What to Consider When Beginning Playdates

What to Consider When Beginning Playdates
Playdates can offer a wide variety of great experiences for your child as they begin to grow and develop. Throughout this post, we will talk more about the benefits of playdates for your child, when to know when your child is ready, and how to set up and prepare for playdates. Playing with other children offers littles the opportunity to grow in different ways that can lead to success within school and in their personal relationships with others....
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How to Overcome Feeding Challenges

How to Overcome Feeding Challenges
  Feeding a child can cause the most anxiety-inducing moments of the day... OR it can be an enjoyable experience that brings parent and child closer together. The following guidelines can empower your family to start out on the right foot when feeding your baby, or if you have a picky eater , to take steps toward positive feeding moments. Mealtime peace The foundation to success in eating and feeding is creating peaceful mealtimes. If your c...
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6 Ways to Help Your Child Cope with Worry and Anxiety

6 Ways to Help Your Child Cope with Worry and Anxiety
Is your child nervous about the start of the school year? It's common for all kids to feel nervous about beginning school. For some though, those beginning of the year nerves turn into something more. If you've noticed your student is struggling with excessive worry or anxiety, there are several simple things you can do to help. Below is a list of ways to help your child cope with worry and anxiety. Have your child tense and relax each muscle gro...
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What To Do When Your Child Lies

What To Do When Your Child Lies
When 2-year-old Liam* started crying, his mother Sadie went to investigate. Her two children were playing in their room together and Liam was crying and obviously in distress. After questioning her older daughter, Abigail, who insisted she didn't know what happened, Sadie decided to check the video feed from the baby monitor. Much to her surprise, Abigail had kicked Liam as they were both on the ladder of the bunk bed. When Sadie showed her daugh...
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7 Parenting Tips for Raising a Child with ADHD

7 Parenting Tips for Raising a Child with ADHD
Around 6.1 million children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, also known as ADD). That means that 9.4% of children between the ages of 2-17 have been faced with the challenges associated with an ADHD diagnosis. So if your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, you are not alone. ADHD is a complex disorder that requires treatment from professionals. That being said, there are some strategies that you...
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Choosing Television Shows for Your Child

Choosing Television Shows for Your Child
Children's television shows can be hit or miss. Some of them make you smile and think about the wonder of childhood. Some of them make you want to pull your hair out whenever you hear the main character speak. How careful do you need to be when deciding what your child views? Here are some helpful tips for selecting the shows your little one watches and learns from... Avoid shows where the main character exhibits a lot of bad behavior. Chances ar...
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Benefits of Allowing Your Child to Fail

Benefits of Allowing Your Child to Fail
While allowing kids to fail feels messy and frightening, letting them learn from their mistakes helps them to become empowered, releasing the controlling hold of fear that paralyzes decisions and helps develop lasting, deep rooted accountability along with, ironically, building the self confidence that comes with personal autonomy and recovery from failure. Failure is a part of life. Some of the most successful people in this world have seen the ...
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Receptive and Expressive Communication Explained

Receptive and Expressive Communication Explained
When you think about communication skills, you probably think about words and pronunciation, but communication begins even before a baby starts babbling. Communication encompasses what we understand and body language as well as what we say. There are two kinds of communication - receptive and expressive - and it's important for children to develop both. Receptive communication has to do with how one processes and understands what's going on in he...
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Promoting Healthy Attachment Through the Senses

Promoting Healthy Attachment Through the Senses
For the past 137 years, Children's Service Society of Utah has been involved in child welfare throughout the state by empowering families, caregivers and professionals through services supporting the safety and well-being of children. During this time, advocates have engaged with children and families in various settings, promoting healthy attachment and bonding and working hard to ensure every child feels safe and cared-for. In 2002, Children's ...
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Behavioral Changes to Expect When Your Child Starts School

Behavioral Changes to Expect When Your Child Starts School
You might not remember your first day of school - or maybe you remember it a little too well. It's a big transition that includes new people, places, and pressures. Children experience lots of confusing emotions because of this, and if you anticipate certain behavior changes you can help your child navigate this time successfully. As children go to school and learn about new things they might experience fears about criticism and failure for the f...
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​Is it Ever too Early to Start Reading to Your Child?

