Play is not just a fun pastime for kids; it is essential for their overall development. Through play, children explore the world around them, experiment with ideas, and build crucial skills that will set them up for success in life. This comprehensive guide delves into the multifaceted benefits of play for a child's cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development. Cognitive Development Enhancing Creativity Play stimulates a child's imagination, allowing them to explore new ideas and scenarios. Activities like building with blocks or creating stories foster creativity by encouraging problem-solving and critical thinking. In this way, young children develop social skills, learn to express emotions, and build confidence. These experiences provide a safe space for experimenting and learning, laying the foundation for innovative thinking and cognitive growth throughout their lives. Problem-Solving Skills Through play, kids encounter challenges that require problem-solving. Engaging with puzzles, board games, and make-believe scenarios helps develop their critical thinking skills and ability to find solutions. Read more: How to Teach Students to Accept and Overcome Academic Failures These activities also teach patience, persistence, and adaptability. Additionally, play enhances memory and cognitive flexibility, allowing children to approach problems from various angles. This hands-on learning prepares them for real-life situations, fostering resilience and a proactive mindset. Language Development Engaging in play, especially with peers, encourages young children to communicate effectively. They learn new words, sentence structures, and conversational skills, enhancing their language abilities. Play also teaches kids to listen, share ideas, and negotiate, which are crucial for social interaction. Through storytelling, role-playing, and collaborative games, a child can expand their vocabulary and understanding of language nuances, building a strong foundation for future communication and literacy skills. Boosting Memory and Attention Span Games that require concentration and recall, such as memory cards, help improve a child's memory and attention span. These activities challenge young children to remember patterns, sequences, or instructions, thereby enhancing their cognitive abilities. Read more: Sibling Bullying and Abuse: Reasons, Types, Signs and Prevention Engaging in such games, kids learn to focus for extended periods, sharpen their observation skills, and develop strategies for retention. This mental exercise supports academic learning and promotes effective learning habits and problem-solving skills.

In a recent distressing incident in Cumilla, seven-year-old Abdullah encountered a life-threatening situation while playing, entangled with an unimaginable 11,000-volt transmission cable running through the building's gap. Such incidents can be prevented with caution.  Electrical shocks pose a significant threat to children, especially during playtime. The allure of exploring their surroundings may unknowingly lead them into situations with high electric shock risk. Let’s take a look at some tips to keep children safe from electric shocks in and outside home. Tips to Protect Children from Electric Shocks Cord Management  Kids can get electrocuted through exposed cords or overloaded electrical outlets. To ensure the safety of children, it is crucial to keep electrical cords out of their reach. At home and school, it is essential to bundle and clamp cords, use cord covers, or hide running cords behind furniture.  Additionally, it is essential never to overload outlets or power strips, as this practice poses a significant fire hazard.  Read more: Helicopter Parenting: Signs, Pros, Cons and How to Change Appliance Safety  Ensuring the safety of children involves keeping appliances, particularly those that generate heat like irons, hair dryers, toasters, etc -  out of their reach. To further minimise risks, it is essential to unplug these appliances when not in use.  This practice not only prevents potential accidents associated with heat-generating appliances but also promotes energy efficiency. It also eliminates the risk of accidents when the appliances are not actively in operation.  GFCIs Installation  For enhanced safety in areas prone to water exposure, such as kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room, one may consider installing Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) in the power outlets. GFCIs play a crucial role in preventing serious injuries or fatalities resulting from electric shocks.  Read more: Earthquake Safety Tips for Parents to Keep Children Safe These devices swiftly cut off power if the system can detect a fault in the circuit, mitigating the risk of electric shock in potentially hazardous environments. Prioritising the installation of GFCIs underscores a proactive approach to electrical safety, safeguarding kids in home and school areas from the dangers associated with water and electricity interactions.  Secure Outdoor Wires  Prioritising the safety of outdoor spaces is imperative, especially concerning hanging wires outside homes or streets. To mitigate potential risks, it is crucial to ensure that all such wires are securely fastened to prevent accidental contact.  If there are hanging electric wires on open roads, near residential blocks, or schools, the children are at risk of getting electrocuted while playing. Therefore, to avoid any electrical accidents, parents, school management, and community members should inform the associated responsible authorities to take necessary measures. Read more: Fire Safety Tips for Parents to Keep Children Safe By eliminating the possibility of unintended contact with outdoor wires, individuals can contribute to creating safer residential areas. 

