Elementary kids, ages six to nine, don’t like the term babysitter. They feel they are too old to be cared for like babies, yet they are too young to stay home alone. So, instead parents can call a kidsitter to spend time with their children when they need to go out. Whether it’s date night or work, a kidsitter may be just what your child needs for companionship. A responsible teenager may be the perfect sitter for your children, as long as they are mature enough to follow babysitting guidelines.

Get your children involved in the task of finding fun entertainment that they can share with this caregiving person. Here are a few ideas to try.

Interactive games help socialization between your child and the kidsitter. Bring out the board games, a deck of cards, or even plan a game of charades. Playing board games is an excellent way of spending unhurried time together with an extra bonus of enriching learning opportunities. If you are playing games with mixed ages, choose simple games that everyone can play with the same rules. You also can divide the kids into teams for games like Monopoly. Here each player can pursue a job that they can do well. A younger child can roll the dice and count out spaces, whereas the older child can sort the money.

Get into the groove with a rocking eve of music and dance. Elementary-aged kids love their pop-stars and are excited to sing along to the latest music and dance up a storm. Teenage sitters are the perfect companions to rock out with your kids. Bring out some props, like guitars, colorful wigs, and anything that can become a fake microphone. Use the art of karaoke to enlighten the kids for an hour or two.

Set up a crazy portrait studio. If mom and dad will allow the kids to use a digital camera, just think of all the fun the kids will have with your sitter dressing and posing for photos. Bring out the cute and funny props (wigs, boas, costume items like a mustache, and so on) to use during your photo extravaganza.

Set up amspa night. Girls especially love to have their hair braided or curled. And, the big rave is the latest nail art. Bring out a variety of nail polish (mom permitting) and give each other a manicure, maybe with tiny flowers or stars added for glitz. Nail wraps are fun and less messy.

And after all this fun, who wouldn’t enjoy a sweet treat? Kids can help make delicious cakes and brownies using the microwave, so much safer than a stovetop or oven. Why not try a simple cake in a mug dessert? They are individual and so much fun to eat.

These are only a few of the many entertainment ideas that can be shared with a kidsitter either day or night. You may find that your child will really enjoy this new friendship and will not balk the next time you need to spend a day or nighttime hours away from home.

During the preschool years, the timing of hitting movement milestones tends to spread out across the peer group. Some preschoolers may exhibit a strong ability to run, climb and jump, while others are a bit clumsier. Most kids’ abilities tend to even out upon approaching kindergarten, which is important due to the increase in group activities during PE, music, and recess. You can help your preschooler hit movement milestones faster while having fun by enjoying these activities together on a regular basis.

Hopscotch

Keep a pack of chalk and a small stone in your bag to play hopscotch wherever you go. This activity helps your preschooler develop immense coordination and balance. You can start with hopping on two feet and progress to a difficult one-foot bounce. Preschoolers also learn about counting numbers up to ten, following rules, and taking turns while playing this fun game.

Catch

Any large bouncy ball will do for playing catch on the go. While playing catch, your child will learn how to track movement and respond accordingly. Kids learn eye-hand coordination and distance measurement, as well. You will want to use a light overhand toss at first and slowly increase distance and speed as your child’s skills grow. Eventually, you can switch to using a smaller ball for this activity.

Soccer

Soccer helps kids develop coordination while running and stopping on a dime. This activity will help your child keep his or her feet stable and moving in the right direction while in pursuit of the ball. You can alternate playtimes on normal grass and turf to mix up the surfaces and encourage further coordination improvements. Start with slow kicks of the ball, much like playing catch, but with your feet. Then move onto dribbling activities and full one on one games.

Obstacle Course

You can build an obstacle course in the backyard to teach the movements other activities and sports do not incorporate. Use stairs, jumps, balance boards, tires, and other found objects to create a fun obstacle course. Always use foam and other cushioning material to block sharp edges and other potential dangers. You can set up thick pads beneath the balance boards and jumps to prevent injuries. Always have kids walk through the course at first to get a feel for the playing field. After that, whip out a timer and see who can complete the course fastest.

Your child’s pediatrician will likely ask about moving skills at well child checks across the preschool years and beyond. Stating an inability to complete a task does not reflect badly on your child or you, as kids develop at different rates. In most cases, doctors are not only gauging your child’s growth progress, but also watching for signs or symptoms of a developing medical condition. Completing these activities together allows you to be incredibly accurate in reporting your child’s progress in hitting movement milestones to better help the doctor keep tabs on your child’s health.

