On Tuesday, it was Family Literacy Day in Canada. I took my daughter to an Early Years Centre to participate in a Family Literacy Day program where they read and acted out a number of stories, rhymes and songs. We both had a great time. So did my 4 month old baby!

We were sent home inspired to read every day (something I have always done anyhow) to our children and to engage them in as many literacy related activities as possible.

Later that day, out came the chart paper, newspaper flyers, scissors, glue and markers. We taped the chart paper to the floor, chose a letter of the alphabet to focus on (my daughter chose the letter B) and we brainstormed different words that started with “B”. After we wrote down the words, we also hunted through the flyers for objects that started with “B”. I encouraged her to look for words that started with “B”, but she wasn’t interested in doing that.

As per usual, the activity turned into a child led activity, which was fine by me as it still focused on literacy which was the purpose of the activity in the first place, oh and of course to have fun!

Some other literacy focused activity ideas are:

Letters and words are all around us. Reading is not simply opening a book and reading the words. For children, reading involves exposure to letters and words, looking at pictures and describing what they see and drawing pictures and explaining what they drew.

Try to read with your child each and every day. Every book counts!

Multi-Tasking Mommy is back on the scene!

I’ve been busy this past month making the adjustment of being a Mommy to a 3 1/2 year old girl to including a newborn boy to the mix. My priorities have definitely shifted and I’m having to manage my time even more than I was before.

My son was born at 8:58am on October 1st via c-section. This was a repeat c-section and I look forward to sharing my story with you in a future post.

This past month, I’ve been busy recovering, breastfeeding, trying to sleep and entertaining a preschooler all the while trying maintain my sanity. It’s definitely a challenge, but one that I’m thoroughly enjoying. I look forward to sharing my stories and experiences as a Mommy of two.

In one short month, I have:

Becoming a Mommy to two children has been a huge transition in some ways and in other ways, I feel like it hardly changed my life at all. I am loving having two children to love and care for and although we are busier now than we were before, life is fun and always full of surprises.

Before my son was born, I didn’t understand how it was possible to find a place in my heart for even more love. As soon as he was born, I just got it. My heart grew larger the moment I saw him and now I understand just how easy it is to love two children just the same.

You can read more Multi-Tasking Mommy at Circle of Life.

A relatively small study out of Australia has found that preschool aged children are already aware of body image. 53 children in four kindergarten classes were surveyed, and it was discovered that parents, especially mothers, are unintentionally impressing their own image issues on their children. The study found that children learn by watching their parents, and so if their mother is constantly verbalizing her dissatisfaction with her body, they internalize it and make it their own.

I found this study to be frighteningly disheartening. By no means am I the pinnacle of a physical specimen. However, I do not (as was mentioned in the article) suggest to my preschool aged daughter that she needs to exercise more to lose weight. We (my wife and I) encourage her to be physically active because it is “good for her body” (i.e. healthy), the same reason we give her for strongly encouraging (occasionally forcing) her to eat fruits and vegetables.

I cannot imagine what would possess a parent to tell their preschooler that they need to lose weight. Society does enough damage with the messages and images in modern media without parents doing the same thing at home.

Source: Body image obsession starts in kindy via Adelaide Now

Seeing as though the Summer Olympics comes around every four years, I believe it is important to watch them actively each time. Admittedly, I haven’t watched as much as I have in the past, but this is due to the fact that I have a child now and don’t want to sit glued to the television all day long, which is topic for another post in itself!

This is my daughter’s first exposure to the Olympics and I am very excited to share the experience with her. I remember being so excited to watch the Olympics as a child. I always felt so inspired by the commitment of the athletes. The Olympians truly are role models to children and adults alike. We can learn so much from their dedication, commitment, focus, strength and personal goals.

I am enjoying watching my daughter during her exposure to the Olympics. Her little mind is learning so many new concepts like the different countries and flags, exposure to sports and competition and winning medals.

What I am finding most interesting is how she is soaking in all of the information. This afternoon, we were outside playing and she wanted to enter a “skipping competition”. I was to be the judge and hand out the “prizes” when SHE won–every.single.time! Then she did mention the word participation, but she still expected a prize. Clearly, we still have a far way to go when explaining games, sports, sportsmanship and playing for more reasons than to win! Time and more exposure will certainly help her in this area of understanding.

It is fun watching the Olympics with a three year old, but it can be frustrating at times as well.

My daughter hasn’t grasped the concept that when other people are in the room, she should be careful where she stands to see the television. She usually chooses her spot right in front of the television every time she stops to take a look. Her constant questions also make it is difficult to enjoy or focus on the events as an adult. I have learned that my personal enjoyment from the Olympics comes at night after she goes to bed and any daytime viewing that we may do together is purely for her, her enjoyment and her “education”. Since the Olympics started, I don’t think there has been a night where I have made it to bed at my usual bedtime.

