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Parenting Exchange

There are currently 16 articles available that discuss family routines, play, leisure.

20 Ways to Encourage Childrens' Resourcefulness and Creativity

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, intelligence, industrious, ideas, experiment, thought, perfectionism
Description: Discover twenty ways to help children develop a creative intelligence. Out of that creativity, children will learn how to be resourceful, use their instincts, and develop problem-solving skills.

Adequate Leisure-Time is Essential for Children

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, schedule, frantic pace, stress fatigue, emotional burn out, nature
Description: There are countless opportunities for parents to enroll their child in after school activities. Parents must take caution in developing a "corporate" culture for their child by over scheduling. Learn how to avoid the trap and allow kids to mature as unique and relaxed individuals.

Bedtime Tips to Build Good Sleep Habits

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, habits, needs, nourishment, emotional overload, mental energy, physical, health, nutrition, safety, hospitalization, preventing abuse
Description: Sleep is something that is just like food and water: nourishment for a growing body. Find out about some tips to establishing a bedtime routine that works for your child.

Block Play Activities for Home, Child Care, or School

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, blocks, homemade, recycling, creativity, industrious
Description: Blocks are a versatile toy that expands a child's imagination and creativity, and have educational value. Parents can discover how to make a homemade set of blocks with their child. Suggestions for block play in the home and in the classroom are also included.

Good Sleep and Bedtime Habits Nourish Kids

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, health, nutrition, safety, hospitalization, preventing abuse, habits, needs, nourishment, emotional overload, mental energy, physical
Description: Sleep is nourishment for a growing body and up to 85% of children don't get enough sleep. Learn the consequences of a sleep deprived child and the recommended hours of sleep for a child by age group.

Holiday Frenzy: Don't Let Stress Steal Your Spirit

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, crankiness, anxiety, demanding, tantrums, energy draining, balance
Description: Keep stress, anxiety, whining, and crankiness from filling your holiday world. Read some suggestions for ensuring children (and even parents!) have a holiday filled with togetherness, warmth, and love.

Home Routines that Build Children's Literacy Skills

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, reading, writing, development, language, learning, brain development, literacy, creativity, learning
Description: Healthy early childhood development is crucial to language and literacy competence later in life. Explore how simple tasks can be incorporated into everyday life to develop a child's reading, writing, and conversation skills.

Humor: No Joke, It's A Learning Tool for Kids

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, laughter, fun, imagination, communication, learning, brain development, literacy, creativity
Description: Children laugh over 385 times a day more than adults. Discover how to capitalize on this unique talent and encourage creativity and expansion of their mind.

Infant Crying, Preschoolers Getting Out of Bed, the Family Bed

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, mood, sleep, bedtime, habits, crib
Description: Children with good sleep habits tend to be easier to care for. Learn the answers to some common questions aimed at tackling bedtime difficulties.

Mind-Powered Toys: Batteries Not Required

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, imagination, interaction, pretend, performance, industrious
Description: Not all toys that are fun require batteries. Those games that are powered by a child's mind are often more fun and more creative than anything advertised on the television. Learn some suggestions to opening up a child's imagination, with no batteries required!

Nightmares, Storms, and Divided Families

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, bedtime, scary, unfamiliar, emotional conflict, coping
Description: Children with good sleep habits tend to be easier to care for. The exceptions are often difficult decisions to make. What do you do during a bad dream? Or a severe thunderstorm? Learn about tackling these issues and establishing good habits in a single parent, partnered, or married household.

Resuming Routines Helps Kids Rebound From the Holidays

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, holiday blues, stress, readjustment, schedule
Description: The holidays introduce a frenzied pace to life and can easily break a family's daily routines. Take in some suggestions to tackling the difficulties of the holiday season.

Routines: Start Mornings Off on the Right Foot

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: child care, work issues, life issues, starting the day, waking-up, rituals, organization, family routines, play, leisure

Description: Getting the kids up and moving for school in the morning can be tough. Smooth out the process by establishing a morning routine for yourself and your kids.

Self Help Skills and Chores Build Children's Identity and Confidence

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: discipline, guidance, temperament, attachment, self esteem, apprenticeship, adulthood, personal identity, skills, development, independence, toddler, twos, developmental issues, family routines, play, leisure
Description: The development that occurs throughout childhood offers a preparation for the freedoms and responsibilities of adulthood. Parents are integral in encouraging the development of skills that will make children develop independence and the skill of self-help.

There's More to Children's Block Play Than Meets the Eye

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, blocks, creativity, concepts, math, science, language, confidence, coordination, industrious
Description: Block play provides children an experience that is both educational and fun. Take a few minutes and discover what block play is really all about. There might just be more than meets the eye.

Tips for Helping Kids Beat the Bedtime Blues

Author: Karen Stephens, Parenting Exchange
Key Words: family routines, play, leisure, poor sleep habits, naps, resistance, responsible, self-discipline
Description: Children with good sleep habits tend to be easier to care for and the parent is responsible for helping to establish those good sleeping habits. Explore the real causes behind bedtime problems and some tips to beat those bedtime blues.