How Reading More Can Make Kids Kinder

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Child reading educational books

Reading has been linked to many successes, and for the most part is often discussed in relation to a child’s academic success. Related reading skills, like writing and comprehension, can help kids better understand new ideas, abstract concepts, and retain information. When it comes to personal growth, reading can broaden a child’s mind, expose them to new perspectives, and give them insight to others’ experiences in a unique way.

Exposure

Reading can be an exploratory experience. Even if you’re sitting and reading a book in your own home, the words on the pages of the book can transport you anywhere in the world. For kids, being exposed to other cultures, ideas, and kinds of people can be incredibly beneficial for their developing minds. Learning about other parts of the world and the people that live there can be educational, but it can also be informative in a different way. People in different parts of the world may have different kinds of daily struggles, ways of life, and modes of thinking and speaking, and learning about these things can be important for people of all ages, especially children. Understanding different kinds of people opens doors to greater tolerance and understanding, and also helps kids understand that despite many things, different people can also be similar as well.

Empathy

Reading a book from someone else’s perspective, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, can help kids understand how other people feel and better understand others’ emotions. This can translate to interpersonal interactions easily, making it much more natural for kids to sympathize and empathize with others, understand where they may be coming from, or what they may be going through.

Emoting

Understanding emotions can also help kids become better at communicating their own thoughts and feelings, too. A better understanding of emotion, and the thought processes behind it, can help kids see themselves in others and have a better idea of how to handle delicate situations. Expressing oneself is just as important as understanding other people’s emotions, and when kids have a more thorough understanding of these things, it makes it easier for them to know how to comfort others and recognize situations in which they can help someone else.

Kindness often comes from a place of understanding and seeing situations for what they are, even if it is from a different perspective. The more kids understand about other people, cultures, and situations different from their own, the more tolerant, caring and compassionate they can be as they grow into fully fledged adults.

Activities to Improve Early Development

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Mom and Baby sensory activities

 

People may associate school with learning, but while the world of academia may revolve around schools and other institutions of learning, it can actually happen anywhere and everywhere – especially when it comes to young children. The world is full of things for kids to explore and it is important that they experience as much as possible. Encourage kids to observe, ask questions, and invite them to start learning (and never stop) by inspiring cognitive and language development with these fun, everyday activities.

Textures on Textures

Young kids, namely toddlers, tend to be sensory learners, exploring the world around them with touch, smell, and taste. It’s no wonder that kids love putting their toys in their mouths, or grabbing everything within reach. Keeping this in mind, think of textures, scents and other dazzling things that can grab your child’s attention as well as teach them about the things they see every day. Arts and crafts can allow kids to get tactile with things like beans, cotton balls, pastas, and pipe cleaners. You can even incorporate sensory learning into reading as well! Books aimed at infants are often bulky and made from touch cardboard with the intention that kids will want to touch them or even try to bite them – so let them! Even if your toddler is gnawing on a book instead of reading it, they are becoming familiar with the object in a way they know how. Let kids trace letters, get messy with finger paints, and experiment with other objects they can touch and feel, or even smell and taste depending on the materials you have available.

Measure for Measure

Kids may not totally understand the US measurement system in inches or feet yet, but they can become more familiar with the concept of measuring. Instead of using rulers and tape measures, ask your kids to measure things around the house in objects they are more familiar with: How tall is the table in Legos? How long is the kitchen counter in apples? This can easily turn into a fun game that allows kids to use more familiar sensory objects to understand more abstract ideas and concepts.

Get Labeling

For apprentice readers, reading anything and everything is practice. When making a meal, ask kids to read off the labels of ingredients to you or ask them to help you work your way through the dinner menu. Slap labels on everyday household objects, even the tables and chairs, to get kids used to the idea of reading and making connections. Aside from labeling, you can also make it a habit to ask kids about what letters are in the words of the things around them – What letter does “light” start with? How many objects around the house start with the letter T?

With these everyday activities you can improve early development in children and provide a life long love of learning.

Time-Out Mistakes and How to Solve Them

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Child on time out

Disciplining a child can be tough, no matter what your methods, but one time-tested method that many parents resort to is time-out. Time out can be enacted to calm a hysteric, tantrum-throwing child or help drive a point home about certain behaviors. It can also provide kids with time to think about their actions and about how they carry themselves, too. As time-trusted and wide-spread as this method of discipline is, many parents don’t always experience the results they expect to gain from it.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends time-outs as an effective discipline strategy, saying that “ignoring, removing, or withholding parent attention to decrease the frequency or intensity of undesirable behaviors” is “especially important in promoting positive child behavior.” But in order for time-outs to be truly effective, parents need to know how to go about enforcing them.

The Empty Threat

Saying you’re going to send a child to time-out might sound like a warning, but for some kids, it could soon become an idle threat that they know won’t be enacted. Sometimes, saying that time-out, or any other disciplinary measure, is imminent can get kids to reevaluate their behavior on the fly and adjust accordingly, but when only threatened enough times, kids may begin to think that time-out is not a reality. When warning kids to use time-out, do so in a firm voice and be prepared to follow through. Like any other punishment, time-out can be adjusted to the situation, but acting on your word can make this method much more effective on a consistent basis.

Too Much or Too Little Time Out

Some experts claim that time-out length should correlate with a child’s age. Kids under the age of two are not likely to be affected by any kind of time-out method, but otherwise time-out (when timed properly) can be helpful. Some studies support the age/minute method, dishing out 2 minutes of time-out for a 2-year-old and 3 minutes for a 3-year-old etc. But others think that a flat, and consistent, five minutes is enough. See what works best for your kids and go from there.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Time-outs don’t help when your child might actually want a time-out. If your child is acting out in places where they already don’t like being, such as the grocery store, giving them a time-out is only giving them what they want. Find other small disciplinary measures to take, such as removing a privilege or a toy, or delaying some other activity later on.

Location, Location, Location

“Go to your room!” may sound like a common disciplinary phrase, but sending a child to their room for time-out may not have the desired or intended effect if their room is full of their own belongings, toys, etc. Find a place where kids are more or less forced to focus on their actions, such as a laundry room or bathroom where they may not forget about their punishment and find themselves distracted.