Happy Children's Day!

Celebrating Our Future! Happy Children's Day!

Team KidzAvenue

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HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!

From Team KidzAvenue.

Image from Google

Child Development Stages

Hello again, 

From the moment a child is born, parents are introduced to different development stages. One minute, a child is 'cooing', the next s(he) is talking. Children are usually able to perform a wide range of complex functions over periods of time. This is known as Child Development. 

Development milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range. It is important to know that children develop at their own pace. If your child reaches one milestone sooner, he(she) could reach another much later. 

Development is different from Growth as the latter refers to children getting bigger in size. 

Below is a table of five different child development groups and their corresponding ages. 

Age	Motor	Social	Speech	Physical	Vision and hearing
1-4months	Grasps with entire hand, strength insufficient Movements are large and jerky Rooting and sucking reflexes are well developed	More expressive with face and body . Begins to develop a social smile.  Discriminates smile. Enjoys playing with other people.  Squeals with delight appropriately.	Cooes(makes vowel-like noises) and babbles at parents or people they know. Verbalises to engage someone in interaction. Blow bubbles, plays with tongue. Deep belly laughs.(Spot the ticklish part)	Responds to and thrives on warm, sensitive physical contact and care. Expresses discomfort, hunger or thirst Continues to breathe using abdominal muscles.	Follows moving objects. Recognises familiar objects and people at a distance. Follows the hand with the eyes. Adult-like Colour vision. Follows dangling toy from side to side. Turns head round to sound. Follows adults’ gaze(joint attention).
4-8months	Able to hold bottle. Sits alone with or without support, holding head erect, back straightened, and arms propped forward for support, reaches with one hand, transfers object from hand to hand	Enjoys social play. Interested in mirror images. Responds to expressions of emotion. Appears joyful often. May show stranger anxiety.	Makes vowel noises, enjoys vocal play, double syllable sounds such as 'mumum' and 'dada'. Babbles consonant-vowel sounds	Teeth may begin to appear. Accompanied by increased drooling, chewing, biting and mouthing of objects Fat rolls appear on thighs, upper arms and neck. True eye color is established	Sensitivity to pictoral depth cues (those used by artists to indicate depth) emerges. Localises sound 45cm lateral to either ear.Visua acuity adult-like (20/20)
8-12months	Has good balance when sitting; can shift positions without falling Creeps on hands and knees; crawls up and down stairs	Begins to develop expressive rather than receptive language- child actually responding to what is said to him instead of only receiving and watching interaction Apprehensive or shy about strangers, tests parental response, cries when parents leave, enjoys imitating people in play	Babbles tunefully.	Legs may continue to appear bowed. Arm and hands are more developed than feet and legs; hands appear large in proportion to to other body parts. More teeth appear but some babies may still be waiting for their first.	Drops thing intentionally and repeats and watches objects Watches people, objects and activities in the immediate environment. Both eyes work in unison(true binocular coordination) Can see distant objects and points at them Responds to hearing Looks for toys for dropped, looks at correct picture when the image is named
12-36months	Crawls skillfully and quickly Gets to feet unaided Most children walk unassisted near the end of this period; falls often; not always able to maneuver around obstacles, such as furniture or toys Attempts to run; has difficulty stopping and usually just drops to the floor. Sits in a small chair Helps feed self; enjoys holding spoon(often upside down) and drinking from a glass or cup; not always accurate in getting utensils into mouth; frequent spills should be expected. Helps turn pages in book. Stands on tiptoe	Less wary of strangers. Waves goodbye. Understands simple commands. Self-awareness as separate from others. Enthusiastic about company of other children Helps pick up and put away toys Plays alone. Demands constant mothering Often imitates adult actions in play	Babbles 2/3 words repeatedly. By two years is able to join 2-3 words in sentences	By 24months,(2 years) 16 baby teeth almost finishef growing out. By 36 months(3 years), baby teeth stage over. Also, legs grow faster than arms. Posture is more erect, abdomen no longer protrudes.	Passes toy to other hand when offered a second object (referred to as”crossing the midline” – an important neurological development. Enjoys object -hiding activities. Places several small items (blocks, clothespins, cereal pieces) in a container or bottle and then dumps them out. Tries to make mechanical objects work after watching someone else do so. Names many everyday objects. Enjoys looking at picture books. Drops toys, and watches where they go. By 18months, is able to recognize their favourite songs and will try to join in.

Note, the table above is not exhaustive as children can perform a wide range of functions.

In the next post, we will look at child development for ages 4-10 years.

Have a Happy week!

Team KidzAvenue.





References:
Your Child Development&Behaviour Resources - www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics
Child Development - Medline Plus
How your Newborn Grows-Baby Development Stages: The First Year. How infants develop by Gina Shaw Web MD.
Healthychildren.org
Wikipedia

Images from Google.

Be 'Kids' Inspired!

Hello again,

We'll be sharing some quotes for children with you. 

We hope they will inspire you to continue to be great parents to your kids. 

Remember, we have the responsibility of setting standards and living by them before our kids.

For more, go to our Facebook Page - Kidz Avenue.

