Families

Help foster your child’s creativity and imagination with these fun toy activities. by Michelle Anthony, PhD via Scholastic Open-ended toys: These are toys that can be played without an end goal in mind, encouraging creative problem solving and fostering imagination. Blocks: Foster thinking such as measurement, equality, balance, shape, spatial relationships, cause-and-effect, physical properties, gravity, etc. Think of many different kinds: wooden, bristle, Duplo®, etc. Magnetic and foam blocks are particularly good for younger infants, … Read more

Common parenting wisdom says that we should lavish kids with praise whenever they behave well or do something good—the presumption being that praise makes kids feel good, and when they feel good, they behave better. While the latter half of this theory is undoubtedly true, behavior is linked very strongly to emotion and, unfortunately, most praise doesn’t make kids feel good or motivated. “Praise, like penicillin, must not be administered haphazardly. There are rules and cautions … Read more