Parenting Toddlers

For those of us who live in the Northern part of the country, Winter is still in full force…it feels like January or February. My daughter has been looking forward to playing in the puddles for months, but they’re all frozen. So what can you do with your toddler to provide some fun indoors while waiting for Spring, or for you lucky people in other areas, while it rains or you just don’t want to go outside?

My friend Carrie gave me a deck of 52 activity cards that I can do with Peanut. I picked out five of my favorites - that can be done indoors.

*Goop. This requires a lot of mess tolerance, so a mat or a non-carpeted floor is great for this activity. You need cornstarch, water, spoon, food coloring, and a mixing bowl.

First, empty a box of cornstarch into a large dish or baking pan. Gradually add water, about one cup, until mixture starts dripping off a spoon. Add food coloring if you want. Adjust the consistency by adding either more water or more cornstarch.

The Goop should be runny when you try to pick it up but solid in the pan. You can form it into balls or pour it into cups. Playing with Goop is fun for kids, and stress-reducing for you. Playing with dough is a great tension reliever!! Get messy! Have fun!

*Silly Soup. You need a small cooking pot, plastic food and small toys, play bowls and spoons. My daugther loves to play tea party, and this is the next step up. You make soup with the above ingredients in her play kitchen or your real kitchen.

As she adds ingredients, “taste” the soup and comment…”Oh, this is good, but it could use another rubber duckie.”

Sit down and “eat” the soup together. Make sure you talk about how it’s pretend and fun and not for real eating. Toddlers are masters at the concept of pretend. Just in case, though, just make sure everything is clean!

*Freeze Dance. Physical activity can give you a real boost just when you need it, both physically and emotionally. Put on some songs (either toddler songs or appropriate non-swearing adult songs). Dance like crazy. Then pause the music and yell “FREEZE!” You can also use “Stop.” At first, pause in the same place in the song so she can learn to anticipate it as she practices the game and the concept. If you have a child-friendly CD player, she can pause it on you and yell “Freeze.”

You can use this in other situations once your toddler learns the “Freeze” idea and you need an immediate response. Like when she’s about to walk into the parking lot without looking first.

*ABC Album. Your toddler should be getting aquainted with letters. To help with this, you can make a personalized, special ABC album together. You need a permanent maker, photo album, or binder and cardstock, pictures and photos, and glue.

Use the marker to wirte each letter on a seperate page in the album or binder. Together, find a bunch of interesting pictures in magazines, newspapers, or your computer. If you have a lot of family pictures, use those too.

Place or glue each picture on the correct page. When you finish, you can read through it together. If they can associate a person or loved one or favorite animal with a letter, it helps them learn it. For Peanut, A is for Aunt Annie.

*Bedtime Book. For this, you’ll need a camera and a small photo album.

Take a picture of your toddler at every stage of his bedtime routine…picking up toys, brushing teeth, reading stories, turning on the nightlight, etc.

Arrange the photos in the album. Write each step next to the picture. You can make it story-like if you want. Your child will love being in a book!

Start your child’s bedtime routine by reading the book together. It will help ease him into knowing he’s going to bed soon.

A little more about books: you don’t even need a photo album or binder. When I was little, my sisters and I made a book for our little sister using a paper bag and some magazine pictures. Twenty years later, she still has the book. It doesn’t need to be expensive or fancy. Kids will love it anyway. The important thing is that you can take what you have in your house and turn it into a fun activity.

I think we’ll give the ABC album a try today on this cold, cold first day of April! If you have any activities that your toddler enjoys, please let me know. Good luck and have fun.

Eating is a big deal in our lives currently. I kind of miss the days when I could give Peanut a bottle and be done with it. Now, she does not eat meals. She could have ten snacks a day but won’t eat at meal times. It’s irritating at times, especially when we take her out to eat. We encourage her to eat her food, which she picks out, but she doesn’t. As soon as we get home, she wants a snack.
Part of me knows that she does this because we let her do this, but on the other hand, I can’t refuse to give her a snack and have her go hungry. Right? If I did, I feel like she’d still skip mealtimes. It’s not like she’s picky, which is good. She’ll eat a variety of foods - and she LOVES vegetables, thank God! - but when she will eat them is the iffy part. So what do you do if your child is a picky eater or a non-meal eater. Here are some tips you can try:

**Don’t force your child to eat. If she says she’s full or not hungry, she means it. My mom constantly offers Peanut food, even after she says no ten times. When they say no, they usually mean it. Plus, you don’t want to get them into the habit of eating when they’re not hungry.

**If possible, have regular mealtimes. This doesn’t often work for our family because of work schedules, but if you can do it, it can help get your child into a routine.

**Let your child help you make food. This can be an exercise in patience for you, but they’ll love it, and it might make them more apt to eat the food.

**Eat the foods you want your toddler to eat. They model their behavior and habits on yours.

** If you’re kid’s a snacker, make sure they’re nutritious snacks so she/he doesn’t go hungry or malnurished.

**Eat a the table. My family is guilty of not always doing this, but it can help set a more structured tone for meals.

**Don’t make your child clean his plate. He’ll stop when he’s full.

**Remember, toddlers don’t need a lot of food - they need great quality food though. Veggies, fruits, grains, proteins.

**Offer choices. When Peanut told me she wanted chocolate the other day, I said that she could have either an apple or a banana. She got to pick and seemed perfectly happy.

**It’s ok to let your toddler have a treat once in a while. Every kid loves ice cream or cookies. You can let your little one have one every now and then. You don’t want to make them afraid to eat certain foods, which brings on the overeating later on in life.

The thing that works well for my child is to just let her have enough time to eat. That kid can spend an hour eating a bowl of spaghetti. It’s hard, but if you have time, try not to rush them. Let them go at their own pace.

What are your secrets to getting your toddler to eat healthily?

Here’s my little Peanut with her favorite buddy, Bo.

Hi Parents of Toddlers! My name is Kate, and my good friend, Randi, asked me to take over this blog for a little…she has eighteen million things going on in her life at all times, so she needed a little break!

I have a two and a half year old daugher and she will soon be joined by a sister (we’re pretty sure it’s a girl). I do a little freelance writing, but for the most part, I’m a stay-at-home mom, which is awesome. I feel lucky to be able to spend so much time with my little girl - who is, of course, the smartest, cutest, funniest, and best kid ever.

Like Randi, I’m going to go over things like books, crafts, discipline, activities, tips, and more. Being a parent of a toddler is pretty exciting, so there’s always lots to talk about. There also is really no such thing as being an expert. You are the expert for your kid - but it’s always great to get input from other people who are going through the same kinds of things you are. I’m excited to be writing this blog, and I hope you’ll feel free to share tips, ask questions, or find answers for other people’s questions.