Useful Parenting Tips

Parenting can be challenging sometimes and everyone could use a little help and encouragement in this role. You don't have to go at it alone or assume you have all the answers already. The willingness to take in new information and advice and see what sticks and works well for you helps.

How To Teach Children to be Responsible

We believe as parents it is our responsibility to teach our children to be responsible members of society. This involves teaching them how to take care of themselves, make good decisions, and be accountable for their actions. This isn't an easy task, but it's definitely worth it! Here are some tips and resources on how to teach children to be more responsible.

Encouraging Creative Thinking

Creative thinking is critical for problem solving, resilience and to succeeding in life. As a parent, there are many things we have to do to help our kids become their best creative selves. Here are eight tips to help you foster creativity in your children no matter how old they are.

How To Stop Your Child From Becoming Scared Of The Dentist

Going to the dentist is one of those things we all have to do, whether we like it or not. It’s important not only for our oral hygiene and health, but it’s important to our overall health too. Poor oral health can raise your risk of heart disease, stroke, and a number of other health conditions.

Fun and Engaging Toys

I like investing in toys and kits that not only engage my children, but also encourage their development. Just in time for the holidays, we checked out two new products from Basic Fun! - Cutetitos and Cutetitos Babitos and a couple of ooey-gooey fun kits and Globber scooter from Incredible Novelties.

Fun Board Games to Encourage Learning

I believe playing board games with our children is a fun way for us to get involved in teaching lifelong skills such as problem solving, team playing, communication skills, and help in the development of cognitive thinking. It is so much easier to shop for these toys for children in all ages right from the comfort of our home through Amazon.ca.

STEAM education encouraging kits from Twiggle Toys

I love the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) education approach, as this method encourages children to have fun while they develop age appropriate essential skills needed for lifelong learning. Since our children were babies, we have always been enthusiastic about hands-on-learning. We have used creative approaches, everyday materials, kits and tools to further their knowledge.

Inspiring Our Children to Make a Positive Difference

As parents, we believe it is our duty to be good role models and inspire our sons and daughters to make a positive difference to society and the environment. Teaching that every little act makes a difference is becoming more and more important, especially in our fast-paced technology driven society. It is important that we take the time to slow down and see how we can benefit others, be more respectful, and conscientious.

Activities We Do With Our Children to provide Inspiration

As parents, we find it our responsibility to make our children comprehend that everything around them needs to be respected and appreciated. To make them understand that all experiences provide knowledge, we do a variety of activities with them. Making these activities as part of our lifestyle, helps them become savvy. These activities do not cost us financially, and helps build memories.

Block Play is Important for Child Development Win Your own Big Building Bag

When I speak with my friends who are parents that have young children, some say that they feel like they are running out of ideas to make playtime fun. In my opinion and practice with my own children, I believe for children to have fun and play it doesn't need to cost a lot of money or require tech gadgets. All we have to do is provide our children with good quality toys that encourages development such as building blocks, a clean safe space, and spend time interacting and playing with them.

Ultramodern Steel Diaper Pail from Ubbi

Ubbi has innovative products designed with parents and children in mind. They have easy to use, unique, quality products that helps simplify the parents' lives while keeping babies happy and safe. This useful, ultramodern steel diaper pail from Ubbi is stylish and functional.

An Easy Way to Contribute To Your Child’s RESP at Tax Time

I hope all of you have started your taxes for 2014! :) Since the time is approaching to finish filing tax returns, I wanted to mention how easily we can save for our children's future by contributing towards a Registered Education Savings Plan (or RESP) via our tax returns. As a parent, I think it helps if we think about our children's education starting from a young age, instead of waiting for the days when it gets closer for them to go to university or college. This savings will minimize future stresses, and help us be in a position where we can help our children with their schooling. 

Making Stickers with Washi Tape

We made our own stickers using Washi Tape. It is simple to make these stickers, and cut out any shape you wish and paste it. We tried a few simple shapes using scissors, if you have a puncher or design cutters you can try using that as well.

Enjoy the Sunshine with these Outdoor Crayola Products

Crayola has a great assortment of outdoor products to get children's creative juices flowing in the great outdoors. My children love drawing and colouring on the sidewalk with these bright and bold sidewalk chalk. They love the assortment of the new special effects chalks such as neon, sparkle, and tie-dye.

Making Bite Sized Fun Shapes with FunBites

FunBites is a cool device that comes in handy when we prepare fancy dinner parties or kid-friendly food. Picky eaters will enjoy their meals more when it is cut up in small shapes and sizes. FunBites are sturdy and durable curved blade cutters that will help us cut fruit, sandwiches, quesadillas, and brownies. It is a quick way to cut shapes using this device than cutting it by hand.

Baby Play for Everyday Making Finger Puppets

Baby Play for Everyday is a book with 365 activities that we can do with children during their first year. This book will keep the babies and us entertained, while encouraging the child's development. There are indoor play, outdoor play, craft and messy play, music and more. The book suggests activities that we can do using everyday objects and our imagination without buying expensive toys.

Join the #WalmartBaby Shower

Walmart recently launched its baby registry making it easy for parents expecting their babies. You can join the celebration of the Walmart Baby registry launch, by joining the baby shower at the upper level of Walmart Square One store in Mississauga from 11:15 am to 2 pm on Saturday, January 17. 

Win a Copy of this Fabulous book "The Perfect Parent"

Being a parent is a blessing for both my husband and I. We did fear about how good we will be at “parenting” since our children didn't come with manuals :) Some of the situations we had to learn to deal with were, and are still challenging. I find as our children grow, and become independent the challenges too grow and how we deal with these become more important so we can keep having good relationships. 

Fisher-Price’s Laugh & Learn® Smart Stages™ Vacuum

Fisher-Price’s Laugh and Learn® Smart Stages™ is a brand new toy collection that features an innovative and revolutionary learning technology that grows with the child for up to three years. There are seven toys in this Laugh and Learn® Smart Stages™ collection that promotes learning through play. I believe children learn more when they are having fun, and this has been a reason for me to always buy toys that encourage learning in a fun way. This is one of the things I look for when buying presents for family and friends as well.

Building with Lincoln Logs from the K'NEX family

Lincoln Logs are a wonderful toy that will increase many aspects of our children's development. John Lloyd Wright, son of the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, invented Lincoln Logs in 1916. This classic construction toy beloved by children of all ages will help improve physical fine motor skills, creativity, building skills, and many other cognition skills, as children learn to balance and problem solve when building with these wooden logs.