The Licitar Heart is a traditional, brightly decorated, heart-shaped biscuit from Croatia. Made from honey dough and decorated with colorful toppings, the tradition of licitar making goes as far back as the Middle Ages. Deeply connected to Croatia’s cultural heritage, Licitars are now recognised by UNESCO. Licitars are often given as tokens of affection – lovers exchange these bright red, heart-shaped biscuits in Croatia on Valentine’s Day. Licitars can also be given as gifts, or kept as souvenirs from a vacation, or a keepsake of a memory or an event.

Make Your Own Licitar Hearts

A traditional licitar heart recipe is available here, but a simpler method would be to either make butter cookies or gingerbread cookies, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and decorate them with edible cookie decorations.

Here are some non-edible Licitar Heart-inspired crafts you could also try:

• No-sew Heart Pillow
• Cardboard Lacing Hearts
• A different take on Cardboard Lacing Hearts
• Paper plate lacing hearts

You can add an extra element and decorate your “No-sew heart pillow” with decorations like we did with our Christmas stocking project.

Licitar Artwork

If you’re not feeling very crafty, turn your Lictar making project into an art class. All you will need are heart-shaped cutouts (just use cardboard, craft foam, or coloured paper) and let your kids paint them with tempera paints, coloured markers, or glitter glue.

More Croatian Craft Ideas

1. Wooden Toy Instrument:
   • The Idea: Croatia has a rich tradition of crafting miniature wooden musical instruments like the tamburitza. 
   • Art/Craft Project: Try creating a simple tamburitza with pieces of cardboard (have a look at this video for a cardboard guitar to get some ideas). Let your child decorate the “drum” with paints or markers. 
   • Talk About It: Explain how the tamburitza is a traditional Croatian instrument and talk about the concept of making music. 
   • Materials Required: Wooden dowel, wood or cardboard piece, paint, markers, glue. 
2. Simplified Croatian Embroidery:
   • The Idea: Croatian embroidery is known for its intricate designs and vibrant colors. 
   • Art/Craft Project: Use a pre-printed embroidery pattern with large, simple designs or create your own using paint and embroidery cloth. 
   • Talk About It: Explain the tradition of embroidery in Croatia and how it’s used to decorate clothing and other items. 
   • Materials Required: Pre-printed embroidery pattern or canvas, embroidery thread and needles (you will need to help out with this), fabric, paints, and markers. 

Remember This!

• Keep it simple: young children have short attention spans, so select a project that is easy to understand and complete.
• Focus on sensory exploration: offer a variety of textures, colours, and materials to engage your child’s senses.
• Encourage creativity and expression: allow little ones to explore their own ideas and designs, rather than strictly following your instructions.
• Supervise and provide assistance: make sure you are around to help your child with any tasks that could be challenging or unsafe.
• Make it fun: by creating a positive and engaging environment, you will nurture your child’s interest in art and crafts. 

Sensory bins are containers filled with various materials like sand, rice, or water beads. They are designed to engage children’s senses and promote development through hands-on, interactive play. Sensory bins encourage exploration, fine motor skills, and imaginative play, while fostering creativity and emotional well-being. 

Benefits of Sensory Bins

Sensory Experiences: Sensory bins provide rich sensory experiences that can be calming and engaging for children. 

Fine Motor Skills: Manipulating the materials and tools strengthens fine motor skills. 

Language Development: Talking about the activities and objects in the bin promotes language development. 

Problem-Solving and Creativity: Sensory play encourages problem-solving, creativity, and imaginative play. 

Math and Literacy Skills: Sensory bins can be used to practice math skills (measuring, counting) and literacy skills (letter recognition). 

Create Your Own Sensory Bin

Fill a container with a base material like rice, sand, or beans, add various objects for exploration, and encourage children to scoop, pour, and manipulate the materials, fostering sensory exploration and fine motor skills.

Container: Use a shallow container like a box, tray, or bucket. What you select will be based on the number of children participating and your learning objectives. 

Fillers: Select base materials that are interesting to look at and touch. Some examples include dry rice, dry pasta, dry beans, oatmeal, sand, or water beads.

Themed Fillers: Select a theme that your children are interested in or a topic you are teaching currently. This helps to make the activity more engaging and to connect it to the topic your child is learning about. 

