After a foundation is laid, you will need to add a strong structure to fortify their growth.
Articles are updated frequently.
These sections are organized by age level, but the information is not restricted to that age group. Consider looking at other age ranges as well. Also, make sure to check out the Archives.
Articles are updated frequently.
These sections are organized by age level, but the information is not restricted to that age group. Consider looking at other age ranges as well. Also, make sure to check out the Archives.
Enthusiasm Is Contagious
Spring fever is in the air and children may tell you they are tired of school. You as parents can help these last months of school to be fruitful for your children by being enthusiastic about continued learning. You are your child’s primary role model. Your young children like to be like you by imitating you. If you think something is important like continuing to learn in the waning days of school, your child will think so, too.
Continue to take an active interest in your children’s work. Set aside time to assist your children with homework and projects. Keep a watchful eye on their schoolwork; it is so easy to be distracted by TV, social media, snack time, or friend phone calls.
Keep up their confidence and motivation to succeed. Boost their confidence that they can still do their best. Praise them in front of others. Build on their strengths by constantly showing their progress in learning difficult things and in finally mastering an important skill.
By taking time to help your children, you display an interest that is contagious and extremely important in shaping your children’s attitudes—present and future-- and their values.
Warning! Danger Ahead! Hearing Loss
Are your children “wearing” ear buds? Are they using headphones? Do they like to listen to loud music? They may be in danger of losing their hearing.
The amount of noise in our world has increased over the last 20 years. Your children are growing up with earbuds in their ears. Many children use personal devices for hours every day. Young people are listening to content at 105 decibels.
Listening to loud music with earbuds or headphones can cause damage, because they are in your ear canal or adjacent to your ear. Abhita Reddy, MD
Hearing ability can impact health and the ability to learn communication skills. Unaddressed hearing loss can cause social isolation, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Hearing loss in children can lead to poor academic performance and reduced motivation and concentration. Although it is not known yet whether hearing loss is temporary or permanent, hearing loss may depend on sound that is often too loud, too long, and how often listeners are exposed. Damage from unsafe listening can compound over life. Noise exposure early in life can make people more vulnerable to age-related hearing loss.
Noise induced hearing is preventable although it may not be reversible. Taking the following actions may help:
Take a break from exposure. Take breaks after listening for more than one hour.
Have your children wear foam ear plugs. Foam ear plugs lower the decibel level of the sound that reaches the ear drum.
Allow distance from the source of the sound. Three feet for normal hearing or 70-85 decibels is suggested.
Use a safe volume to reduce damage. Children should be able to hear people (especially parents) and conversation around them.
Parents should not have to shout to get their children’s attention. If you suspect a loss of hearing in your children, have them take a hearing test. Maybe hearing tests should be given to children in schools as eye tests are given to make sure they are learning at their best.
Literature for Young Learners
You may think that classic literature is old fashioned in our modern education system. However, there is much to be learned through the hands of masters of language. Great literature for young readers lends insight into their own lives as well as the lives of others and gives children a new way of looking and exploring the world. Language is rich, fresh and delights, entertains, informs and even surprises readers. It helps children find a secure place in a complex world. Literature develops critical thinking skills and has benefits for individual growth.
Great literature stimulates thought and imagination. It adds to a reader’s store of knowledge and acquaints a reader with many literary genres.
Such classics as Charlotte's Web (friendship, courage and self-sacrifice), The Hobbit (brave hero from a timid homebody) and The Wind in the Willows (friendship and loyalty) help children learn about friendship.
Little House in the Big Woods (pioneer life and bonds between family members), The Swiss Family Robinson (various adventures of living in the wild, away from civilization) and The Borrowers (using everyday things to create a home) inspire children to appreciate family life.
Fantasy such as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (fight between good and evil in a magical world), The Secret Garden (power of nature in personal growth) and Alice in Wonderland (appreciate people who are different) gives children a moral compass.
Teachers and parents can expose their children to great literature by reading to them even though children can read to themselves. By reading to children, adults can discuss things that are important to good mental health and ethics in their children’s development.
Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart. Salman Rushdie
Spring fever is in the air and children may tell you they are tired of school. You as parents can help these last months of school to be fruitful for your children by being enthusiastic about continued learning. You are your child’s primary role model. Your young children like to be like you by imitating you. If you think something is important like continuing to learn in the waning days of school, your child will think so, too.
Continue to take an active interest in your children’s work. Set aside time to assist your children with homework and projects. Keep a watchful eye on their schoolwork; it is so easy to be distracted by TV, social media, snack time, or friend phone calls.
Keep up their confidence and motivation to succeed. Boost their confidence that they can still do their best. Praise them in front of others. Build on their strengths by constantly showing their progress in learning difficult things and in finally mastering an important skill.
By taking time to help your children, you display an interest that is contagious and extremely important in shaping your children’s attitudes—present and future-- and their values.
Warning! Danger Ahead! Hearing Loss
Are your children “wearing” ear buds? Are they using headphones? Do they like to listen to loud music? They may be in danger of losing their hearing.
The amount of noise in our world has increased over the last 20 years. Your children are growing up with earbuds in their ears. Many children use personal devices for hours every day. Young people are listening to content at 105 decibels.
Listening to loud music with earbuds or headphones can cause damage, because they are in your ear canal or adjacent to your ear. Abhita Reddy, MD
Hearing ability can impact health and the ability to learn communication skills. Unaddressed hearing loss can cause social isolation, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Hearing loss in children can lead to poor academic performance and reduced motivation and concentration. Although it is not known yet whether hearing loss is temporary or permanent, hearing loss may depend on sound that is often too loud, too long, and how often listeners are exposed. Damage from unsafe listening can compound over life. Noise exposure early in life can make people more vulnerable to age-related hearing loss.
Noise induced hearing is preventable although it may not be reversible. Taking the following actions may help:
Take a break from exposure. Take breaks after listening for more than one hour.
Have your children wear foam ear plugs. Foam ear plugs lower the decibel level of the sound that reaches the ear drum.
Allow distance from the source of the sound. Three feet for normal hearing or 70-85 decibels is suggested.
Use a safe volume to reduce damage. Children should be able to hear people (especially parents) and conversation around them.
Parents should not have to shout to get their children’s attention. If you suspect a loss of hearing in your children, have them take a hearing test. Maybe hearing tests should be given to children in schools as eye tests are given to make sure they are learning at their best.
Literature for Young Learners
You may think that classic literature is old fashioned in our modern education system. However, there is much to be learned through the hands of masters of language. Great literature for young readers lends insight into their own lives as well as the lives of others and gives children a new way of looking and exploring the world. Language is rich, fresh and delights, entertains, informs and even surprises readers. It helps children find a secure place in a complex world. Literature develops critical thinking skills and has benefits for individual growth.
Great literature stimulates thought and imagination. It adds to a reader’s store of knowledge and acquaints a reader with many literary genres.
Such classics as Charlotte's Web (friendship, courage and self-sacrifice), The Hobbit (brave hero from a timid homebody) and The Wind in the Willows (friendship and loyalty) help children learn about friendship.
Little House in the Big Woods (pioneer life and bonds between family members), The Swiss Family Robinson (various adventures of living in the wild, away from civilization) and The Borrowers (using everyday things to create a home) inspire children to appreciate family life.
Fantasy such as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (fight between good and evil in a magical world), The Secret Garden (power of nature in personal growth) and Alice in Wonderland (appreciate people who are different) gives children a moral compass.
Teachers and parents can expose their children to great literature by reading to them even though children can read to themselves. By reading to children, adults can discuss things that are important to good mental health and ethics in their children’s development.
Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart. Salman Rushdie