In today's world, parents often face a significant dilemma when raising a teenager. During this stage of life, the teens strive for independence while still requiring guidance and support from their parents. Striking the right balance between being a parent and being a friend to an adolescent child is quite challenging. Let’s take a look at some effective tips for parents to establish a strong, supportive, and amicable relationship with their teenage children. 10 Tips for Parents to Form Friendship with Their Adolescent Children Open Communication Strong parent-teen bond hinges on effective communication. Parents should endeavour to foster open, non-judgemental dialogues with their teenage sons and daughters. It creates a safe space for them to freely express their thoughts and emotions. It is essential to bear in mind that actively listening, rather than merely hearing, conveys a genuine interest in their perspective. Allowing them the freedom to convey their feelings and ideas, even in cases of disagreement, nurtures trust. Trust, nurtured through open, non-judgemental conversations, forms the foundation of a healthy, enduring relationship with adolescents. Read more: Fire Safety Tips for Parents to Keep Children Safe Respect Their Independence Adolescents strongly desire independence. Granting freedom at a certain level enables them to learn from both their triumphs and missteps, fostering personal growth. Trusting their judgement, even when it may seem risky, demonstrates faith in their abilities and boosts their self-esteem. However, maintaining a guiding presence is equally important, stepping in when necessary to provide advice and support. Striking this balance of trust and guidance empowers teenagers to become responsible, self-reliant individuals. It also shows that they can turn to parents when needed. Shared Interests Discovering shared hobbies or interests is a powerful way to nurture parent-teen friendships. These mutual activities can be anything, from participating in a sport to pursuing a shared hobby or even jointly binge-watching a TV show. Read more: Sibling Bullying and Abuse: Reasons, Types, Signs and Prevention Engaging in such activities forges a unique bond that transcends the conventional parent-child dynamic. It connects on a personal level and promotes not just enjoyable moments but also meaningful conversations. Sharing interests deepens the connection, rendering the relationship more enjoyable.

During our childhood, many of us were physically punished at home or school by parents or teachers due to various reasons. Most experts view physical punishment as cruel and damaging to children. In many developed countries, physical punishment is prohibited. Let’s find out the long-term consequences of physically punishing children. Why do parents choose to physically punish their children? Usually, parents, and teachers tend to physically punish children due to their unsatisfactory performance in education, unruly behaviour, disrespect, mischievous attitude or other similar reasons. In many cases, the parents try different methods to discipline their child until all that is left is the use of physical punishment. Besides, many guardians impose physical punishments on their children to make them submissive. Some teachers also practice corporal punishment in schools to punish the students. They believe that mere words cannot control the naughty kids. In the past, a large majority of folks had this belief. In many countries and cultures, this practice continues. Read Child Drowning Prevention: Water safety tips to save your kid from drowning Potential consequences of physical punishment Children are fond of imitating the people they admire and love. They believe it’s acceptable for them to behave as they choose to do. Family is the ideal learning camp to teach children to manage conflict. Research shows that children from spanking families tend to resort to aggressive tactics to resolve conflicts once they grow up. Children learn that when they encounter a problem, they can solve it with a quick swipe. If you control a child’s behaviour through spanking, they will likely keep this behaviour in relationships with their peers, siblings, and, eventually, parents and spouses. Read School Fire Hazard Safety: Essential preventive measures to minimise risk Damage self-image of children Beyond physical injury, it’s an emotional pain with devastating consequences. Your child is likely to create a negative self-image as being a jerk and may be prone to having no self-respect. He or she might think that s/he is a ‘bad person’ or ‘failed person’ and such thinking may last for a long time. Lack of self-respect will damage their self-confidence eventually. In future the child may suffer from lack of courage while taking decisions in family matters, study, or career. Devaluation of parent or mentor When a child continues to be undisciplined or mischievous, some parents and teachers think that physical punishment is the only solution. Thus, the parents and teachers fail to teach a child how to control behaviour. Read Teaching Young Kids Household Chores: 10 Easy Steps A child naturally respects their parents, and teachers. Physical punishment devalues the relationship between parents and children. It creates a distance between you and your children. This can be particularly troubling in situations at home where parent-child relationships are already in a state of tension, like parents with no children and a blended family. The parents are advised not to spank when angry. When the parent has calmed down, he or she can find an appropriate correction method. Physically punishing children does not work Smacking your children does not bring any advantages regarding development in any way! When a child is physically punished, they may cry for some hours or fear you for some days. Then, they may return to their old attitude and make the same mistake again. No benefit can be derived from applying physical punishments on a child, if they don’t realise their own mistakes. Read Learning Disabilities in Children: Types, symptoms, ways to help Hitting promotes anger and shame It is more common for children to resist corporal punishment than other methods of discipline. Children don't think as adults do. However, they have an inherent sense of fairness even though their standards aren't like those of adults. This may hinder punishment from being as effective as you expected it to and thus it could raise anger in children. Sometimes, the fear of unfairness can escalate to feelings of shame. When the child becomes an adult, he or she can bear those hidden pain, shame and anger in the heart. This may encourage the child to be disrespectful to parents. Children with weight problems Dr. Dhananjay Gambhire, a consultant psychiatrist and sexologist, agrees that abuse could cause obesity in later life. Dr. Gambhire says: "Obesity due to eating too much and living a sedentary lifestyle are indicators of poor reactions, and both are utilised as escape strategies for