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Strollerderby
Do you encourage your children to play outside?
My husband and I have completely different parenting styles, as do a lot of parents, I imagine. Our kids are very young, but I often wonder how these differences will manifest themselves when our kids are of the age they want to leave the house and play with friends.
I grew up playing games with all the neighbors. Running around, climbing trees, fences the whole nine yards. I’d like my kids to have a similar childhood in that regard. I wonder if my husband will be up for letting them carouse around our neighborhood or if he’ll want to keep a constant eye on them. Also, do children even go outside and play anymore? Perhaps what I’m about to tell you will help convince my husband to take a step back from being so vigilant. Continue reading »
“A child craves magic…and magic depends on having space where adults will not “butt in.” This includes literal space of the kind long gone from nearly every urban part of this country, like vacant lots and construction sites (not like playgrounds, which reek of adult intentionality), and also metaphorical space.”
So says Christina Schwarz in the most recent issue of The Atlantic, where she looks at childhood through two books examining the way we raise our children. One is a reissued classic, the other a historical analysis of our attitude towards play. Both, Schwarz says, bring her to the same conclusion: we have returned to an age where play for its own sake has lost its perceived value, and our kids are losing out big time.
Child's play boosts development
Parenting has rounded up some of the research showing how play makes babies smarter, better socialized and more competent at everything ranging from sports to schoolwork. Drawing on the work of Einstein Never Used Flashcards, they’ve come up with 10 reasons to let babies play.
Play helps develop intellect. It boosts social development. Kids who play on their own have better impulse control and concentration. In other words, they are better poised to become strong students than those who miss out on unstructured play in early childhood.
Helping kids get healthy play time is one of the easiest things you can do as a parent. Perhaps best of all, once you’ve set their playtime in motion, you can have a little time to yourself. Time you can spend doing your own thing. Play matters for grown-ups, too!
Tiger, a friendly giant of a dog, has a head so big that he could probably swallow the family baby in one gulp. Fortunately for the baby (and for us), he’s got other things on his mind. He loves to hear baby squeal and giggle, and he’s figured out the trick to making that happen: Tickling.
The world would be a better place if everyone had a dog who knew how to tickle. This baby is having way too much fun.
A snow fort in the middle of a parking lot almost spelled disaster for some Indiana kids this week – and it had nothing to do with the snow. It was the plow headed straight for what looked like a useless pile of white stuff where cars should be.
Driver Mike Tuttle’s brush with the near death of a group of kids playing in the snow is the sort of stuff that gives highway crews everywhere nightmares – and should be freaking out more parents. Continue reading »
Remember when Saturday mornings meant sleeping in, eating cereal in front of the TV, catching up on the latest cartoons?
Not much has changed:
A toddler doing what toddlers do – digging in the dirt – uncovered a thirty-year-old missing treasure outside his home this week.
Three-year-old Ryan Baima was digging outside his family’s Massachusetts home when 22 News reports he uncovered a set of wedding rings. Continue reading »
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