Child Care Tips And Decoding The Information Avalanche

When it comes to child care tips, how much is too much? Should we be ‘Google parents,’ becoming consumed by all the information out there or are we to simply ‘follow the rules’? It is time to validate and refine.

For first-time parents, the terms ‘child and care’ could be unnerving. But when it comes to caring for our child, are we open to take it as is and just go with the flow? I don’t think so! Being able to know about many child care tips from other parents and experts is in a way a welcome change to your grandmother’s method of raising kids. But how are we really harnessing this knowledge and are we seeking a sensible amount of child care tips?

For instance, we hear so much about food and nutrition, which is of course true. The point is though that there are many health charts and nutrition tips for kids and as parents, we can cook up a storm and make them available to our kids. But the real task is to feed them all the good things, to get the wholesome eats into their mouths, down their throats and thereby into their tummies. This is a different story altogether and remains an undeniable challenge to many parents.

If you search the Internet, there are tons of articles around child nutrition.

If you search the Internet, there are tons of articles around child nutrition about why you should feed them every two hours, why fruits are important, why drinking water is essential to keep the body hydrated, why eating green leafy vegetables is important to maintain the iron requirements, how bad it is to eat chocolates and biscuits and pastries and all those easily available things, which are actually the only things kids will absolutely show interest in eating by themselves!

Long story short, we now have ample information on what to feed our children but how to feed them is the practical question for which we need answers and our grandmas will be of better help rather than the Internet in this regard! And there is no simple 1-2-3 step to follow and set it right for your children. In this age of conscious parenting wherein we start reading about kid’s nutrition much before the child is conceived, we do need a lot of patience, time and effort in getting things right for kids.

Caring for a child has more to do with, than the basic food, health and nutrition.

Caring for a child has more to do with, than the basic food, health and nutrition. Caring for simple every day things would teach and nourish them in many meaningful forms.

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Hence developing a healthy and sustainable lifestyle is very important for both parents and kids to be able to follow any of the child care tips efficiently. And that is when the need for a flourishing rhythm arises. Here are some basic factors for a healthy rhythm, around which all other activities revolve and depend upon.

Diet

From the time my son was weaned and when I was starting him on semi-solid food to till date, when he is almost four, the kind of diet is same and very similar to what we adults eat at home. Our staples are rice, vegetable and dal, and I started giving him food in the same format and it continues to be the same even today. Basically a certain practice is set which makes it easier to feed him without much struggle. And not to forget, kids need ample amount of physical activity so that they are actually hungry when it is time for a meal.

Hygiene

As soon as we come home from anywhere, the first thing we do is wash our feet and hands. This is like a homecoming ritual that happens all the time. The stress on hygiene should start at any early age and doing things along with them makes the process settle in faster into their minds and also makes it easy on our part to handle them, instead of showing authority – which would sound as an order and produces undue resistance from them.

Sleep

Many of us have the habit of watching late night T.V. shows. When we want kids to sleep early then I think it is obvious that the T.V. should be switched off, at least till the time they go to bed. Sleep routine is something which is not to be messed with! If the sleep routine changes then the wake-up time changes and there by entire morning schedule will go for a toss and then there is no use in complaining that our children are not getting ready on time!

Pace

Children will do things at their own pace and there is no point in hurrying them up. If you want to get them ready for school, as parents we should try and give them the time they need to get ready. For example, my son needs a good half an hour to finish his breakfast and there are days when things get delayed at home and he would end up having lesser breakfast time, which could have also resulted from a prolonged tantrum of his own! But kids won’t be able to understand the logic behind who caused the waste of time and would take a while in getting to that point. Till then either we sort things so that he gets enough time or sometimes when things don’t go as planned, then I try to keep myself off the guilt that he had few spoons less from his breakfast and it’s ok to happen for a day!

DIY

If we want our children to cultivate good habits then we should be an example of doing the same, like watering the plants, folding clothes, working with mending tools, reading books, cooking etc If they watch us doing constructive work or develop few hobbies and interests during the phases of childhood, then chances are that it goes a long way into their own lives and shape up their future. Also it teaches them how to take care and experience the joy out of simple things in life.

While dealing with a kid is no mean task and there will be situations when I feel I as well as fellow parents are at loss in spite of the many child care tips available currently. Nevertheless the fact is that children learn a lot from us and hence the approach on how we utilize different child care tips matters a lot.

Cover image via Shutterstock

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