Toddlers of all personality types, from outgoing to reserved, thrive on routine. A stable daily routine helps eliminate constant anxiety from expecting the unexpected. Toddlers are taking in new information a mile a minute, so it is important to keep some areas of life stable and calm. You do not have to create a rigid routine to have success with this tactic either. Simply creating a loose daily schedule gives toddlers anchor points to rely on throughout the day. Here are five tips for creating a successful daily schedule.

Work Around Mealtimes

The most important parts of the day for toddlers are mealtimes. When toddlers start to feel hungry, they may not voice that concern as such. Instead, meltdowns may be the main form of communication used to share that point. Set mealtimes around the same hour each day to allow for some wiggle room. You want your schedule to have a little bit of fluidity for unexpected events, like diaper blowouts or visitor interruptions.

Establish Weekly Outings

Work weekly outings into your routine to give kids a little dose of excitement without the stress of having the event sprung on them. Choose the same time and day each week to go on your outings. Vary the venues you visit, though, to help your toddler learn to embrace a small amount of change. You can visit the zoo, local gardens, park, children’s museum, or even a friend or family member’s home.

Include Free Playtime

Make sure the schedule has a few hours open for free playtime each day. To create an immersive free play experience, have several different art, toy and game options for your child to select. Give your toddler the option to play with each selection for at least thirty minutes before switching. You can play alongside with your toddler or use this time to complete chores around the house.

Don’t Forget Naps

Although many toddlers are starting to rebel against taking naps, it is important to have some rest time built into every day. Naptimes usually work best after meal or snack periods that give your toddler time to wind down and fill up his or her belly. If your toddler does not want to sleep, insist on establishing an hour of lying down and looking through books in bed. Most kids will fall asleep during this calm activity more often than not.

Start Bedtime Routines Early

If toddlers do not like to nap, they enjoy going to bed even less. You can negate this frustration by working a wind down period into the evening hours. After dinnertime, have your toddler complete quiet art activities, puzzles or other calm entertainment. An hour or so before bed, run a quick bath and brush teeth. After that, help your toddler put on pajamas and select two to three books to read. Include your family’s bedtime routine traditions, such as rocking, singing or talking about your day, before saying goodnight and turning out the lights.

Schedules are everything. They are so important in my life and many of my friends’ lives, simply because they keep us organized. My friends and I all keep fairly busy schedules, so having a way to lay out our day and what we need to achieve makes it much easier than trying to juggle everything all at once. There are a few tricks to mastering the art of scheduling, which I will share with you.

If you are still a schedule newbie, remember to allow a little wiggle room in your schedule. This goes for everyone, but stuff will always happen to put you a little off schedule. So if you remember to allow time for that when scheduling your day, or whatever else you are scheduling, it will go far more smoothly.

Tip 1

Let’s start by scheduling your morning. We will use my typical day as an example. I wake up on weekdays between 6:00 and 6:10 and am downstairs for breakfast between 6:15 and 6:20. Then I eat breakfast and am up to the bathroom to brush my teeth, put in contacts, and wash my face by 6:40 (I shower at night to save time). I then head up to my room by 6:50 to get dressed and ready for the day. Although I don’t have to leave for school until 7:20, I prefer to be ready by 7:00 or 7:10, so I have a few minutes to pack my bag and lunch and whatever else I may need for my day. Those extra ten or so minutes also allow me a buffer time in case I oversleep a bit.

Tip 2

Another thing to remember when scheduling is that you can’t always plan out everything. Say you and your friends are going to the city for the night, you can theoretically schedule your night, but your plans may change. Maybe there’s traffic or your friends change their minds on where they want to eat dinner, you have to be able to go with the flow and allow your plans to change.

Tip 3

Lastly, writing out your day makes things so much easier, but it is not always necessary. I typically only write out certain things on my calendar, like what I have for homework, practices, and any appointments I have. However, I don’t write out my whole day’s schedule as it isn’t necessary for me, as most of my days have a similar schedule. Even if I do have a day with a different schedule, I will only jot down certain aspects of it. Most typically I will put certain events into the calendar on my phone so I have reminders through out the day.

All in all, schedules make my life so much easier. If you have not tried using them yet, I highly suggest you do. Chances are they will make your day so much easier.

