Play is the work of the child:

Play activities are essential to healthy development for children and adolescents. Research shows that 75% of brain development occurs after birth. The activities engaged in by children both stimulate and influence the pattern of the connections made between the nerve cells. This process influences the development of fine and gross motor skills, language, socialization, personal awareness, emotional well-being, creativity, problem solving and learning ability.

The most important role that play can have is to help children to be active, make choices and practice actions to mastery. They should have experience with a wide variety of content (art, music, language, science, math, social relations) because each is important for the development of a complex and integrated brain. Play that links sensori-motor, cognitive, and social-emotional experiences provides an ideal setting from brain development.

According to Montessori, the essential dimensions of play are:

• Voluntary, enjoyable, purposeful and spontaneous
• Creativity expanded using problem solving skills, social skills, language skills and physical skills
• Helps expand on new ideas
• Helps the child to adapt socially
• Helps to thwart emotional problems

If play is the work of the child, toys are the tools. Through toys, children learn about their world, themselves, and others. Toys teach children to:

• Figure out how things work
• Pick up new ideas
• Build muscle control and strength
• Use their imagination
• Solve problems
• Learn to cooperate with others
• 
  

Play content should come from the child’s own imagination and experiences.

Unfortunately, the play experience for today’s child is often quite different from that of their parents.

With the ever expanding influence of electronic media including TV, videos, video games and the internet, child are spending much of their time being passively entertained by or minimally interacting by way of a keyboard or control pad with an electronic device.

Even today’s toys are more often structured by onboard computers that dictate the play experience.  This robs children of unstructured play with other kids as well as individual playtime spent in creative play. Parents need to understand the play needs of their child and provide an environment to meet those needs.

Source: childdevelopmentinfo

Encouraging Phrases to motivate your kids:

Do you ever feel like the only words that come out of your mouth are direct orders? “Empty the trash, be nice to your sister, quit jumping on the couch!!!” A big part of preventing bad behavior, however, is to provide encouraging words to reinforce good behavior when you see it.

And a quick “good job” doesn’t cut it—in fact, phrases like “good boy,” “you’re so smart!” and “you’re the best on your team!” are not considered encouraging words. Instead of focusing on positive internal qualities, they put the emphasis on outward praise, which does nothing to promote good behavior in the future.

True encouraging words focus on the deed, not the doer. It motivates a child from the inside to demonstrate similar positive behavior in the future, and to value things like hard work, improvement, teamwork and perseverance.

List of Encouraging Words and Phrases

Encouraging words can be as simple as, “Thanks for your help!” or “You really worked hard!” Here are a few more examples to try around your house:

Thank you for your help!
You should be proud of yourself!
Look at your improvement!
That “A” reflects a lot of hard work!
You worked really hard to get this room clean!
Thanks for helping set the table, that made a big difference.
I noticed you were really patient with your little brother.
What do you think about it?
You seem to really enjoy science.
Your hard work paid off!
That’s a tough one, but you’ll figure it out.
Look how far you’ve come!
I trust your judgment.
The time you’re putting into your homework is really paying off.
I love being with you.
You really put a smile on her face with your kind words!
That’s coming along nicely!
You really worked it out!
That’s a very good observation.
Thank you for your cooperation.
I see a very thorough job!
That’s what we call perseverance!
I can tell you really care.
You make it look easy!
You’ve really got the hang of it!
I can tell you spent a lot of time thinking this through.
I really feel like a team when we work like this!

The best part about using encouraging words with your kids is the glow of happiness you’ll see on their faces. After all, “Your hard work is really paying off!” says you noticed their work, while, “You’re so smart,” might be hard to live up to next time. Try a few of these encouraging words with your kids, and watch their behavior—and effort—improve.

Source: Positiveparenting.

Hello Everyone,
Hope you all are doing great. Its quiet a long time I blogged. Recently so many parents are complaining me about their kids social interaction. Even I am observing so many of my students, who got very good academic skills are lacking social behavior. They don't want to mingle with other kids much, they don't want to play much. I am so concerned about them so here by I am giving some tips to all the parents from my research.

Tips to build Young child's Social Skills:

Source: wikihow.com

Some children behave just the way you want them to, some just the opposite. As a parent, you should understand that children are like a piece of clean and white cloth. It is your job and responsibility to give it some color. Another way of saying this, children are innocent and you are the ones who are responsible to shape, teach and guide them to become good people in the future. You should give them proper guidance when they are still young.
1. Give your child some light chores to do. Children can already understand some instructions, as early as when they are 2 or 3 years of age. Giving a little work to do will make him or her learn to obey and follow instructions. Remember, this is not to make your child feel tired or sad. It is good for your child when he or she starts learning to know that helping out is a good thing to do. Example of a chore: ask your child to help tidy up the mess he or she made while playing.

2. Reward your child with positive praises. Tell them that they have done a good job afterward. Say words like Good, or Brilliant after they have done what you ask them to do. This will make them feel appreciated and acknowledged after they have done something good. Always try to avoid negative words. If your child fails to do something, tell him or her that it is okay and that he can do better next time. Always remember to avoid negative remarks.

