Good Parenting Advice - Encourage Imaginative Play
Imaginative play is an important part of childhood. Not only is it fun for children but it is also an essential part of learning and developing. Children learn about themselves, about their world, and lay the groundwork for their future through imaginative play. Yet too many children are not encouraged to use their imagination through play. There are three essential ways you can encourage imaginative play in your child -- by providing the place, the time, and the supplies.
Does your child have a place for imaginative play? Is there somewhere, even the corner of a room, where they can build a block city or shape play dough monsters? Can they assemble all their stuffed animals into a school or all their cars into a parade? While children should be encouraged to pick up after themselves sometimes it takes a while to build the city of their dreams and they want time to play with it again. Try to strike a balance between your need for order and their need for imaginative play. Give them a day or so to create a complex setting for their imaginative play before forcing them to put away their toys.
Does your child have the time for imaginative play? It is amazing how many young children have a very full schedule. While many of these activities are likely required, such as school or day care, and many are also desirable, such as sports or clubs, it is also important that children be given the opportunity for free, unstructured play that allows the opportunity for imaginative play. It is not desirable that every moment of every day be structured and planned. Children who are not given the opportunity to exercise their imagination run the risk of losing the ability to use it at all.
Does your child have the supplies for imaginative play? As we know from our own childhood that imaginative play does not require extensive and elaborate supplies, but children do need access to objects they can use. A complex wardrobe is not necessary but a few items can be helpful. A bath towel might be a king's robe or a super hero's cape or swaddling for a baby. A cardboard tube from wrapping paper might be a sword, the container for a secret map, or a spyglass. A cardboard box might be everything from a treasure chest to a race car. Provide a few basic supplies and try not to be too suggestive in their use. Children will do better if allowed to give their imagination free rein without your interference and control.
Imaginative play can be a wonderful opportunity for your child to not only enjoy their childhood but also to learn and grow as people by trying on different roles such as parents, cooks, police officers, and firefighters but also to experience safe adventures as pirates, explorers and paleontologists. Imaginative play should be encouraged in children by allowing them the place, the time, and the supplies for imaginative play.
Renaissance Woman Deanna Mascle shares more good parenting advice in her blogs at http://deannamascle.com
Monday, January 14, 2008
Parenting Tips - 3 Gifts We Must Give Our Children
Parenting is the most difficult, the most challenging, and the most important job we will ever have. So many of our children's future successes and problems can stem from our success as parents. Yet fortunately we do not have to go it alone. We can learn from the successful parents around us, if we are fortunate including our own parents, and also learn from those less successful as well. In addition, we can learn many important lessons about parenting from our own children. If we only listen and pay attention they tell us so much about what they want and need from us as parents. While we can so often get caught up in the little details and daily grind of parenting, if we keep sight of three main goals then the rest will take care of itself. All our children really need from us are these three all-important gifts: our love, our care, and our time.
Love is the easiest and yet the most overlooked of the gifts we must give our children. We love our children. It is such an overwhelming emotion for us that we often forget that our children may not realize its depth and breadth. It is true for many of us that we did not realize how much our parents love us until we too became parents. Demonstrate through your actions and choices that you love your children. Show them and tell them how much you care. Do this with little gestures and big ones and do it every day. One certainty our children should possess as they grow and develop is that they are loved as this gives them a foundation and confidence that nothing else can.
Care is something we do all the time, so much so that it is often on autopilot. Folding clothes, picking up toys, packing lunches, and washing dishes. One of the ways to cope with these tasks is to put them in perspective. These boring, repetitive tasks are one of the ways we care for our children and by doing them we are showing our care. But do not neglect the emotional and cognitive care along with the physical care. It is easy while making sure our children are fed, clothed, and washed to overlook the emotional care and cognitive care children also need. Teach your child how to handle emotions like fear and jealousy by talking things through and modeling good emotional behavior. Make sure your child is challenged intellectually through conversation, games and books.
Time is the most precious of all gifts and yet so many parents short their children of their time. Time is spent at work and at various life activities from home maintenance to recreation, but simply giving your child the gift of your time and attention every day can reap tremendous rewards. Giving your child your time and attention is the surest way to demonstrate to your child that he or she is loved. You can multi-task while spending time with your child if the task is something that the child can be involved in or adjacent to -- and the task is something mindless so you can focus on the child. For example, children can help with household chores or can talk or read to you while you fold laundry or wash dishes. Simply making a point of spending time with your child every day where your primary focus is on the child can reap tremendous rewards today and tomorrow.
There are no perfect parents, so striving for perfection is setting yourself up for failure. All you can do is try your best and give your child the gifts of love, care, and time. If you do then you will be a good parent. It really is that simple.
