Category: Well-Being

Is your child a little shy? Do they suffer from a lack of self-esteem? It’s a difficult time to be a child. With so many distractions, it can be easy to put personal relationships on the back burner.  Children can dive down a black hole into the internet void, spend countless hours completing video game campaigns, and plug into the virtual world.

While they’re doing this, they can tune out others and lose grasp of meaningful relationships. Once these relationships disappear, the impact can translate into other realms of your child’s life. They may lose the confidence to talk freely and openly to others or second guess their ability to do well in other aspects of their life such as schoolwork. 

Another factor that contributes to a lack of confidence in kids is lawnmower parenting. When parents are too overprotective they don’t allow their children to face the natural adversity that life brings. This results in a lack of problem solving skills down the road.

Sometimes the internet, a place designed to connect individuals across the globe, can feel daunting and dividing. When this transposes itself into ordinary life, it can become a problem and a burden. That is why I put together a list of online activities that stray from the gloom and doom and promote healthy habits and elevate self-esteem. 

Afterschool Gaming Clubs

Does your child’s school offer after school programming? If they do, odds are that they may have a program specific to online gaming or video game creation. If not, then try checking out local community centers. If all else fails, these resources will help you create your own after school program. 

These types of clubs are becoming more and more prevalent and can create a sense of community with your child. Not all kids are into sports, art or chess clubs where they can advance their chess skills. These clubs are the perfect option for the video game obsessed youth and can offer more than just a community of fellow gamers.

Some clubs dive into video game creation and actually allow the students to create their own games, teaching meaningful skills while enjoying games with peers. This sense of community can be extremely important for boosting the learning and the self-esteem of your child. 

Playing Card Games

Unsurprisingly, card games have become extremely popular online. The dozens of games available give kids an opportunity to challenge their critical thinking skills, memory recall, and strategy implementation. Below are two excellent choices that will not only challenge but entertain kids (and even adults).

Hearts is a trick-taking card game typically played with four players, where the objective is to avoid taking certain cards that carry penalty points, leading to strategic play and careful card management. The online version offers the game in single and multiplayer modes, and comes with a helpful guide for newcomers to the game.

Spades is a popular four-player card game (available in single player online), where the goal is to accurately predict and win the number of tricks bid by each player’s partnership in each round. This card game blends strategy and luck, leading to a fun, competitive gaming experience.

Kid-Friendly Social Media Sites

Social media is a scary place, even for adults. But, there are platforms out there specifically for kids. At first you may think that this sounds like a terrible idea and an easy way for strangers to interact with your child. But, these sites take safety seriously. Unlike the Myspace and Facebook’s of the world, these sites are focused on safety and provide a great introduction to social media for kids of various ages.

Most of these sites allow parents to control their child’s overall usage and monitor their accounts. This means that your child can enjoy the interaction with peers, while you assure they don’t go overboard with it. Some sites are extremely basic and only offer the simplest of features, while some are in-depth and showcase some top-notch safety features, such as required background checks. It may be best to monitor your child’s presence on these sites at first, but eventually these social media sites should provide your child with communication skills that will transfer to the real world. 

Geocaching

Have you heard of geocaching? This is a great activity for young kids to do with the rest of the family or a wholesome activity for older kids to take part in with friends. Not only does this activity get you outside, but through their easy to use app you join an online community of treasure hunters.

So, what is geocaching? Geocaching utilizes GPS coordinates to show the locations of various geocaches (containers/treasure chests). Individuals then navigate to the geocache and find hidden goods. There are several different categories of geocaches that keep the search interesting every time. You can solve a puzzle to discover coordinates or find geocaches specific to major landmarks. This interactive community allows you to utilize your online skills to navigate the real world. 

While it is great for children to be outside exploring, it can also be very stressful for a parent. If you have older children and want to keep track of their whereabouts while they’re out and about exploring, then I suggest investing in a GPS-based tracker to ease your worries. 

iNaturalist

This is an environmentally-focused parent’s best friend. Not only does this app (also web-based) offer the opportunity to learn about different species, but similar to geocaching, it also gets kids outside. Look out for something called a “bioblitz” in your area. The National Park System, as well as numerous State Park Systems and non-profits hold these events to gather as many observations as possible in a specific period of time. For instance, while I worked for Tennessee State Parks, we developed a statewide bioblitz and created a variety of family-friendly programming around the event. This can be a great way to get out with the family and explore an area otherwise not accessible. 