3. Encourage good habits of saying thank you and sorry. Always say “Please” and “Thank You” where necessary. Another phrase is "I’m sorry" when he or she does something wrong. If you always practice this yourself, your child will imitate these habits. They will learn to copy what we do to them and what we do among ourselves as adults. Establishing a connection between their apology and the reason they are apologizing also helps build empathy, which is vital in good communication and interaction. You can do this by bringing their attention to the subject of their apology. You can tell them: "Do you see how sad you made your friend feel?" instead of just "Say sorry."

4. Talk to them and get them to talk back. Get them to say what they feel about anything. Have them confide their feelings about anything, by observing their reactions to the world around them and letting them know that you are open to their thoughts and feelings on any subject. They will learn to express themselves better. This practice is very good because you do not want them to keep their frustrations to themselves. This way, as an adult, you can learn to understand and handle your children better.

5. Get your child to play with other children. This is a way to break their anxiety and nervousness around people. Start with small groups. Your child will also learn to share things among friends. He/she will learn to understand that sharing is a good value and children can only understand and appreciate it with other friends.

3 Strategies To Help Kids Follow Spoken Directions

Kids frequently misunderstands oral directions. There are many children who have this issue. The underlying cause can be difficult to figure out. Consider what has to happen in his/her brain when he/she hears, “baby, would you please get the plates and silverware out, and put them on the table?” He has to first hear the words that are spoken, process the words in his brain, understand the meaning of the words, and then finally determine whether he needs to take an action.

Assume that your baby is paying attention and hears the words correctly (meaning his ears work fine and he does not have an ear infection preventing him from hearing). Does he know what you mean by “plates and silverware”? Does that mean the good china normally reserved for company? Could it mean paper plates left over from the picnic? Or maybe it’s the everyday dishes. Some children process this information within seconds, while others take much longer. He might never even get to the silverware options! If baby looks at you like he doesn’t understand your request, he may be processing all the options and trying to decide which makes the most sense. Often, we as parents see that he is not taking an action and immediately start giving him more directions which adds to his confusion.

If this scenario is familiar to you, here are some things you might try.

• Give fewer instructions at one time. “Baby, would you get the plates down?” Then wait long enough for him to figure out which plates you are talking about before making the next request.
• Speak more slowly so that your kid does not have to process quite so quickly.
• Teach your kid how to ask for help when he doesn’t understand you. Have him practice saying, “Mom, I am not sure what you are asking me to do. Can you help me?”

If children have a history of never understanding what others are telling them, they often give up. They quit trying. With these simple suggestions, they begin to regain confidence in their ability to understand what they are being asked to do.

Courtesy:  schoolfamily.com 

Let your kids be bored sometimes

"Mommy"

"Yes, dear."

"I'm bo-ored"

"That's nice"

*Insert pout face here*

"Well why don't you do something about it.

I'm not going to fix it for you."

At this point they walk away... and 5 minutes later they are happily playing.

Quote from Slow Family Living: Boredom; the Gateway to New Ideas

I hear all the time of parents that are afraid to let their kids get bored. They're afraid they may cause trouble, become a couch potato, or any number of "bad" things. So, they fill their kids' days with lessons, enriching activities, or just flat out entertain them all day long. It sounds exhausting and it is exhausting. Truthfully, I can't really blame any of us parents for trying. Because that's what we're doing... we're trying. Trying to give our kids wonderful experiences. Trying to make sure we give our kids plenty of quality parent time. All of that is good. But, what we're forgetting is to let them be bored.

Let them be bored. You'll be amazed at what they will create. My girls have made an elaborate dinosaur nest complete with Barbie babysitter, and they played with it for hours. They've become superheroes, mermaids, and princesses. The stories they create are amazing. Sometimes they'll just work puzzles, color, or look at books. But, they came up with the idea on their own. I didn't tell them what to do. As I was writing this post, my girls took all their little Lego people on a camping trip, complete with lots of giggles and extreme Lego sports. We were happily coexisting that afternoon. I had pen to notebook and they had their imaginations.

The dinosaur nest with Barbie babysitter

Let them be bored. I'm not telling you to stop playing with your kids or to ignore them for hours at a time. I certainly don't do that. What I am telling you to do is to give them some down time. Don't constantly entertain them. Give them the opportunity to figure out what entertains them. Let them use their imagination. Let them make up stories or elaborate play scenes. Let them race their Matchbox cars down your banister and see what happens. Let them have fun and let them be bored. Let them figure it out for themselves. Do it while they're still children because teenagers who haven't learned to entertain themselves WILL become couch potatoes.

I want to hear from you. Do you let your children be bored? Do you feel it's important? Why or why not?

Courtesy: www.creativefamilyfun.net 

PLAY

"Through Play, Children learn about the world and 

engage in activities that encourage their cognitive, 

emotional and social development" 

-Dr. David Elkind from his book, "The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier and Healthier Children

Tips for teaching Left handed children to write

courtesy: Mama OT
http://mamaot.com/2013/06/30/tips-for-teaching-lefties-to-write/