subtraction, especially in everyday, applicable formats, it will be much easier for them to pick up on the subject when it is taught to them formally in school. Even saying things as simple as “we’ll eat breakfast in five minutes” or pointing out and asking kids to count the things that they see daily can help condition their mind to notice patterns and compute information that is conducive to understanding math and similar concepts.
Bring out the blocks, puzzles and board games. These sorts of toys are great, both for parents as well as for kids. For parents, blocks and other puzzle-like games can help keep kids quiet and occupied, but these sorts of activities are great for teaching kids how to use their minds and develop strong problem-solving skills. These games also teach kids a lot about spacial reasoning and cognitive skills.
Limit the rules. As a parent, you will certainly need to set some guidelines for behavior, but it is important that you do not stifle your child as a person, either. Enforcing too many rules can be more stressful than you think, even if you think you are helping your child. Make sure that they are safe, but allowing children to have experiences, to make mistakes and to think independently will do more for their overall personal development than giving them a strict, regimented lifestyle would.

Personalized Puzzles for Kids
Let them be bored.You may feel like you’re doing something wrong if your child complains of boredom, but a parent’s job is not one of an entertainer. Allowing kids to be bored forces them to use their minds, it allows for them to be creative and self-sufficient, even if it only happens after a considerable amount of complaining.
Stay crafty.Speaking of boredom, keeping a variety of different things around the house for them to play with, experiment with and explore can help boost their creative abilities, as well as their motor skills. With craft supplies in abundance, kids can bring things to life with their imagination and ingenuity. Even if your child is not inherently artistic, crafts can help develop fine motor skills and allows for kids to be creative regardless of skill.
Ask them questions. Parents may be more used to answering questions than asking them, but asking your children a variety of different things can help encourage them to solve problems on their own. When a ball gets stuck or your child cannot reach something that they want, ask them if they can come up with ways to retrieve the item themselves. Even if you end up fulfilling their request, asking your kids questions like these can help bolster their problem solving skills and their ability to think outside the box. You can also ask questions when they learn new things or read a new book, which can help boost their memory and help them retain new information as well.
Encourage them to take risks… and fail. This can be difficult for parents to do in practice, but it is important that children learn lessons like these. Kids should be confident enough to follow their dreams, but it is also important for them to learn from their mistakes as well. Not only will this help children grow emotionally in a significant and personal way, but it will also help drive them even more when they get back up and follow their dreams again. Parents who coddle or hover over their children, protecting them from even the most minor hurts and inconveniences are not actually helping their child, even if they feel they are. Doing so will not prepare children to be the independent individuals that they need to be as functioning adults. Hence, they will not be able to deal with failure, whether big or small, or taking these fallbacks too personally and not believing that they are fallible at all.
Stay positive. Aside from big dreams and potential mistakes, staying positive through it all can help your child get through it. Encourage them to go after new things, let them pursue new interests and ask questions without fear of reproach. Being open and honest with your kids can help create a positive atmosphere that allows them to be themselves, to explore, and to trust in you when they need you.


Don’t Just "Watch" Your Kids Spend "Time" With Them

Posted on | by KD Novelties

So many of us lead busy lives, especially those of us who are also raising families. Finding time for quality family activities can be difficult, and for parents who have endless chores, household tasks and other errands to run while also raising children, its even more difficult. Often, parents delegate the task of “watching the kids” between one another, and occasionally older children, so that everything can get done while the smaller kids are still looked after. But “watching” your kids is different than spending time with them, so how can you create a better balance with all of your responsibilities while also allotting for family time and making sure that the children are well-behaved and safe?

Finding time to spend with your family can be a struggle, but it is also one of those things that you will regret missing out on. As kids grow older, their interests change and sooner or later, they grow up fast and move out on their own. Sure, it is the responsibility of a parent to ensure that their kids and their family are provided for, but it is also important to spend time with them when you can as well.

It can be difficult to find time to spend together, but there are some ways in which you can incorporate your errands and life’s other tasks with spending quality time with your kids.

Cook together. Cooking together has shown to have many positive benefits for both parents and children alike. Asking your child to read off ingredients and instructions to you while you prepare a recipe can help to engage their reading and comprehension skills. When kids have a hand in the meals that they eat, they are more likely to try new foods, especially vegetables or healthier dishes, which kids are notorious for being reluctant to try. It also provides you and your child with a wealth of quality memories that you will share forever.

Eat together. Sharing meals is also important. Studies have shown that there are plenty of advantages to spending at least one meal with your entire family on a regular basis where everyone sits down together, talks, and spends time together. Not only does this allow you to spend some quality time together, but it provides you with a time in which you can discuss what’s going on in your lives, the neighborhood, or even the world, and it is a routine that can be incredibly beneficial to the overall foundation of your family, too.

Play! The idea that parents need to “watch” their children can oftentimes put a negative lens over the notion of parenting. “Watching” your kids makes your responsibility as a parent more akin to babysitting, which is not what a parent should do. Sure, there will be times where you need to complete a task or run errands while your children are around and you will need to keep an eye on them in order to make sure that they are okay, but labeling the act of being an active parent as “watching” kids can be detrimental. Try to take some time to get down on the floor next to your child and play with what they’re playing. Play a game, read a book, put on a play, or even watch their favorite show with them, while asking them questions about their favorite character or favorite part of the episode along the way.

There are ways in which you can be an active parent instead of being a passive one. When you can, try to incorporate your children into your tasks, such as cooking or cleaning, and make sure that you spend some time playing with them and learning about their interests. Even fleeting moments can be meaningful, and these moments can certainly add up and grow even more meaningful over time.