The Most Precious Gift to Give our Children

Written by Lee-Anne Robert


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So what isrepparttar most precious gift to give our children? The answer lies withinrepparttar 111132 following quote:

“We are always too busy for our children; we never give themrepparttar 111133 time or interest they deserve. We lavish gifts upon them; butrepparttar 111134 most precious gift, our personal association, which means so much to them, we give grudgingly.” Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Our “TIME” isrepparttar 111135 single most important gift to give our children!

Give your childrepparttar 111136 gift of time and truly learn about your child. Toys, clothes and chocolate bars can be replaced, but your time can never be replaced. Spend time with your child everyday and you will seerepparttar 111137 pleasure they derive from your quality attention. Children grow up too quickly so enjoy them, get to know them and don’t be a parent who has regrets after your children have grown up.

Stop playing serious and seriously play!

Lee-Anne Robert is the proud mother of two healthy young children and owner of Cuddles 'n Gifts, http://www.cuddlesngifts.net featuring affordable and unique baby gifts, baby gift baskets and so much more. Copyright @2004


IF YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW WHY READING MATTERS

Written by Barbara Freedman-DeVito


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Children are influenced by and imitaterepparttar world around them. While a steady diet of violent cartoons may have a detrimental effect on children's development, carefully chosen stories and books can have a positive influence on children, sensitizing them torepparttar 111131 needs of others. For example, books can encourage children to be more cooperative, to share with others, to be kind to animals, or to respectrepparttar 111132 natural environment.

READING CAN ENHANCE CHILDREN'S SOCIAL SKILLS.

Although reading is thought of asrepparttar 111133 quintessential solitary activity, in certain circumstances reading can be a socializing activity. For example, a parent or grandparent reading a story aloud, whether from a traditional printed book or from an ebook, can be a great opportunity for adult and child to share some quiet, relaxed quality time together away fromrepparttar 111134 rush and stresses ofrepparttar 111135 business of daily living. They share a few minutes of precious time, plus they sharerepparttar 111136 ideas that are contained inrepparttar 111137 story. In addition, older children can be encouraged to read aloud to younger ones as a means of enhancing their relationship.

At school or at a library story hour, books can bring children together and can be part of a positive shared experience. For some preschoolers this may be their primary opportunity to socialize and to learn how to behave around other children or how to sit quietly for a group activity. Makerepparttar 111138 most of this experience by encouraging children to talk about what they've read or heard.

READING CAN IMPROVE HAND-EYE COORDINATION.

It may sound funny, but ebooks can be a way for children to improve their fine motor skills and their hand-eye coordination, as they click around a childfriendly website or clickrepparttar 111139 backward and forward buttons of online story pages. They may also be picking up valuable computer skills that they'll need in school and later in life.

READING CAN PROVIDE CHILDREN WITH PLENTY OF GOOD, CLEAN FUN !

I've savedrepparttar 111140 most important point for last. Reading can provide children with endless hours of fun and entertainment. All ofrepparttar 111141 pragmatic reasons above aren't at all necessary to justify reading's place in children's lives. Stories can free up imaginations and open up exciting new worlds of fantasy or reality. They allow children to dream and may give them a good start onrepparttar 111142 road to viewing reading as a lifelong source of pleasure; so read to your young children every day. Inspire your older children to read. Give them access to plenty of reading material that they'll enjoy and discuss it with them. Sample everything - traditional printed books and ebooks on Internet, classic children's novels and fairy tales, as well as more modern stories.

If a child wants to hearrepparttar 111143 same story over and over again, don't worry about it. Children take comfort fromrepparttar 111144 familiarity and predictability of a beloved story that they know by heart. There's no harm in that. Reread old favorites and, atrepparttar 111145 same time, introduce your children to new stories. Your child's mind and heart have room for both.

SO READING REALLY DOES MATTER AFTER ALL!

There are so many ways in which reading continues to be both a vital skill for children to master, and an important source of knowledge and pleasure that can last a lifetime. Nurture it in your children. Makerepparttar 111146 most of allrepparttar 111147 resources that are available and waiting for you: printed books, online books, magazines and so forth. Encourage follow-up activities involving creative writing skills andrepparttar 111148 arts, as well, so that your children can reflect upon or expand on what they've absorbed and, atrepparttar 111149 same time, develop their own creativity. As you help your kids appreciaterepparttar 111150 magic of reading, you'll find that there's a whole wonderful world full of children's literature out there that YOU can enjoy too.

©2004



Barbara Freedman-De Vito, children's librarian, teacher, professional storyteller, and artist, writes and illustrates animated children's stories which are available at http://www.babybirdproductions.com which also has free games and educational activities for children and parents.


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