4 Child Development Theories That Can Help You Better Care for Children

Have you ever wondered what motivates thoughts and behaviors in children? Our understanding of human nature and child development is continually advancing but all children are different, and no one has all the answers. However, a few recognized theories can provide useful insights on early development that will help you better care for children.

During our early years of infancy through childhood, we develop the basis of our intelligence, personality, social behavior, and capacity to learn. Four theories are worth reviewing and include attachment, psychosocial, cognitive development, and sociocultural theory.

1. Attachment Theory (Bowlby): This theory's centers around strong emotional and physical bonds that create a sense of security in a child. Bonds are established with caregivers who are available and responsive to an infant's needs. Thus, the infant knows the caregiver is dependable, which creates a secure base for the child to explore their surroundings.

Example: Six-month-old Jordan enjoys infant toys and interacting with others. Confident that crying brings help, Jordan responds to anyone and gets upset when someone stops interacting with him.

2. PsychoSocial Development Theory (Erikson): In this theory, social development occurs in stages based on turning points in a person's life including hope (birth to age 2), will (ages 2-4), purpose (ages 4-5), competence (ages 5-12), fidelity (ages 13-19), love (ages 20-39), care (ages 40-64), and wisdom (ages 65+).

Example: Two-year-old Jennifer has recently begun squirming and saying "no" when her Nanny tries to secure her in her car seat. Jennifer has begun to develop a sense of self, separate from her caregivers. Her Nanny must consistently set limits and follow through with Jennifer, to keep her safe and secure while riding in the car. The Nanny can increase Jennifer's willingness to comply by providing specific praise along with allowing Jennifer to pick a special toy to hold whenever she gets into her car seat without resistance. Selecting her own clothers will also help Jennifer gain more independence.

3. Cognitive Developmental Theory (Piaget): This theory is based on a four-stage model describing how the mind processes new information. The stages are sensorimotor (birth to age 2), preoperational (ages 2-7), concrete operational (ages 7-11), and formal operations (ages 12+).

Example: Five-year-old Zachary is still egocentric and struggles to see the perspective of others but is starting to think symbolically and use words to represent objects. Zachary loves reading and is building a foundation of language. As this stage, caregivers should continue to read books daily, encourage pretend play, share logical thinking. By explaining that it's winter time as grandma's house and thus, a coat is needed will help Zachary, who lives in Texas, understand why a coat is being packed in the suitcase.

4. Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky): This developmental theory evolves from children's interactions with tools and other people in their social environment. Community, culture, and interactions are key to child development and learning.

Example: Seven-year-old Alex is struggling to solve a jigsaw puzzle. By interacting with an adult, Alex learns how to separate out the edge pieces, put together the border, and sort the interior pieces by color or design. By working with an adult, Alex develops skills that can be applied to future jigsaw puzzles.

There are other childhood theories that can help parents and other caregivers by teaching them how to spend more enjoyable time with their child, reinforce positive skills, monitor behavior and set limits, and reduce the use of harsh discipline methods. These essential caregiving skills help children develop pro-social behavior, self-regulation, and other skills they need to be successful in school and at home.

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6 Things To Look For When Buying a Stroller

Buying a stroller is not a small purchase. You are going to spend a good deal of money on this unit. So, it's important that you do your homework before making the final decision. Make sure you consider all your options and take the stroller outside for a test driver. In this guide, we are going to give you a few tips that can help you make this purchase more easily. Read on.

1. Safety

Regardless of the type of stroller you need, make sure you know that the safety of your baby is the most important thing. In other words, your stroller should cover the primary safety needs. Ideally, you may want to get one that features a safety strap. It should be easy to secure and unbuckle. Aside from this, the brake system should be reliable. The frame should also be of good quality. There should be no sharp edges on the frame.

2. Ease of Use

The stroller should be easy to take out of your car and put in your trunk. Aside from this, it should be easy to fold and maneuver. In other words, if the stroller is not easy to use, you might not want to get it.

