Toddler

Handling Kid Questions: Advice for Parents Sick of Hearing, ‘Why?’

I hear the average 4-year-old asks about 437 questions per day. Being the mom of a 4 and 5 year old, I have my doubts on the accuracy of that figure.  Personally, while I have a strong desire to fill my ears with cotton balls and stitch them shut from time to time, I love that my kids are full of questions. In fact, if they weren’t, I’d be a bit concerned.

So here’s a question parents might have…

What’s up with all the questions my kids ask?

The answer there is pretty simple, curiosity. Some kids do tend to get stuck on a particular question, such as, “why?” but in most instances any question is simply a sign that your toddler is interested in whatever the thing is. They want to learn and that’s an awesome thing. Some toddlers also note that asking questionkid questions whys results in attention and will continue to do so to receive attention. Other toddlers just ask questions when they’re bored. In any case, answering is a good idea.

What if you can’t answer your toddler’s question?

I have to admit. There have been times my toddlers have asked me something, and I have sat there scratchin’ my noggin’ because honestly, I have no idea. In the I-don’t-know realm, I find it best to look it up with my toddlers. I don’t think it s a bad thing for them to see that mom doesn’t know everything, but that I am willing to search for the answers when I don’t know them, which is a lesson all kids should learn.

There are other instances where I do know the answer, but I feel it’s a tsk to advanced to explain to a young kid. Things like, “where do babies come from?” fall into this category for some parents. In that case, I usually offer a brief and simple yet honest explanation and redirect the conversation to something else to fill my toddler’s curiosity. For example, in the where-babies-are-from quandary, I may say, “from a mommy’s belly” and then move on to tell an enrapturing story about when my my toddler was a baby in my belly.

What if you don’t want to answer any more kid questions?

Sadly, being a parent isn’t like being a celebrity or official of some kind, you can’t just say you’re not answering anymore questions at this time. Well, you could, but chances are it wouldn’t work (let me know if it does). Your toddler is just going to go right on feeding a million questions into your ear. In this instance, its best to find something that’s going to consume your toddler’s attention  to fill their need for information, keep them occupied, and make them feel as if they aren’t being ignored. What that particular thing is will vary by the child. For one of my toddlers, for instance, that’s a learning game, for the other, a pen and paper with artist requests from mom.

Above all, try to remember that every single one of your child’s questions, no matter how annoying they may become, are a chance for you to help his or her brain grow and learn. For me, at least, those chances are one of the greatest perks of parenting.

 

Picky Eater: Preventing Picky Kids and Getting Picky Eaters to Eat

It’s too spicy! It’s too bland! I don’t like ketchup, and I’d prefer ham! It seems the pickiest eaters in the world are kids. Those undeveloped kid taste buds change their minds daily, and it can be very frustrating. Thankfully there are some simple steps you can take to help prevent your child from becoming a picky eater and likewise eat if they already have.

Preventing picky eaters:

The try-it-rule for picky kids:

My kids, like most, will turn their nose up at almost anything that looks different, whether they’ve eaten it before cooked in another way or not. For this reason, we have a try-it-rule. If my kids want dessert, which thanks to my sweet-tooth is never missed, they must try at least one bite of whatever is on their plate. They also must eat an acceptable portion of the overall food on their plate. If they don’t like one item after trying it, and eat the other two for example, that’s OK. If they don’t eat, they aren’t hungry enough for dessert and don’t get it. It’s especially important not to reward not eating. We apply the try-it rule to every meal, it doesn’t matter if they’ve tried it before, because I’ve found even if they didn’t like it the first five times they tried it, they may the sixth.

Eliminating outside influence on picky eaters:

Next, I may hate seafood, nut chunks in my bread, and extremely spicy food myself, but you will never hear me say that in front of my kids. Many picky eaters picked up their ideas about certain foods from comments they heard adults say. Be careful not to express your own dislike for certain foods or cooking techniques. I’ll go as far as to eat things I don’t like and pretend I do, just so my kids have a bias-free opinion on food. It’s also important to offer healthy foods from birth, so you’re not trying to drop something like brussel sprouts on an unexpecting kid. If they’ve always had it, they’re more likely to eat it.

