What a Child’s Behavior Tells Us

I loved reading this article in The Benton County Daily Record by Maren Schmidt.   Schmidt writes about knowing whether your child’s development is “on track.”

The most interesting part of the article for me was how to observe and learn from your child’s behavior.  Children long for structure and high expectations.  If they don’t receive consistent doses of these important parenting must-haves, they will deteriorate into unpleasant little beings.

Here is an excerpt of Schimdt’s article:

Behavior is, of course, a key component to our children’s development. In normal development, we should observe children who are joyful, pleasant, eager to please and connected to their families and homes. Two “emotional vitamins” for proper child development, recommended by Robert Shaw, M.D., are clear structure and expectations.

Shaw, author of “The Epidemic: The Rot of American Culture, Absentee and Permissive Parenting, and the Resultant Plague of Joyless, Selfish Children,” says that “excessive tantrums, persistent bedtime issues and aggression toward playmates” are signs that development is going awry in the 3- to 6-year-old. These behaviors are a cry from the child for the parent to take charge and provide clear family structure and expectations for behavior. If unacceptable behaviors are given in to and the child placated, you have started on the path to a defiant, unruly child. Left unchallenged, the child’s behavior will become more and more difficult to handle.

To read more… click here.

Re-invent the US education system – make a difference for your child

Twenty first century skills are the backbone to innovation in business and competitiveness in global markets. Our children have to be taught how to think outside of the box and become creative thinkers. Textbooks aren’t producing the types of employees innovative companies need. We must change course…rethink the way we train students to think and learn.

In my opinion, this begins at birth. The brain is ready to make connections and lots of them the day a baby is born. We have to stop telling ourselves that babies aren’t “ready” for experiences and learning (because they are ‘just babies’). Repetitive language, experiences and activities over time are necessary for hard-wiring the brain to think at a high level and in an innovative fashion.

Google has mastered the brain’s formula. The brain makes associations to develop memory. For the brain to make associations it must have an infinite number of experiences by which to attach prior knowledge to make a new association. For example, if you are searching in Google or your brain for that matter, for information about poetry, you will retrieve information on poetry and other material that is associated with poetry. You will probably be connected to or reminded of famous poets and writers. You will recall or be directed to information on how to write, writing styles, penmanship, rhyme, classes being offered for poetry, music and art. All of these topics are associated with poetry.

However, in our current education system we teach in a linear fashion where students learn information a mile wide (lots of unconnected concepts, skills and information) and never connect most of that learning in a deep way to other concepts or apply it in a real world fashion. The brain doesn’t retrieve information from memorized lists, charts or textbook questions which is the exact way most children are being taught to learn (and hopefully retain) skills and information today.

According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Society for Quality (ASQ)- a professional association that offers training and tools to educators and businesses – adults agree with educators that schools are not making 21st-century skills a priority.

In fact, 96 percent of adults believe that students today need to improve upon the skills needed to succeed in the 21st century. Skills listed by adults and parents as needing more development include organizational skills, communication skills, problem solving and reasoning, creativity, teamwork, and science and technology skills.

Learning early gives every child a chance to be and do what they want to do in our new global world.  Wiggle Giggle Learn is your source for developing high level skills and brain power in your child beginning at birth.

How baby sign language benefits an infant’s development

“What we know about infants in their very first years of life is, they’re very frustrated because they can’t communicate,” said Dr. Linda Acredolo, co-founder of the Baby Signs Institute. “So by providing them with very simple signs, like the deaf community uses, we find that we can lower frustration and really make a bond that’s warm and rich between parent and child.”

“Good Morning America” parenting contributor Ann Pleshette Murphy says most parents use signs to try to communicate with babies every day, but using sign language takes it one step further. Murphy says the key to making signing work is repetition.

“There’s no doubt in our minds that the most important message for parents is to know that the signing will help you and your baby connect in a richer way,” Acredolo said. “The social and emotional benefits to the family are really a most important advantage of signing with your baby.”

For more information on the Baby Signs program visit their website at www.babysigns.com

Success tips on how to begin signing with baby can be found at Baby Classroom.

How to provide preschool when you can’t afford to send your child

In today’s economy many families are being forced to remove their children from daycares and preschools due to the heavy expense.  This is leaving many families with a feeling of worry that their children will not be successful upon entering school since they are being deprived of this important experience.  Understandably families are frustrated and concerned but there are many things you can do at home to keep your children busy and learning as if they were still in “school.”

Does this mean you are going to have to evolve into a “teacher” and have rigid order in the home – absolutely not!  In fact, quite the contrary.  The hard part for teachers is the sheer number of children they have in the classroom.  When you have that many little ones together in a room you have to create order first so that learning will occur second.  However, in your home environment this is not the case.

Wiggle Giggle Learn offers weekly activity plans that provide a daily activity/game/tip and educational goals  for your child’s developmental age.  For less than two dollars a week you can be your child’s first teacher and the worries of not being able to afford academic childcare/preschool will be gone forever.

Here is a list of things you may want to use to keep the learning going at home:

Social Development

1. Take your children on weekly trips to the park or a fast food play area to interact with other children – make sure to teach them rules in these areas, like wait your turn and slide down the slide instead of walking up it.