Please don’t get me wrong, I do love watching the Olympics with my daughter. I am very happy that she is interested in watching them me.

Are your children interested in watching the Olympics?

For every day of the over three years of my daughter’s life, my wife has not been employed outside of the home. Every weekday, my daughter wakes up to Mommy, eats breakfast with Mommy, and spends the day with Mommy. (Weekends, on the other hand, are generally split between time with Mommy and time with yours truly.)

While my wife does take her to some classes, up until this point many of them have been of the “Mommy and Me” variety. My daughter does not attend preschool or daycare, since my wife is trained as a primary teacher and is therefore able to provide her with an equal or better environment, save for the socialization (which we augment through other classes as mentioned above).

However, on the rare occasions where my daughter is expected to leave my wife and go to a class without her, more often than not tears and protests are involved. If the door to the room remains open and my wife is within sight, sometimes that will suffice. But, if that door is closed? My daughter will stage a nuclear force meltdown tantrum, prompting even the most confident of teachers to cry “uncle” and let her go find my wife.

We know that separation anxiety is common, especially in preschoolers who have an increased awareness of their environment and can more easily reason out what will logically happen next (i.e. a 15 month old may not realize they are being left as quickly as a three year old). But we feel like her level of fear is excessive, and worry that by not pushing (or even forcing) her into more independent situations, we are doing her a disservice.

What have your experiences been with separation anxiety? How did you overcome it?

Regular readers already know this, but I have a three year old daughter, and my wife is pregnant with our second child, due in the beginning of October. Our daughter was delivered via cesarean section after 20 hours of labour and as of right now it appears that our second will be delivered via a scheduled c-section.

While my daughter is just three years old, she is rather precocious. So, the expected questions about how the baby got into my wife’s uterus (or “tummy”) and how it will subsequently come out have a more thorough treatment than one would expect from a three year old. So far, we have treated the subject with a bit of distance: offering vague answers and changing the subject instead of allowing for the typical preschooler probing (also known as “the neverending whys”) to proceed.

However, as the delivery date approaches, and the reality that my wife is likely to have another c-section, we have begun to wonder just how much detail we should provide to our little girl. On the one hand, the age-old advice of “answer only the questions asked” works, but in our case, it won’t explain why she won’t be able to lie on her mother’s stomach during story time, or why my wife won’t be able to lift her for several weeks (possibly months, depending on her recovery). So we are debating just how much information to share with our daughter.

We picked up a book at the local bookstore, but parts of it seem overly detailed, at least for someone of her age. Also, at least for me, handling it with a book feels somewhat disconnected or sterile. I feel like we should be talking about it, not learning about it during a story.

This is directed at people who already have one child, and have had, or are expecting, their second: what have you done in this situation? How much information did you give your child? Did you feel like you were sharing “too much” for their age?

You can read more SciFi Dad at Tales From The Dad Side.

According to research released at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), preschoolers in family or home based child care situations are not meeting physical activity recommendations. With millions of children in some kind of child care situation, and an increasing rate of obesity in young children, studies such as this one should shed light on a growing problem in North America.

However, when a study looks at 27 children (12 boys and 15 girls) spread across seven homes over the course of 86 days, its results cannot be taken blindly. Millions of children are in child care, and they look at only 27? And realistically, the child count is not as important as the child care location count (seven), since arguably the kids from one location would all be doing relatively similar activities. So the ACSM took a look at seven homes over the course of 86 days and made a conclusion. I am not disputing the conclusion, just the means used to come to it.

According to the CDC, children need at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day. Examples of moderate intensity physical activity include brisk walking, playing tag, and swimming.

I am sure that physical activity recommendations are not being met, not only for young children in child care situations, but for kids of all ages. When we, the current generation of parents, were kids, there was no home internet, no all-day preschooler cable network, no video game consoles, no DVDs of television programs and movies and “educational content”. We played outside not because it was the healthy thing to do, but because it was the only thing to do. Now, we, as parents, need to realize that there are more distractions for our kids, more alternatives to physical activity, and take a more involved position in their free time.

And hey, I will be the first to admit that I do a really poor job at keeping my kid active on a daily basis. I come home from work and I’m wiped. I know it can be difficult. If it weren’t for my wife, my daughter would probably watch a lot more television than she does now. She does get out during the day, and we try to get her outside after dinner now that it’s summer and no longer dark at 4pm. The bottom line is we’re not just making sure they meet recommended targets for her health; we’re also developing habits that (hopefully) will stay with her for the rest of her life.

What do you do to keep your young kids active? Do you try to meet the recommendations of the CDC and ACSM? How successful are you? Do you have any tips or tricks to offer other parents when it comes to getting their kids active?

You can read more SciFi Dad at Tales From The Dad Side