[Image: Family]These articles provide insights into how parents should approach common issues.
Children and Creativity
Children Helping at Home
Family Involvement Linked to Academic Success
Financial Prep for College Bound Teens
Reading to Children
In today’s world, only finishing in first place is considered to be successful, so children often equate success with being able to finish a project quickly and well.
Using speed as a measure of success may come at the cost of creativity. Caregivers and parents are faced with a challenge in trying to encourage children to be creative. Creativity is important, because the progress of humankind has advanced because of creative thinkers.
Inventions such as electricity, the light bulb and automobiles have contributed to the advancement of society and the quality of our lives – but those and other inventions weren’t necessarily finished quickly.
Creativity is a form of self-expression where one uses abilities, skills and attitude to bring something new and original into being. Everyone possesses a certain amount of creativity, and young children tend to be very creative.
Of course, creativity also changes at different levels of personal development – presenting even more challenges. Self-expression allows children to create things based upon their own personal feelings and experiences and allows them to express and cope with those feelings. Experiences children have, even at the earliest of age, can affect their creativity.
A child’s creative ability allows caregivers and parents to recognize their thoughts or feelings – thereby helping adults to better meet the emotional needs of children.
Parents and caregivers of young children need to find ways to emphasize the importance of being creative, such as modeling the creative process, encouraging individuality and admitting when we do things less than perfectly. When children are allowed to be creative, their developmental skills improve in all areas of development.
Creative children learn to feel good about themselves, seek many answers to a single problem, develop higher level thinking skills, become independent individuals, have better fine motor coordination and enjoy being different. Even more, in later years, creative children do not become followers.
To help children in the creative process, adults need to remember to set aside concerns about finished products.
The skills and lessons children learn through the creative process far outweigh the actual product. Ways that caregivers can help children focus on the creative process are to ensure that the activity is open-ended, refrain from judging the process, keep opinions and suggestions to a minimum, and focus on what is actually seen – not what is thought to be seen.
Children need to be encouraged to fall in love with something, to take pride in and develop their greatest strength and to learn independence to become truly creative.
Children need to be rewarded and valued for their creativity and encouraged to feel joy in their work. Children who are creative develop perseverance and the ability to ‘stick to it.’ These are skills that children need for life!
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In today’s hectic world, working parents must organize their responsibilities and manage their time in ways similar to skilled executives. Gaining cooperation from children for helping out with family chores is part of the challenge.
Cleaning, cooking, shopping, laundry, school and community activities, church events, athletics all compete for parents’ limited time. Couple this with children’s tendencies for dawdling, messy play, mood swings and experimentation, and one can expect frustrations when it comes to getting children to help out at home.
First, it is best to start when the children are young, keeping in mind that the best tasks are those appropriate to the youngsters’ age levels. At the toddler age, make a game out of picking up toys or setting the table. Many young children love singing familiar songs while they work. Singing can brighten everyone’s day. Try singing "this is the way we make our bed…" to the tune of "here we go round the mulberry bush…", or "I’ve been picking up my toys, all the livelong day…" to the tune of "I’ve been working on the railroad…."
Second, parents can organize the home in ways that will encourage young children to help. For example, open toy shelves and low child-size clothes racks or clothes pegs can help encourage them in these simple tasks and make cleanup easier. Also consider writing down and posting all home care tasks that are required daily, weekly and occasionally to keep your home functioning well. Share these with all the kids to help them learn what it takes to run a home. Dividing the jobs evenly and appropriately according to developmental level and skill is a great topic to discuss with family members.
Third, and perhaps the most important, are the parents’ attitudes about household chores. Should there be a distinct line between family time and chore time? Is working together on home chores a necessary evil before the family can have fun? A positive and patient parent can help many children develop a positive view about chores. In fact, the children may see the chores as fun! If parents can think of time spent together doing chores as family time, great strides can be made in creating harmony in the home.
Although it takes longer to complete chores with young children, consider those times as good opportunities for your child to learn from the most important teacher in his or her life – you. Children can learn important lessons from their parents about cooperation, problem solving, diligence and pride in work well done. They also learn practical skills like counting, measuring, sorting, matching, reading and language development.
When you include your children in everyday tasks, you send them a strong signal – that you are interested in them and that you want and enjoy their company. By keeping home chores lighthearted and fun, you make it more likely and easier to get a little help around the house.
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Studies show children are better adjusted, do better in school, learn more and show the most improvement when members of their families are involved in their early education.
Family involvement is an ongoing process where families work together with caregivers or teachers to strengthen learning in the child-care environment and at home. Family involvement can take place in both public and private institutions that care for young children or any children for that matter.
There are several ways family members can be involved in their children's educational process:
- Families can act as a form of support for a program. For example, family members could donate money and items, sell things to raise money or solicit donations from local agencies and businesses.
- Families can act as volunteers for a program. Giving your time and talents to help caregivers and teachers in the child-care program is all it takes to be a volunteer.
- Families can act as program advocates. By being an advocate for your child-care program, you are letting the needs of the program be known to local politicians and governing agencies. In addition, you are letting people know the importance of early childhood education.
- Families can also learn by participating in the early childhood program. Good early childhood programs help you learn about child development and how to best encourage learning.
Early childhood educational programs that encourage family involvement have many of the same characteristics:
- These programs make all family members feel welcome at any time.
- The director and staff are willing to listen to ideas and, at times, implement them.
