courtcarp

380

10

Upvotes received

7

Upvotes given

2
Response to: “Resources for young teen girl going through puberty?”Not related to the development of the physical body, rather the mental and emotional changes experenxes and it’s really a resource for you as a parent, but the book entitled Brainstorm by Dr. Seigel is phenomenal and addresses the cognitive development of the age. ❤️
2
Response to: “Parents of teenagers”Mine are not teenagers yet, but as a former teacher of teenagers, there are some many resources for academic and emotional education. I would love to see a space dedicated to sharing those resources.
2
Response to: “Tips for making homework fun and quick?”My kids have a hard time with piano practice and their piano teacher suggested I only count “positive practices” on their practice chart. After like…10 positive practices (so like…2 weeks) she lets them choose an index card that my kids and I put together at the start of the school year. These have activities that are reasonable for me (based on time and money limits), but they have chosen. Examples of some: Bubble bath with ice cream, new nail polish, item from dollar store, special date with mom or dad, a chore free day, pack of gum…just to name a few. Seriously a game changer. My girls used to scream and curl up in an unresponsive ball on the piano bench EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. This year has been almost magical. I’m actually having fun with them when I help them with practicing and they will often practice randomly without me asking them to. Instead of tally marks on their practice books, I mark the practice with a smiley face. Perhaps there is a way that something like this could be beneficial helping with homework time as well. ❤️
1
Response to: “What “parenting win” are you most proud of recently?”I was given the advice to dress my daughter in play dresses and to let her go commando to help with potty training. I’m amazed how well it has worked! Both pee and poop, the is going on her own a lot more than she used to.
1
Response to: “How can we make BTFL better?”Honestly, one of the hardest things for me is the organization. I think it would be a cool feature to have a way to have topics in which an individual might have interest, specialty or background in leap up to the top or placed in a separate section to encourage response to targeted topics for each user. Then maybe a section dedicated to questions I have specifically asked. Just some thoughts.
1
Response to: “If you could redo the baby phase, what things would you actually want?”Honestly, if I were putting together a registry again, I would just ask for a cleaning service that could come about once a week for the first month (maybe twice a week for my first couple kids…definitely once a week for my fourth baby). My boss actually offered this gift when I had my twins. I valued that more than anything else.
1
Response to: “What are your favorite early instruments for kids? And how do you motivate them to practice?”My kids do the Lets Play Music program and they love it! They start out on tone bells and learn wholistic musicianship before instrumentation. That way, they can learn music concepts before their fingers and hands have developed fully to engage with piano. Then they move to piano to practice theory concepts that they have already learned through play and songs. That musicianship can be more easily applied to any instrument later. It is a 3 year program designed for ages 4-8ish. They have programs for younger kids and older kids as well. My husband is a high school band teacher himself and we LOVE this program!
0
Response to: “Any advice on room sharing for siblings. Our daughter is 27 mos and our son is 8 mos and we are planning to have them room share sometime soon. Anyone general advice, tips or lessons learned?”Stagger bedtimes. I have twins and when I started putting their younger sister (yep…3 to a room) it was rough. We had a triple bunk bed in there and that helped a lot because they were all secluded into their own space in a sense. We also invested in a baby monitor that had a camera so I could watch their interaction and take note of their bedtime habits
0
Response to: “Please give me your best tips on helping with reading for 2nd/3rd grade”I taught middle school literature and writing and so many avid readers got to middle school and lost interest and/or experienced a decrease in scoring when tested. For many of them, I could point to them getting their first phone and see a correlation between the two. Now, while correlation is not always causation, they most definitely showed more interest in screens than the pages of a book. I’m not saying that reducing screen time is the solution in your particular case (especially as your daughter is still in 1st grade), but it is worth considering as part of the equation. Screens (particularly audio/visual media) systematically recalibrates the way we process and take in information—especially if other considerations, such as ADHD or other behavioral factors are present. The age and overall cognitive development of an individual is a huge factor to consider on that point as well. Combating disinterest in reading can be difficult, but there are some vital points that others have already mentioned. Establish a community and culture of readers in your home. Commonly ask what others are reading and discuss your own reading habits. Let them see you reading. Utilize audio books on occasion. Read assigned reading with kids and discuss it together when you can. As mentioned in other comments, adding variety to their reading experiences is very helpful in their development as a reader and critical thinker. Newspapers, magazines, brochures…it’s all beneficial.
0
Response to: “What are the books you most enjoy reading with your kids?”Largely I love letting them pick at the library based on their interests at the time. For reading practice, I LOVE the Usborne Reading Library Series. We read those in addition to reading send home from their teachers. I really appreciate that they are classical folk stories with a short paragraph at the end to inform us about where the story originated from. The earlier books in the library are also phonetically focused and help with basic developmental reading skills. The more advanced book series sets contain simplified versions of classical literature, like Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice or Hamlet. I also enjoy finding audio books to listen to with my 1st graders at bedtime. We are currently listening to a dramatic reading of Anne of Green Gables that I found on Audible and we all look forward to it every night.