Parenting Advices

It’s 7 in the evening, do you know, what your kids are watching? More importantly, are the shows your kids love right for them? Here’s how to tell…

Believe it or not, TV can be good for kids. It’s just a matter of choosing shows that fit these criteria:

Appropriateness. Shows should note kids’ developmental stages and needs — communicating at their level, featuring child characters, depicting Filipino culture, using familiar and local contexts, believable heroes, reconcilable story lines.

Promotes positive values. Shows should reinforce positive values and character building, depict good manners and codes of proper behavior. These may be:

• Physical or biological (healthy food habits, safety, hygiene, exercise)
• Intellectual (critical thinking, reasoning, knowledge)
• Moral (practice of Filipino values, personal discipline, honesty)
• Spiritual (prayer and faith in God)
• Environmental (protection and conservation of resources, respect for life, cleanliness)
• Economic (positive attitude toward work, industriousness, saving)
• Social (appreciation of individual and cultural diversity)
• Political (heritage, national unity, diplomacy)

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If your toddler suddenly becomes clingy and demands your attention all the time, you may not have to look far from the cause. It’s his new sibling peacefully sleeping in his crib.The first thing you need to know about jealousy in toddlers is this, at this age, there is no such thing as jealousy as adults know it. By the time your first baby becomes a toddler, he becomes the most important and powerful member in the family. When the second baby finally arrives, here begins a bit of a problem. As a mother, you will have your hands full with the newborn who needs a good amount of attention. Not to mention the firstborn who hasn’t had any experience sharing his parents’ attention.

In this kind of situation, the toddler who has never really learned to be considerate or reasonable, is suddenly expected to be so. He will be made to accept this fact, change his behavior and may become unhappy about the whole situation.

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Congratulations! You’ve decided to do it all by yourself! Here are a few pointers from others who have done it before you:

On Child Care

As always keep children, especially preschoolers, where you can see or hear them. If you have an infant, make sure you have him safe in his crib, far from your preschooler’s reach.

Keep your kids busy while you take your bath or are cooking. Drawing, reading, coloring books or a video can do the trick.

On Cleaning

Don’t always expect the house to be spic and span. The goal is a semblance of neatness and cleanliness. Train the kids to fix their beds, pick up their toys, and pack away their own things.

If you have a big house, consider getting someone — perhaps one of your mom’s helpers on loan — to come in once a week to do a thorough cleaning.

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