Tools: Include tools like scoops, spoons, tongs, and tweezers to encourage manipulation and fine motor skill development. 

Objects: Add toys, natural materials (leaves, sticks, stones), or other child-friendly objects that are relevant to the theme. 

Variety: Ensure a variety of objects to stimulate different senses and encourage exploration.

How to Use Sensory Bins

Encourage Free Play: Let your children explore the materials and objects in their own way, without strict instructions. 

Demonstrate Activities: Model how to scoop, pour, and manipulate the materials to guide your children’s play. 

Engage in Conversation: Talk about what your children are doing, their feelings, and the objects in the bin to build language skills. 

Repeat Activities: Sensory play is about repetition, so encourage your children to repeat actions like scooping, pouring, or stirring. 

Looking After Your Sensory Bin

Clean Regularly: Clean the bin and materials often, especially if you include food items as fillers. Be sure to replace food items to maintain hygiene.

Supervise Play: Many items included in sensory bins can be choking hazards. It is important that your children are supervised at all times when playing with sensory bins. 

What is Makaton?

Makaton is a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate. It supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention and listening, comprehension, memory, recall and organisation of language and expression.

Makaton

Makaton is used to support all children to develop communication, language, and literacy skills. 

It is an effective method of communication for:

• students who have difficulties with understanding or remembering what is being said;
• children whose speech is difficult to understand; or
• children whose first language is not English.

Five tips for students learning Makaton

Experts share the following five tips for students learning sign language using Makaton:

1. Familiarise yourself with key vocabulary 

Firstly, familiarising yourself with the key vocabulary will help you progress further with learning and also help you feel more confident to use it.

The Core Vocabulary provides a small nucleus of basic concepts essential to everyday life, presented in stages of increasing complexity.

The Makaton core vocabulary contains 450 words, signs, and symbols, such as;

One way which can be helpful for children when memorizing keywords is to start with some songs and rhymes. Learning a few signs to go along with your child’s favourite nursery rhymes is always a great idea. 

There are also an additional 7000 concepts based around topics such as people, vehicles and animals which are always being developed further.

Therefore, songs such as ‘Wheels on the bus’ and ‘Old McDonald’ are good ones for learning the core words using core vocabulary, along with animal and colour signs.

2. Match words to symbols and signs

Whilst it can be easy to produce materials using symbols and signs, care must be taken so that the correct symbol or sign is used both semantically and syntactically so that the brain absorbs the meanings as much as possible. 

Often, there is more than one symbol or sign for the same word which can be confusing. 

For example, the word orange can refer to a colour or a fruit, therefore learning to distinguish these types of words will be extremely helpful.

3. Don’t learn too much at once

Whilst the brain of children can absorb new things like a sponge, it is still important not to cram too much information into one day. 

Ideally, you want to consider having one or two ‘signs of the week’ that the child can focus on. 

Start with what’s important to your child, this could be items they use around the home or key things they do at school.  For example, functional language like names, days of the week, and weather will help children follow instructions and curriculum vocabulary.

4. Continue to be consistent and clear with the signs you have learned

Once you have mastered a certain group of words, continue to remind yourself of them and go over them regularly. 

It can be easy for your child to forget the signs or symbols that they have learned, therefore it is important to keep them fresh on the brain, by incorporating the sign language into your child’s daily routine.

5. Use your dominant hand as your main signing hand

It is recommended that using your dominant hand as your main signing hand will help keep signs consistently the same.

Essentially, if you are right-handed, your right hand is your dominant hand. If you are left-handed, your left hand is your dominant hand.

When using two hands, signs typically have the dominant hand do the primary action.

This is so you get into a habit with your signs and are not changing up the learning process which can cause confusion.

Finally, always remember that:

1. Makaton is clever and fun
2. Always speak as you sign or use symbols.
3. Use signs and symbols as often as you can
4. Keep encouraging yourself and others
5. Don’t give up! Whilst it may take a while it is worth it in the end.

International Day of Sign Languages!

*This post has been brought to you by Preply.

Related:

• Sign Language for Babies
• Sign Language Resources: Signing Time

Fantastic Ways to Learn

Learning is one of the most amazing things that you can do to make yourself a more effective and well-rounded human being. There are a plethora of interesting skills that you can develop, and by taking the time to engage with your learning, you are only going to grow more.

