Building a Stronger Bond and Togetherness with Your Children

Do you want to connect with your child in a fun way?

Every night, before my kids go to sleep (or sometimes during the day when we are bored), I allow them to pick one five-minute video to play from Youtube.

This has become one of my favorite times of the day.  It has built an even greater bond between us as we laugh about the silly videos and talk about them throughout the next day.

We have our little "inside" jokes from the videos that only we know and this builds a sense of togetherness.  It also gives me the opportunity to show them some fun, short, educational videos without them noticing that they are actually learning something!

Of course, there are many not very wholesome videos on youtube, so make sure that you monitor the video closely as they choose or watch it.  Be prepared to stop it if there is any inappropriate language or behavior.  This is a good time to teach them about right and wrong things.

So the next time your kids are bored, let them search and pick their own videos on Youtube.  It is a great way to bond together while having fun.

Cooking With Kids

What fun activity with your child encourages fine motor skills, science, counting, fractions, measuring, weighing, budgeting, problem-solving, language, and reading? Cooking with your child improves all these skills plus many more!

Cooking with your child requires extra patience, time and cleaning but it teaches an essential life skill while still being fun. It also lets you spend great quality time that your kids will remember for a long time.

Teaching children to cook is a lost art these days.  I just finished reading the Little House on the Prairie books with our children.  They enjoyed learning how the children in the book helped their parents during that time and how the mother taught them to cook.

While learning to cook, kids feel like they are helping to contribute to the family and it is a great way to get them to try healthy foods that they might not normally try.  Studies have shown that kids that help prepare dinner are much more likely to try the healthy foods they cook.  Cooking is a great way to learn about nutrition and what ingredients really go into our meals...for instance, the kids are amazed when they see how much sugar goes into some of the desserts.

The first step is to choose a time when you will not feel rushed and pick the right recipe and right tasks for your little helpers.  You do not want the recipes to be too complicated or for your child to feel your stress when you are on a time limit.

It will help if you do some of the prep work ahead of time to prevent boredom.  A key is to allow them to do their task with assistance from you only when necessary.  Even if this means having to pick the egg shells out of the eggs after they are done!

Finally, safety is always the most important aspect when working with kids.  Make sure to stress safety in the kitchen (never touch a hot stove or hot pot, don't pick up a knife unless the child is old enough to handle it safely, etc).  It may also be helpful to have another adult or older teenager in the kitchen with you to help watch the child.

Cooking is a great way to both entertain and teach your children at the same time.  Just make sure you learn to laugh when they make a mess.  After all, teaching them to clean after themselves is also just as important.

How to keep a toddler from getting out of their bed at night

My two kids are complete opposites.  My daughter enjoyed sleeping by herself when she was a toddler and never tried to get out of her bed.  My son, on the other hand, loved to play the "get out of bed" game.

When he was small, we put him in his crib, said goodnight to him and went out to the living room.  Within a few minutes, we were surprised to see him come running in to see us with a big smile on his face.  

We took him back to his room, placed him back in his crib and asked him to show us how he got out. He happily showed us how he climbed up the side of the crib, threw both legs over and dropped down to the ground.  We were laughing at how this small child could climb those tall rails but our smiles soon turned to tears as this started a time of him getting out of bed every night.

We tried everything that we could think of to get him to stay in his room, and we read almost everything we could find online about how to keep a toddler from getting out of his bed.  It took a while, but with a little patience, here is what finally worked for us.

We continued with his normal, calming bedtime routine (pajamas, brushing teeth, reading a quiet story, singing a soft song) to prepare him for sleep.  Before he went to bed, we tried to eliminate any reasons for him to get up.  Getting him a glass of water.  Making sure he went to the restroom.

• The first time he would get up, we would take him back to bed, give him a hug and a kiss and remind him that it was time to go to bed.
• The second time he got up, we were a little more firm and made the hug and kiss brief.
• For any additional times, we would not say anything and just lead him back to bed.  We would leave the room without a hug and kiss (which was hard for us).

It was a very frustrating time for us.  We gave up some nights and laid down with him until he slept (which only made it worse for us in the long run).  We lost our anger other nights and yelled at him (which again only made it worse).  But eventually, we were consistent and he realized that we were serious and that he would not get any additional attention from us by getting up.

So, if you are having a hard time keeping your toddler in bed, try to stay consistent.  I know how hard it is but it is worth it in the end.