There are the friends we choose and the friends that are chosen for us. Sometimes relationships aren’t quite so simple as we’d like. Middle school is a hornet’s nest of new feelings, experiences, and social hierarchies. Jill may be friends with Julie because they like each other and have similar interests. But maybe Jill isn’t so fond of Julie’s BFF Jillian. Jill and Jillian still have to find a way to get along, or at least coexist peacefully, if they are both going to be in Julie’s sphere of friendship.

Or maybe Blake and Billy are next door neighbors. They are in different classes and don’t travel in the same social circles at school. But they carpool to and from school every day and their respective sisters are dear friends. Their parents get together to play bridge once a week. Blake and Billy don’t have to be the best of friends, but they do have to spend time together so they’d best learn to make the most of it.

That secondary level of friendship can be difficult for tweens to grasp and execute. Middle school is the first time that labels become important to most children. Like the kids from The Breakfast Club, middle schoolers start to define themselves by their social circles. The brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal may be extreme examples, but the truth is that tweens do see themselves as representatives of their peer group. The jock will not want to hang out with the nerd unless he learns to break through the confines of social cliques and embrace his neighbor as an individual.

The real world

Sometimes the problem is less about social circles and more of a straightforward issue of incompatibility. You can’t make Blake and Billy like each other. No matter how hard you try or how much you want the neighbors to be friends, you just can’t force friendship. If they have no common interests and wildly different personalities, the best you can hope for is peaceful coexistence. That may involve a considerable amount of coaching on your part.

Your tween needs to understand that there are times when you have to spend a considerable amount of time with someone that you don’t particularly enjoy. Explain to him that he has two choices. He can spend that time being bitter or complaining or openly mocking the other person. That choice leads to hurt feelings and uncomfortable interaction. Or he can choose to make the most of it and find some commonality to embrace. The latter option may not make them friends, but it will make the time they spend together more pleasant for everyone involved.

This is the time to teach your child this valuable lesson. Middle school is the perfect breeding ground for exactly this type of conflict. Teach your child now so that he or she will be able to tolerate and accept others as adults. You’ll not only help your child adapt to tween life but you’ll be making the world a better place.

Your child has entered elementary school, and a good portion of her day is consumed by school. This might make scheduling easier than the preschool days that filled only a few hours a couple days a week, or so you thought. However, even though a large portion of her day consists of school and the bus ride there and home, there still are many other pieces to be juggled.

Morning

Your child’s day should begin at the same time to get him used to waking up at the same time. Elementary school is a great time to introduce the use of an alarm clock. It helps your child practice telling time and also encourages him to be responsible by getting up when the alarm goes off. The morning should be filled only with necessities: dressing, eating, grooming, packing the bag. Don’t leave homework and paper signing for the morning dash.

Afternoon

Every family’s situation is different, so maybe your child comes home after school, stays for after-school care, or goes to a babysitter. Regardless to the location of your child, you should decide whether homework will be done before or after dinner. If you choose before dinner, be sure to let your daycare provider know. The provider should be willing to make this happen. Outside of homework, the afternoon is a great time for your child to relax by playing with friends, enjoying a little screen time, or just lounging.

Evening

I know, we should all hope that family dinner is part of the evening plan, but with extra-curricular activities this can be tricky. Do your best to schedule your kids’ activities so that you have one or two nights each week for family dinner. Of course, one way to help with this is not overscheduling. Although this may be an unpopular sentiment, one sport team per season truly is enough. Additionally your child may want to belong to a church group or youth organization, take music lessons, or belong to a club. With only one sports team, she will have time to be involved in a different group without having a loaded schedule.

(If you have chosen to work on homework after dinner, you definitely need to keep extra-curricular activities in check. Homework shouldn’t be done late at night after dinner, practice, and a shower.)

The day should end as it began, with a set bedtime Sunday through Thursday nights. Although your child isn’t little anymore, a bedtime routine is still a good idea. An evening snack, showers, and toothbrushing at a similar time help prepare their bodies for sleep. Have your child settled in bed about 15 minutes before they should be sleeping. Read to or with him, even if he is an independent reader. (Most kids still enjoy having a parent read to them.) When reading time is done, leave the room and let dream-time begin. A good night’s sleep will have him ready to begin the schedule again tomorrow!

Although separation anxiety hits in full force at 18 months to 2 years of age, those frustrating feelings commonly resurface as preschoolers get ready to enter school. The newfound independence of attending preschool can make kids feel unsure, out of sorts and anxiety ridden. With a little support, these anxious times melt away just as they did before, leaving your preschooler no worse for the wear. Here’s how you can help your child cope with separation anxiety.