There are many different ways to learn. Find a style that suits you to maximize the gains from your efforts. Let’s take a look at a some ways that can make your learning more effective.

The first and arguably most effective way to start learning anything is to engage with traditional education around the subject. By engaging with a degree, such as a Massachusetts Bachelor’s Degree Online, you give yourself access to the highest level of education on a topic, including teaching from some of the most well-versed scholars on the subject.

If you lack the time or funds to engage with this kind of education, you might want to consider more flexible forms of learning. One effective option is to engage in digital learning platforms. Some examples include Coursera, Skillshare, Udemy, Codecademy, Edx, Pluralsight, Future Learn, and Moodle.

Brilliant Skills to Develop

Now that you understand some of the most incredible and interesting ways that you can start learning, you might want to consider what exactly you want to be learning. Fortunately, there are many useful skills that you might want to develop, and by choosing one or two to consistently work on, you can slowly build a skill set that only becomes more powerful over time.

• Communication. Whether you like it or not, your life does not take place in a vacuum, which means you will have to engage with other people. Learning to communicate and collaborate with others is one of your most effective tools for ensuring that your life goes the way you want it to.
• Planning. You will always be able to arrive at your destination far more effectively if you plan out a route. Similarly, reaching your goals in life is always going to be an easier task if you have a plan of how to get there.
• Adaptability. Life is a confusing mess of unpredictability. While the ability to plan is important, it is equally important to learn to shift along with life and adapt as you go.

Regardless of the skills, you have decided to develop; however, you might want to spend some time thinking about how you can best use them. After all, it’s all well and good to develop your skills, but the effort is rather useless if you then never use them.

Utilizing Your Skills

Fortunately, there are a plethora of ways that you might be able to apply these skills once you have spent the time to develop them. Engaging in a career related to the skill is often one of your best options, but you could also engage with a hobby that is related to the skills you have developed as well.

Ultimately, you can engage with these skills you have built-in any way you like, but the important thing is that you are using them.

Every parent knows that play essential for children. 91% of parents surveyed in the LEGO Play Well Global Study 2020 shared that playing with toys such as LEGO bricks has helped their children to develop problem solving skills. LEGO’s Rebuild the World campaign aims to echo this by partnering with local early learning and parenting coaches and parents. They share their experiences as well as tips for parents through weekly Instagram Live sessions in October 2021.

IG Live Program:

Session 1: 2 October, 11am on @weecheryl with:

• Singapore-based entrepreneur-parent Cheryl Wee
• Parenting coach Jacinth Liew

Session 2: 9 October, 3pm on @joannepeh with:

• Singapore-based actress-parent Joanne Peh
• Early Learning Expert Fynn Sor

Session 3: 16 October, 4pm on @dianadanielleb with:

• Actress-parent Diana Danielle
• Paediatrician Dr Ng Yi-Ki’s (@dryikis_crib)

Session 4: 23 October, 4pm on @miamnmmm with:

• Parent influencer Mia Chai
• Entrepreneur Lisa Ong (@lovelisa_13)

What’s Covered in Each Session?

• Hosts will talk about problem-solving through their personal experiences
• How to play creatively with LEGO bricks
• Tips on creating an environment to encourage creative, unstructured and independent play for children
• Q&A for viewers
• Giveaways of two LEGO sets with a total value of more than RM600 in each session

During this campaign, parents are welcomed to share the creative LEGO builds that their children have created on Instagram, using the hashtags #LEGOMY and #RebuildTheWorld.

It is clear that parents believe play is important for their children – not only for the fun and enjoyment, but their overall development too. In fact, play is seen as a great way to boost creative confidence. Through the Rebuild the World campaign in Malaysia, we aim to encourage parents to guide and facilitate the play experience for their children, as well as to inspire families to problem-solve together by building and rebuilding with LEGO bricks.

Rohan Mathur, Marketing Director Southeast Asia, The LEGO Group

“Rebuild the World” Around the World

Globally, The LEGO Group has launched a main film centered on the story of a Knight whose attempts to cross a river to see a friendly bear keep failing. Seeing the Knight’s dilemma, a whole town comes together and pools their varied skills, perspectives and talents to find a way to reunite the friends. As the Knight finally conquers the river crossing, the film playfully reveals how the story and the solution to the challenge have been imaginatively conceived by a group of children building, unbuilding and rebuilding through LEGO® play.