Renaissance Woman Deanna Mascle shares more parenting tips in her blog at http://renaissancewomanonline.com
Parenting is the most difficult, the most challenging, and the most important job we will ever have. So many of our children's future successes and problems can stem from our success as parents. Yet fortunately we do not have to go it alone. We can learn from the successful parents around us, if we are fortunate including our own parents, and also learn from those less successful as well. In addition, we can learn many important lessons about parenting from our own children. If we only listen and pay attention they tell us so much about what they want and need from us as parents. While we can so often get caught up in the little details and daily grind of parenting, if we keep sight of three main goals then the rest will take care of itself. All our children really need from us are these three all-important gifts: our love, our care, and our time.
Love is the easiest and yet the most overlooked of the gifts we must give our children. We love our children. It is such an overwhelming emotion for us that we often forget that our children may not realize its depth and breadth. It is true for many of us that we did not realize how much our parents love us until we too became parents. Demonstrate through your actions and choices that you love your children. Show them and tell them how much you care. Do this with little gestures and big ones and do it every day. One certainty our children should possess as they grow and develop is that they are loved as this gives them a foundation and confidence that nothing else can.
Care is something we do all the time, so much so that it is often on autopilot. Folding clothes, picking up toys, packing lunches, and washing dishes. One of the ways to cope with these tasks is to put them in perspective. These boring, repetitive tasks are one of the ways we care for our children and by doing them we are showing our care. But do not neglect the emotional and cognitive care along with the physical care. It is easy while making sure our children are fed, clothed, and washed to overlook the emotional care and cognitive care children also need. Teach your child how to handle emotions like fear and jealousy by talking things through and modeling good emotional behavior. Make sure your child is challenged intellectually through conversation, games and books.
Time is the most precious of all gifts and yet so many parents short their children of their time. Time is spent at work and at various life activities from home maintenance to recreation, but simply giving your child the gift of your time and attention every day can reap tremendous rewards. Giving your child your time and attention is the surest way to demonstrate to your child that he or she is loved. You can multi-task while spending time with your child if the task is something that the child can be involved in or adjacent to -- and the task is something mindless so you can focus on the child. For example, children can help with household chores or can talk or read to you while you fold laundry or wash dishes. Simply making a point of spending time with your child every day where your primary focus is on the child can reap tremendous rewards today and tomorrow.
There are no perfect parents, so striving for perfection is setting yourself up for failure. All you can do is try your best and give your child the gifts of love, care, and time. If you do then you will be a good parent. It really is that simple.
Renaissance Woman Deanna Mascle shares more parenting tips in her blog at http://renaissancewomanonline.com
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Parenting Advice - What Is Your Job As A Parent?
Parenting is a tough job. All too often we do not come to appreciate just how rough our parents had it until we become parents ourselves. While parenting has always been challenging, it seems that parenting today is even tougher than it was for the generations before ours. I believe that is is more difficult because we are raising our children in a far different world than our parents raised us. For the most part, our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had a pretty good parenting guide set out for them by watching the other members of their family and the world did not change the greatly from one generation to the next. In addition, previous generations of parents had a strong support system of not only examples but helping hands. Today, our mobile society and high rate of single parenthood (through divorce or from the beginning) have not only destroyed the support system of yesteryear but also created a lot more challenging childhood to parent. In our electronic age we do not lack for parenting advice and parenting tips, but it is so hard to pick and choose from the myriad of "helpful hints" to know just what will work for you and your child. However, just like so many other problems in life we are often our own worst enemies. Whenever the parenting choices get too tough then boil it down in importance by asking yourself one of these three key parenting questions.
First, are you a good role model for your child? You know right from wrong. You know what it means to be an adult. You know what kind of man or woman you hope your child to be when he or she grows up. If you want your child to grow up a certain way then try to give them a role model to follow. Children do as you do, not as you say, my mother always says, and I know this is true from watching my own child as well as my students. If you want your child to be kind then you need to demonstrate kindness. If you want your child to be a good student then model scholarship and demonstrate that you value education. If you want your child to have strong work ethic that show them what it means. You can tell your children you want them to stay in school but if you are a dropout who never pursued a G.E.D. then what message does that send? Our children can learn from our mistakes but too often they simply repeat them unless we show them how to change their life.
Second, are you preparing your child for life and adulthood? Don't get me wrong. I think children should be allowed to be children. They should have fun and play. All too often today's child grows up far too soon. I am not talking about talking about sex with your 6-year-old or forcing your 12-year-old to get a job. I mean simply starting when your child is young to teach responsibility, decision-making, and consequences. Start them small with little jobs and little decisions and then as they grow older you can increase the level. If you do too much for your child then they will not be able to do for themselves when they grow older. Also, if you teach your child that life is all fun and games then they are going to be really upset when they discover it is not. I don't allow my 6-year-old to operate any kitchen equipment without supervision but he can make himself a peanut butter sandwich and pour a glass of milk. He can't unload the entire dishwasher (and I shudder to think about him putting glassware in a cupboard over his head) but he can put the silverware away.
