Passive toys are open-ended toys. By themselves, they do nothing. They become interesting and fun only when a child interacts with them. That is why they ignite the imagination!

Raising a “perfectionist” child, one who avoids challenges because he/she is afraid to make mistakes, can be a tricky job. 

We all want to raise children who strive for excellence, right? I’m not sure any parent has a sweet little baby and thinks: 

OH NO, GEORGE! by Chris Haughton is an adorable book about self-control. George really wants to make the right decision and behave, but does he? This is the perfect little book to read with young children to start a conversation about the fact that we are our choices. We choose how we behave.

Before we gain self-control, we behave on instinct and emotion.

If children do not spend time with nature, why would they ever want to take care of it?

5 Tips to Help Raise a Nature-Lover:

Children have to experience conflict in order to learn how to make good decisions and work through problems. As parents, we tend to step in at the first sign of trouble, but every time we interfere, we take a learning opportunity away.

Children have big emotions. In order to help them to learn to regulate their emotions, we must:

1) Let them feel them!

Children are wired to explore and they learn best through multi-sensory experiences. This is because multi-sensory experiences are satisfying. They are soothing. They refine motor skills. They even improve language skills.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~William Arthur Ward 

Gratitude is crucial to our well-being and our social lives. Research from a study published in the Journal of Research in Personality found that “Over time, gratitude leads to lower stress and depression and higher levels of social support.” 

As parents, we need to bring gratitude into our own lives and set a good example. 

“Children need to sit in their own boredom for the world to become quiet enough that they can hear themselves.” ~ Dr. Vanessa Lapointe

I think the same can be said for adults! This is so important since we set the example for our children.

One of my favorite parts of working with young families is watching them grow closer together. I love to hear stories of how one little tweak improved the quality of their family’s interactions, and I ALWAYS appreciate when they take the time to share their stories with me. Jasmine recently took the time to share her story, and it made me so happy, I wanted to share it here. She said:

“Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and, when the grass of the meadows is damp with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet;

We all know how important it is to read to children, but if you want to do it right, you can follow children’s book author Mem Fox’s 10 Read-Aloud Commandments: 

Wherever I go, I can’t help but notice the interactions between parents and children. It’s an occupational hazard, I guess. It’s not that I judge them—I have not forgotten what it’s like to raise two boys—it’s just that family interactions stand out to me, like misspelled words on a page. 

I had the good fortune of being present to watch a beautiful interaction unfold between my friend and her almost-5-year-old daughter the other day.

When you are in the thick of raising little human beings, it’s hard to stay balanced. So many posts I read from young parents talk about how stretched they are, how worn out, how hard it is. Yes, when you are doing it right, there will be times of exhaustion, but it shouldn’t be ALL the time.

Has your child ever had a meltdown when you ask him/her to turn off the TV or iPad? Children spend quite a bit of time “entertained” by toys and tablets and TVs and smartphones. The thing is...

Have you ever taken a minute to consider life from your children’s point of view? I mean, literally. Have you ever gotten down, low to the ground, and looked around to see the world from their perspective? 

So yesterday I watched this bumblebee buzz around and do its thing in the garden, and it was fascinating. It collected pollen from every little flower. I don’t think it missed even one. I read these bees can flap their wings up to 200 times per second!! Nature is amazing!

There is no such thing as the terrible twos, in my opinion, and it kind of drives me crazy when I hear that term. The stage people are referring to starts around 18 months, and to me, is a stage to celebrate!

Take a minute to think about your good friends. When you choose a friend, do you look for someone who:

•Does not recognize her own value as a person?•Does not believe in himself or his abilities?•Cannot restrain her strong emotions and actions?•Does not feel thankful for what he has?

NO? Then remember that these mindsets and abilities are formed from a very young age and have everything to do with how we choose to discipline our children.

There is a connection between singing and literacy, for sure! Language has a rhythm and singing is one of the best ways to introduce it to young children.