Go Over the Schedule

Preschoolers thrive on maintaining a solid daily routine. You can help reduce feelings of anxiety by creating and going over this routine ahead of time. Talk about school drop off and pickup times, activity blocks at school and evening plans, including dinner and bedtime stories. Make sure to talk to your child about the need to sometimes go off schedule, the process of making a new temporary schedule on the fly and ways to cope with routine changes.

Perform Practice Runs

If possible, visit the preschool several days ahead of time to look at the cubbies, activity stations, snack tables and outdoor play. Talk to the teacher about the planned activities, including art projects and games, for the first week. Preschool teachers are happy to introduce new students to the classroom and talk about the daily schedule. Your child should be given a few minutes to explore the play area on their own. This short visit will help your child visualize the school setting, which drastically reduces anxiety related to wondering about unknown factors.

Never Sneak Away

Although it may seem like it at the time, sneaking away does not make the goodbye process easier on your child. Instead, it can cause the feelings of anxiety to last all day. Long, elaborate goodbyes have the same anxiety-inducing effect. Instead, give your child a brief hug, words of encouragement, and a promise to see them at the end of the day. Your words of reassurance and calm demeanor will go a long way in helping your child relax during the school day. If your child continues to have trouble, you can slip a picture of the family into his or her backpack to maintain feelings of closeness while far away.

Reinforce Positive Experiences

Separation anxiety in preschoolers may last up to four weeks after starting school. You can help it dissipate by discussing positive experiences that happened at school each day. Talk to your child about the teacher’s kind and helpful nature. Discuss the other students and help your child form close friendships. As your preschooler forges these new relationships, the anxiety about leaving your side will quickly diminish.

If your child continues to have trouble making this adjustment, you may need to involve a doctor to rule out an anxiety disorder. In general, separation anxiety that lasts longer than four weeks requires a checkup to rule out possible medical conditions. Your child’s doctor will help rule out or treat the anxiety and help find new ways to help your child cope.

The holiday season is upon us, and we are busy decorating the house and getting into the spirit. Please, don’t forget the babies and toddlers; they want to feel the joy too! Here are some tips to make your youngest of children happy during the holidays.

Safety

First, let’s think of safety. Babies and toddlers are curious beings. Thus, when you put up a Christmas tree or set out the menorah, they can’t wait to head over to these new objects to touch and taste. Think about how you can childproof your home during the holiday season. The first year I put up a Christmas tree, I had issues. My baby would crawl to the tree and pull on the branches hoping to grab an ornament. I had to find a way to put the tree in confinement. Asking other mothers for tips, we came up with putting the flexible baby gate around the tree, buying a smaller tree for a tall tabletop display, and one mom even put her tree inside a playpen.

Make sure to shy away from glass ornaments for safety and things that are tiny that could become a chocking hazard. Opt for unbreakable baubles of plastic or wood. Keep lit candles out of reach and did you know that poinsettia and holly plants are poisonous? Keep little fingers and mouths away from these holiday plants.

Learning

When you craft with the older children or friends, give your baby/toddler some colorful paper or gift-wrap to explore. Young children love to tear paper. You can take these scraps and glue them on a sheet of construction paper for your baby’s contribution to decorating. Talk to your baby about what she is doing. “That’s a pretty piece of red paper you are tearing.” Channel your child’s creativity by making a collage together from all the pretty torn papers. Make sure to write your baby’s name and date on the collage to save for future memories.

Ribbons can be sensory. With older babies (six months and older), tie a brightly colored ribbon loosely around his wrist or ankle where he can easily see it. Talk to your child about the color and how the ribbon moves when he does.

Motor skills

Toddlers can be involved with making a holiday book that moves. Cut out some holiday pictures from magazines or old cards. Hand-on-hand, help your youngster glue these pictures onto a cylinder, such as an oatmeal, potato chip, or baby snack canister. After you finish gluing on all the pictures, cover it with a clear self-adhesive paper. You can play with your little learner by rolling the “book” back and forth and then asking her to help you find the special pictures. Ask, Where is the dreidel? or Can you find Santa?

And if you are knee-deep into wrapping packages, give your kiddo a few large pieces of rolled tape (under your supervision). You will be surprised how this sticky substance will amuse your child for the longest time. Regular tape will do, but colored or patterned holiday tape is a winner!

