What to Do to Make Your Home More Fun for Your Children

You don’t need to limit your kid’s impact on your household to their bedrooms. Many mums and dads decide to include things in their overall decor to make the home more fun for them. Having lots of colour and texture is a really good way to make your home more fun for your children. Here are some more ideas to help you:

Include Furniture Just for Them

In the living room and around the house, you could consider including furniture just for them. You have your regular adult sized furniture, and then you can have child sized furniture to go with it. You can even buy outdoor bean bags for relaxing in the garden when the weather is nice.

Add Plenty of Different Colours

Use lots of different colours in your decor. If your child has a favourite colour, then you could buy cushions and other accessories to reflect this. You can have a fairly neutral wall and floor combo, which you can then switch up by adding coloured accessories. It’ll never cost you much to replace them, and it’s cheaper than doing the walls and other elements over every time.

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Make Sure You Include a Ton of Texture

Including a ton of texture is good for young children, as it’s a sensory experience for them. That aside, it’ll make your home look more 3 dimensional and add more interest. All the top interior designers use this tip.

Get Down to Their Level

Get down to your children’s level and see if there are any changes you can make from there. See what they see and you might make a few small changes that will make the home not only more fun for them, but safer for them too.

DIY Certain Items

Why not DIY certain items? You can create canvases and even distress furniture yourself, so why not set little projects for yourself and get the kids involved?

Have a Fairy Garden in the Garden

One thing I love about making the home more fun for children, is what you can do with the garden. You can create your very own fairy garden, using ornaments and little doors attached to tree trunks. You can make it as magical and hidden away as you like to keep the kids guessing.

Make a Reading Nook

Having a reading nook in the home will not only look great, it’s great for your children’s education. All you really need is a cosy chair, a bookshelf, and a quiet corner of the house. Having somewhere they can really relax to read is a great idea and you should find them excelling in school subjects like literature!

See? You don’t have to limit your creativity to your children’s bedrooms or playrooms. You can make the whole house fun for them, including the garden if you just plan a little first. Do you have any ideas that you think would be great for kids in the home? Make sure you leave some of them below! See you back here soon.

How To Help Your Child Deal With Your Divorce

Getting a divorce from your partner is never a happy time. It marks the end of a marriage and the breaking up of a family unit. While it might be for all the right reasons, it can be confusing and upsetting for your children. As a parent, it’s your responsibility to help them through their pain and distress and reassure them that everything is going to be ok. Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind to help your children deal with divorce in a positive way.

Be Encouraging

As difficult as it may be, you need to put the feelings you have towards your ex to one side. When speaking to your child about their mother or father, try to be encouraging. Make sure they know that you are happy for them to see their other parent and make sure you smile when they leave. This will put your child at ease and avoid them feeling like they have to choose between you both. When they get home to ask them about what they did and be interested and supportive of their answer.

Image from Flickr

Make them feel loved

This is highly significant. You don’t want your child to feel responsible for your break up as this can lower their self-esteem and deeply upset them. So shower them with affection and give them attention. You could try out something new together or organise a day out somewhere. It may also be beneficial to sit down with your child with your ex-partner present to explain what is happening. Reinforce that it is not their fault and that they are still your number one priority.

Don’t fight in front of your child

Emotions will be running high and arguments may ensue. But try to avoid arguing in front of your child. This will only distress and frustrate them more. It doesn’t matter if it is about unreliability or financial worries, do it out of their earshot. Try to be as civil as you can for the sake of your children and bite your tongue if you have to.

Get support

When your partner leaves the family home, you will suddenly lose the security and routine you once had. This can cause enormous upheaval in yours and your children’s everyday life. Ask for help from close family and friends who you child is familiar with. Only ask people you who are reliable and dependable and stick to a routine. This will give your child some much-needed security and stability. It will also give you a chance to have a rest and take some of the pressure off your shoulders. Also, contact Family Solicitors, local doctors and your child's teachers. They will all be able to assist you in some way. They may suggest counselling or after school clubs, your child could attend to help you both.

These are just some suggestions that you could try out. You know your child more than anyone else so use this to your advantage. Your top priority should be showing them affection and listening to their questions and concerns.

Incredible Ways To Get More Involved With Your Child's Development

No two kids are ever the same. Even twins tend to go their separate ways and progress at different rates. Of course, all kids need a little encouragement from time to time. And it’s up to us as parents to be sure our children have the opportunity to develop their physical skills as well as their mental abilities.

Helping your child to progress is a really good idea. It helps the two of you bond, and you get to spend more quality time with your child. Free play has its place. Kids need some time to sit and be creative and to explore things on their own. But having regular support, guidance, encouragement and input from you helps them learn more.

No child is going to master riding a bike the first time he tries it. Young children need to have attained certain gross motor skills and coordination before they get the hang of it. As parents, we can help offer the support and encouragement needed for our children to give it a try. Most importantly, we can help them learn this valuable new skill by showing them, and describing what needs to be done.

Image by Taylorschlades

As our kids get a bit bigger and start school, much of their progress is left in the hands of their teacher. These days there seems to be less emphasis on their physical development and far more on their mental or academic skills. You can still be involved in these things in lots of ways. Perhaps your little one likes to play team sports. You can help out with the administration of the team. Perhaps you’re happy to offer the half time snacks, or order the strips?

Getting involved helps your child feel encouraged in the activity. If your little one loves playing football, you might help organise some matches. You could order football trophys & awards from Premier Trophies for all the participants. Sports like football improve coordination and gross motor skills. They also help children learn about teamwork and develop social skills. Parents’ involvement helps keep these small community groups alive.

Helping your child with homework can sometimes be tedious, but it is an essential part of parenting. However, you can engage in lots of other activities to enhance and promote their learning. Challenge their mental skills with puzzles and questions. Try the simple things like asking your child to add three spoons of sugar to your cake mix. Or tell you what time it will be when the cake is baked are great ways to get involved in their development this way.

Singing songs about particular topics can also help instill learning. The times table song is a traditional way to help kids learn them. You can adapt a song to any topic. Remember the ‘Dem Bones’ song that details all the connections of the skeleton bones? And we’ve all sung the alphabet song!

Children develop so rapidly from toddlerhood to puberty, but there’s no need to back off when they start school. Instead, find creative ways to help what they learn stick. Whether it’s physical skills or mental arithmetic, you can help your child’s development progress.