Finally, are you providing a solid emotional, physical and educational foundation for your child? Remember, your child may well be in charge of your life some day or maybe even in charge of all of our lives (hey somebody's kid has to be President, why not mine or yours?). Many people with tremendously flawed beginnings grow up to be good people, but why handicap your child that way? No matter how many challenges you face personally it is your job as a parent to provide security and comfort for your child.
I believe that one of the keys to being a good parent is keeping your eyes on the prize. Focus on one universal rule or measuring stick and everything else will get much easier. What measuring stick should you use? That is up to you as this is your life and your child, but the measuring stick my husband and I use is a simple one. We think about what kind of man we want our son to be and apply that goal to the situation at hand. If you focus on being a good role model, preparing your child for life and adulthood, and providing a solid foundation then you are a good parent. Don't sweat the small stuff if the big stuff is taken care of.
Renaissance Woman Deanna Mascle shares more parenting advice in her blog at http://ezinesbydawggone.info
Parenting is a tough job. All too often we do not come to appreciate just how rough our parents had it until we become parents ourselves. While parenting has always been challenging, it seems that parenting today is even tougher than it was for the generations before ours. I believe that is is more difficult because we are raising our children in a far different world than our parents raised us. For the most part, our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had a pretty good parenting guide set out for them by watching the other members of their family and the world did not change the greatly from one generation to the next. In addition, previous generations of parents had a strong support system of not only examples but helping hands. Today, our mobile society and high rate of single parenthood (through divorce or from the beginning) have not only destroyed the support system of yesteryear but also created a lot more challenging childhood to parent. In our electronic age we do not lack for parenting advice and parenting tips, but it is so hard to pick and choose from the myriad of "helpful hints" to know just what will work for you and your child. However, just like so many other problems in life we are often our own worst enemies. Whenever the parenting choices get too tough then boil it down in importance by asking yourself one of these three key parenting questions.
First, are you a good role model for your child? You know right from wrong. You know what it means to be an adult. You know what kind of man or woman you hope your child to be when he or she grows up. If you want your child to grow up a certain way then try to give them a role model to follow. Children do as you do, not as you say, my mother always says, and I know this is true from watching my own child as well as my students. If you want your child to be kind then you need to demonstrate kindness. If you want your child to be a good student then model scholarship and demonstrate that you value education. If you want your child to have strong work ethic that show them what it means. You can tell your children you want them to stay in school but if you are a dropout who never pursued a G.E.D. then what message does that send? Our children can learn from our mistakes but too often they simply repeat them unless we show them how to change their life.
Second, are you preparing your child for life and adulthood? Don't get me wrong. I think children should be allowed to be children. They should have fun and play. All too often today's child grows up far too soon. I am not talking about talking about sex with your 6-year-old or forcing your 12-year-old to get a job. I mean simply starting when your child is young to teach responsibility, decision-making, and consequences. Start them small with little jobs and little decisions and then as they grow older you can increase the level. If you do too much for your child then they will not be able to do for themselves when they grow older. Also, if you teach your child that life is all fun and games then they are going to be really upset when they discover it is not. I don't allow my 6-year-old to operate any kitchen equipment without supervision but he can make himself a peanut butter sandwich and pour a glass of milk. He can't unload the entire dishwasher (and I shudder to think about him putting glassware in a cupboard over his head) but he can put the silverware away.
Finally, are you providing a solid emotional, physical and educational foundation for your child? Remember, your child may well be in charge of your life some day or maybe even in charge of all of our lives (hey somebody's kid has to be President, why not mine or yours?). Many people with tremendously flawed beginnings grow up to be good people, but why handicap your child that way? No matter how many challenges you face personally it is your job as a parent to provide security and comfort for your child.
I believe that one of the keys to being a good parent is keeping your eyes on the prize. Focus on one universal rule or measuring stick and everything else will get much easier. What measuring stick should you use? That is up to you as this is your life and your child, but the measuring stick my husband and I use is a simple one. We think about what kind of man we want our son to be and apply that goal to the situation at hand. If you focus on being a good role model, preparing your child for life and adulthood, and providing a solid foundation then you are a good parent. Don't sweat the small stuff if the big stuff is taken care of.
Renaissance Woman Deanna Mascle shares more parenting advice in her blog at http://ezinesbydawggone.info
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