Kids and parents both need to have fun sometimes, whether its enjoying a family movie night or catching a podcast while driving to school.
This is the place to talk about your favorite forms of family entertainment including sports, games, books, and fun activities with your child.
I usually have a structured schedule for my 5yr old during the school year but it’s summer now and as a teacher I’m just like let me rest and just being way to lenient but now I starting to rethink that. What kind of schedule do you guys give your kids during the summer
Has anyone had an success with encouraging solo play in your toddler(s)? My 15 m/o is very loving, cuddly, comforted my closeness and reassurance, which is adorable most of the time, but challenging as I work from home and sometimes need two hands for things. What have you liked for helping your little ones entertain themselves?
My child has bee playing alone for 20-40 min since he turned 1. The trick that I found was, to give him a limited amount of open ended toys. Like REALLY open ended. That paper that comes in your Amazon box as packing filler. He played peekaboo, he scrunched it, be make a path and walked it, he ripped it, he put it up around the sides of his playpen. I feel like modern toys often discourage crea... More
The best thing I've found for my little one (1 year old) for solo play is to give her something that isn't designed to be a toy and also that she hasn't seen before. Things like kitchen utensils and mixing bowls, big cardboard boxes she can climb in, random objects that seem safe... all those things she loves to play with. If it is designed to be an actual toy she gets bored more ea... More
My 10mo daughter stays home all day with her nanny from 8-5:30 every day five days a week. The only outing is an hour at the playground. I am wondering what other nannies/parents are doing with their babies around my daughter’s age. I am just worried that I am dumming down my daughter or something by having her just stay with her nanny at home all day. Are there any classes to suggest taki... More
I have a 13 month old and was a nanny for infants and toddlers. I was out of the house every day as a nanny to many different places. Parks, splash pads, pools, library, music class (Music Together), gym class (My Gym, Gymboree, Little Gym), zoo, indoor play areas when it was raining or too hot/cold. As a parent, I do the same thing. My LO and I go out at least once a day when I'm working a... More
I went to Library baby rhyme time, swim class, and music class in addition to playgrounds. It’s nice to get the interaction with other kids as well as the sensory experience of music, water, sand, etc. my son is also very active and walking at 10m so going out was easier.
Anyone have any advice for toddler ripping books? My daughter is 21 months and has a favorite paper book but lately she’s been ripping it! She loves to read it but then she’ll randomly rip it. We’ve told her the book has to go to time out and will put it away but now she’ll rip it and say “ut oh book time out.” 🙈 So clearly that isn’t working. Any advice?
Have you thought maybe coloring books? There are some cheap ones at dollar stores that I've picked up for my son. I essentially use that as a means to teach him not to rip books meanwhile preserving the other books for story time or when he's older. He still gets the chance to learn how to touch and turn pages. Otherwise I do have several board books (several from Chickfila lol) and clo... More
Father’s Day is this week! Just want to add in a board book that my toddler & his daddy will enjoy reading together. Any suggestions? My toddler is currently 17 months but he enjoys reading & listening to his daddy read. Thanks!
https://www.putmeinthestory.com/ https://hoorayheroes.com/personalised-books-for-children/when-theo-grows-up-daddy-edition Customize daddy and me books. I got one for my husband and he loved it!
Has anybody here subscribed any monthly book clubs for kids? Is it worth it? I found a review for some here... https://www.cratejoy.com/box-insider/kids-book-boxes/ I know there are others too. I am thinking of subscribing to one for my almost 6yo daughter.
We are doing ours and it’s pretty cool. Since our son is a pre-reader he can get credit for other non reading related activities that help boost learning and development.
My soon-to-be 5 yr old is allergic to colors on the icing cream. His Birthday is just round the corner. I would like him to choose his cake but I want to make sure I give him options that would suit his health. Looking for recommendations for alternate Birthday cakes. TIA.
Do you have any resources for this? (maybe an app or website)
Toys r Us is history. Learning Express is pricey. Amazon offers very few engaging options. What are some other places to get educational toys for toddlers? I am trying to keep my 2.8 year old away from tv and electronics till he is 4,m. Possible?
My daughter gets very bored easily, and I feel she needs something more challenging and fun to keep her occupied. Anyone has any ideas for arts and craft ideas? Thank you!!
I am also a single mother to 3 year old. Beading necklaces can be fun and supports fine motor skills, baking cupcakes with her helping mix ingredients and decorate, dot art, painting, getting Barbies dressed, built blanket forts with her under kitchen table while u cool with her baby dolls tea party, balance bike/scooter outside, wash her ride toys day...soapy fun mess with sprinkler.
Thank you, ladies!!! This will certainly help my daughter to be less bored. She is four years old and I feel she is in need of something that will help her keep occupied and spark creativity and knowledge so that I can get some quiet time and get things done around the house, and these activities would be awesome for us to do together as well. Blessings and have a great week!!! 💜🙏🏼
We're aobut to head out on our yearly two week camping trip! We use a pretty cool app for finding camping sites called ParkAdvisor. It shows all the private and government owned campsites in any area, including a huge number of them we never would have found, but loved. Many of the campsites we wound up in were an hour or so up ever narrowing, apparently deserted, dirt roads through the m... More
It's a double edged sword I want to teach my kid everything I know and more, but he is already adept at pre k curriculum at 28 months. I'm worried that he wont be engaged and challenged when he actually goes to kindergarten. What else can I teach him right now? To be competitive and well rounded in current times but that will supplement a standard education.
