Dr. Indira Mallya

Children grow up in the blink of an eye but watching your child grow both emotionally as well as mentally, and not just physically makes you a proud parent. Cognitive development refers to the development of thinking, reasoning, problem-solving and creative skills. You need to understand that children do not soak up information like a sponge and developing cognitive skills requires some work. Don’t panic, we are not asking you a climb a mountain; we are simply asking you to indulge your child in a few fun activities.

To increase attention span
A toddler needs to concentrate on a task to increase his attention span from the present capability of 5 to 15 minutes. If you help your toddler make imaginative use of his toys and play materials, he will be happy to spend more time playing with you, thus increasing his attention span.

Play activities

• Your toddler can sort and classify two to five items by size, colour, shape or class. He can classify by shape or by colour if you give him some big round beads and medium blocks of two to three colours.

• Similarly, your toddler can build a tower of 3 to 5 graded blocks to learn about size.

• He can learn about sequencing and ordering by placing side by side, three pictures to depict his daily routine sequence of activities such as waking up, eating lunch with family and going out to play. You may intervene as and when necessary.

• Pretend play is a favorite pastime of all little children. For instance, if you give your toddler some interesting kitchen oriented play materials he will get an opportunity to focus and get engrossed in imaginative play for a long period of time, thus promoting his attention span and other mental skills.

To improve memory
A toddler has trouble with short and long-term memory retention. He needs to learn to store information gained from experiences and retrieve it to influence future action. It is therefore important to repeat and practice daily experiences, to facilitate storing and retrieval of information gained from them. You may prod his memory by oral cues whenever necessary.

Play activities

• Repeated listening to favourite stories will help your toddler to focus, retain and then retrieve information about the characters, sequence, and other aspects of the story.

• Talking and answering questions soon after an event, such as a visit to the zoo will help jog his memory to retrieve information about the things he liked at the zoo.

• Identifying three to four familiar objects, either by his touch and sight or by the sounds they make, will test your toddler’s memory. The objects can be bundled in a feely bag for a tactile experience, displayed one by one to recognise them by sight or identified by their sounds.

To boost thinking
Thinking skills help a toddler to decide for instance, if he has completed a task or needs to ask for help to complete it. At other times he may have to find solutions to problems posed during his play, such as how to climb down from a high chair or what to do when he cannot find his favorite toy. Therefore you may get him started with simple tasks and experiments to promote a problem-solving attitude by nudging him to think for himself.

Play activities

• Ask your toddler to put for instance a piece of paper and a small object in a bowl of water. When you quiz him about the task he will explore and start asking his own questions. Well, you have set him thinking!

• Or, display a big picture of a house and ask him to show you as many details as he can spot. This task helps him to combine attention, memory, and thinking to name or point out things he recognizes. He may need help in naming some items.

• Ask your toddler thought to provoke questions when you join him in pretend play, such as “The elevator is not working today, so how can we get to the ground floor” or “I need cold water to drink, from where should I get it.”

Do use your creativity and imagination, to make up more play activities for your toddler.

 

Breastfeeding is important to provide your child with all the necessary nutrients but the process of breastfeeding depletes the water content from your body. This loss must be compensated by drinking plenty of water to maintain your 70 percent physiological water balance. If you continue to blissfully forget to replenish the water losses, you may soon start reeling under the onslaught of dehydration. Dry mouth, tiredness or sleepiness, decreased urine output or change in the colour of urine to a darker yellow, constipation or dry skin, and headaches are all symptoms of dehydration.

How much water should you drink?

There are many opinions given by experts and experienced parents. We summed them up as follows:

• Whenever you feel thirsty, drinking water should be your first choice. Since breastfeeding makes you thirsty, you should drink enough to satisfy that thirst, after every breastfeed.

• Experts believe that you should drink eight times in an 8-ounce glass, per day especially after every time you breastfeed. In addition, you must take two glasses more.So, in total, you should be taking drinking 10 glasses of water per day.

• Sometimes it is all right to take other fluids and semi-solid foods like milk, smoothies, vegetable or fruit juices, soups and yogurt to quench your thirst. Just remember not to substitute them for drinking water as semi-solids especially do not provide you with enough liquid in your diet.

• In your quest to quench your thirst, remember to limit intake of diuretics such as coffee, soda, and alcohol, as they are known to cause dehydration. In fact, coffee in the morning can deplete your energy level and may make you feel miserable for hours together.