situations that don't suit you… Both of them signify low self-confidence and depression, which causes low self-esteem. The weight gain is further aggravated, and the person becomes more withdrawn.” Read Eating Disorders in Children, Adolescents, Adults: Types, Causes, Symptoms, Ways to Help Therefore, negative childhood experiences like corporal punishment may result in to long-term effects like despair, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Hitting leads to abuse The act of punishment tends to escalate day by day. Initially, the physical punishment may start from a slap. If the child doesn’t care, the parent or teacher may increase the level of punishment. What happens next? If the child continues the same unruly behaviour, the punishment continues. With the course of time, the parents or teachers start punishing children heavily. In the end, punishment can lead to child abuse. Read Motivating Kids to Study, Do Homework, Get Good Grades: Know Secret Ways Alternative ways to discipline children Are you wondering whether there is any alternative to physical punishment when disciplining children? Here are some alternatives: Disapproval Your child is dependent on your approval. The most efficient and simple method to change a child's behaviour is to tell them that you do not approve of the behaviour. Be clear about your reasons and provide reasons. If your child notices your displeasure or anger, they will try to acknowledge the mistakes. Disapproval can be effective when clarified and clearly stated once. Don't make it a point to hold your disapproval as a grudge. Your displeasure must be passionate and with conviction but not with rage. Do not be timid or bossy. Read Common Sleep Problems in Children: Causes, Symptoms, Ways to Help Discussion Children sometimes require help in understanding the sequence of events and understanding the reasons for them. Therefore, if something goes wrong, the first and most effective response is to get together and discuss it. In most cases, the most effective method is to communicate with the child openly. Make sure to draw out the possible natural consequences that could result due to the child’s negative behaviour that was causing the problem. Ignoring If you encounter mildly frustrating misbehaviour in your child, the best solution is to ignore the issue. A. Make a conscious decision not to take it seriously. B. Listen in silence as you actively ignore it. Certainly, never overlook any risk or danger for your child. As parents, you must know what to avoid and when to avoid it. Read Breastfed Infant’s Slow Weight Gain: Common symptoms, reasons, solutions Separation and Replacement Do you see kids fighting over something? Separate children from objects when the object is linked to the child's behaviour. The separation and replacement can be performed with joy. If you have to remove children from objects, ensure that you substitute the activity with something productive. Warnings When your children show agitation or disrespect, the first step you can take is to warn them. In many instances, it is the beginning and end of the misbehaviour! Warnings aren't the equivalent of threats. Warnings place the child on alert that their behaviour has to change immediately. You can be successful with warnings if your child trusts that you are going to follow through. Thus, the parents can stay calm and observe the child’s attitude. This ensures the child's safety as well. Read Excessive Crying in Infants: Possible Reasons, Tips of Soothing Bottom Line Usually, parents and teachers choose to punish the undisciplined children physically, because they aren't aware of alternatives and jump straight into the punishment mode. The parents or teachers lose their respect when they fail to apply pre-planned and tested strategies for behaviour control and opt for corporal punishment like spanking. No evidence shows that physical punishment is beneficial to children. So far, we have discussed the long-term negative consequences of corporal punishment on children. Furthermore, we have focused on the alternative ways of disciplining children. So, we should focus on gaining knowledge and using these possibilities. Read How to comfortably travel with babies

Many parents complain that their kids are not getting enough sleep. Sleep disorders or parasomnias affect up to 50% of children. Sleep problems can negatively affect children's performance in school, extracurricular activities, and social relationships. However, ways are available to improve children's sleep. Let's discuss the common sleep disorders in babies, infants, children along with their causes, symptoms and preventive measures.  Signs of Sleep Disorders in Children First, try to identify whether your child has a sleep disorder or not. In the first six months, a baby wakes up several times a night. The child may need nourishment and comfort. Some children have these problems for up to 1 year. So it is difficult for you to say if your child has a sleep problem in a definite manner. However, you can confirm that your baby has a problem if any of the three symptoms happen after he/she is above 6 months: -If the baby wakes up more than 3 times a night, consistently. -When the baby takes more than half an hour to settle again after he has woken up. -If he has general difficulties with sleeping and settling, this causes you much distress as parents. Read Sleep Paralysis: Causes, Risks, Symptoms, Treatment and Ways of Prevention 5 Common Sleep Disorders in Children  Sleepwalking They were sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, where the child gets up at night and walks or does other activities. But he/she naturally does not remember getting up or being engaged in the activities. Sleepwalking generally happens during the first part of the night. Key causes of sleepwalking: -Hereditary; the condition may run in families -Lack of sleep or extreme fatigue. -Interrupted sleep or unproductive sleep -Illness or fever. -Certain medications-sleeping pills. -Stress, anxiety. - If they go to bed with a full bladder - Noises or touches. - Sleep environment changes   - Migraines. - Head injuries. Read Disadvantages of Inadequate Sleep Symptoms of sleepwalking include: -Sitting up in bed and repeating movements -Looking dazed -Clumsy or awkward behaviour. -Not responding when spoken to -Faced difficulties waking up. -Talking in their sleep. -Urinating in undesirable places Read Why we sleep? Not neurons, astrocytes hold the key Ways to help:  -Let your child relax at bedtime -Set up the regular nap and sleep schedules and let them twig with them.  -Cut back on the number of liquids your child drinks in the evening -Tell him/her to the bathroom before going to bed -Avoid caffeine near bedtime -Make sure your child's bedroom is quiet, calm, comfortable, cool and dark. Besides, take the help of counselling, hypnosis or biofeedback for your child with a sleep disorder. If necessary, contact your doctors to help your child sleep. Read Mindfulness meditation helps sleep better at night.