My daughter is 19mo. She knew all her colors by one year. She can count to 20, knows most of the alphabet, and knows all of her shaped (including trapezoids and hexagons). I'm nervous that she'll be picked on for being smart as there were several kids I saw throughout school be made fun of simply because they were smart. I'm also nervous because she wont play with kids her age. The... More
Looking for any recommendations for an all inclusive holiday! Looking for a week away where kids can have their own time (1yr old & 4 yr old) and my husband and I can have some time alone.. with wine.
Does anyone else deal with this? When we first met he seemed to be interested in holidays, bdays, bbqs, etc. Now he will use any excuse to avoid them and even on Christmas morning, Easter morning he just lays in bed. Feeling alone and I don’t want to be miserable and miss out on all of these sweet memories with my little ones, but I feel like he makes my holidays miserable since he doesn’t enjo... More
He may not like holidays but not everything is about him. I'd imagine it makes it hard for the kids to enjoy the holidays when you have that negative energy lurking around.
He never can see that he makes everything about him. Literally every decision has been about whats best for him and its true the kids don’t enjoy the holidays as much. I may have to think about leaving but that’s not ideal either.
We are having a birthday party for my son in 3 days.. I let my son invite the kids from his babysitters. He is 5 and has always gone there. There are about 10 kids and some are siblings... I knew a lot of people may decline because of the holiday weekend but only one parent has RSVP’d... I have no idea whether to plan on the others attending or not. It is okay either way but I would like ... More
I always rsvp or at least let people know if I can’t make it asap. I know how important it is to plan for an event. I’d remind everyone to rsvp again. Some people need an extra nudge. Sometimes you have to say it face to face or over a phone call. It’s not a dying art. I always do rsvp for birthdays, our wedding, parties, etc. It makes sure I plan accordingly so there is less waste and knowin... More
I agree with the people in support of RSVPing. I always do party favors, and I would hate for a kid to be left out because there are not enough, but I also don't want to buy 20 if only 5 kids are attending. I also like it when parents *ASK* is siblings can also attend and not assume that they can. I don't mind- as long as I know in advance- but again- I need to know numbers to make sure... More
I have been trying to teach my 22 month old body parts. We started learning them when he was about 18 months old because I didn’t realize he was supposed to know them already at that point. I was able to get him up to 5 different body parts but we spent about a week or two not talking about it and he forgot all of them! I have been trying for a month now to get him to do body parts again but he... More
Head shoulders knees & toes was my daughter's favorite song for a while. I did all the pointing to the body parts with the song for a few months. I would reiterate body parts while in line at the grocery store and facial features in the car (she has a mirror so can see my face). As she was learning I also asked her to point to things on the dogs, her stuffed animals, daddy, etc.
I do take walks with her daily, she hates swings and doesn’t walk yet (14months), she doesn’t sit in the stoller, I end up picking her up when she is screaming therefore can’t be outside for more than an hour.. any tips? 🙈
Are there any sand playgrounds? She can crawl around and still be near you. Or just and try and play with toys. Library story times? Kids museums?
Anyone else’s Mother’s day full of tantrums? lol. Anyways, I have had 3 Mother’s Days since my son was born. The first, it was just us as a family of three. I sent everyone in my family that is a Mom - a card. (My Mom, my sister and my MIL). I didn’t get a card in return from anyone. For my second Mother’s Day - we went away for the weekend with my in-laws. I had my son make my MIL a pain... More
If you want to acknowledge the mothers around you, I would just send a text. Or a phone call. Don’t do anything major especially now you know where you stand with them. This year I got my mother a gift, my grandmother a gift card and my MIL a card with cash. My mom and grandma got my a new tv, but nothing from my MIL, which is fine by me.
I’m not trying to be judgmental at all, so bear with me here. But I honestly think when people spend a lot of time comparing what they gave vs what they received it ends up creating a lot of undue negativity and the person who offended them by not reciprocating will not change anyway. Yes, stop making effort for your mil. She clearly doesn’t make the effort for you. If your husband wants to ... More
Like the previous comment said, they are indeed young only once. Having a schedule doesn't hurt. But maybe have it for fun things. Make sure you get out of the house at least 4 times a week and do fun things together. Run errands together where you make lists for them and let him/her search the isles. Get pedicures. Have a competition of throwing stones in the water. Do grown up stuff with ... More
My son is only 21 months, but I signed up for some "Mommy and Me" swim lessons. It pretty much follows the routine I have where instead of us going to the park, we're going to an outdoor pool. Weekends tend to have different events going on. I usually check Facebook locally for anything. With summer, there are some Movies in The Park, little festivals, and so on. Our weekend sche... More