The feeling of discovery can be a tremendous joy for children and adults alike. By discovering different plant and animal species, children learn about the natural world and increase their observational skills. This can translate directly to social and academic situations. The informal understanding children gain through experimentation, observation, and comparison in play lays the foundation for higher-order thinking and later learning of formal STEM concepts.  For more information on iNaturalist and how it can benefit your child’s learning inaturalist.org. 

Trampoline Fun

Athletic activities do not come naturally to all kids.  In fact, their lack of confidence may be heightened because of a bad experience playing sports or feeling like they don’t measure up to other kids in gym class at school.  Yet, every child is instilled with desire to have fun physically from a young age. You don’t have to be super coordinated  to have fun playing games outdoors.  Playing games on a trampoline in the backyard is another way to bring a sports like activity into your child’s regular routine without them even thinking about their level of physical ability.  It can be great fun for everyone in the family.

Regardless of which avenue you and your child take, the most important thing for improving self-esteem is the feeling of inclusion. These activities provide a community for your child to become a part of and share experiences. Those experiences will help define your child as an individual and grant them an identity to believe in. Hopefully, after discovering themselves and learning to believe in their abilities, your children will transfer this new, increased self-esteem into every aspect of their lives. So, get them involved and start building those memories.

Author Bio: Chandler Clayton is a freelance writer, specializing in education and safety. He draws upon his years of teaching environmental education to empower learning in children and adults of all backgrounds. He has been featured on sites such as SafeWise, USA Today, and Newsday.

Giving your child opportunities to engage with others in the community and outdoors leads to a well balanced life. There are also plenty of things you can introduce your family to keep away from excessive Internet use. 

Whether you live in a city, a small town or the country, there are always fun things to do with kids if you just put your mind to it. There are places to explore and activities to take part in that are ideal during the summer holidays. It just takes a little thought and some planning to take advantage of the beautiful summer weather.

Here are eight great things to do with your kids this summer for before starts up again, no matter where you live. We’re talking about simple inexpensive and mostly free things families with kids can enjoy while staying safe.

1. Interact with nature

The summer months have the best weather to explore the outdoors with kids. Why not go on a bird hike with a bird watching book or wander in the wetland to see what is hiding in the vegetation. Go on a geocaching pirate treasure hunt and collect plant species. Kids also enjoy forest walks and nature play with their parents. Teach your kids how to press flowers, find a pet rock to decorate or create a nature collage from their explorations.

2. A star gazing party

Have you ever heard of a scavenger hunt in the sky? Download a star finder app and have a star party. The best thing about these apps is that you can find the locations of stars even during the day. Point it to the ground and you will see the exact location of stars you’ve never seen on the other side of the world. Of course, going out at night is even more exciting when kids can see the names highlighted of visible stars in the night sky. A star locator also helps you to find and follow the directions of constellations in the sky.

3. Camping in the backyard

Camping is what you make of it. You don’t have to go to a campground to have fun. Gather up some sleeping bags, a tent, and some flashlights. Bring out blankets and pillows from your bedroom. The kids will enjoy sleeping outside with you and there will be no complaints that there is nothing fun to do at home. It can also be inexpensive to buy a portable backyard fire pit and purchase a small bundle of firewood at a local store. If you don’t have a backyard, you can pitch a tent in your living room or basement.

4. Go for a walk

How far can you walk as a family within an hour? If you have a toddler, how far can he/she walk before getting tired? Challenge your kids to experiment on that. Kids love it when you take ordinary activities and give them a fun twist. Make a loop while you’re at it, or take a new route home just to spice things up. Go for a self-guided walking tour around your neighborhood.

If you are close to where you grew up, drive to the town or neighborhood and take the kids on a walking tour. This is your chance to talk about your children with real memories connected to where you used to play.

5. Teach them how to swim

Whether you go to a local pool or a local or faraway beach, teaching kids how to swim is also a great way to cool off while learning something new. If you cannot make it to a beach or a pool it may be worth looking into buying a small above ground backyard pool. It doesn’t take much water to teach kids the basics, including how to tread water, which is a basic survival skill all kids are taught while taking swimming lessons. Swimming is also a chance to bond as a family on more personal level while having fun. Swimming lessons in a formal settings are also something all kids should take for their own personal safety through life.

6. Hold a dance party

Teach your kids how to find a rhythm when dancing to a song. Share with them some fun dance moves that you learned when you were young. They will love experiencing your earlier life. Take turns as a family choosing each person’s favorite song to dance to. Or just sit in your living room and discover the music while each family member shares why each song is one of their favorites.

