Practical life skills
When children are young, they want to do everything they see you doing at home, and although it may seem like it takes up our time, it is important to take advantage of the child’s innate curiosity to learn and imitate. It is incredible what a child can do, and for this, I encourage you […]
The benefits of free play
Much is been written lately about the negative impact that smart phones and access to the internet are having on children and adolescence. One of the biggest problems in children’s development is what they miss while sitting in front of a screen: playing with real kids in the real world. In other words, an effective […]
Expressing appreciation to our children
Often, we express our appreciation to our kids with euphoric praises: You are the best! You are awesome! Our intention behind the praise is usually to show the child how pleased we are for something that they are doing and that is in some way helpful or kind to us. Generally, even when our children […]
“Be silent or say something better than silence¨
This proverb is a good one for us to remember when we start feeling frustrated because of our child’s behavior. If we don’t have something constructive to say and we are about to lose our cool, it is better to take a deep breath and just remain quiet. By getting angry, sending guilt messages, nagging, […]
Teaching them to express gratitude
Thanksgiving dinner presents a perfect opportunity to teach children a simple lesson about gratitude, a lesson that can start with parents expressing appreciation to each other, even for the smallest things. It is easy to take each other for granted in our busy lives and talk about our frustrations and concerns in front of our […]
Is my child ready for preschool?
If you are looking for a preschool for your little one you are probably asking yourself, “will it be good enough for him?” The question I would ask you is: is your child sufficiently prepared? In my experience, the majority of the problems the little ones face at school are related to conduct. If you […]
Teaching them to get along
Getting along is a challenge, even for adults. It is not very realistic to assume that your children should get along from a young age, share and play for extended periods of time without disturbing you. Nor should you expect them to know how to manage their anger and frustrations. But today you can start […]
Do you know how to respond to their fears?
All children at some point or another have fears or worries that are appropriate at the given age. I assume that it’s happened with your young daughter, for example, she comes crying to you because she’s scared of being alone in her room. You know what some of the common responses we frequently give as […]
Boundaries: more important than ever
Hi, I’m Pepa! It’s been six months since COVID 19 reached our cities, and if you’re like me, you’re probably still under some type of lock down. Home life has never been as active as it is nowadays, and although some children are going back to school, many are still home all day. The pandemic […]
Foods for intelligence
In his book, “Tips to promote intelligence”, Enrique Rojas talks about the “different kinds of intelligence: theoretical, practical, social, emotional, creative, discursive, auxiliary or instrumental, Phoenician, artificial, mathematical and scientific, spontaneous and provoked, analytical and synthetic, analogical and methodical”. He also talks about the “auxiliary intelligence, which has five tools”: Order: intelligence’s best friend; produces serenity, […]