Children need good quality sleep for health, growth, and mood—as anyone who’s ever dealt with a sleepy toddler can attest. A regular, consistent childhood bedtime routine helps children relax in the time before bed, and be less likely to resist bedtime—two factors that influence how well they sleep at night. This childhood bedtime routine guide will help you determine how much sleep your child needs, and how to create a bedtime routine you can both
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Unlike adults, babies do not shiver to stay warm when they’re cold, so properly dressing babies warm for winter is an important parental responsibility. Not enough warm baby clothes will result in a chilled baby. Too many clothes and baby can overheat. Here’s some advice for dressing babies warm for winter. Layering for Warmth Layering is essential for dressing babies in the winter, as you can remove or add layers as you go in and
Knowing how to congratulate someone on their new baby is a great skill to develop, and trust us, it is a skill. Knowing when to drop by to visit, what to bring, and when to offer help will make you the new parents’ favorite friend or relative (not counting baby of course). Here are some suggestions on how to congratulate someone on their new baby the new mom and dad will really appreciate. Visiting In
Winter time means it’s cold season, which means families with children are on full alert for signs of the sniffles. How to keep your kids from getting sick is a complex issue. While we can’t ensure your kids will never get sick, here are some health tips of children to help keep your risk of colds and flus to a minimum. Wash Your Hands Everyone in the house should know how to wash their hands
A baptism or christening is a formal religious event during which a child is baptized into the faith. To be invited to a baptism is an honor, as such events are usually intimate affairs only attended by relatives and close friends. If this is the first time you’re arranging to have your child baptized, you may have questions about how to arrange the event and how to act. If you’ve been invited to attend a
It’s becoming clear adults as well as kids enjoy the benefits of coloring. A whole range of adult coloring books are now available for older members of the family. Parents can color their grown-up books while kids use their own, or you can find coloring books designed for parents and children to color together. The Benefits of Coloring Books for Children For such a simple activity, coloring helps children develop a wide spectrum of
Tracking a child’s height as he grows in one of the great traditions of parenting. Children love seeing how big they’re getting as inch-by-inch they work their way up kids’ growth charts. Children, as the old cliché goes, grow up so fast, especially once they reach school age. Here are a few suggestions for tracing your child’s height throughout the school year. Walls or Growth Charts? The traditional method of tracking a child’s height
Just when you think you’ve successfully bought all your child’s first day of school supplies, something else always seems to crop up. It’s the joy of sending kids to school. Supplies get lost, broken, or suddenly become essential—usually five minutes before it’s time to head out for the bus. Here are a few school supplies it’s always good to have on hand, whether it’s the first day of school or the last. An Extra
Across most of the United States, daylight savings time ends on the first Sunday of November. Your clocks are easy to change—your toddler’s bedtime routine is more complicated. You can’t fool your child’s body into thinking what was 6:30 pm on Saturday is 5:50 pm on Sunday and the result is often cranky kids who resist their new bedtime or are up an hour earlier than you’d like on Monday morning. Some toddler prep for
In today’s work of smartphones, on-demand television, and electronic distractions, kids’ sing-along songs sometimes feel like part of a different era. They don’t have to be though. Kids of all ages still love to sing, whether they’re belting out a tune at a karaoke party or singing around a family campfire. The Benefits of Singing Singing teaches children many of the skills they’ll need in school. When you sing, you need to consider patterns