Most parents find it difficult to engage their kids to do their homework and study attentively. Some kids are reluctant to do their homework and some others claim that they don't have homework. But when the report card comes out, everything becomes clear to parents. If you face this problem, don’t be frustrated, angry, and exhausted. We are here with some proven tips on how to motivate your child to study and do homework.  What are the most common reasons kids don't want to study? Before motivating your child to study and do homework, you should first understand the root cause of the problem. The following are some common causes of a lack of motivation: - Lack of interest in school work or a subject - Low self-esteem - Bullying at school or home - Depression - Poor grades in school - Excessive pressure from parents and teachers. Also read: Learning Disabilities in Children: Types, symptoms, ways to help 13 ways to encourage your child to study, do homework Make it Fun Encourage them to complete your homework by making it enjoyable!  Teachers have discovered that doing homework with amusement is the most effective method to motivate students to complete it. The trick is to find out the student's passions and then apply their interests to provide the basis to help them with their homework. For example, if the student is passionate about sports, maybe you can assign them a task where they make their team and also write about it. Offer a Reward Another best way to motivate the child to study is to provide a good incentive. A good reward can be an outing with the family or a film night. Some prizes may be better suited for youngsters, like an exciting new video game or toy. Rewards work best to make them regular and prompt. Be Consistent Keep supporting your child's efforts to perform well in school. It is crucial to consistently support your child's endeavors at school. Your constant assistance will make them feel more secure and inspired to succeed in school. Read Eating Disorders in Children, Adolescents, Adults: Types, Causes, Symptoms, Ways to Help Be Present Keep them in your presence when they're at school or working on an assignment. The most important thing you can do is to remain present and not get distracted by other activities. If you're in the moment and can assist your child with their work or assignments, they will feel more confident about themselves. Create A Study Plan Together A child thrives with structure. Having a proper study plan can help to keep your child focused. Sit with your child and develop an outline of how they will complete their homework every evening.  Your plan should contain: -What amount of time needs to be spent on homework? -How often should breaks be taken, and how long? -Which tasks should be given priority. Read Teaching Young Kids Household Chores: 10 Easy Steps Make Study Time Easier Make studying as simple as you can by providing them with everything they need to finish work: -A quiet space: Find an area that is quiet and free of distractions for your child to work in. -Drinks and food: A child cannot concentrate on the task with an empty stomach. Offer your child small snacks before studying and drink plenty of water to stay focused. -The best instruments: Make sure that pencils, an eraser, a calculator, and other essential tools are readily available, so you don't have to locate them. Achieving that your child has everything he or she requires will mean fewer fights and excuses. Distractions  Today, the primary distractions for students are likely their devices on the internet, such as mobile phones. Studies have shown that schools that have banned mobile phones saw an impressive increase in students' academic performance. Thus, while your child is doing homework, you should try to take the electronics from their room. This will allow them to complete their work more quickly and better. Read Dyslexia: How to help kids with this learning disability Help your child organize their time The quality of organizing anything is an essential nature your child needs to develop and learn. If they are assigned various tasks to accomplish, take them to a table and inquire about the most efficient method of splitting your hours. Offer suggestions if there's a better way to do it. Outline and assist them in adhering to it to complete their duties. Growth mindset When it comes to homework, You may hear your child say "I don't know how to do this" as well as "I can't do this". This kind of thinking is called fixed thinking and implies that their skills are fixed in stone. The opposite, also known as the growth mentality, is based on the idea that you can improve your ability, intelligence and performance. As a parent you must inspire your child to build a growth mindset. Inspire them that they can achieve what they desire with a little additional time and effort. Read How to Keep Kids Well During Flu Season Be a role model Let your child observe you working on tasks that they need to do, for example, creating grocery lists or discussing what you've completed at work during the day. If your child sees that you are also doing things, it will encourage your child to complete homework too. Focus on learning instead of performance Instead of focusing on the grades, focus on the achievements of learning, both big and small. Praise your child when he or she can solve an intricate math problem or after he or she is finished writing the initial outline or essay. If you shift the focus to studying, the child will have more fun doing work, increasing motivation. Encourage your child to set small goals Instruct your children to establish small, manageable goals for their studies in line with what must be achieved. Setting goals provides your child with a clear direction of what they need to accomplish and increases confidence when they complete the objectives. Examples of goals for studying are: -Complete one chapter of the reading assigned -Notes on review for 20 minutes -Take 5 practice questions from the text. Read Child Drowning Prevention: Water safety tips to save your kid from drowning Take proper study breaks The brain of children may become distracted and lose focus without interruptions. Breaking down studies into manageable pieces is crucial to keep your child's mind sharp and active. Make sure your child takes regular breaks during study. What is the Best Strategy for Motivating Kids? The best strategy for motivating kids is to give them the right amount of autonomy. This will make the child feel like they are in control of their own destiny and more motivated to do what you want them to do. Here are some ways that parents can give their children more autonomy: - Give them the freedom to choose their clothes in the morning - Help them to choose what they want for dinner - Let them decide when they want to go to bed. Read Best Free Online Educational Game Sites for Children Bottom Line Children are naturally stubborn. They like to play instead of sitting down in a space and doing homework. If your child is not willing to study or complete homework, you need to deal with this problem with patience. So far, we have discussed several ways to motivate your child to study, and complete homework. Incorporating these suggestions into your daily routine can make the learning process go faster. This will support your child's academic growth.