Be 'Kids' inspired!

Team Kidz Avenue.

Images from Google.

Bonding: Dads and Kids.

Are you a Dad? Do you want your children to grow strong and confident? Do you know that meeting their material needs is just a part of the whole responsibility that comes with being a Dad and that there is so much more?

Your role as 'Dad' to your children is of utmost importance in shaping and moulding their lives. It's making time for your children by ensuring that they are well grounded in every aspect of life. And no Dad, that's not 'Mummy's job'. It's yours as well. Your children's all-round growth is a responsibility you both share.

A lot of men were raised in the 'traditional' family setting where they had little or no interaction with their fathers because of the erroneous societal notion that fathers are to be seen and not felt. Thankfully, in recent times, quite a number of Fathers have turned this around by commiting to be better Fathers. They take bonding with their children very seriously and are involved in their day-to-day lives in spite of their busy schedules.

The following is from an article 'The Importance Of Father-Child Bonding' in  Parenting Weekly- "Recent studies have suggested that children whose fathers are actively involved with them from birth are more likely to be emotionally secure, confident in exploring their surroundings, have better social connections with peers as they grow older, are less likely to get in trouble at home, and are less likely to use drugs and alcohol."

It further states, "Fathers also tend to encourage independence and achievement, in contrast to nurturing and protective nature of mothers, both of which play an important role in a child's healthy development."

Dads, your children are more confident and assertive when you spend time with them. For your son(s), it helps him to develop a healthy gender identity. It also downplays aggression in that child and encourages respect for the opposite sex. Also, when a Father interacts with his daughter(s), it boosts her self-esteem and she is less likely to be involved in destructive relationships since Daddy has shown what real men are about.

You can be a good Dad to your children by doing the following:

1) Spend quality time with them. Children love to talk.  Ask them questions, you'd be amazed at what they know. It's a way to find out how much they really know and what actions or corrections are to be made.

2) Be involved in their activities both academically and socially. You can help with homework or at least ask about school, their teachers' names, their friends, their favourite colours and so on. They'll only be too glad to share.

3) Train your children. Exert your authority as the Head of the home. When they do wrong, don't send them to Mummy for correction. You have to make your place known as the Head of the home and exert your authority. Let them know that you would not tolerate bad behaviour. One of the most effective ways to do this is to lead by example.

4) Play with your children. Children love to play. Besides, Dad, you were once a child and you wanted someone to play with you. There are all kinds of games you can play with them. Classic games like 'Hide and Seek', 'Building' games, Board games and so on. Researchers believe that Dads that play with their children have higher IQs and better linguistic and cognitive capacities.

5) Dads, there is no excuse, there are countless places you can take your children to. Take your children out. Let them interact with other children but under your close watch. Plan vacations together. Go on monthly visits to different places or simply take walks with them. It refreshes the whole family.

Dads, spending time with your children is time well spent. It will leave a lasting and  positive mark in their lives. You'll be glad you did.

Happy Bonding Dads!

Team Kidz Avenue.

Image by Google Images

The Baby Bag Experience.

Congratulations on the birth of your newborn! Such a blessing!

Chances are your baby will be going on it's first official outing any moment now. This also means you get to finally use that beautiful baby bag you've kept all this while! The following are must-haves for the your baby bag experience:

1) Diapers
2) Wipes
3) Hand sanitiser
4) Blankets
5) Bibs
6) Extra clothes
7) Diaper rash cream
8) A toy/rattle
9) Baby food/feeding bottles
10) Breast pads.

You can't go wrong with any of these. You would need one of these at sometime during your trip. Note- the items in a baby bag are not limited to the ones listed above, you can add what you feel you absolutely need.

Mums, the baby bag experience is not just for baby alone but for you as well. These are your must-haves:

1) Cellphone
2) Torchlight
3) Snack
4) Wallet
5) Keys

Now for mums that are yet to get their baby bags and are not sure what to look out for, the following tips are sure to help:

1) Buy a big baby bag. You want a well-stocked bag. As many as 6 diapers per trip will not hurt anyone. Chances are you will not use them all but at least you will have more than enough as well as space for them.

2) Buy a baby bag from a brand that is known for quality. You want a bag that is durable and strong. For instance, I used the same baby bag for my two kids because of its high quality and this saved me money!

3) Buy a baby bag that comes with a disposable bag for soiled diapers and wipes. Also, buy one with a changing pad to use for when your baby needs to change.

4) Buy a baby bag with a lot of compartments, zippers and bottle holders. This type of bag will make it easy to find what you need and quickly too.

5) Buy a baby bag that has holders for you Mum as well. There are bags that have cellphone, key holders. So, they don't get lost amongst baby's things.

Remember Mums, the key to having the ultimate baby bag experience is to have a bag that is both functional and practical.

Have fun!

Team Kids Avenue

Pictures courtesy- Google Images

Welcome!

Welcome to Kids Avenue!

This is the blog for everything Kids! We've got events, information, news, games and so on.

Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Team Kidz Avenue.

Please note that all images on this blog are from or via Google Images unless otherwise stated.