Tag: parenting advice

How To Handle Picky Eaters

Posted on | by KD Novelties


Picky Eaters

How to Handle Picky Eaters and What May Help Them Get Over It

Many kids are known for being picky eaters, and there may be reasons for that. Certain vegetables or greens can taste bitter to a child’s hypersensitive taste buds.

Other foods, like cilantro, can taste soapy to certain individuals while it may taste delicious to others. In other cases, however, picky eating may just come down to preferences and experiences. Kids who are not exposed to other foods may become cautious eaters and grow hesitant to trying something new. However, other kids may have a legitimate issue with texture and taste.

Hows and Whys

The first step to understanding your picky eater is to figure out where their pickiness comes from. If it’s a matter of taste and texture, you can try and work around these issues by sticking to foods that do not have these features. For instance, if broccoli is too bitter, sweet peas may be a better tasting alternative. If it all comes down to fear of the unknown, then there are some other things you can consider.

A Head’s Up

Giving kids options, or letting them know what is available, can help them eat what’s in front of them. If they are conditioned to believe that you’ll whip up some macaroni and cheese anytime they don’t like or refuse to eat something, they may begin refusing to eat certain foods outright without even trying.

You can let them know ahead of time what to expect when it comes time to eat. Letting them know that if they don’t like what’s on the menu is fine. But you can also emphasize that there are no other options.

Allowing kids to know what to expect and giving them a window can help mentally prepare them for the meal to come. This will also help prevent a tantrum, especially if they might otherwise be surprised by a new or unfamiliar food. Another option is to get kids involved in cooking so that they are more likely to eat if they were a part of the process.

Keep it Fresh

Spicing things up a bit can help, too. Keep in mind though that taste buds are sensitive in children. However, exposing them to different flavors, spices, and other ingredients early on can help make new foods more familiar to them. If they have something to refer back to, they may be more adventurous and willing to try new dishes.

Make it a Group Activity

Eating as a family certainly helps, too. When you eat as a unit, it becomes more of a family activity rather than a chore, especially for kids who would much rather play than eat a meal. Plus, plenty of studies show that kids who eat dinner with their families have healthier diets, better vocabularies, and much more.

You can still expect kids to get squirmy after a while and not finish everything on their plate, but by making dinner and other meals a sit-down family affair, it can help coerce them into being a part of the activity itself and come to really appreciate family meals together.

A Little Bribery Can Go a Long Way…

If all else fails, you can always promise them ice cream. While you shouldn’t allow them to replace a meal with a treat, the idea of a treat afterward, or when a good portion of the food is gone can help. You can also apply this to seconds, as well. However, if your child prefers one part of the main course over another, no seconds will be allowed. Once they’ve eaten a good amount of their vegetables or other healthy side also included in the meal.

How to Set a Smart Toddler Schedule

Posted on | by KD Novelties

How to set a toddler schedule

Toddlers are known for being testy. While they learn the ways of the world around them, they are constantly learning and exploring, experiencing new things, and processing everything that they are taking in. In addition to learning how to communicate effectively, as well as understand others, a lot of this can be overwhelming for both the child and the parent, which can make getting anything done a challenge.

When it comes to setting up a daily schedule, it helps to stick to a routine, but allow yourself some wiggle room.

Make a List

Knowing what you need to get done is key, but how you will go about doing that may change. Keeping a list can help you stay organized and on-task even when things run a little later than intended or other things come up. When it comes to basic everyday essentials like breakfast, bath time, bed time etc., it helps to have a routine and stick to it. Routines help toddlers adjust to certain tasks, but sticking to them too much without much deviation can be tricky for you and sometimes bothersome for kids, especially if they aren’t sure what to expect or were expecting something else. In either case, routine activities should adhere to the same general rules every day, and all other activities and tasks can be scheduled around them. That way, if something doesn’t go according to plan, you still have the bare essentials down so you can stay on top of things and your toddler can rest easy.

Prioritizing Preparation

With toddlers, it helps to be ready for anything. With kids, it can be hard not to find a single stretch of time, whether it be in the morning before breakfast or right after dinner, where it makes sense to try and get everything done at once. It may make sense at first, but this can conflict with a toddler’s need for structure. Skipping a certain activity, especially if it is one that is part of your regular routine, it helps to have some alternatives in your back pocket to prevent any crankiness. Keep a diaper bag or other purse with some backup snacks, toys, and other tools that can help you in a pinch when you really need to get something done.

Be Flexible

It’s hard to balance structure and routine with being busy and unpredictability, and it can be even more challenging when a toddler is thrown into the mix. If something needs to be changed, rescheduled, or forgotten all together, you want to know that your child will be able to handle it. Routine is good for kids, but they shouldn’t grow too reliant on it either. Teaching them to be adaptable is important, so in between routine play times, snack times, and errands, make sure you add some variety to your daily routine whether it involves scheduling a playdate, going to a different park, or even alternating certain activities on different days.

Minimizing Melt-Downs

Sometimes, things come up and they can’t be ignored. Whether it’s a family emergency or a surprise visit from relatives, the change in routine can be difficult for your child to process if they are still very young. Providing some kind of set schedule and routine can help give kids a sense of normalcy, but it can also be harmful too. This is why no matter what happens, whether it is a an emergency or a small change of plans, it helps to sit down and talk with your child. They may not understand why things need to change and may feel uncomfortable as a result, but providing them with an explanation and some reassurance that things will be fine or certain things can be done later will help instill them with a sense of calm.

Remember, scheduling with a toddler can be difficult. Keep some basic building blocks in mind when it comes to routine, but keep things open, flexible and subject to change if need be. The everyday routine of some activities can give kids the balance and stability they need, but the exposure to the unexpected will help them in the present as well as later in life.

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.