For as much as I love Christmas, I understand it can be very stressful. All those family visits are fun and lovable at first, but can get a tad annoying very quickly. Having gone through it for the past seventeen years, I have learned a few tricks on making the holiday season a little less stressful.

Shopping

The most important thing is to skip Black Friday. Now that tip may not help for this year, but it will in the future. Believe me, the deals are nowhere near worth the stress all those crowds will cause you  Plus, a lot of stores will jack up the original price so the deal seems greater.

You are better off going shopping on Cyber Monday because: (1) no crowds, (2) you can stay at home in pajamas, and (3) the deals tend to be better. Although I will confess that this year was the first year I went shopping on Cyber Monday, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually typically do my shopping beginning to mid-December. Don’t wait till the last minute or that’ll just cause more stress, but don’t try to rush and get it all one at once. Take your time and really think about each gift.

Families

For family gatherings, the best tip is to bite your tongue when it comes to that one family member you can’t stand. Whether it is a great aunt that always pinches your cheeks no matter how old you are, or a talkative uncle that doesn’t have a filter, stay calm and civil.

If you need, cling to your favorite family member (it helps if they aren’t a fan of that person, either). They will help to distract you from the other person, and they’ll make your night more enjoyable. If you get extremely annoyed or frustrated, just bite your tongue. Don’t lash out because you will immediately regret it. It won’t make the situation any better, and you will just look bad.

School

Lastly, don’t stress over school work. Especially over the break. You have nearly two weeks off, wait till after Christmas to do your work. Try to get it done before New Year’s, but don’t be locked in your room on Christmas Eve doing an essay that can wait a couple days. (Although it does make a great excuse for escaping pesky relatives.)

Just remember that it is the holiday season, and it should be filled with joy and cheer, not stress and frustration. Just keep calm and breathe through whatever the holidays have to throw at you. It is Christmas, after all (and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa!).

Presents…food…concerts…decorations…religious observances…parties…pageants…and STRESS. The hype surrounding the holidays begins around November 1, and the frenzy doesn’t end until after January 1. This makes for a LONG holiday season. Adults have experience dealing with the holiday blitz. However, children have a more difficult time handling the pressures surrounding this fun, yet emotionally exhausting, time of the year.

As a parent/guardian, you can assist your tween with battling the emotional upsets that may erupt during the holiday season. Read this informative posts for five tips on how to assist tweens with handling the holidays.

1. LOWER EXPECTATIONS

One of the best ways to assist a tween with handling the holidays is to lower your expectations. No family celebration occurs without some type of glitch. Maybe the turkey doesn’t cook all the way through, or your dog chews up your elderly aunt’s purse. Stuff happens. Instead of over-reacting because your holiday event didn’t turn out like a fairy tale, be thankful for what DID go right. If you do this, your tween will feel much more at ease. He or she will learn a valuable lesson as well: don’t sweat the small stuff.

2. KEEP A NORMAL SCHEDULE

Another way to help a tween cope with the never ending holiday season revolves around adhering to your normal schedule. Resist the urge to allow a child unlimited late nights, and opt for regular meal times as well. Children – and many adults – handle life much more effectively if they are well rested and well fed. In addition, you will help to keep your child remain illness free if his immune system stays healthy.

3. SCHEDULE DOWN TIME

Scheduling downtime goes hand in hand with keeping a normal schedule. Children need time to recharge. To describe it in their terms, they need to be able to chill. Don’t attend every holiday event in your town. Instead, have a few relaxing days and/or nights where your child can relax. (Maybe have a cup of hot cocoa and watch a fun movie together).

4. DON’T FOCUS SOLELY ON PRESENTS

I know a family with five children. When their first child was little, they began a tradition of placing a present in the child’s shoe each night, starting on the first of December and lasting until the 25th…when Santa arrived with oodles of other presents. Five children later, this couple realizes they created an atmosphere fostering greed in their children. The end result – the children are always looking for “the next present.” Help your tween to appreciate the holidays more by NOT focusing solely on the gift giving aspect of the season.

5. DEVELOP A FAMILY TRADITION

Holidays will be more fun for tweens if they have a family tradition to look forward to. Some families  cut down a Christmas tree together every year. Other families bake different types of cookies. It doesn’t really matter what your tradition entails, it just needs to be fun for the entire family. Trust me, if you forget your tradition, your tween will remind you! They thrive on consistency.