Before working at Help Me Grow Utah, I spent ten years as a children’s librarian and fell in love with early literacy. No, I was not teaching toddlers and preschoolers to read, but I was instead teaching parents to put into practice the underlying skills kids need to be good readers when they are ready.
Kids ask questions. Some kids ask A LOT of questions. While advice on dealing with questions can range from revisiting the question at a later time to asking your child what he or she thinks the answer is, I believe this powerful phrase can shape the way your child looks at questions for the rest
I’m on my hands and knees cleaning up my two-year-old’s toys. I ask him to help clean up. His response? NO! It can be hard to know what to expect your child to do as they grow. The balance often involves including them in ways that make them feel like a valued member of the
Getting our very first TV was a huge event: my sister and I could watch black-and-white shows, but only around bedtime. Fast forward a few decades, and now screens are everywhere (at work, in school, and at home; even in our bedrooms), available 24/7 and used for an endless variety of purposes. Right before the
If you are the parent of a child with Autism, you likely have many days when you just feel tired. Parenting is exhausting as is, but parenting a child with special needs can be next-level difficult, and that difficulty is only increased if our child is also struggling to sleep at night. At least half
We have probably all heard the saying: “Children thrive in structure.” The Centers for Disease Control states: “Consistency, predictability, and follow-through are important for creating structure in the home”. The AAP has developed a wonderful program to help parents create a new bedtime structure with oral health care routines. This program includes information for families
Around 50% of young kids have severe nightmares that cause them to wake up their parents. I had a nightmare every night as a kid, and even though it was distressing to me, it was equally distressing to my parents. My bedtime routine became a battle because I was so terrified to get into bed. And even
When talking to families about special time, parents often respond, “I already spend all day with my children” or “We have lots of one-on-one time together.” I love hearing when parents are able to be home and enjoy spending time with their children! I also wanted to highlight some of the ways that “special time”
Have you ever noticed how life has a tendency to throw all sorts of unexpected twists and turns, especially at the least convenient times? I’ve heard enough experiences to know that this doesn’t just happen to me; everyone has their own story. It’s often hard for me (but really, most adults as well) to deal
I love training in martial arts. There’s something really fulfilling for me to be able to master a new technique while getting a really great workout in. One aspect of martial arts that I really connect with is the need to breathe. We all struggle with different challenges. We are all more capable of handling
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