We all, even kids, need to feel needed and know that we are contributing. But kids cannot feel that way if they don’t contribute to the family. Doing chores at home is a great practice that helps your kids to learn essential life skills for living independently. According to Roger W. Mclntire, a  psychology professor at Maryland University, a child must have some responsibilities. You can nurture your lovely kids toward becoming experts with encouragement and building on kids’ natural desire to please. Here are 10 easy steps for teaching kids household chores. Age-Appropriate Chores for Children Your child can do more than you think. You cannot imagine a preschooler can handle one or two simple one-step or two-step jobs. Older children can manage more.  Chores for children ages 2 to 3 -Put toys away -Fill pet's food dish -Put clothes in the hamper -Wipe up spills -Dust -Pile books and magazines. Read Dyslexia: How to help kids with this learning disability Chores for children ages 4 to 5 -Make their bed -Empty wastebaskets -Bring in mail or newspaper -Clear table -Pull weeds, if you have a garden -Water flowers -Unload utensils from the dishwasher -Wash plastic dishes in the sink -Fix a bowl of cereal. Read School Fire Hazard Safety: Essential preventive measures to minimise risk Chores for children ages 6 to 7 -Sort laundry -Sweep floors -Set and clear the table -Help make and pack lunch -Weed and rake leaves -Keep bedroom tidy, Read Child Drowning Prevention: Water safety tips to save your kid from drowning Chores for children ages 8 to 9 -Load dishwasher -Put away groceries -Vacuum -Help make dinner -Make your own snacks -Wash table after meals -Put away your own laundry -Sew buttons -Make your own breakfast -Peel vegetables -Cook simple foods, such as toast -Mop floor -Take the  pet for a walk. Read Child Proof Kitchen: How to Keep Your Kitchen Safe for Kids Chores for children ages 10 and older. -Unload dishwasher -Fold laundry -Clean bathroom -Wash windows -Wash car -Cook simple meals with supervision -Iron clothes -Do laundry -Take care of younger siblings  -Clean kitchen -Change their bed sheets Read Stranger Danger: How to teach children safety rules for unknown, unsafe people 10 Ways to Teach Young Kids Household Chores   Start as Early as Possible Introducing the concept of chores to your child from an early age. Your toddlers also can help you around the home. However, offer age-appropriate chores if your kids want to help you. You can add more chores and more complex tasks to the to-do list when your kids grow up. Talk to your kids about the positive terms of doing chores and explain that their contributions to the household are essential to the home's functioning.  Member’s Chores in a Chart To keep a track of all the chores, you can create your family member’s chore chart and place the chart where the kids can see it. The chores may include washing dishes, taking out the trash, washing laundry, and sweeping the floor. Distribute and rotate those chores between your kids so that your kids don’t feel that they are stuck with a chore that they hate. Make them let you know how and when they do the chores. Rotate those chores by alternating weeks. Read Habit of Saving: How to teach your child good saving habit Their Daily Routine When you incorporate chores into a daily routine, it will make them seem like second nature. You can select inspiring times like the 10 minutes before their favorite TV show or right before dinner. If you make the chores a routine part of what your child does every day, it becomes just one of those things- brushing their teeth. However, start this routine at a young age to ingrain it as a habit.  Avoid Using Chores as Punishment Never use chores as a punishment for your child's misbehavior. If you punish your child by making them do chores, it will create a negative feeling for them.  Read Effects of Domestic Violence on Children  Fun Chores  Turn regular and boring household chores into a fun activity by turning on some music and dancing with the kids. They will then do the chores with something that is enjoyable rather than mundane. You can also use a timer to see how many toys your preschoolers can pick up from the floor.  Challenge Don’t always give the easiest possible chore to your kids because it will make them more boring than you might think. So, keep them in a little challenge by adding tasks. If your child usually sets the table for dinner, you can add washing the table and placing the mats. Then, challenge your child to do this set of tasks faster and quickly.   Read Postpartum Depression, Mood Swings: How can new moms deal with these issues? Reward System Give a concrete reward for accomplishing a goal. Combine their chores with a reward system to promote a sense of responsibility. Remember, the rewards don’t necessarily have to be monetary. When you prepare a chore chart, you can add stars or stickers to it as a reward.   Motivation Motivate them to do their chores in less time. Let your kids use their own motivation and self-reliance to get things done. Never use controlling or demanding language that can make your kids feel like he or she is in charge of their actions. Help your kids to pay more attention and solve things for themselves. Make them aware of their responsibilities and be dutiful.  Read Newborn Baby, Infant Care Tips during Summer Be Realistic Understand that your standards of perfect might not be the same standards that your child uses. Whatever and however your kids do the chore, let them think it is okay. Your assistance or providing a tool can make their chore easier.   Praise Teach your kids that doing chores helps to strengthen family bonds. Besides, chores coach and support your child to become an independent and productive adult. Don't be miser to praise your kids when they do a good job with their chores to grow their self-confidence to continue. Read Creative Toys for Children to Foster Creativity Staying Away from Electronics Conclusion Teaching children Household chores can be a gentle way to make him/her understand what it takes to run a home. Definitely, your children will feel useful and respected if you give them age-appropriate and enjoyable tasks and amusing rewards for successfully completing those tasks. You will also be satisfied when you have taught your kids essential life skills that they will use for their life hacks.

