1.   If you have been working with Legos with your children, you have probably experienced the difficulty of separating pieces that have been stuck together, the helmet on the head or that very thin block on top of another block. The best tool for removing pieces is a needle nose pliers. Keep it in the box of Legos so it is readily available. This will keep children from using their teeth, which is not good for their teeth or the pieces as they start to look chewed up. If you have a birthday coming up for a child that loves Legos, his own pair of needle nose pliers is an excellent present.

The only problem with Legos is picking up all the little pieces when it’s time to put them away. Consider keeping a flat sheet with the legos, to function like a picnic blanket. Set out the sheet and then pour the legos on the sheet. Play and enjoy for cleaning up will be easy. When it’s time to put the legos away, the child can pull up the corners of the sheet and put the legos back into the container.

One more thought about Legos. ‘Lego’ means play well in Danish. It was later that the company learned that lego in Latin meant assemble or put together.


2.   It's Father's Day and a wonderful present for Dad is a guidebook. Dads like to learn and children love to learn with their parents. Maybe you and the children would like to learn more with Dad about something you know just a bit about, so a bird book will make identifying birds a fun project. Or maybe learning about an entirely new subject of interest would be fun - the specific names of beetles or arachnids. What are those little red spiders that live in the garden? Velvet mites. And reference books are always a valuable addition to any home. Remember to dedicate the book to Dad and write the day/date on the inside cover. Whenever the book is used, this Father's Day will always be remembered.


3.   Parents of infants and toddlers are so busy, when could one think of sitting down and reading a book of poetry? Yet, a wonderful gift for parents is an anthology of poetry. And the perfect place to put it is on the diaper changing table. Prop it open, and as you change a diaper, read a poem not only to yourself but also to your child. You will enjoy the aesthetics of the moment and will be sharing a beautiful thought with your child. The child will identify with the calm and beauty you are feeling with this poetic thought. We all love nursery rhymes and love counting toes, but reading poetry will be a pleasant change.

And as William Wordsworth in the Prelude says:
"Who shall parcel out his intellect by geometric rule?
Who knows the individual hour in which
his habits were first sown? Even as a seed?
Who that shall point, as with a wand, and say:
'This portion of the river of my mind
came from yon fountain'."

Who knows why your child will always love being read to, or love books, or love poetry?


4.   A child brought a rubber snake to show and tell the other day. Because it was a toy, none of the children were afraid of it. I was surprised that there were no yuks or 'I don't like snakes'. The children held it calmly as it was passed around, hung it around their necks as if it were a favorite pet, and included it in their puppet show. We looked up the snake in the reference book and it was a garter snake. I thought what an excellent way to introduce snakes to children or desensitize someone who is afraid of snakes.

If you know that your child might be afraid of snakes or will be in a camp or vacation situation where there will be snakes, consider getting a rubber snake and a guide to snakes book. Make snakes a fun learning experience for your child (and for yourself as well). It would be so nice for children to be amazed and intrigued by beetles, spiders, snakes and other creatures. They are an integral part of nature and can be appreciated as well.


5.   Children are often afraid of bees. And rightly so, as they sting. What I have found helpful is to remind the children that the bees are interested in nectar not them. And if a bee does come near, stand still, the bee is trying to figure out if this pretty, sweet, little child is a flower - oh, no it's a child and it will fly away. If you swing your hands at the bee, the bee will think you're trying to hit. So what will the bee do? sting! So stand still and let the bee smell you so it can decide if you're a flower or a child.

(Sometimes it's fun to do this in a silly voice and pretend to be the bee.) "Bzzz, hmmm, is this sweet little child, a flower, or a bee? Bzzzz, it's pretty like a flower. Bzzzz, it smells lovely like a flower. Bzzz, oh look at the arms and legs, nope, it's a child. Guess I'll have to fly away."

6.   Hints for teaching your child how to ride a bike.

   1. Be honest. Yes, you are going to fall. That’s okay. You’ll just fall a few times and then you’ll be a bike rider. Make sure those first times they wear long pants, a long sleeve shirt, gloves and a helmet. (Falling is much easier to manage when it’s a bump instead of bleeding skin.)

   2. Hold the seat of the bike, NEVER the child. The child will feel when you take your hand off their body and this often causes alarm.

   3. Without pedaling, let the child sit on the bike with tiptoes just on the ground, and feel the balance they will need. Hold the seat and let them balance with their feet. Let go and let them balance, grab the seat to rebalance. Repeat this many times.

   4. Have the child get off the bike, stand the bike up and let it fall. Ask them if anyone was pedaling? No. Can the bike balance if no one is pedaling? No. So how is the bike going to balance? By pedaling. So, what are you going to do? PEDAL!

   5. Have them look ahead to where they are going. Pick out a landmark with them somewhere down the road that they can focus on. Keep reminding them to pedal and look at the landmark. Not at you, not at the dog, not at the…

   6. Okay, NOW … and only now … are we ready to pedal. Now, it’s the old run along with the bike and give that bit of balance. Hold the seat so they can sense how it feels to ride a bike, and then let go for little bits. Talk to your child and stay behind their line of vision. Let your voice and not your person be the guide. That way when you let go of the seat, you can talk louder as they go away from you and they will still feel your support, your verbal support.

   7. Once the child can ride, it’s essential to establish safety rules of biking.

Link to July

Teaching Values: Uses accelerated learning methods and storytelling, with recommended lists of children's books and videos.

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