For instance, if the stroller is too heavy, it will be harder for you to pick it up and put back in your car or truck. Ease of usability is one of the main factors that should be considered when buying this type of stuff.

3. Storage

Think about the stuff you carry besides your beloved baby. For instance, it could an under-seat basket to store a lot of important stuff, like grocery sacks, purse, and diapers, to name a few. Aside from this, you may also want to have enough space to store your snacks, drinks, keys and mobile phone.

4. Canopy

If you often go on sunny walks, make sure the stroller you are planning to buy comes with an adjustable canopy. The canopy will help you protect your baby from the UV rays and the bad weather.

5. Newborn Ready

The stroller you are going to buy should be ready for a newborn baby. In other words, you don't have to wait for your baby to reach the age of 6 months to use the walker. Look for a stroller that comes with a padded or reclining seat. You can also opt for one that can be attached to your car seat so you can make use of the walker right away.

6. Lightweight and Sturdy

Since you can't spend thousands of dollars on this purchase every year, we suggest that you get a unit that is sturdy and lightweight. Lightweight units are less likely to break. Sturdiness can help you protect your investment and make your stroller stand the test of time.

In short, a baby stroller is an important investment. Therefore, it's important that you take your time and get the right type of unit to meet the needs of your baby and make your life easier.

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Slime Designer Shops: The Modern Lemonade Stands for Kids

We all passed by lemonade stands growing up, set up either in front of supermarkets, or malls, or around the corner from our homes. Kids were entrepreneurs-in-training while proud moms and dads were looking over their shoulders to see how they performed trying to make the sale. It was supposed to teach youngsters the valuable lessons for making a sale and earning a profit. Yeah, you are in business!

Although occasionally you'd still see the familiar stands, in our days kids are interested in more exotic lines of business, apps, computer games and... slimes, yes slimes! My 12-year-old has taken over an entire closet which she transformed into a storage vault with add-on shelves to store endless plastic containers of various sizes, all filled with all kinds of regular and other exotic colors of... slime. With these come supplies of "cotton candy" and numerous other artificial jewelry like emblems and stuff to imitate cactus, Boba drink balls, "crystal waters', "pizza heart", "cactus cereal", "fruit salad", even "Winnie the Pooh" or poopsie slime surprise unicorn, whatever! I am like speechless, I feel like I've been thrown inside a super slime simulator. Of course any respectful business would have the appropriate video de slime collection, hence her endless time of videotaping everything on the iPhone. Finished products are in plastic jars so deliciously looking that many times I found myself grabbing one of them from the kitchen counter to eat, only realizing the last minute this thing can really kill you if eaten!

I said "hey lill lady, what's you doing with all these stuff"? In the beginning the answer was: "I am making them to give away to my friends". OK, no big deal. But after a while, when I realized I am spending some bucks on the monthly basis for these stuff, I said "what's up"? To which she replied: "Oh, I started a slime company, I am going into slime business". I said, "ok, like how"? Well, wouldn't you know, she had a... website already at this business outfit called Etsy (never heard of it). I said why not Amazon or Google? She said those cost money, Etsy is very-very cheap.

I said, ok lemme see your website. Boom: bit.ly/CosmaSlimes. I said wow, how old are you again? I said, Oceana, I am very impressed! You know, at your age, I didn't even think they were computers out yet, or they were the size of this closet, but you, out of your lap top doing all this, impressive! I got a "duh" response. Before I even questioned her about her "traffic" and stuff, she says: "I have 3 sales already". I am thinking - Get out! You mean I don't have to spend all that money for your college? Yeah, I can finally buy that Ferrari! She says, not so fast dad, it's only $27 something. Yeah, but pumpkin, if you can make 3 sales, you can make 30, then 3,000, then 3 million, the sky is the limit! Ok, you get the point. I already feel like the time I got reincarnated as a slime!

The important lesson from all this is that she is learning about business, marketing, marketing analytics, profits-loss, etc. On top of this, she is learning about how to optimize her website traffic, about coordinating activities that can direct traffic to her site. She learned that me writing this article will further direct traffic to her website as I am referencing her link here and throwing high traffic key words I picked up from Google Insights all over it.