- The center facilitates and encourages an active family advisory group. This group acts as a liaison between the program and other parents, as well as a source of information and talent pool.
- Correspondence to families and the center’s policies stress the importance of family involvement and list opportunities for families to be involved.
- Programs are conscientious about scheduling functions and meetings when all families may attend – keeping in mind that many family members work during the day.
- Communication, both written and verbal, between caregivers and families is meaningful and frequent. Families are kept informed about what is taking place in their children’s classrooms. In addition, caregivers frequently ask families about what is taking place in a child’s home.
- The child-care program produces a newsletter discussing events and happenings. The newsletter also may act as a vehicle for offering ideas for things families can practice at home.
- The program offers ways for families to meet other families. For example, the child-care center may conduct a cookie party during the holiday season or a fall festival for all family members to attend.
Keep in mind that not all child-care programs are active facilitators of family involvement – but they may still welcome family involvement. Even if your child-care program has not asked for your assistance, that does not mean it does not want your help.
The LSU AgCenter experts encourage you to tell your child-care center director and your child’s caregiver or teacher that you want to be involved in your child’s education – and don’t forget to ask what opportunities the child-care program has for family involvement.
The LSU AgCenter’s "Be Child Care Aware" educational program is designed to educate parents and child-care providers about quality child care. It is funded, in part, through a contract with the Louisiana Department of Social Services’ Office of Family Support.
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As parents prepare college-bound kids for all the perils in life, don't forget money management. As young people pack for college, the last thing you may be worrying about is whether your child can balance a checkbook. However, for many students, the combination of leaving the nest, managing one's own money, making new friends and having an exciting social life is a formula for financial disaster.
Do not assume your child learned about money in high school. According to a survey by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, only 15 percent of high school seniors reported receiving some sort of personal finance education in high school. On average, the students surveyed received a score of 50.2 percent on finance-related questions. Louisiana students fared even worse - answering, on average, 47.3 percent correctly.
This is not the time to confuse your student by rushing into explanations of complicated financial procedures. It is more important to make certain your teen understands the basics of how to stick to a budget, pay bills on time, handle credit responsibly and balance a checkbook.
College can be a real wake-up call for teens accustomed to obtaining money on an as-needed basis from their parents. So, begin by helping your student devise a budget before he or she leaves home. Total the amount of money, if any, that your child will receive each month from you, earnings from work or other sources such as scholarships and savings. Then list the expenses they will be responsible for each month and determine the best way to make their income cover their obligations. Help the student make certain the budget is realistic and manageable.
If students need to open a new bank account, involve them in searching for the best type of account for the balance they will be keeping. Shopping for an account can also help them understand the costs associated with bounced checks, ATM fees and other financial services.
Make certain your child can manage cash flow by keeping track of transactions. The convenience of debit cards and ATM machines often overshadows the importance of tracking expenses and balancing a check register.
According to Nellie Mae, a student loan financing and service company, the average credit card balance for undergraduate students is $2,748, and many schools are reporting that they lose more students to credit card debt than to academic failure.
Your best defense may be to see that your child has a credit card before he leaves for school. By being involved in the process, you can help select an appropriate card with a reasonable credit limit. Receiving a monthly statement and seeing how fast charges add up can be an educational experience that's as valuable as freshman math.
Be sure to talk to your children about when it is and is not appropriate to use a credit card. Let them know there is a difference between charging car repairs and a frozen cappuccino.
It is also helpful to discuss the repercussions of not paying a credit card bill in full each month. Discovering that $1,000 in credit card debt at 18 percent will cost $2,352 and take more than 12 years to pay if they make only minimum payments each month can be a real eye opener.
Discuss the importance of paying bills on time each month. Overdue payments not only face late-payment fees - they can also cause serious damage to credit reports, often making it tough to rent an apartment, buy a new car or even get a job after graduation.
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A wise New Year’s resolution for parents is to talk more to their young children by reading aloud to them.
Researchers have found that the more parents talk during a child’s first three years of life, the more the child’s vocabulary and IQ improve. The children also become more prepared for school. Additionally, the more parents speak encouraging words, the better the children become.
Books can be a means of talk. Committing to and developing the habit of reading every day can go a long way in helping your child be more successful in life.
Children benefit when parents take them in their arms, cuddle them and talk to them through the magic of books. Reading aloud strengthens parent-child bonds. Books are a natural way to expose children to new words and positive conversation. They guide children to more complex thinking, and they help children discover new thoughts and ideas.
Children who have lots of books read to them are more likely to develop an enhanced vocabulary and IQ by the time they enter school. Most children’s books are usually encouraging and positive.
When parents use a greater proportion of words that are affirming, approving and encouraging, it makes a vast difference for their child’s future.
Reading is a purposeful way parents can increase their child’s exposure to words. Daily reading is recommended. A simple way to incorporate daily reading is by reading a book each night at the youngster’s bedtime.
Reading a short book is also a great way to help a child “wind down” and prepare to sleep. Let this become a daily routine for you and your baby. Over time, this will become a favorite time for you and your child.
Parents make the big difference in the success of their children – more than school teachers and more than early child caregivers. Daily reading is one way parents can really help their children have a great future.
For information on related family and consumer topics, visit the FCS Web site. For local information and educational programs, contact Kim Evans, extension agent in your parish LSU AgCenter office. This office is located in Room 22 of the LaSalle Parish Courthouse and the telephone number is (318) 992-2205.
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