7. Teach them to cook

Cooking is an essential life skill that your young ones should possess. Download cooking tutorials or watch YouTube videos to learn recipes for different meals. If you have traveled outside the country and learned to cook a foreign meal, teach that to the kids. It’s also a great opportunity to teach kitchen safety. Who knows, maybe it will develop a routine of everyone taking turns helping with weekly meals.

8.   Plant a flower

Kids generally think that working in the yard is hard and boring. So why not start with teaching them how to plant a flower or plant. It can be an enjoyable positive experience learning how to dig a hole, fertilize the ground and plant a flower they can take care of. They will be able to watch it grow throughout the summer. It can also be a good segue into teaching your child how to pick weeds to keep all the plants healthy.

Next Steps

May this be a fun and creative summer that will build lasting memories for both your and your kids. Who knows, maybe it will inspired everyone in the family to come up with new ideas for great summer fun.

• Staying home?  Share these online summer safety tips with your child.
• Discover other ways to have fun on holidays throughout the year.

Technology definitely has a time and place in our schools and we owe it to our pupils to teach them proper ways to use their devices for learning and communicating. However, we can also probably agree there are some downsides to all of this tech in our student’s lives.

Technology which opens our students up to a variety of pitfalls of dangers that range anywhere from cyberbullying to the health consequences of inactive lifestyles.

As educators, it’s no great surprise today’s technology is changing the way we monitor our children, communicate, interact, and engage with our students and, everyday we are on the frontlines watching and coping with the consequences as they unfold.

This makes it essential that we slow down and re-evaluate the role we allow technology to play in our classrooms. This is especially vital when we consider teens are digitally connected for 9 hours everyday! Yes, that is almost the same amount of time spent in school. If that statistic isn’t jaw dropping enough, we need to factor in that their younger counterparts clock in over 6 daily hours and children younger than 8 net nearly 3 hours a day!.

This data inevitably means that our children are missing out on important opportunities and activities to interact, explore, observe, and learn about the world around them. Instead of building new relationships or mastering valuable life skills, our boys and girls are inevitably living a distracted life. This is difficult for us to face, because we can only control what our students do during the hours we have them entrusted to our care. One simple way we can counteract too much technology is by examining the importance of outdoor activities and find ways for kids to strike a happy balance.     

Why Outdoor Activities are Essential for Kids

Over the course of the last few decades, a lot has changed in education as we strive to include more technology and teach for the test. While this has helped push in more STEAM activities and HAL opportunities, it has also led to a significant decrease in the amount of time allocated for recess, physical education, and the fine arts. To put this trend into perspective, according to the National Wildlife Foundation, today’s children are spending approximately half the amount of time outside than we did when we were kids.

Why outdoor activities are essential for kids:

• Poor indoor air quality is common in many schools. Fresh air is healthy!

• There is an increased risk for obesity, hypertension, and more that comes with reduced exercise and sedentary lifestyles.

• Green spaces have been proven to reduce stress and anxiety levels in children- and even adults. 

• The outdoors provide exposure to dirt, germs, and bacteria which boost a child’s immune system.

• Activities like gardening in the outdoors can help students develop observational skills and learn science concepts.

• Sunlight provides beneficial vitamin D which can help energy levels and strengthen bones.

• Adequate exposure to sunlight also helps set a child’s circadian rhythms, which will help them develop a proper sleep schedule to enhance social and educational performance in school.

• Outdoor activities and green spaces naturally improve many of the symptoms related to ADHD in children.

The Dangers of Too Much Technology

The reasons why outdoor activities are essential for kids is pretty solid, but we can’t overlook the possible dangers associated with too much technology. Our students’ devices might be entertaining, but there are real reasons educators need to be concerned. The following list shows why we need to help students find a healthy balance with technology in their lives:

• Direct links between overuse of social media and increases in depression, feelings of low self-esteem, and anxiety have been documented in young people.

• Devices can interrupt or cause distraction during key learning times in a classroom.

• Our kids might be set up for a lifetime of joint and neck pain if they don’t embrace proper ergonomics.

• Digital devices and fast paced stimuli can actually physically alter a child’s brain.

• The glow from our screens and constant notifications can disrupt circadian rhythms and sleep schedules leading to poor sleep.

• Overusing technology limits one-on-one communication opportunities for kids which may inhibit relationship and social skills development.