How often should you breastfeed your baby?
Experts opine that you should breastfeed as often as your baby wants. And, the more you drain your breasts, the more milk you will produce for your baby.

Disclaimer: This article just gives a generic view on water intake and breastfeeding for mothers. It is advisable to approach your doctor or a nutrition expert to chalk out your diet and water intake, suitable to your unique health needs while nursing your baby.

By age 18 to 24 months, your toddler gains motor skills, some speech and, ability to follow simple instructions which are necessary for completing the toilet training process. You may start the training process with full focus after you make sure your toddler is ready and not occupied with learning any other task or undergoing any upheaval in her life such as a recent admission to a playgroup.

To get started,

• Invest in a good training chair or a toilet bowl-shaped device and training pants or shorts, which can be easily pulled down.
• Place the toilet seat near the bathroom and let your child get used to it in the best way possible. You may shift the seat inside the bathroom later, at an appropriate time. After taking note of your child’s pattern of urination and bowel movements, along with their trigger points, select the best time to start your training schedule on a daily basis.
• Similarly, plan the frequency and timing of when you will use training pants and diapers for your child.
• Your training style can be devised in tandem with the needs of your child.

To begin the process,

• Have a daily visit to the toilet seat and urge your toddler to pass urine or stools as the case may be by whatever creative way you can think of. If it takes a long time, keep her occupied with storytelling, but without distracting her from her task. At other times, when your child shows signs of the need to relieve herself or if she has already wet or soiled her pants, take her to the toilet seat and urge her to sit for sometime and complete the job. This forms a strong association between the need to empty her bladder or bowel and the toilet seat to be used for the same.After your child is done, wipe her from front to the back. Teach her to wash her hands after a session at the toilet seat.
• Provide help and guidance to your toddler that encourages self-help and enough practice in using the toilet seat, till she gets mastery at her task. Verbalise and repeat each instruction for each step of learning, till your child has imbibed it. Your patience is the key to her learning.
• Give your child lots of water and plenty of fibre in her diet, to avoid constipation, which poses a roadblock to potty training.
• Your toddler may face certain setbacks and accidents which are a part of the toilet training process. Do not lose heart at this slight deviation, but forge ahead till your child is ready to use the family toilet around age 26 months. Use a step stool if necessary.
• Continue your supervision and help till your child gets used to the new toilet. In the process of potty training, do remember to show your pride and encouragement whenever your child achieves even a small positive step. Your love, undivided attention, and show of affection become her greatest motivating factors.

Sings of a successfully potty-trained toddler

• Your toddler’s training is over when she is able to remove her pants or shorts and is able to get up and down from the toilet seat by herself.
• Your toddler has a dry nappy for two hours at a time, no bowel movement at night and has a dry nappy after her afternoon nap.
• You may have your toddler wear a diaper for a few nights after you stop the daytime training till you are sure of her control over her bladder and bowel at night as well.

Toilet training should begin when your child is developmentally ready for it. Your love planned inputs and constant supervision will promote her self-help skills until she graduates from a toilet training device to independent use of the family toilet. Don’t forget to share your stories on toilet training of toddlers.

As parents, you may use spanking as a disciplinary tool to control your children when they break the boundaries of behaviors set for them. What you may not realise is that if used consistently over time, it can have distressing effects on children, such as emotional and behavioral dysfunction.

Distressing effects caused by spanking children

• Your child will manifest problems in his interactions with parents, siblings, and peers, due to poor social skills.
• Or, your child may develop less regulated emotions and start getting sneaky, fearful, defiant or aggressive.
• Children even start to believe that it is all right to abuse someone weaker and smaller because they model their behaviors on the significant adults.
• And when they have their own children, they will also use spanking as a way to discipline them.

Parenting skills to discipline children

If you want to have well balanced, happy and independent children, you need to use parenting skills mixed with love, care and guidance while disciplining them. Here is how:

• Synch your expectations and behavior limits with your child’s age. Use empathy to garner your child’s cooperation to behave.
• Know your child’s trigger points and pre-empt unruly reactions by distraction, redirection or by removing him from the scene of conflict.
• Let your child know that you love him but do not like his misbehaviors. From time to time give your child supervised opportunities to let loose his exuberance and pent-up energy, without fear of being reprimanded.
• Always give advanced notice to your child about change in plans or when moving from one activity to the next. Taking him unaware may trigger his temper tantrums.
• Last, but not the least, take time out to rejuvenate your harried or depleted personality. A walk, some exercise or relaxing with a good book, will do the trick. After restoring some calm, you are ready to face and resolve amicably any power struggle with your beloved child!

