How Media Use Affects Your Child?

Most kids today are plugged into devices like TVs, tablets, and smartphones well before they can even ride a bike. 

Technology can be part of a healthy childhood, as long as this privilege isn't abused. For example, preschoolers can get help learning the alphabet on public television, grade schoolers can play educational apps and games, and teens can do research on the Internet.

But too much screen time can be a bad thing:

• Children who consistently spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV are more likely to be overweight.
• Kids learn to argue for things with their parents from TV.
• Kids who view violent acts on TV are more likely to show aggressive behavior, and to fear that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them.
• Teens who play violent video games and apps are more likely to be aggressive.
• Characters on TV and in video games often depict risky behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, and also reinforce gender-role and racial stereotypes.

That's why it's so important for parents to keep tabs on their kids' screen time and set limits to ensure they're not spending too much time in front of a screen.

What's Recommended?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends these guidelines for screen time:

• Babies and toddlers up to 18 months old: No screen time, with the exception of video-chatting with family and friends.
• Toddlers 18 months to 24 months: Some screen time with a parent or caregiver. 
• Preschoolers: No more than 1 hour a day of educational programming, together with a parent or other caregiver who can help them understand what they're seeing.
• Kids and teens 5 to 18 years: Parents should place consistent limits on screen time, which includes TV, social media, and video games. Media should not take the place of getting enough sleep and being physically active.

Milestone for 4 to 5 years kids

Your child is growing up. Have you noticed that your 4 to 5-year-old is becoming more independent and self-confident? If not, you will in the coming year.

Most children this age begin to develop greater independence, self-control, and creativity. They are content to play with their toys for longer periods of time, are eager to try new things, and when they get frustrated, are better able to express their emotions. Dad have big role to play in development of kids and should not be considered lesser than a mom.

Although children grow and develop at their own pace, your child will likely achieve most of the following developmental milestones before he or she turns 6 years old.

4- to 5-Year-Old Development: Language and Cognitive Milestones

Your curious and inquisitive child is better able to carry on a conversation. In addition, your child's vocabulary is growing -- as is his or her thought process. Not only is your child able to answer simple questions easily and logically, but he or she should be able to express feelings better.

Most children at this age enjoy singing, rhyming, and making up words. They are energetic, silly, and, at times, rowdy and obnoxious.

Other language and cognitive milestones your child may achieve in the coming year include being able to:

• Speak clearly using more complex sentences
• Count ten or more objects
• Correctly name at least four colors and three shapes
• Recognize some letters and possibly write his or her name
• Better understand the concept of time and the order of daily activities, like breakfast in the morning, lunch in the afternoon, and dinner at night
• Have a greater attention span
• Follow two- to three-part commands. For example, "Put your book away, brush your teeth, and then get in bed."
• Recognize familiar word signs, such as "STOP"
• Know his or her address and phone number, if taught

4- to 5-Year-Old Development: Movement Milestones and Hand and Finger Skills

Children learn through play, and that is what your 4- to 5-year-old should be doing. At this age, your child should be running, hopping, throwing and kicking balls, climbing, and swinging with ease.

Other movement milestones and hand and finger skills your child may achieve in the coming year include being able to:

• Stand on one foot for more than 9 seconds
• Do a somersault and hop
• Walk up and down stairs without help
• Walk forward and backwards easily
• Peddle a tricycle
• Copy a triangle, circle, square, and other shapes
• Draw a person with a body
• Stack 10 or more blocks
• Use a fork and spoon
• Dress and undress, brush teeth, and take care of other personal needs without much help.

4- to 5-Year-Old Development: Emotional and Social Development

Your self-centered child is now figuring out that it is not always about him or her. At this age, children are starting to understand about other people's feelings. Your 4- to 5-year-old should be better able to work through conflicts and control his or her emotions.

Emotional and social development milestones your child may achieve at this age include:

• Enjoys playing with other children and pleasing his or her friends
• Shares and takes turns, at least most of the time
• Understands and obeys rules; however, your 4- to 5-year-old will still be demanding and uncooperative at times.
• Is becoming more independent
• Expresses anger verbally, rather than physically (most of the time).

• 4- to 5-Year-Old Development: When to Be Concerned

  All kids grow and develop at their own pace. Don't worry if your child has not reached all of these milestones at this time. But you should notice a gradual progression in growth and development as your child gets older. If you don't, or if your child has signs of possible developmental delay, as listed below, talk to your child's doctor.
  Possible signs of developmental delay in 4- to 5-year-old children include:
  • Being extremely afraid, shy, or aggressive
  • Being extremely anxious when separated from a parent
  • Being easily distracted and unable to focus on one task for more than five minutes
  • Not wanting to play with other children
  • Having a limited amount of interests
  • Not making eye contact or responding to other people
  • Being unable to say his or her full name
  • Rarely pretending or fantasizing
  • Often seeming sad and unhappy and not expressing a wide range of emotions
  • Being unable to build a tower using more than eight blocks
  • Having trouble holding a crayon
  • Having problems eating, sleeping, or using the bathroom
  • Having trouble undressing, cannot brush his or her teeth, or wash and dry hands, without help
  Also, if your child resists or struggles with doing things that he or she was once able to do, tell your child's doctor. This can be a sign of a developmental disorder. If your child does have developmental delay, there are many treatments available to help your child overcome it.