2. Have pretend tea parties or camp outs with your children’s favorite stuffed animals and encourage them to have imaginary dialogue with the stuffed friends – this will not take much encouragement because most three to five year olds naturally talk to and for inanimate things

Emotional Development

1. Take turns allowing your children to be leader of various rituals in the home – if you have a single child, take turns between you and the child – leadership builds self-esteem and confidence

2. Think of all the great character traits you want your child to display and model them daily.  Talk about what it means to be empathetic, responsible, gracious, a friend and so on

Mathematical Development

1. Point out numbers every where in the environment (clock, microwave, watch, television, grocery store labels, speed limit, etc…) and read the together

2. Count Cheerios at snack time to at least 20.  On some days divide snack equally by giving one to mommy and one to me until all the snack is gone.  Count backwards by eating a piece of the snack and taking a number away after each piece is gone – 10, 9, 8, 7…

3. Practice writing numbers in the air with your fingers.  Practice writing numbers on your child’s back so they feel the stroke movement with your finger.  Practice writing numbers in shaving cream on the bathtub wall.  Practice tracing numbers (largely written) that mom or dad wrote on a piece of paper.

4. Sort everything you can and in every way you can.  For example, sort the laundry by types of clothes (socks, underwear, shirts, etc…) and by colors and sizes.  Sort silverware, plastic bowls, toys, groceries and so on.  Categorizing, sorting and making patterns are critical for early math development.

Scientific Development

1. Spend a lot of time in nature investigating sights, smells, textures, tastes (when safe and appropriate).  Use science tools in nature like a magnifying glass and thermometer.

2. Ask lots of questions and try to implement experiments to see what happens.  Why is ice hard?  What do seeds grow into?

3. Allow your child to cook with you at least one day a week.  Use tools such as measuring cups and spoons and read the recipe together.

Language Development

1. Read to your child at different times during every day for at least 30 minutes total.  Reading only at bedtime teaches your child to fall asleep to stories – not exactly what you want them to do when the teacher is reading books at school.

2. Use varied vocabulary and match oral words to the actual object or a picture of the object in a book, on a flashcard or on a video/tv.  You need to speak at least 30,000 words a day to your child from birth.  Be elaborate and expect them to begin using larger vocabulary.  For example, instead of calling bugs, “bugs” – call them by their proper name – “insects.”  Use the word “vehicles” to define a group of cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc… and explain how they all fit into a group.  Also, define objects deeply and not just on the surface.  Your five year old child should know this much about apples:  it is a fruit, it grows on trees, it has seeds, it can be red, green or yellow, some are sweet and some are sour, it has skin.

3. Ask questions after events in a day or after reading a story that help your child begin to “order” events from beginning to middle to end.  This skill is critical to story comprehension and overall reading and writing success.  Talk about and create rituals (morning routine, bedtime routine) that have an order and say that order aloud as you complete the events.

4. Teach your child the letters of the alphabet by introducing their letter sound with the actual letter.  Work on learning the letters in his/her name and parents names first because they mean the most to the child.  Teach them that each letter makes a different sound and looks different.  Use ABC puzzles, books, alphabet cereal and french fries and magnetic letters to help him/her get a deeper understanding of the letters by using the senses to learn them.  Hang an alphabet chart on your wall.  Praise your child for trying to name the letter and say the sound.  Associate the letters with words that begin with that letter for long-term memory of the letters.

5. Teach your child to write his/her name and recognize (read) it.  You will begin writing the letters in the air to feel the direction of the strokes.  Then use shaving cream in the bathtub to continue the sensory use of the fingers.  You will know when your child is ready to write on paper – don’t push her too early or she will not want to write at all.

Physical Development

1. Teach your child to hop, skip, gallop, balance on one leg, button, snap, zip and use scissors

2. Use a lot of playdough and silly putty to develop the small muscles in the hands that are necessary for using scissors and writing utensils properly.

Wiggle Giggle Learn offers weekly activity plans that provide a daily activity/game/tip and educational goals  for your child’s developmental age.  For less than two dollars a week you can be your child’s first teacher and the worries of not being able to afford academic childcare/preschool will be gone forever.

Nutrition for babies, toddlers and preschoolers – what to eat?

What should your child be eating at each age and stage?

I have searched high and low to find the very best resources for you become informed and make the best decisions possible for your child’s nutrition and health.  With obesity being the number one health condition in children under sixteen years old, good nutrition and exercise  is something we simply can’t ignore.

For babies – visit Wholesome Baby Foods

The baby solid food charts on the following pages are general guidelines with solid baby foods that are age appropriate.

For toddlers – visit MyPyramid.gov

Enter your child’s information below for a customized MyPyramid Plan. The Plan will show what and how much your child should eat to meet his or her needs.

For preschoolers - visit Preschool Rock

Need a quick reference for planning your preschooler’s meals? You can use the Food Guide Pyramid as a framework to shape what and how much your preschooler eats each day.
Still more… do you want to watch the hassle of figuring out the daily menus disappear?  I personally love the menu subscription service – Dine Without Whine – A Family Friendly Weekly Menu Planner.  Check it out – I think you will like it too!

Early education is the key to retaining good nutrition and exercise habits in the future.