It stays on the table:

Even when my kids refuse to eat, the food sits right where it was set. We long ago realized trying to force them to eat and sit at the table only resulted in a fit, but found when they got hungry, they would come back and eat. We don’t offer any snacks unless meals were eaten. If they weren’t, I direct my kids to their sitting plate for snack. Granted it’s not an you-eat-it-or-starve situation, the plates are switched when a new meal is served, but not offering alternative food options often eliminates picky eating.

How to get a picky eater to eat:

Peek-a-Boo I don’t see you:

I saw my sister cooking spaghetti once. She had a blender and was pureeing vegetables. Carrots, celery, onion, you name it, it was becoming goo. I naturally said, “What in gods name are you doing?” She was blending the vegetables because her picky eater disliked chunks, and the vegetables he liked changed daily. By making them unseen the kids ate that spaghetti damn near without a fork, nutritional veggies and all. So trick number 1 to get a picky kid to eat? Hide it. Later on you can slowly make those hidden foods more visible, and use, “You’ve been eating it all along” as a defense.

Come on over here Baby:

The second best way to get a picky eater to eat, which may make a mess in the mix, is to get them involved. Research shows kids that help prepare what they eat are far more likely to eat it, whether they like the ingredients or not. Your picky eater is never too young to help either, just pick age appropriate tasks. For example, younger kids could simply pick fruit at the grocery store or wash it at home. An older picky eater could stir the soup or crack the eggs. Another tip for picky kids is to let them make their own plate. By allowing them this independence, you make them feel as if they chose to eat what you’re giving them, which eliminates the fight for dominance so many toddlers and kids go through.

You can also consider a home garden. Kids that grew the vegetables you’re trying to make them to eat are more likely to eat them out of pride. If you don’t have space consider and upside down garden to double the fun and cut the space.

Let’s play a game:

I know most parents’ don’t have time to make every single meal time fun, but turning meal time into a game or engaging educational experience is another way to trick a picky eater to eat. Even if meal time doesn’t become a game, numerous studies show that families that eat together not only have more fun, but their children are less prone to obesity and eat healthier. Just sitting down with you child every meal time will help them eat.

Monkey see, Monkey eat:

My final tip for getting a picky kid to eat is to eat it yourself, and be happy about it. Even if you don’t like something if you expect your kid to eat it, you need to eat it and not show that you don’t like it. Chances are if you take a bite of green beans twist your face in agony and say, “ewwwww!” your picky eater is not going to pick green beans for dinner.

I hope this has helped you win the meal time war with your picky eater. Good luck, and mind the dog, he’s a traitor.

 

Sledding Safety for Kids

Perhaps it’s just that I grew up in Alaska, but there isn’t much from winters of my childhood that I remember more vividly– or fondly, for that matter– than sledding. Sure the long climb back up a steep hill is work, but those few seconds of sledding down are well worth it. As a kid, I rarely considered how dangerous my favorite snowy pastime could even be, which is a bit ironic, being that I was named after a childhood friend of my mother’s who died in a sledding accident. A child can be injured in a plethora of ways on a sled, making sledding safety for kids serious business.

Sledding Location, location, location:

First, it is very important to pay attention to where your child is sledding. The child I was named after sled down a hill, through a fence, into a roadway, and was hit by a car. I knew a small child growing up who sled down a hill onto a frozen creek, broke through the ice, and drowned. Don’t just look at the bottom of the hill, look as far as the incline of the hill could send a sled sliding and anticipate unknowns, like traffic or ice.sledding safety for kids

Choose your ride:

Second, choose your child’s sled with care. Heavy metal sleds do get great speed, but if you’ve ever slid off and had your sled catch you in the head on the way down, you know why a heavy metal sled is not great for kids. The thin plastic roll-up varieties also slip out from under kids more often, so aren’t ideal for younger kids. Hard plastic choices can sometimes crack, so watch for damage. The safest sledding option, in my opinion, are blow-up plastic sleds and tubes. They’re soft and won’t stab you if they break, though they do sometimes get some rotation on the ride down.

Check out the sledding terrain:

Finally, before anyone heads down the hill examine the track on your way up. Be on the look-out for hidden logs, rocks, and other dangers. An unexpected log or jump built by older sledders can prove dangerous to a child. It can help to be the first one down as a parent that way you know how fast you child will likely go, and what they may hit as they go.

Outside of the above, while sledding remember to periodically check to be sure your kids aren’t having too much fun to admit they’re cold or tired.