Tag Archives: parenting

Make Time For Family Time

Fresh air is the best free medicine for most ailments, especially boredom amongst children – and adults alike.

Even with every conceivable bit of technology at their disposal, young people eventually get to the point where they want something different to do, and preferably with a friend, or better still their Mom and Dad! 

But parents are inevitably busy people. Paying the household bills means Dad has to be focused on work and his career, and for Mom running a home and general day to day life take up a lot of time. Often this leaves them little time and energy to plan and enjoy quality family time. 
So what outdoor activities can you share with your boys and girls, to get the best out of the time you do have together.

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Plan a bike ride

Everyone can get involved in planning the route for an expedition on your bikes. Be creative and go somewhere different to your usual rides.  Have a point of interest that is your go to destination and combine a bit of culture along the way. Make sure you are prepared with protective clothing, helmets and plenty of water and most of all, don’t rush it. Try to make it a relaxed family event, rather than something you are fitting into an otherwise busy day. 

How about a picnic

Eating outdoors is always a pleasure, and again, the whole family can help to prepare the picnic food. For more choice of destinations further afield, you could take this trip in your car, and why not add a bit of fun by writing down some suggestions, and popping them into a jar. 

Mom or Dad can pick one out, and it will be a magical mystery trip! 

Taking the trip in your car will mean you can pack plenty of food, games, and blankets to sit on ready for when you stop for your food.  Don’t forget the family dog too if you have one!  

Take something out of a box

Sometimes when you are short on time, but you and the family need to get out in the fresh air and do something impulsive, that requires no planning, taking something out of a box, such as rc cars, and having instant fun can be a good idea and a great distraction for bored youngsters.

Drones are becoming accessible to more people and a great way to view your local area from an entirely different perspective. You could even use the information from your drone to plan those bike rides and picnics.

Everything is more enjoyable when you are doing it with someone else.  Children need direction, and simply telling them to ‘go outside and play’ won’t be half as inviting than if you took the time to plan an adventure as a whole family. 

Every parent knows that scheduling in specific family time can be almost impossible. Demands on your time are never ending. There is always something to do, somewhere to be. Shopping trips, DIY and the general maintenance of a family home often takes precedence over leisure activities.  But once you’ve made the effort, and set a day aside for nothing but family, it will be so rewarding and you will be making fantastic memories to look back on too.

The Smart Box: Introducing Healthy TV Watching Habits To Our Kids

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When we consider the ways of keeping our kids healthy, it’s not just about the obvious things like eating right and exercising but it’s about encouraging healthy habits in life. We can look back and realize that we made certain mistakes or instilled unhealthy habits because we do them ourselves. A very good example is television. The latest Infinity Dish statistics show how television plays a role in almost everyone’s life. Perhaps there were a few times when you needed a break so you put your children in front of the television but this has now spiraled out of control and now you’ve got couch potatoes for kids! But when we look at the idea of watching television there are ways for us to encourage some healthy habits. 

Being Aware Of Questionable YouTube Content

It’s something that we think is pretty harmless, especially for toddlers. When we put on a kids YouTube channel that plays nursery rhymes we may not realize that there is a lot of unhealthy and questionable content out there that individuals are trying to sneak into the videos. We should monitor our children’s living habits but we should also think about the streaming services we use. If you have a Firestick it’s so easy to install apps that have various questionable shows and cedars. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is something that might help and if you’re wondering why would you use a VPN for Firestick it is a good way to keep yourself anonymous so you’re not easily targeted with specific content. Using a VPN can also be useful when travelling abroad, as some of your child’s favourite shows may be blocked by the local internet. For this reason, if you’re traveling to a foreign country like China, make sure to have a reliable service like ExpressVPN China at hand to ensure a fast and secure connection without encountering any common restrictions. Whether you are at home or abroad, once we get into certain viewing habits the algorithm kicks in and so we are suggested more and more questionable content, so having a degree of privacy can be important.

Turn The Television Off

It sounds obvious, but the television becomes a background to our lives. Turning the television off when visitors come by, eating meals, or doing other tasks means that you don’t rely on the television to become a babysitter of sorts. Our children can easily become distracted by what is on television and when our children are young, this is the perfect opportunity to make sure they don’t rely on this for the rest of their lives. This can mean a lot of harsh lessons for ourselves when we are used to watching television. But when you live by the rules yourself it’s far easier to enforce them. It’s a good idea to impose certain time limits. For example, if your children have started school, two hours should be the maximum. And when you start to schedule their day after school it gives you an opportunity to incorporate other important skills. 

Choosing Educational Content

This is such a difficult topic to get our heads around. It’s easier when your children are preschoolers because there’s a lot of shows out there about counting and giving your children certain nuggets of knowledge. But as your children get older it can be harder to monitor this. Not allowing your children to plan their own weekly viewing schedule can seem a little bit on the harsh side but when you allow a certain time limit consider incorporating things that you think are educational into their TV watching time.

Television can be a good thing, just as long as we approach it with the right balance.

Four Simple Ways To Keep Your Kids Fit

Are you worried that your child is starting to get unfit and developing an unhealthy lifestyle? You might be interested in ways that you can correct this and there a few quick possibilities to consider.

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Invest In The Right Tech

There is plenty of tech available on the market that will help ensure that your kids stay healthy and fit. This is all about keeping them moving with some experts suggesting that staying still for too long can be just as damaging to your health as smoking. VR and AR games are a great option here. A couple years ago, Pokemon Go had everyone on the street searching for digital pocket monsters. 

Alternatively, games like Jedi Training will have kids swinging around a virtual lightsaber, fighting classic Star Wars enemies. It doesn’t take much time to learn that this is quite an intense workout. You might even want to try it yourself if you’ve always dreamed of going one to one with Darth Vader. 

Of course, for older kids, you can also consider tech like a Fit Bit. It’s quite fun to use resources like this to keep on top of your fitness and find out just how much exercise you are getting through the day. 

Find A Sport They Love 

It’s easy to assume that your kid just isn’t a sporty individual if they haven’t immediately gravitated towards a team or activity in school. However, this might not be the case. It’s possible that they simply haven’t yet discovered the sport that they enjoy. There are lots of options here from swimming to football and even skiing. You’ll only figure out if a sport is for them by helping them give it a go. Try to give them as many opportunities as you can because you never know when you might find a sport that becomes a passion. 

Don’t forget, getting involved in sports won’t just help them with levels of fitness. It can also be a fantastic benefit for them later in life as well. Once you find a sport they love you can kit them out and save money at the same time with things like a Dicks Sporting Goods coupon. Remember, staying fit doesn’t have to be expensive. 

Join In 

A child is far more likely to exercise and run around if you join in with them. This is particularly true for younger children who will love spending time with you and playing games. This is why it’s important for you to stay fit and healthy as well. You need to make sure that you have the energy to engage in all these different types of activities. 

You might even want to consider setting points through the week where the whole family can get together and get active. There is even strength training available for little ones with experts suggesting that it could be highly beneficial. 

Lifestyle Choices

Last but not least, you can help ensure that fitness is a part of a child’s daily routine. Introduce quick, fast workouts through the day. Exercising when you wake up in the morning is a great way to make sure that you are building up energy the right way.