I am thinking, what is the potential for this person to succeed in business? I emphasize to her it is all up to her, it all depends on the effort she puts in, the energy and enthusiasm, discipline and willingness to listen and learn and apply her learnings to her business. Some of these learnings will spill over to her everyday life and relationships.

In the end, one thing is for sure: you can learn a lot by learning how to make slime: learn about, success and failure, about family and life itself. Good luck little girl. Glad to see you really like lemonade as well.

Signed: Your dad - who loves you baby?

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Three Tips for Parenting Success!

I believe there is no one way to parent. We are all different people with different family circumstances. In regards to good parenting, I think many of us agree that there are many roads that lead to Rome. So, I'm not going to try to tell you what you have to do or how you have to do it as a parent. I'm just going to give you three more tips to add to your arsenal of parenting strategies.

First, I want to point out that there is no such thing as quality time when it comes to effective parenting. Either you're there for your children or you're not. And I can certainly tell you that our kids want us to be there for them way more than they want us off saving the world somewhere else and only briefly popping into their lives in a whirlwind.

Another great tip to parenting is to build a strong food culture within your family. Countries like Italy and France that have strong food cultures also have strong family bonds. In other words, share a meal together and make it a family tradition. Now, I'm not saying to overindulge to the point where you all become unhealthy. I'm just saying that a family that breaks bread together tends to stay together.

Next, sometimes it's easier to parent other children than our own. We've all had one of our kid's friends over, and the friend was more polite and helpful than our own. This doesn't mean our kids are lacking something. It's just natural for our kids to put themselves on auto-pilot when they are around us and their friends, who don't really know us, to be on their best behaviors when around us.

Now, as my Granddaddy always said, "Go learn, lead, and lay the way to a better world for all of us." Feel free to use these three parenting tips anytime you want to add some more options to your parenting strategies. And once again parents, thanks in advance for all that you do, and all that you will do...

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3 Ways To Make Your Backyard More Fun For Kids

As a parent, it's your job to fill your home with creative, fun and inspiring ideas that will encourage your child to create, explore and relax no matter where they are in your house.

Here are some effective ways to make your backyard more fun for children:

Build a Rock Spot

A rock spot is basically a play area in your yard filled with gravel - a great place for children to play with their cars, trucks and construction toys as well as animals. You can use a small inflatable swimming pool or create a 4 x 5 pit by using large rocks or pieces of wood to contain the gravel.

About 5 bags of pea gravel (about 50 pounds each bag) will be used in such area. Add some small wood planks that children can use as ramps or branches and sticks to build anything. A rock spot would be a great addition to any home because it's great for sensory learning.

Install a large chalkboard

The easiest way to do this is to use a store-bought large chalkboard, but this can be expensive. Instead, you can opt to make your own. The first step would be to make homemade chalkboard paint (this will last longer than the store-bought variety and can weather outdoor conditions better).

With each cup of exterior latex enamel paint you use, mix it with 2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout. Use this mixture to paint a large piece of plywood (better to do the mixtures one cup at a time for a more even blending).

Once dry, hang the chalkboard at kid height in an area in your backyard and provide plenty of colourful non-toxic chalks. You'll be thankful to keep the chalk dust outside!

Create a play pond

You know much we loved to create those paper boats and we would float them in the tub during bath time when we were kids? Your children would love it, too, and they get to play with water even when it's not time for a bath!

Plus children love playing water, and a play pond would be a great way to cool them down during hot summer days.

A large plant saucer works best. Place it on the ground in your yard and fill it water. It would be fun to sit down with your children beforehand and teach them how to make paper boats. Once you have the pond ready, the kids can enjoy racing their boats!

Add bath toys, toy aquatic animals and some bubbles to add to the fun!

You don't have to spend too much money taking your young ones to theme parks or play houses often, you can have your own version of fun in your very own backyard!

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