Love Your Child month continues with this double-duty tip: Build your child’s brain and body. Provide healthful meals and snacks and model good eating habits. Encourage exercise by being active with your child and limiting time in front of the television or video games. Support your child’s efforts in school and provide opportunities to learn […]

Appreciate the value of play: it is a child’s work. Play is critical to all aspects of a child’s development, but is often overlooked as a valuable tool. Play can prevent discipline problems, offers a natural way for children to learn, and forms a positive relationship between parent and child. My question to you is: […]

Today’s Love Your Child Month tip is about giving your children appropriate ways to feel valued. If you don’t, they will seek attention in all of the wrong places. Ways to help them feel valuable are to ask their advice, give them choices, let them help you balance your check book, cook all or part of […]

Children feel loved when they feel safe. Make your child feel safe today. Comfort them when they’re scared. Show them you’ve taken steps to protect them. When you tuck them into bed at night, make the rounds under the bed, in the closet and behind the dressers to let them know that the Boogie monster […]

Every day is worth celebrating. Why wait until Christmas or Easter to have a holiday? Make up your own! It can be a weekly celebration (ice cream sundaes on Sundays) or something silly and routine (trips to the zoo to kick off the first day of every month). Whatever it is, you get to celebrate […]

Tip #6: When your child gets everything done with time to spare, make sure he/she gets to do something fun! It’s important to make sure enough time is allowed for everything to be done, praise is readily given and access to the fun activity is available after everything else is finished. Sound off in the […]

Parents want their children to excel in whatever they attempt to do – soccer practice, choir, dance class, math tests, perfect attendance, and even brushing their teeth properly. But few people – let alone children – are great at everything. Take the time to pat your child on the back for what they do well: even if […]

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily whirlwind of activities – working, cooking, cleaning, exercising, list making, packing lunches, wiping noses and maybe grabbing a few seconds of shuteye. But it’s extra important that you make the effort to stop and listen when your child has something to say – it shows that […]

On day three of Love Your Child Month, my tip to parents is to dust off your favorite childhood board game and declare tonight family fun night. Quality time = lifetime of memories…that’s probably how the board game you have in mind became your favorite!

I’d love for visitors to share ideas on activities parents can engage in with their children!