Resource Spotlight: Safe Kids Utah

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The Safe Kids Utah organization started in 1995 with the mission to make Utah a safer place for children by preventing unintentional injuries and fatalities. They do this by:

• raising community awareness
• influencing policies
• promoting safety
• establishing private/public partnerships

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Their website has information and resources on car seat safety, bike helmet safety, water safety, fire safety, Utah safety laws and much more. Here are some things to keep your child safe:

• The law in Utah is to keep your child in a booster seat until the age of 8
• You can have a Child Passenger Safety Technician take a look at your car to make sure your children are safely secure. There are several places around Utah that have Child Passenger Safety Technicians and a list of these can be found by clicking here
• Never leave your child in the car. The temperature in your car can increase up to 19 degrees in just 10 minutes. Its dangerous and children die from this every year. 
• Helmets should be worn every time a child rides a bike. Make it a habit! Let your child choose their own helmet; if it's "cool" then they'll want to wear it. There is a 5-step Helmet Fit Test you can do to make sure your child's head will be protected properly. 

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• Summer time is here and that means swimming, boating and lots of water! This is a fun time of year but don't get caught up in just the fun. Make sure your child wears an appropriately fitting life jacket on a boat and in the lake. Enroll your kids in swimming lessons so they can learn to float, tread water, and swim. This will be a life long skill that will never be wasted. Teach your kids to always swim with a buddy and stay close to the shore. 
• Learn CPR! Find a class near you offered by the American Red Cross.

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Balancing Praise and Criticism as your Child Learns

Small children can and do learn very quickly. They have the capabilities of mastering skills in a minuscule amount of time. They often do this by watching those around them. Children strongly identify with our patterns of behavior and mimic everything we do; it's important for us as adults, role-models and parents to be a good example of how to learn, how to help and how to give praise.

Praise

There is often a lot of pressure for children to learn to read, write or learn to play an instrument. Sometimes they feed off of the praise others give them for their success rather than their own feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. This can actually be harmful to your child's learning and self-esteem. Praise is good but too much praise can become pressure instead of reassurance. Giving small and gentle amounts of praise is good when your child succeeds. Dr. Carol Dweck, a  researcher in the field of achievement and success, suggests praising your child for their hard work instead of labeling them as "smart" or "talented". For example, "I can tell you worked so hard on those math problems!" Instead of "Look how smart you are!". This will help your child realize that it's the hard work and determination that really matters. Encouraging them to continue forward is also good but avoid shaping his problem for him or pressuring him to be the best of all; focus on his best. Praise is also great after a child fails and then tries again! This may be hard to watch but let your child fail. Failure with new explorations of success are good for your child. Don't jump in the moment you see struggle. Allow your child room to find ways to accomplish the goal or task he has set out to do.

In Dr. T. Berry Brazelton's book touchpoints: Your Child's Emotional and Behavior Development he says, "Never forget the enormous power of frustration to fuel a small child as he searches for mastery and a sense of his own competence."

From Frustration to success and accomplishment

Your example of how to praise will help fuel the success of your child. If you are faced with a task that is challenging to YOU, remember that your child is watching. They are observing how you will overcome that challenge. Take note of how you react. Find alternative solutions and don't give up. They'll mimic the way you change your failures into successes.

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Book Review: llama llama red pajama by Anna Dewdney

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llama llama red pajama is a well illustrated book with lots of rhyming! It is part of a series of books written by Anna Dewdney. The book goes through llama llama red pajama's bedtime routine with his mamma. He learns that his mamma is always near even if she isn't right there with him.

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Activity to go along with this book:

Explore rhyming with your child starting with basic words. Try giving your child a word and seeing how many different words they can come up with that rhyme. If your child is older, see if they can write a poem or a story that rhymes. This is a great activity to help broaden your child's language skills.

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Plastic Bottle Bowling

One of my "nerdy" hobbies in life is bowling. I joined a bowling league in January of this year and had the time of my life. My team and I ended up winning the tournament a few weeks ago which led me to this fun playgroup activity I found on another blog. This could be a great activity that you make with your kids which leads to a fun game you can share with other kids in a playgroup.

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Here's what you'll need:

10 clear plastic bottles-preferably all the same size with the caps too
Craft acrylic paint
A ball-a little bit of weight to the ball is helpful. 

Instructions:

• Clean the inside of the bottles well.
• Add some paint to each bottle. See the picture below for a good amount. If your paint is  thick you'll want to add some water to it so the paint can move around and coat the inside. About a teaspoon of water should work. 



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• Put the caps back on the bottles and let your kids shake them allowing the entire inside of the bottle to be covered in paint. You could also use 2 colors in a bottle and make the inside look swirly. Get creative!
• Take the caps off, dump the extra paint out and let them dry for about 12 hours. 
• Put the caps back on and arrange them on your sidewalk like the pattern to the right. 
• Let the game begin! You'll kids will love a little challenge. Hopefully they can knock them all down!

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Back Yard Camping

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One of my favorite summer time activities as a kid was to sleep out on my deck in the back yard with my siblings. The nights were warm and the stars were so bright; there was something so special about sleeping "out in the woods" even though I was still at home.  My dad would roast hot dogs and mallows over our barbecue grill and later would point out some of the constellations in the sky. These are the kinds of memories I'll never forget. Camping can be a lot of work with young kids but making memories like these are fun and will give your kids the quality YOU time they need. To reduce the stress and work of actually camping in the woods or mountains just camp in the back yard! You're close to everything you need, just in case, but your kids will love the imagination and adventure they'll find in their own back yard.

Camping

Here are some fun back yard camping ideas:

• Pitch a tent and fill it with blankets and pillows or create some foam pad/air mattress beds on your deck. 
• Roast hot dogs and marshmallows on your BBQ grill or fire pit if you have one.
• Have your kids point out different shapes and objects that the stars make in the sky. Name them if you want. This can be a type of eye spy game too.
• Use flash lights wrapped with colored cellophane to create a light show against the side of the house or on the tent ceiling. 
• Use the flash light as a spot light for you to make shadow hand puppets. 
• Turn out the lights and tell stories.
• Play Squirrel Tag: One person is the squirrel catcher; everyone else is a squirrel, clinging to his own tree (if your yard is treeless, you can use lawn chairs). When the catcher shouts "Squirrel scramble!" the squirrels have to dash to another tree without being tagged. Once you get tagged, you're the new squirrel catcher.

Hand Puppets

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