The playful film is accompanied by a number of humorous visual stories that depict the endless ways LEGO® bricks can be used to overcome barriers and reunite old friends. One of the fantasy visuals shows a hippo looking longingly at a bird flying in the sky. To solve the problem, the hippo is given LEGO wings and is able to join it. Another features a pig who wants to see eye to eye with a giraffe. The dilemma is easily fixed by adding some bricks to increase its height.

The LEGO System in Play

The LEGO System in Play has long been the ultimate platform for creative problem solving. Just as the children in this campaign come together to build and test different solutions, with LEGO play, your children can build anything they can imagine, trial it, work out how to improve it and rebuild it. This process helps children develop life-long skills such as creative problem-solving, communication and resilience. Many parents believe these skills are the key to helping children to be successful in the future.

To find out more about the LEGO Group’s Rebuild the World campaign, visit: https://www.lego.com/en-my/rebuild-the-world 

Related:

• LEGO Benefits Children in Many Ways
• Holiday Projects: DIY Lego Board Games
• Fantastic Beasts the LEGO Board Game
• LEGO Dots for Girls
• Introducing Robotics with Lego Mindstorms EV3

By introducing pre-coding at a young age, you can help your children develop the 21st-century skills that are essential for their future success in our digital world. Thinkrolls Play & Code integrates a wealth of pre-coding concepts into a fascinating play experience. Little ones will learn to solve complex problems, think multiple steps ahead, and seamlessly apply these skills to real-life scenarios.

Activities and Games on Thinkrolls Play & Code

• Arcade Logic Puzzles
• Create Your Own Logic Puzzles
• Share and Play Community Puzzles
• Brain Games
• Create Your Thinkrolls

Arcade Logic Puzzles

Put your thinking cap on and solve hundreds of logic puzzles filled with fun physics and friendly creatures! Little players must use all their wits to navigate their Thinkrolls through a series of colorful mazes. They will handle and combine objects and think several moves ahead to clear a path.

There are three difficulty levels – basic, easy, and hard. Basic introduces children to each of the puzzle pieces and how they work. As they progress, the levels increase in complexity, incorporating the use of various puzzle pieces in a single level. Watch a sample of the gameplay in the video below:

A variety of puzzle pieces, each with its own unique features, can teach children about various concepts through logic and reasoning. For example:

• Rocks and crates help children learn about gravity
• Balloons teach children about bouyancy
• Gears and racks help children understand simple machines

Create Your Own Logic Puzzles

Do your children have their own puzzle ideas? Encourage them to bring them to life without writing a single line of code! They can imagine and create their own logic puzzles by dragging and dropping puzzle features!

Children can design a maze, place pre-coded objects, such as fans, stretchy caterpillars, flying bugs, and bridges, and orchestrate a path for the Thinkroll. From the simplest to the most complex designs, building a puzzle will involve planning and inventiveness.

Share and Play Community Puzzles

Children can try solving puzzles created by other kids and also share their own puzzles with the community! New puzzles are added every month.

Brain Games

A variety of fun brain games starring the adorable Thinkrolls are included to help children build reasoning, memory, attention, and fine motor skills. These brain games include:

• Memory
• Spot the Difference
• Find the Odd One Out
• Sort a Lot – sorting skills
• Food for Thought – matching skills
• Hide and Seek – memory skills
• Space Up – attention and fine motor skills
• Pop the Balloons – attention and fine motor skills

These brain games are also available in various difficulty levels to challenge your child’s abilities as they improve.

Create Your Thinkrolls

Children can customise their Thinkrolls with hundreds of accessories won during the game. With millions of combinations, your children can unleash their creativity and build a library of ready-to-play characters.

What Children will Learn

Thinkrolls helps children learn a variety of concepts and develop various skills, such as:

• Critical and creative thinking
• Breaking down and solving complex problems
• Creating step-by-step instructions
• Using trial and error, learning through mistakes, developing resilience
• Understanding cause and effect
• Strategising and planning ahead
• Practicing conditional logic and sequencing (if, else, before, after, etc.)
• Understanding spatial relations (up, down, left, right, etc.)