Disorders that affect the abilities of understanding or using spoken or written language, doing mathematical calculations, coordinating movements, directing attention are called learning disabilities. Dyslexia is one kind of learning disability. This may happen in very young children but they are generally not recognized until the child reaches school age. Continue scrolling to know how to help children with Dyslexia.  What is dyslexia? If a child struggles with reading, writing, or speaking maybe she or he is with dyslexia. When you or your partner or someone else in your large family struggles to learn to read, dyslexia is probably the cause. It is a specific learning difficulty and can affect (10-15)% of the population. It can be mild, moderate, or severe and it can run in families. If a child experiences a particular learning difficulty like dyslexia, it does not mean they are less intelligent than their peers, they just process and learn in a different way.  Read Creative Toys for Children to Foster Creativity Staying Away from Electronics Reading and spelling difficulties are most common in dyslexia. Besides, it can also affect an individual’s ability to remember information also. Symptoms of Dyslexia Although it is difficult to identify the signs and symptoms of dyslexia before your child enters school, some early clues may indicate a problem.  Before school Symptoms that a young child may experience are as follow:  -Late talking -Learning new words slowly -Face problems forming words correctly- reversing sounds in words or confusing words that sound alike -Cannot easily remember letters, numbers, and colors -Difficulty learning nursery rhymes or playing rhyming games. Read Effects of Domestic Violence on Children School-age Dyslexia signs and symptoms of school-age children may be:  -Reading level remains below the expected level for age -Face difficulties in processing and understanding hearing -Don't find the right word or form answers to questions -Cannot remember the sequence of things -Problems sounding out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word -Difficulty spelling -Take a long time completing tasks related to reading or writing -Don't like to take part in reading activities. Read Habit of Saving: How to teach your child good saving habit  Teens and adults Some common dyslexia signs and symptoms in teens and adults are:  -Difficulty aloud reading -Slow and labor-intensive reading and writing -Problems spelling -Difficulties of mispronunciation -Take a long time completing tasks that involve reading or writing -Difficulty summarizing a story -Trouble learning a foreign language -Difficulty memorizing -Difficulty doing math problems. Read Stranger Danger: How to teach children safety rules for unknown, unsafe people Causes of Dyslexia Dyslexia tends to be a genetic problem. The causes are as follows: -A family history of dyslexia  -Premature birth or low birth weight -Take nicotine, drugs, or alcohol during pregnancy or being infected that may alter brain development in the fetus Complications of Dyslexia Dyslexia can create the following problems:  Trouble learning Of course, reading is a basic skill like most other school subjects.  A child with dyslexia experiences difficulties in reading class and cannot keep up with peers. Read Child Proof Kitchen: How to Keep Your Kitchen Safe for Kids Social problems Children with dyslexia may experience low self-esteem, behavior problems, anxiety, aggression, and withdrawal from friends, parents, and teachers. Problems as adults Children with dyslexia or learning disabilities cannot reach their potential when they grow up.  10 Effective Ways to Help Children with Dyslexia  Here are 10 practical ways to assist kids with dyslexia. Nurture thinking skills Grow thinking skills in your child so that they become an independent and active learner rather than passive learner. Discuss the problem or topic related to school assignments. Share points of view. You can spend fun and quality time together with your child.   Read Best Free Online Educational Game Sites for Children Work on reading skills Ask them some questions to understand your reading comprehension. The questions may include: What do you have to find out? What do you already know? Who are the main characters? What are the main ideas? Have you read something like this before? What’s your plan for answering this question? If your children follow these steps, they will increase their reading skills.  Work independently Let your child handle his or her work independently. But make sure you follow up afterward. Your follow-up question: Did you use your plan? Is this your best work? Can you clarify this?  Show me how to do it? Praise Never forget to praise appropriately to your child. Perfect praise and rewards are a great thing for your child. Don’t miss any opportunities to acknowledge their effort and highlight the positives where you can.  Read Child Drowning Prevention: Water safety tips to save your kid from drowning Building positive self-image Dyslexic children may have to try much harder than other kids to keep up with school work, which can be tiring and eat away at self-esteem. So, let them create a positive self-image of themselves and remind them of their strengths.  