Thus, spanking is a coercive method for disciplining children as it is harsh, hurtful and eventually makes your child dysfunctional in different areas of development for many years to come. However, your guidance steeped in love will optimise your parenting skills, to help your child adjust to the environment and grow as a happy person. Did you find what you were looking for in this article? Let us know your feedback.

Toddlers are characterized by increasing motor and sensory skills and inherent curiosity that constantly engage them in exploring the environment and getting caught in awkward positions. They have short attention spans and frequent mood swings that oscillate between a loving nature and instant temper tantrums. Their growing independence and affirmative interactions, often give rise to attention-getting tactics such as crying, pulling hair and biting someone. Only loving actions from significant adults can calm and pacify them. Given this scenario, your discipline laced with care and guidance will boost your child’s self-confidence and positive self-image.We have outlined a few strategies that will guide you in your child’s adjustment.

• Set some ground rules for your child at home or at public places. Repeat them as often as necessary, till your child understands you mean business.
• Make your house childproof, so that you give some leeway to your child.
• Be consistent with your expectations. Refrain from giving in to your child’s loud protests or that soulful look!
• Tell your child what to do instead of what not to do.
• Be proactive with your child as much as possible.Offer vigorous activities when needed and give choices with limited options to promote quick decisions. Give your child advance notice to allow a smooth transition from one to the next activity. Make sure to get down on the floor and play with him. Be a playmate and engage yourself in the play. Also, be firm while introducing new foods. Insist on tasting the food, till gradually your child gets used to it. Have some fun moments of sampling different tastes such as sour, sweet etc.
• Stay calm and avoid power struggles in all situations. If you get emotional, your child will test you, to find out how far he can go.
• Distract your child or redirect him to another activity when he is given to naughty behaviors. Exit the place with him, if you have to. In extreme situations such as running out into the street, hold your child first. If he is still not listening to you, just take him away from the scene. After calm is restored, explain in a simple way, the consequences of his actions and your reaction to the same.

Remember that a toddler wants to explore the environment and express his new found personality, after the confines of babyhood. Since he has not yet acquired all the necessary skills of childhood, it is up to you to provide some discipline and a safe environment to protect him and bring some order to his life.

Digital transformation has spawned an array of electronic gadgets coveted both by adults and children. Internet connectivity, TVs, computers, tablets, gaming devices and smartphones are used by one and all. Children watch audio-visuals and partake in interactive games, sometimes spending hours with the devices, without a thought for food or sleep. This type of viewing is called “excessive use of screen time”. Such excess use can prove quite side effects to the child’s overall development. Here’s how.

• Due to constantly gazing into the screen and by staying in one position, children may develop problems concerning their eyes, neck, and spine. They may also develop fatigue, headaches and a bad posture.
• Their daily routine gets skewed as they sacrifice their meals, sleep, outdoor activities and social interactions with family and friends, in favor of growing screen time. Children may be deprived of opportunities to build a repertoire of new knowledge, language skills, and vocabulary. Some children may develop obesity and malnourishment due to lack of physical exercise and poor eating habits.
• Most importantly, children miss out on first hand and sensory experiences of exploring and discovering the world around them.

Guidelines to limit screen time use

While it is okay to use a device as an educational tool for school-related work or gain some cognitive skills, through interactive activities such as solving puzzles it also important to limit the screen time. You can regulate your child’s use of screen time by being proactive. Here are a few guidelines to help you.

• Set time limits for screen time use.
• Make a well-balanced timetable of daily routine activities and encourage your child to stick by it.Encourage your child to embrace the outdoors and maintain contacts with friends. Cultivating a hobby may not be a bad idea for your child.
• Guide your child to desist from constant poring into screens. Give tips on watching out for eyes, posture and so on, by blinking eyes, doing few stretching movements from time to time, and so on.
• Help your child in selecting good material for screen time and in maintaining safety on the internet (such as not sharing personal and family details online without parental permission).

It’s no secret that kids are one of the most technologically sound people around, but you can be proactive and prevent the potential hazards of excessive screen time.

Image source: Pixabay