When pregnant with my second baby, I worried that a crying newborn would wake up my older child during the night. But motherhood has a funny way of surprising you at every turn. The baby never ended up waking the toddler. The problem was, our toddler woke up the baby.
There is so much more to preparing your preschooler than numbers and ABCs. One of the most important skills your preschooler needs are adequate fine motor skills. Fine motor skills involve movement of the smaller muscle groups in your child’s hands, fingers, and wrists. With the advent of screens, preschoolers are falling behind in fine motor skills as their hands become ‘paddle fingers’ for swiping screens.
When your child graduates from toddlerhood to childhood, things change a little, food-wise. Your little one might be in preschool now or perhaps they’re in a dayhome or with a nanny (or maybe still at home with you). Either way, your little one most likely won’t be eating all of their meals at home anymore. Yikes! Does this give you anxiety? If it does, you’re not alone. What’s more, your child’s nutritional needs are ever-evolving (and their will and determination, too!).
For many families, bedtime is a stressful time of day when it really should be about togetherness and relaxation! Instead of letting your frustration continue, it is always helpful to take a step back and figure out a plan to improve the bedtime process. The following steps will allow you to brainstorm a bedtime routine that will work great for your family and allow everyone to enjoy the end of the day (instead of dreading it). Keep in mind, this is your chance to start from scratch and create the perfect bedtime routine. If what you’re doing isn’t working well, scrap it and start fresh! Keep it simple and lay out a few steps that will help your children wind down from a busy day and calmly drift off to sleep…
Calgary’s Child Magazine © 2020 Calgary’s Child