Help them keep things in perspective when they're having a bad time.  Allowing enough sleep Enough sleep is fundamental for every child and it is more essential for dyslexia children. Naturally, a well-fed and well-rested child learns better. So, make sure they go to bed early so that they wake up refreshed. A good night’s sleep boosts confidence and helps review information right before bed.  Providing study space Different children learn in different ways. Some can study in a noisy place but some others cannot. Try to understand your child's choice and make sure they know they have a dedicated space to retreat to when they need it. Read School Fire Hazard Safety: Essential preventive measures to minimise risk Following custom calendar A custom calendar can give your child a nice routine for his studies. Prepare a calendar and put it on a notice board or the fridge and keep it up to date. Make your child prepared for tomorrow the night before. Setting ground rules If you have a target for work to be completed, make some ground rules. Never tolerate conflict. As you are in charge as a parent, set out your expectations clearly. Make them understand that without finishing the work,  they don’t enjoy certain privileges. Bottom Line Dyslexia or learning disability is not a permanent or serious problem. Your care, love and companionship can ease this problem. Besides, you need to take some effective steps to work with dyslexia-affected children. Our above-mentioned tips will help to handle your child with dyslexia.  Read How to Keep Kids Well During Flu Season

Although we never compromise on a child’s safety, research has shown that around 3.5 million children have to go to the emergency room and 2,200 die from injuries that generally occur in the kitchen every year because of the hot appliances and sharp utensils available in the kitchen. If you have a young kid, you need to make sure of a child proof kitchen. Continue scrolling to know about how you to make your kitchen safe for children.  How Kitchen Can Be Dangerous for children Safety Door Locks Make sure you install safety door locks in your cabinets, drawers, refrigerator, and oven. If you use safety door locks, you can prevent your lovely little ones from opening things they’re not supposed to, such as a fridge filled with food or a hot oven. Then you can use latches or hooks depending on the configuration of your cabinet doors and handles that connect the handles together and do not require being physically installed.  However, if you want to give access to one or two cabinets to your child, make sure you put there safe and frequently washed containers so that your toddler can enjoy playing with them.  Read Habit of Saving: How to teach your child good saving habit Use Upper Cupboards As soon as your toddler grows, it will soon be able to open drawers and reach inside. Make sure these kitchen appliances remain out of your child’s reach.  To prevent any accident, you should take preventative action by relocating any knives or other sharp instruments to a higher cupboard rather than storing them in a drawer that is waist height. Besides, it is necessary to place knife blocks in an upper cabinet that is unreachable to your child. Use an Elevated Platform for Burner When the burner or oven is in use, there is the possibility of any accident to your child from touching it and being burned. Therefore, you can place an elevated platform on your kitchen counter. This arrangement will keep the oven or cooker out of your child's reach and minimize the risks of any accident.   Read Effects of Domestic Violence on Children Put Medicine, Doods in Safe Places Medicine containers are always risky for children as they are toxic to them. Make sure you keep any types of medicine containers in higher cabinets that children won’t be able to reach. Besides, you need to ensure the lids are properly secured. In the case of food also you need to maintain safety measures as young children put everything in their mouths. Food isn’t a dangerous thing in general but it is for a young child still learning how to chew and swallow.  Clean Kitchen Floor  Naturally, kids spend most of their time playing on the floor. As the kitchen floor is the main place where harmful bacteria can grow, ensure regularly sweep and mop the area. Whenever a piece of food drops, immediately pick it up so that your child doesn’t eat it.  Read Postpartum Depression, Mood Swings: How can new moms deal with these issues? Besides, foods lying on the floor invite insects like ants that are dangerous for children as they bite. Moreover, don’t forget to place non-slip rugs over the tile to avoid slipping and falling. Keep Electrical Cables out of Reach It is a natural instinct of a child to pull a dangling cable. Maybe that cable is connected to a toaster on the counter above. So, whenever the kid pulls that cable, it can fall and injure the child. For this reason, it is fundamental to keep all cables safely out of reach of children to avoid any danger.  Moreover, don’t forget to put appliances away when they’re not in use. Moreover, make use of inserting plastic socket covers to inaccessible outlets for your child so that you can prevent your child from inserting a fork, finger, or tongue into the outlet.  Read Newborn Baby, Infant Care Tips during Summer Align Panhandles on Backwards If you use a handle pointed outward over the edge of the stove, your child can try to reach up and pull it down. This will surely cause the pan and things to fall on your child which ultimately will cause injury and burns. You can easily prevent this from happening by aligning the handles towards the back of the stove. Then the child cannot reach up and grab them.  