​Is it Ever too Early to Start Reading to Your Child?
Some parents may be wondering when to start reading to their child. Both of my parents are educators – under their guidance, I learned the value of reading from an early age. Simply put, it is never too early to read to your child. In fact, studies have shown that introducing books beginning at 4 months increases the chance that parents will continue to read to their children throughout their childhood. There are ample benefits to reading early. ...
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Fine Motor Skills Part Two: What's Involved?

Fine Motor Skills Part Two: What's Involved?
Since we learned about the importance of fine motor skills (that it affects learning skills having to do with hygiene, academic performance, how they relate to peers, and more) in another blog post, let's look at what other types of development are involved in fine motor development, including mid-line crossing, ocular motor control, and hand-eye coordination. Read on to learn the basics of each. Midline crossing According to Kid's Sense "the bod...
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5 Ways to Build Attachment with Your Baby

5 Ways to Build Attachment with Your Baby
New parents have a million things to worry about. From finding childcare to making sure their new baby is receiving the healthcare they need, new parents can sometimes be overwhelmed by all the new responsibilities they now have to juggle. Building attachment is just one of these new responsibilities that parents face with their babies. Attachment is when parents are able to interpret their baby's behavior and respond with compassion and care to ...
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Teaching Kids To Handle Embarrassment

Teaching Kids To Handle Embarrassment
I remember when I was 12 my family went to a restaurant and the waiter asked me the classic question, "Do you want soup, or salad?". I had just graduated from the kids menu and wasn't used to that question, so misunderstanding what he said I responded very confused with, "yeah I'll have the super-salad…". Thinking he was going to bring me a ginormous salad. My answer obviously confused him, so he responded with, "so you want the salad then?", whi...
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What is Plagiocephaly?

What is Plagiocephaly?
We've all seen them. Cute baby with a cute funny helmet on his head in a shopping cart at the grocery store or in a stroller at the mall. Why are there so many these days? Are these moms letting their babies fall on their heads?! Probably not. Most likely, they have a case of plagiocephaly or "flat head syndrome". In 1994 the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) launched "Safe to Sleep" (also known as "Back to Sleep...
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What’s So Important About Developing Fine Motor Skills Anyway?

What’s So Important About Developing Fine Motor Skills Anyway?
You may have heard your neighbor talk about how a certain toy is helping Sally develop her fine motor skills and wondered "What does that really mean?" or "What's the big deal with fine motor skills?" The reality is that the beginnings of fine motor skills lay the foundation for necessary everyday abilities later on. Fine motor skills are basically the things you do with the small muscles in your hands and fingers (e.g. playing a musical instrume...
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Alternatives to T.V. Time

Alternatives to T.V. Time
I remember babysitting my young niece not too long ago. All evening she asked, "Cars?" This was code for, "Could we watch the movie Cars?" Soon I turned on the TV and sat with my niece as she watched intently. I became intrigued as I started to notice she did not take her eyes off the TV. She, like many of us, had watery eyes due to the amount of focus she put on the screen. This experience caused me to think about what she could be doing instead...
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Ages and Stages Questionnaire: What is it and should I do them?

Ages and Stages Questionnaire: What is it and should I do them?
There are many perks to being the oldest child; every little milestone is tracked, celebrated, and recognized. Everything from my first words, to walking, and even toilet training, it was an exciting time for my parents to watch me grow. There was a sense of anticipation with each milestone, and as I learned new skills, they looked forward to what I'd be learning next. I was able to experience a little bit of that excitement when my youngest sist...
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How to Break the Cycle of Gender Stereotyping

How to Break the Cycle of Gender Stereotyping
  Have you ever heard the saying "boys will be boys"? Or "girls are so emotional"? These may seem like harmless phrases that explain our parenting experiences, but they may actually be limiting our children's potential. Gender Differences We are always hearing about another new finding on the "many" differences between boys and girls - whether that's in how they learn, who's better at math, who's more aggressive, etc. Researcher Christia Spe...
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Early Childhood: Sexual Behavior Part 2

Early Childhood: Sexual Behavior Part 2
  If you have already read Part 1 of Early Childhood: Sexual Behavior, you know that two very big topics were left to Part 2: How to promote healthy boundaries and communication with trusted adults, and What you (the parent) should do when something is troubling regarding your child's sexual behaviors. Since these topics can be quite broad and lengthy, we will go over them superficially and generally. For more in-depth information, plea...
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