Blog – Page 7 – Dr. Thomasa Bond

Trick-or-Treat Alternatives

Halloween is a great tradition, but many people for various reasons no longer want to take their children trick-or-treating on that night. Reasons like weather, safety, or allergies can keep children from going door to door for candy, but that is no reason to stop celebrating. Here are some alternatives that can still be fun.

Go Trick-or-Treating at an Event

Often, places like malls or libraries will offer events where children can trick-or-treat in a safer environment. Keep an eye out for these events in your local newspaper or on social media, or host one if you want by reaching out to venues and having them give candy to children as they come around.

Host a Halloween Party

If your child feels left out this Halloween, host a Halloween party and have them invite their friends. Especially if your child has allergies or the weather is expected to be bad, hosting a party can help soothe the trick-or-treat blues. Make sure you have games with candy prizes along with activities the kids will enjoy.

Go to a Corn Maze

If you are just trying to avoid having a candy overload at your house, take your kids to a corn maze. After they run around and enjoy themselves, give them “treat bags” of candy or sweets that you picked out for them. If you are trying to outdo the trick-or-treat experience, give them some of their favorite baked goods, caramel apples, or snacks along with candy so that way they the kids didn’t miss anything.

In general, you don’t have to skip out on Halloween just because you skip out on the trick-or-treating. Even if you do decide to go trick-or-treating, these can be great activities to keep the spooky spirit going. Halloween doesn’t have to be complicated for it to be fun. Try unique things to make it your own if you decide the traditional trick-or-treating doesn’t for you. Remember Halloween is more about having fun than eating candy.

How to Involve Kids in Elections

Voting is a very important process in America and regardless of who you are voting for this presidential election, everyone has to cast a ballot in order to sway the election. Incorporating children in the election process can help them to see why it’s so important. Here are some ways to do that.

Answer Questions about the Election Honestly

When children ask questions about the election, answer their questions genuinely. Explain to them why you believe what you believe in a constructive way, not putting down other ideas. If children ask you about topics that may not be age appropriate, don’t just push it off. Explain it to them in an appropriate way for their age and explain to them how they will learn more once they get older.

Focus on the Electoral Process and not the People

Focus on the electoral process with children and not on the candidates themselves. Children need to understand the overall importance of voting and less of the political opinions or personal attacks that the candidates will use. Always remember that presidents may come and go but the process remains the same.

Take Your Children with You to Vote

If your kids aren’t old enough to vote, there’s no reason why you can’t take them with you to the polls. While you are voting, you can show them what you are doing and how it works and explain things about why you are voting the way you vote. If you make it a tradition, when your children become old enough to vote, they will know how important it is to do so.

Educate Children on the Importance of Voting

If you are a parent or an educator, teach children on what the voting process does and how important it is. Read an election themed book to them or teach them on what previous elections looked like. These simple things can show children how important voting is before they actually have to vote.

Teaching children about voting is the only way to guarantee that the importance of voting continues in this country. Many adults believe that their vote will not make a difference, but they truly don’t understand how close many elections are. This election season, don’t forget the kids and don’t forget to vote!

How to Develop Reading in a Child

The ability to read is such a crucial part of development. Sometimes it’s not the easiest task to accomplish though. How can we accomplish a love for reading in a child without force-feeding them information? Here are some ways we can do just that.

Read to Them

This one seems self-explanatory, but reading to children is an important part of their development. Even just hearing a person talk helps to develop a child’s speaking skills, so imaging how much you can do by reading to them! Ask open-ended questions during the story to see if your child is paying attention and have a discussion with them about the book after you’re done as they get older. If you can’t fit it into your busy schedule, read a short story as you put them to bed.

Plan Family Reading Time

We can get so busy with life and often most of our attention goes to our electronic devices. Plan a reading day, maybe once a week where, as a family, you set the devices down and read. This could be a story together or it could be separate stories that you read individually. Either way, it helps to develop those reading skills on more of a frequent basis. If you are working with children in child care center or any other forum, you can also do the same thing. Plan reading time, maybe while children are being picked up, to help to build those skills.

Visit Local Libraries

Back in the day, libraries just had books. Now they put on all kinds of programs for all ages, and especially for children. Plan a field trip, a visit for an activity, or maybe just to have the children pick out their favorite books to read. Giving children an opportunity to read more and have activities through it, libraries can be a great resource especially if you are trying to find activities in your area.