Use Smoke Detector  Install a smoke detector in your kitchen. If you have a smoke detector in your kitchen, it will send alarm if any fire incident occurs. In addition to that you need to check your smoke detector every 6 months to make sure it’s properly working. With a busy child at home, it’s natural to always be careful.  Read Creative Toys for Children to Foster Creativity Staying Away from Electronics Communicate with Kids As soon as possible teach your children about safety. If you feel they can’t understand the concept then, it’ll be good practice for you to use every moment around your child as a learning opportunity.  You can do so by using simple words such as “hot,” “burn,” “ouch,” “no,” and “mommy and daddy only.” First, your child might look at you with a confused expression but ultimately they learn you want to keep him away from those things. Tight Lid on Trash The lid on the trash can avoid any danger by keeping your child from touching and putting in their mouth anything unsafe from them from the trash. Therefore, use a trash bin with a tight lid so that kids can’t open the lid easily. In addition to this, keep the trash bin in a suitable place where the children usually don’t go. Read Best Educational YouTube Channels for Children Cooktop with Child Safety Button Nowadays, many advanced cooktops and burners are available on the market. Some of these cookers come with child safety mechanisms. For instance, induction cookers have a child safety button. When you press the button the controls of the cooker will become inactive. Therefore, your naughty kid can't turn the cooker 'ON' even if it is left unattended in the kitchen. Others Ways If possible use a gate or barricade across the entrance to the kitchen. It will be useful to keep your child restricted to the adjoining room.  While you are working in the kitchen, always keep your child under someone's supervision. If you don’t have anyone to supervise the child, let your kid play with some toys to make him or her preoccupied.  Read Young Kids Wearing Makeup: Health Risks and Ways of Prevention Bottom Line Children are naturally curious and they love to explore the unknown without fear or hesitation. You love your little one’s brave nature, but it can lead to something vicious the moment you turn to look away.  Although accidents aren’t always preventable, the kitchen is the place where you need to take full precautions to ensure your child’s safety because it is full of dangerous things for children. So practice our above-mentioned 10 safety ways for creating a kid-friendly kitchen to keep your little one safe. Read Stranger Danger: How to teach children safety rules for unknown, unsafe people

Child safety means an area concerned with minimizing children’s vulnerability to hazards and diminishing their risk of getting harmed. Children are generally vulnerable to accidents,  sexual abuse, and other dangerous issues. As a kid can hardly save itself, the parents and caregivers should be careful about its safety. So, it is important to teach young children about the dangers that can happen to them from strangers. Let them understand that a person they do not know can be dangerous even if they are female or look ‘nice’. This article is about stranger danger so continue reading to teach children stranger safety rules.  10 ways to teach children about personal safety from Strangers It is really important to teach kids specific lessons and language about personal safety so that they can deal with potentially unsafe situations. Children don’t know about safety, they don’t know where they are vulnerable. As a parent or guardian, it is your responsibility to save your children from any danger and so make sure you teach your children personal safety. Here go some effective ways to make your kids smart while interacting with strangers and unsafe people.  Define strangers Let your kids define the safer and more dangerous stranger. Generally, a safer stranger will be wearing a uniform like Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers, traffic wardens, check-out assistants, and others. Tell them that they can easily recognize them because of their uniforms. Besides, tell them about safer buildings. They could be banks, post offices, libraries, medical centers, shops, supermarkets, leisure centers, and others.  Read Habit of Saving: How to teach your child good saving habit Explain to your kids to take help from a safer stranger in case they fall in any danger or they can go to the safer building and talk with the people there. If you want to make your kids aware of strangers, let them recognize the phrase safer strangers, safer buildings as part of their growing understanding of stranger awareness.  Stay close To prevent your children from getting lost, make sure you talk with them about the possibility and what to do if the situation does arise. Tell them to stay close to you in shops and to hold onto your hand or the trolley.  You can use reins or wristbands on young children in busy places. Don’t leave children individually in play areas. Besides, teach them to remember their parents or guardians' names, addresses, and telephone numbers so that they can use them in the case of getting lost.  Read Effects of Domestic Violence on Children When alone at home  It is one of the serious issues. Most of the time, it happens that children need to stay home alone, especially in the case of working parents. Tell them not to open the door when anybody knocks.  First, check and then open if they know the person standing at the door. If unsure, they, of course, call the parents. Moreover, they shouldn’t also answer the phone if they don’t know the person. If they need to receive the call, they just listen but do not answer or give any information about their situation.