After school care for your toddlers can be a vital and productive part of not just your child’s day, but of their education, as well. Your kids can learn plenty from child care centers, and although the emphasis during after school care may be slightly less on lessons and more on fun, the learning doesn’t stop when the school day ends. The same is true when you pick up your child. If you’re got a young toddler, here are a couple of things to avoid doing:
When Your Kid Misbehaves, Don’t Ask Them “Why?”
When a young child does something wrong, they usually aren’t deliberately misbehaving. They don’t squirt ketchup all over the dog just so you’ll have a mess to clean up; they do it because they want to see if it will turn a white dog red, or because it’s like finger-painting, or because — well, who knows. Asking a child for a reason behind this kind of action can be an exercise in futility. Other times, they have their own, vey important reasoning for their behavior, which just doesn’t take into account the bigger picture. They ran into the street to get their bouncy ball, without realizing the dangers of traffic. When they misbehave, remember that they don’t have the same experience or reasoning capacity that an older child does; explain why their behavior wasn’t acceptable, but be gentle and don’t punish them.
Help Them All the Time
As parents, we want to see our children succeed. That’s natural, but it’s important to realize that the children aren’t really succeeding unless they do so themselves. It can be hard to hold back, but let your child experience small challenges and even failures. If you see him struggling to finish a puzzle, read a page from his favorite book, or put his shoes on the right feet — don’t just swoop in and do it for him. That might help in the short-term, but won’t build their skills or their confidence for the long-term. Provide help when they ask, or if the task at hand is beyond their skill level, but let your child struggle from time to time. Learning to rely on other people to finish troublesome activities isn’t good for adults.
Complain About Your Child’s Mother or Father In Front of Them
Whether you’re in a happy and healthy marriage or recovering from a nasty divorce, you should never bad-mouth your child’s mother or father in front of them. Children are extremely impressionable at a young age. The period from birth to three years old is the fastest rate of brain development during the entire life span — so don’t fill their brains with negative talk about others. Especially when this talk concerns someone they love and trust, such complaints can cause a child confusion and stress that can cause serious problems down the line.
If you want to help turn your toddlers into great little humans who are ready to take on the world, contact Growing Room Child Development Centers today!