Milestone for 3 to 4 years kids

Milestones for 3 to 4 kids

At the age of 3 to 4 kids start to speak a few words. They join some words to make small sentences. They start to express their feelings by speaking small sentences. Parents should promote their kids to speak in this age. Kids should be involved in the conversation, this helps them to learn more.

I am always looking for fun ways to encourage and motivate children in developing their fine motor and writing skills. I made these DIY Chalkboard Branch Circles for my Pre-primary class (5 years old) to create an exciting new canvas for children to draw and write on.

There are countless ways that you can use the DIY Chalkboard Branch Circles, such as, writing letters, numbers, shapes, words and names.

At this age we should teach alphabets from A to Z. We should narrate story which is associated with alphabets. Like on Day 1 if we teach A, we should narrate a short story in which emphasis is on alphabet A. For Example : Once there was an Ant her name was Anni. She likes Apples. She has a friend Alligator whose name was Alexander. They both go for a trip on Aeroplane. Alligator Alexander got hurt on the trip, Ant Anni called for an Ambulance and got Alexander treated.


What to do if your kid avoid going to school?

At the age of 4 years mostly kids started going to kindergarten school. It is very common that kids not wanting to go to school. This is because our curriculum is boring. We should make studies interesting.

One thing is clear that education is important for every single child and it’s upon us how we provide it to the little ones. It is very common to see students not wanting to go to school especially when kids are at a primary or secondary level. The reason for that is the robotic curriculum of all academic institutes that makes education boring for every single one of them. Thinking out of the box is the key to success therefore; schools should try everything possible to spice things up a little. 

No matter how big the school is, children will not study properly until or unless they are being provided with productive activities. If a child’s academic performance and relationships with teachers and friends along with their health are doing well, they will tell you that they enjoy school. Now how to provide a pupil with all that is upon the academic institute’s management. Technology has heavily advanced in the past few years due to which many schools and colleges have experienced immense progress concerning student productivity. According to researchers, any new piece of information for a child is education and that piece can be transferred to children in a million interesting ways.

Following are a few ways that may help make schools interesting for children:

• Field Trips

The most common activity used in many schools and colleges for centuries is taking their students to various educational or entertainment-based field trips. Every child gets easily fascinated from things that he/she has never seen or heard about therefore; students are usually counting on their field trips. It does not just provide them with newer information, but also lightens up their mood.

• Experiments

No one likes to be a book worm therefore children should always be provided with challenging scenarios such as experimenting with scientific gadgets or at the botanic gardens. When children accomplish something of the sort, they feel much more confident and happy about themselves.

• Sports

These days almost every school has the same academic curriculum with the same books and the same criterion. Many students tend to be more productive when they are active and happy and that can be possible through physical education. Basketball, swimming, tennis and all sorts of games will not just boost the morale of the students, but will also make them happy and satisfied.

• Entertainment  

Following the same routine on a daily basis may affect student productivity therefore; a movie day every now and then is a good idea to relax students and teachers for a while. Sometimes science and history based documentaries can also work as a lecture. Students tend to understand better when they are shown attractive visuals.

School is a learning place for students therefore, it is important for academic institutes to make sure they try different approaches to make things interesting for kids. This will not just improve the overall productivity, but will also earn any school a handsome amount of goodwill.

 

Kids health

Parents should take care of their kids health from the day they take birth.

Kids should not be taken to bath immediately after giving milk or meals. This will effect their digestion as after meals our digestion procedure gets started and our body temperature increases which gets down when we take bath. This is reason that some kids weight less even if they take good diet.

Kids should be given solid diet and before half an hour and after half an hour they should not be given milk or any other liquids. As liquids take space in our stomach and this also effects digestion.

Kids are more prone to bacterias and viruses. They should be given clean water and food. Parents should consult padetrics doctor immediately without any delay.

Kids should not be allowed to put in mouth with the toys they play. These toys have harmful chemicals on them which can create health problems in kids.

Kids nanny should be appointed with due care. Nanny should have knowledge of kids hygiene.
 
Kids should be kept on milk upto 1 year from birth, after that they should be given more of cereals, vegetables, fruits and less of milk. This will keep them healthy and they will grow in height as well as weight. If parents keep them on milk alone, kids will not grow.

Now a days dipars are used for kids,  long use of dipars can create rashes on soft baby skin. Baby skin cream should be used for this.

Precautions to be taken for kids using smartphones

Smartphone is the best thing for kids to play with. Kids do not play with their toys but smartphones. They like scrolling phones with fingers. But parents should take due care so that kids do not do things on smartphones that results in monetary lose. Parents should set a parental lock on smartphones which can restrict things from kids like doing online transactions. Smartphone's emit radiations which are bad for children.

Parents should have settings done on the smartphones before giving them to there kids so that pron or adult websites could not be opened. These things have bad effect on there minds, it is only after a particular age group that one should get introduced to these things. Kids are attracted to high quality displays of smartphones. They like keyboards and other applications moving on smartphone screens.

Kids should not be allowed to put the smartphones in mouth as these have harmful chemicals on them which can get health issues for kids.