Summary of Game Features

• Solve 500+ logic maze puzzles filled with fun physics & brain challenges
• Play 300+ community puzzles created by other kids
• Code your own puzzles with simple drag & drop. No reading or coding skills required.
• Save your puzzles in a playable library
• Share your puzzles with other little coders
• Play puzzles created by other kids
• Experiment with gravity, forces, elasticity, simple machines
• Play fun brain games
• Create custom Thinkrolls characters
• Ideal for ages 3-8
• A friendly creature provides in-game guidance
• 3 difficulty levels on the Arcade puzzles
• Complete daily challenges and win trophies
• Fun reward system for continuous motivation
• Supports 6 player profiles
• New content added regularly
• Play anywhere, no WiFi needed
• No third-party ads, no in-app purchases for subscribers

Thinkrolls Awards and Mentions

• “App Of The Day”
• “Great Apps Released This Year”
• “Must-have Apps For iPad”
• “The Essentials”
• “New Apps We Love”
• Mom’s Choice Gold Award winner
• 5-star review from Common Sense Media

A delightful app that will captivate and continuously challenge kids,
encouraging them to think outside the box…Kids will enjoy problem-solving
and creating puzzles without even realizing how much they’re learning!

Common Sense Media

Thinkrolls is a well established series of logic apps.

Editor’s Choice – Children’s Technology Review

Extensive set of kid-friendly educational and creative activities.

Editor’s Favourite – AppySmarts

What Parents Say:

“I am shocked at how clever my 5yr old is proving to be.”

“Our 5 year old loves this and it’s amazing to watch his gears turning as he solves harder and harder challenges.”

“Thank you for showing me what my son is capable of!”

“It really makes us both think creatively and she often comes up with solutions to the mazes before I do.”

Thinkrolls Play & Code is available on the App Store here – https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1530907314?mt=8

Learn more about Thinkrolls Play & Code on avokiddo.com

The LEGO Group invites the public to show off their creativity and passion with the all new LEGO® Super Mario Championship

The LEGO® Super Mario Championship will run until October 17^th and winners will walk away with prizes up to RM1,800!

Kuala Lumpur, September 17, 2021: Following the highly anticipated launch of the LEGO® Super Mario Adventures with Luigi Starter Course, the LEGO Group is introducing the LEGO® Super Mario Championship in Malaysia, a digital competition with the LEGO® Super Mario playsets that bring the iconic Super Mario characters into the real world. Taking place from September 17^th 2021 to October 17^th 2021, participants can enter the contest through the following steps:

1. Build a LEGO® Super Mario level. Builders will have to be aged between 5 and 13 years.
2. Submit a video (of maximum 30 seconds in duration) of participants playing the level with LEGO® Mario and/or LEGO® Luigi. The video must include an overview of the level, while capturing the fun and excitement showcased by the participants during play. Participants can submit their videos at www.lsmchampionship.com/my
3. Submit an image of the total coins earned.

All submissions received for the LEGO® Super Mario Championship will be reviewed by a panel of judges, which include Singapore LEGO^® Certified Professional Nicholas Foo, who is recognised as one of the leading LEGO artists in the world, along with LEGO Designers Benjamin Ma and Amy Bennett, and Stine Bagge, Brand Manager SEA, The LEGO^® Group. Winners will be selected by these judges based on how creative their LEGO® Super Mario level design is, their LEGO® Super Mario spirit shown in the video, and the total coins they have earned from playing their level. The winners of the championship will stand a chance to walk away with up to RM1,800 worth of LEGO® Super Mario sets.

The LEGO® Super Mario Championship Prizes

LEGO® Super Mario

With the recent introduction of the Adventures with Luigi Starter Course, there is no better way to celebrate the expansion of the LEGO® Super Mario theme than with the LEGO® Super Mario Championship locally. Fans and players alike can expound on their creativity by showcasing their unique builds, and discovering the new social play experience with both characters. We look forward to seeing all the different LEGO® Super Mario levels created by the participants, and cannot wait for them to uncover different ways to build their levels and emerge as champions. 

Rohan Mathur, Marketing Director at The LEGO Group.

