Over 150,000 moms use SmartMom to get great advice and make friends. Join for free for a chance to win a bundle of goodies from Pearhead!
Download SmartmomNo thanks. I got this mom thing down.
Like most development in childhood, teaching your child how to feed him/herself is a process. Bound to be messy and tedious, here’s how you can embrace this season in your child’s development and how to teach your child to independently feed him/herself.
As moms, we want our children to develop skills that will help them thrive as individuals. We scour Pinterest for ideas on how to keep our babies entertained and what activities are best for their age range developmentally. It doesn’t take long for us to realize that books catch our infant’s attention! It is scientifically proven that reading stories to infants helps develop both social and language skills. The combination of colorful pictures on the pages and the sweet sound of your voice as you read to them makes stories for infants an enjoyable and crucial learning activity.
Photo by Luisa Espinosa
Entitlement is a terrible thing. It’s is not the kind of belief we want our children to possess and teaching kids responsibility is a great way to combat it.
Wait, what does entitlement have to do with teaching kids responsibility regarding chores and money management?
A lot. It is one of the dreaded outcomes of not having enough discipline for the said things.
Photo by Meaghan Curry
My mother, a woman who always taught me the importance of creativity, was accepted to University of Cincinnati’s prestigious design school, DAAP, back in the seventies. She grew up at a time when women were encouraged to be nurses or teachers. Her dad said he’d only pay for college if she chose one of those occupations instead of the ever-bizarre world of design. She obliged, got a fine arts and education degree from The Ohio State University, and had two daughters.
The other day I came across this article from Huffington Post that claims that handheld devices should be banned from children under 12. The author says that children should not start watching TV until they are three years old and should not use handheld devices until they are 13. On the topic of toddlers and technology, while I don’t think highly of TV, I cannot imagine keeping phones and tablets from my children until they are teenagers. How would that even be possible? When my daughter was one and a half, she was better at using my iPhone than my mom! The article made me think: am I making a wrong parenting decision allowing my toddlers to use my iPhone, iPad, and laptop? After all, the author brought up the American Academy of Pediatrics and research that links media use with developmental problems. So I decided to investigate and here is what I found out.
Like any other issue where moms stand divided, the issue of whether or not to let your kids watch TV (or how much of it to let them watch) can be touchy and there are so many different opinions out there. If you’re still trying to form an opinion on how you feel about kids and tv, the best way to decide is to take a look at what the experts say about it and its effect on children.
But seriously, should children have cell phones? It’s a struggle almost every parent is dealing with; the ongoing debate over how young is too young when it comes to kids and technology. There is no denying electronics is a part of our everyday life, and your kids as well. Tablets, computers, gaming devices, and of course, cell phones.
Your child wakes up to a sensory table of crafts and items for them to explore. You feed them healthy, colorful foods that are cut into fun shapes. You make sure they have plenty of social interaction. Everyone who is anyone follows your Pinterest board in hopes that they can do this mom-thing half as well as you can. You’re super mom and that’s wonderful! But, here is something that overachieving super-moms sometimes need to hear: Letting your children play by themselves is a GOOD thing.
Pull out the cookies and Coke and snuggle up on the couch to watch this one…NOT! Personally, I haven’t met a documentary that didn’t make me passionate, and this one was no different. Fed Up unveils the problem and solution to the childhood obesity epidemic in our country. Thoughtfully and downright deceptively, food companies have managed to control our view of their food through advertisements, endorsements, and funded research. This documentary seeks to reveal their secrets and the widespread impact it’s having on our country.
Photo by Meaghan Curry
Winter can be hard on both parents and their children, and winter activities for kids can be hard to come by. It’s that time of year when everything seems to slow down, and the cold weather can put everyone in a bad mood. Not being able to play outside puts a damper on things, especially when kids are bored and need to expel some energy, and moms are exhausted and running out of activities to suggest. You all begin to feel cooped up, get cabin fever, and start praying for the warm weather to return. You can sit and sulk while your kids run circles around you announcing their boredom and then watch them throw tantrums, or you can let your guard down and put your OCD mom tendencies aside by allowing them to make a bit of a mess and welcome some chaos!