Go to Book Fairs

Take kids to book fairs that publishers or authors may put on where they have a chance to look through a ton of books. This will give them another opportunity to find something they are interested in and will hopefully keep their attention. Also you might have a chance to have them meet their favorite author and have their book signed.

It doesn’t take much to promote reading with children, but it does take time. We often are very short on time, which is why you should focus on doing what you can. You may not be able to read to your kids at night but maybe you can listen to an audio book on the drive while they follow along. You may not be able to plan a family reading time but you may fit in a family trip to the library. Do what you can and remember to be intentional about developing reading in children.

How We Can Promote Eating Vegetables to Children

Children tend to be the pickiest eaters and often, whether you are a parent or a child care provider, finding ways to get children to eat healthier can be a struggle. Here are some ways you can promote eating veggies with children.

Work Vegetables into Favorite Foods

When my son was little, he was by far one of the pickiest eaters. One of the ways that I got him to eat his vegetables was by working pureed veggies into his favorite food, pancakes. When he was little, he didn’t even notice and the green ones didn’t even bother him. You can even turn it into an educational activity by teaching kids their colors through the different colored pancakes. This is just one way to add vegetables into something children eat, and there are so many other ideas like smoothies, dips, snacks, and other baked goods that can have some secret veggie power.

Get the Kids Involved

When children get older, have them help to shop for groceries, plan out meals, or cook the food. If they are invested into what they make, they will be more likely to try the food. Teach them how to find fresh produce and how to prepare it. For an extra picky eater, have them pick out a vegetable for you to try and then have them help you to make it. It also can become a great educational activity to learn how to cook along with learning more about plants.

Teach Children about Plants

Having children explore activities such as gardening or learning about plants can help peak their interest in vegetables. Not only will they learn how to care and grow their favorite vegetables, but they also will gain knowledge that will stay with them throughout life. Even reading books, picking produce off the farm, or planning activities that are focused on plants can help promote eating their vegetables.

Role Model for Them

At the end of the day, our children model themselves after the adults they are around. Teach children how to eat healthy vegetables by eating yours. And I don’t just mean with a giant dipping bowl of ranch. Model the ways that vegetables can be fun by finding new ways to enjoy them yourself. Don’t forget that the practices that you teach them will be passed down to their children, so help better generations of children one child at a time.

This can be great advice, but it’s easier said than done. It’s so easy for kids to find bad examples of how to eat with all of the advertising out there. We have to work just as hard to advertise to the children we’re responsible for how to eat a balanced diet.

Multigenerational Workforce – Understand Who Works for You

Do you know who works for you? Do you understand your employees? Understanding who works for you is a crucial part of motivating your employees. With a multigenerational workforce, we cannot just assume all employees need the same things. Here are some ways we can truly find out more about our employees.

Study Your Employees

When you were in school and you had to learn math, you studied hard to understand it. Your employees are the best assets you have. In order to understand who they are, you need to study them. This is more than just finding out what they like and don’t like. We have to dive into why they want to work their job. Or even why they don’t want to work their job. These things will help you to understand when you need to assist your employees through something.

Understand How They Communicate

Do all of your employees speak the same? Even if they tried, the message that they give may not be conveyed the same. Understand not only how your employees speak, but also the non-verbal cues that they give while communicating. Speak with them often and clarify if you don’t understand. Your employees shouldn’t be afraid to speak freely to you, even though consequences may arise from them. Just as a parent knows their child based on how they communicate, we must also learn about how our employees communicate.

Understand How They Function

Do you have an employee who is organized? Messy? Distracted? Focused? Understanding how your employees function and what environment they function in is crucial to understanding when you are stretching them. Challenging your employees can be a good thing, but in order to do so you have to understand what is challenging to them. Observe your employees and notice what makes them uncomfortable. Encourage them to get outside of their comfort zone and be there to give them praise when they do so.

Ask Them What They Want Out of Their Work Life

Do you know what your employees need in their work life? Ask them! If your employee has small children at home, they will be more likely to stay if you ask them how you can help them balance work with their other obligations. That’s not saying that you should stop requiring as much work from your employees, but they may need to leave early some days to pick up kids or whatever they have going on in their lives. Ask them what they need and do what you can within reason. This will give them a sense that you value them as a person not just an employee.

In conclusion, many employees do not look for unrealistic ideas in their workplace. Learn who your employees are and use this knowledge to better the work environment for them. Without this understanding, you will perpetually lose employees and have no idea as to why. Save yourself from this problem and dive into your employees. You won’t be sorry you did.