The interactive and highly-anticipated Adventures with Luigi Starter Course is the latest extension of the LEGO® Super Mario product line, the result of a unique partnership with Nintendo, that has introduced an entirely new way to play with LEGO bricks. This is the first time a social play experience will be introduced to enable children and fans to connect LEGO® Mario and LEGO® Luigi figures for brand new 2-player adventures in the LEGO® Super Mario universe. This exciting feature is perfect for family activities, where two players are able to enjoy the universe of LEGO® Super Mario at the same time for new brick-built adventures.

For those looking to share their participation in the championship on social media, don’t forget to hashtag #LEGOSuperMarioChampionship too!

Nintendo is not a sponsor, co-sponsor or administrator of this Championship.

Social and digital platforms have fast become a form of mindless virtual entertainment space which allows parents to get a little breather from their children. It is space which provides endless entertainment and edutainment for children as young as two, who more often than not wind up getting addicted. Yes, screen time is pretty much unavoidable in this technological era but have parents ever stopped to think of its implications? What is being watched by their child? What type of content is being consumed and is it a safe space?

Toddlers and children up to the age of 13 or even older have an active mind which works like a sponge for content. Without the benefit of experience, they may make bad judgement calls and may simply absorb all forms of content, be it good or bad.

Platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social media platforms carry a gigantic bank of unfiltered content which are often unregulated by its content creators. Anyone can create content on these platforms, while being completely ignorant of or unconcerned with whoever is consuming the content, regardless of age. While these platforms cannot be erased from your child’s social media vocabulary, it is more crucial than ever for parents to practice and advocate self-regulation at home.

Self-regulation begins at home and it is a worthwhile skill for children to bring into adulthood. It should be seen as a life-skill, just like swimming. We will never allow our child to play in the sea without first teaching them how to swim right? We will also never take our eyes away from young children while swimming because they are susceptible to the risks at such a young age.

The same goes for allowing our children to venture into online waters. Parents must first equip their children with the knowledge of self-regulation and open their eyes to the dangers that lurk online. Children and adults benefit from learning how certain types of content can affect them and what they can do to regulate their own consumption of such contents.

Mediha Mahmood, Executive Director, Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia (Content Forum)

Mediha Mahmood believes that constant communication and engagement with young children is an important first step for a parent. Parents should always take the initiative to be in the loop and be aware of what sort of content is being consumed by their child. 

Self-regulation can easily be done with the help of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Content Code (Content Code), which is a set of guidelines drawn up by the Content Forum to promote good practices and standards of content amongst content creators and consumers.

This is even more pressing for tweens between the ages of nine and 13, who are no longer children but not quite teenagers. These are the impressionable years as it is at this age where they are most easily influenced and swayed by content published on social media and social networking sites. On social networking sites, anyone of any age can easily connect with your child and start up a conversation. Worst case scenario, it could be a pedophile on the other end of the chat or other tweens encouraging unhealthy thoughts or resorting to anti-social behavior such as intimidation, verbal abuse or cyber bullying. 

Children are digital natives and it would neither be fair nor productive for parents to completely ban them from accessing the internet and social media. The good news is, online platforms do provide an avenue for self-regulation.  

Mediha Mahmood

Parents can take control of what sort of content is suitable for consumption and filter it accordingly. Utilising features or settings such as parental locks, filters, timing locks, and security blocks is a crucial first step of self-regulation. Parents, who know their children best and have their best interest at heart, are empowered to filter and block danger zones and create a safe space for their children regardless of age.  

While putting in place such filters and parental locks may only work for children of a certain age, parents can also promote self-regulation among their older children by constantly engaging them in conversation of their social media activities. Parents should always be aware of what their children are up to behind the screens of gadgets which they seem to eat and sleep with.

Self-regulation is best practiced by every single person in the content ecosystem. By self-regulating content and recognising the potentially harmful and offensive content available, online consumers can also react to it by reporting such content to the respective authorities. As for children, education and empowerment by self-regulation encourages them to report any offensive, unhealthy or intimidating content to their parents. By doing so, both parents and children can create a safe and healthy online environment themselves. 

Mediha Mahmood

Self-regulation is also important when children are creating content online. Be it a simple comment posting or a full-fledged audiovisual posting, they should be equipped with the knowledge of self-regulation and judge what is deemed fit for public consumption. Understanding this from a young age ensures that future generations will continue to be responsible and learned content creators and consumers.

