Home » Archives by category » Columns » The Growing Years (Page 11)

Children’s Easter Pets

Children’s Easter Pets

Every Easter, children want baby rabbits or baby chicks. Yes or no?  Before you hop down the rabbit trail, or purchase a baby chick, there are a few things you should know. Two rabbits are cute, but ten rabbits are a nightmare.  So, buy just one, or only rabbits of one sex.  If you want […]

What Is Your Child’s Personality?

What Is Your Child’s Personality?

What is your child’s temperament?  Children come into this world with an established bent toward a specific temperament.  As they grow and interact with their environment, the temperament becomes set and is used by the child while exploring and learning.  There are no bad temperaments… just different.  Researchers have categorized three types of temperaments  While […]

Creative Thinking Skills

Creative Thinking Skills

A child’s creative development begins at birth and continues into childhood.  All children develop creative-thinking skills.  Scribbles with crayons, collages, and blocks, helps develop ideas about the world and enables the child to think creatively.  A child is then able to expresses ideas and feelings visually through art forms.  As parents and caregivers, we must […]

Spina bifida

Spina bifida

There several conditions that can affect a newborn baby.  East Tennessee has an unusually high frequency of births with the severe form of spina bifida.  Spina bifida is a type of neural tube defect (NTD) that affects the spine, is usually apparent at birth, and can happen anywhere along the spine if the neural tube […]

Valentine Projects

Valentine Projects

With Valentines Day just around the corner, we have a perfect opportunity to spend some time with our child or grandchild.  These crafts will be fun for everyone! Translucent Hanging Hearts are easy to make from waxed paper and crayons, and sunbeams will color your room with cheer. Begin with a 12-by-16-inch sheet of waxed […]

Fetus Language

Fetus Language

Did you know that a newborn infant can discriminate different sounds in virtually all languages? Infants are set up to learn language, and it doesn’t really matter which language. But, over the course of the first year, as they learn one language, it gets much more difficult to understand the sounds of other languages, thus, […]

Snow Day Activities

Snow Day Activities

After a week of weather related days with the kids off from school, and the possibility of even more snow days, help in containing the wiggles may be in order.  Snow days do not have to be restless mornings and afternoons spent locked indoors. There are many different and fun ways to pass the hours. […]

Grades!

Now that the first semester grades have arrived home, are they what you expected from your child? If not, it is time to find some answers. What you can not do, is sit back and wait for things to improve. Although this article was published at an earlier date, I believe it to be timely. […]

Big Topics for 2013

2013 will be a very important year for early childhood. What will be the big topics on child health and development in the coming year? In Parents Magazine, Richard Rende, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Medical School and Butler Hospital, and Kara Corridan selected 6 topics they predict will […]

New Year Tips

The year 2013 is quickly rolling in. Now is the time to reflect, with your child, on the accomplishments of the past year, and make resolutions for actions in the new year. Children can participate in this long standing tradition, with your help. The following New Year tips are from the American Academy of Pediatrics […]

Christmas is here… now what?

Sometimes Christmas gets such a big hype, it becomes impossible to live up to the expectation. After all, the media has been telling us what Christmas should be. Your child has been inundated by commercials trying to sell their goods. Most children want what they see and believe Santa has unlimited resources. On Christmas morning […]

Creative Arts – More Must Haves Under The Tree

In last week’s article I spoke of clay products seen at Wal-Mart, Toys-r-us, Target and other places, that sell children’s toys. It is enough to say that clay dough is one of the “must haves under the tree” for children. You now know and hopefully have planned for dough, books, and puzzles to have a […]

The New Hot Toys

If you are actively still trying to decide what to give to a child on your gift list, here is a helping hand from the retailers, and if these do become “hot items”, you may want to pick one up soon before “sold out” becomes posted beside the name. Toy retailers have picked the toys […]

Crafting A Turkey

With Thanksgiving just ten days away, I thought I would share some turkey crafts with you. It is a good activity to share with your child or grandchild. Remember, to allow for their own creativity in the project. Model, but let it be their work. Do give assistance if necessary. Talk about Thanksgiving during the […]

Buying Gifts for Children

Where does time go? It seems like yesterday that summer was in full bloom and school was a memory. Now… we are looking at the holiday season peeking around the corner. In a few short weeks Thanksgiving will arrive, bringing her bountiful feast and blessings, followed by Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It is time […]