Related Articles:

• Self-Control Precedes Success
• Helping Children Become Successful in Future: Self-Control
• Nurture Shock: Chapter 8 – Can Self-Control Be Taught?
• Early Childhood Education: Tools of the Mind
• Activities to Help Children Improve their Focus and Self-Control
• Self-Regulation and the Zones of Regulation

• Mindfulness Resources for families
• Mindfulness enhances school performance
• The MindUP Curriculum
• Meditation Improves Learning and Memory Processes
• What is Mindfulness Meditation?

For a quick and easy summary on Mindfulness, the following infographic from Custom Writing is a handy little resource to consult:

In the chaos of life during a pandemic, it caught me totally off guard, despite my awareness of what could happen.

“Why is he so moody?”

“Why is he crying?”

“What’s the matter with him?”

Bombarded by questions from the family because my boy is behaving out of character. Trying to explain that this is a normal part of his development and to be expected. There are a lot of hormonal changes taking place during this period and it is unrealistic to think he will not be affected by them.

I get moody when it’s my time of the month. Now that I’m perimenopausal, I’ve noticed that the emotional rollercoaster is getting worse. Sometimes I cry for no reason I can think of except that tears may be a form of release. You know like when they say, “You’ll feel better after a good cry.” Funnily enough, it’s true. If I can excuse myself for feeling out of sorts for no apparent reason, surely I can cut my boy some slack for going through puberty.

The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back

One evening, the boy flipped out because he had to do the dishes. It wasn’t that he’s never had to do the dishes. It’s a regular chore that both boys are expected to do when they’re at home. But this particular evening, he balked in the most unexpected way.

I confess that I initially responded poorly. I had translated it to mean that he expected to never ever have to do the dishes again. Naturally, as a parent, I couldn’t accept that. Everyone has responsibilities and this was one of his. Would I be raising a spoiled kid if I allowed him to get away with this?

Then he told me he felt stressed out with Covid-19 and school and the amount of cleaning he had to do because he was worried about everything getting “contaminated”. I had to reel myself back. I didn’t trust myself to respond, so I didn’t. I remembered what a friend had said: “You’re not expected to have an answer for everything.”

All I did was ask him to write about what he was feeling and sent him to bed after because it was bedtime. I read what he wrote and suddenly, I was a teenager again, feeling misunderstood by the adults who couldn’t take the time to understand me. What he wanted was a reprieve from his chores for that evening because he felt overwhelmed.

Hadn’t I felt the same thing many times when I was overwhelmed with things to do? I have also broken down over small things that were just the trigger that tipped me over the edge after enduring too much for too long.

One time, when I was working out, I burst into tears. I was sobbing so hard, that a friend asked me, “What’s wrong?” Except I didn’t know why I was crying. I just couldn’t stop. If I had to answer her, what would I have said? “The workout was too hard”? Except that wasn’t exactly true. It was a class I did every week, but on that particular day, I was tired, my period was coming and I felt run down.

I also remember a time when I was still a student in Highschool. I was walking home and it rained. I remember being upset about something else, but the rain just made me feel worse. When I came home, I was crying and my mother asked me what was wrong. Too embarrassed to tell her the real reason, I said that I was upset because it rained and I was drenched.

Now when I think back to the evening when my boy protested about washing the dishes, I realise that it really wasn’t about the dishes at all.

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

The toughest part of being a parent is remembering the problems of childhood from a child’s perspective. We can look at it now with all our worldly experiences and think, “That was nothing. Why did I think it was so hard? Why did I get so worked up about it?”

A child’s problems may seem small to us, but to a child, it’s huge. As a younger sibling, younger cousin, I’ve grown up to older kids always telling me how easy it is for me. Since they will have passed every milestone before I get there, they will always look back and tell me it was nothing. They did this even though they cried how hard it was when they were going through it. It made me feel like I had to endure without complaint. I retreated into a shell instead of asking for help when I needed it. For a long time, I was too proud to ask for help.

When I became a parent, I was determined that my children must never feel like this. I wanted them to come to me when they need help. But they will never ask me for help if I’ve forgotten what it’s like to walk a mile in their shoes.