Benefits of Being Outside

Technology is obviously here to stay, and we can’t feasibly ban all devices from our schools. However, a little mindfulness and proactive planning can go a long way. With a little creative thinking we can help students find a healthy balance with technology and nature. Encouraging your children to play outdoors regularly needs to be more then just talk.  Give them ideas and take part in the fun as often as possible.

 

With so much access to technology as compared with human interaction and physical activity, it easy for to begin to feel run down and get bored. We may feel unchallenged mentally and soon realize that watching TV is not as fun as it seems.

If you want to challenge yourself and have fun, it’s important to realign your goals and seek more knowledge. Learn something new, try a challenge you consider undoable, change your life’s path if you can, or stretch your limits and imaginations beyond what you previously thought was humanly impossible.

To start you off, here are productive activities and fun ideas to help you beat boredom.

1. Learn a new language

Learning a new language, local or international, is a good way to remain mentally active and improve your life while at it. Set a goal now to work at it a little each day to learn Spanish or Mandarin, for example. This is your chance to learn an extra local lingo if you come from a multilingual country, or even learn the American Sign Language. All you need to learn a new language these days is a language app or an online class that teachers a new language. 

2.  Have a campfire in the backyard

This is simple: Make a fire pit and share quality time with your family around the fire. You can even roast marshmallows or steak to bring out the real camping experience. If you live alone, reading a book around the campfire could also be fun. Try anything, conventional or unconventional. Normal is boring, after all!

Note: This is illegal in some regions, so you need to confirm with your neighbors or local authorities first.

3. Learn a skill online

Take an online dance class and practice with a family member. Try a pottery class and do pottery with your kids in the backyard. If you are a business executive, hone your listening or management skills. If you are into art, learn how to write movie scripts, draw, or even how to write interesting children storybooks.  Anything you are interested in has a free tutorial online.

4. Cook

Does one person in the home do most of the cooking? Why not lend a hand while learning how to cook? This is your chance to try out the recipe you brought back from your trip abroad. Try making varied dishes from all the trips you have made, or from the TV shows you’ve watched. With a little creativity, innovation, and improvisation in your cooking techniques, you will be surprised by how many “secret” recipes you will invent in the next month or so- recipes that will remain “family secret” for tens of your future generations.

5. Learn How to Code

While many parents are getting their kids to take online coding classes there are plenty of games that teach you how to learn how to create the games while you play.  Computer coding is the unique language that computer programmers use to create software, make websites work and invent games.

6. Play games

Your parents may have been trying to get you to reduce your time looking at screens. You know what it’s like to play your Switch, Xbox, PS4, and iPads until you can’t focus anymore. Now get the old board games and play Trivial Pursuit or poker with your family. Learn how to play chess or see how good you still are at the epic game of Monopoly. We are talking about the long versions here. After all, you have all the time to push your limit.

7. Make a DIY clock

Someone made a clock using Chrome running in Kiosk mode, a Raspberry Pi, and a spare touch screen. The clock is basically a JavaScript-based web display on a Raspberry Pi 4, with the display being a local website whose textual representation is minutes, hours, and days. If technology or coding is your thing, this is a good idea for making something mechanical for yourself, in an artistic approach.

8. Plan a Comedy Show

Choose a night when the entire family can get together. Create and print free tickets that you can give each family member. Rehearse these funny jokes for kids and then tell them from a makeshift stage in your family room.  It’s your own comedy show.  Many of the world’s famous comedians started at home telling jokes to their mom, dad, brothers and sisters.

9. Exercise

There are tons of exercise and fitness apps/online platforms. If you love hitting the gym, look for trainer videos, and keep the momentum going. If you are new to this, you don’t have to jump directly to full-blown workouts; start with the calming Yin Yoga, short sprints in the backyard, or jumping rope for 10-20 minutes.

10. Paint By Numbers

This activity is a great way for family members of any age to see if they like painting.  Even beginners who try painting by numbers are able to achieve satisfying results while learning how to paint with a steady hand.  For school aged children, it also helps them a develop a myriad of skills as they learn and grow in the pursuit of art and creativity.

11. Learn How to Play Cribbage

Cribbage is a card game that combines elements of strategy, arithmetic, and probability, where the objective is to be the first player to score 121 points through card combinations in hand and play. This game is particularly beneficial for kids as it encourages mathematical skills, critical thinking, and strategic planning, making it a fun and educational pastime. Learn how to play

Conclusion

If you feel like time is becoming rather blurry, that is a sign that whatever you are doing is becoming monotonous. Don’t let boredom dim your spirit. Move on to a tougher challenge and by all means, make sure you have loads of fun in the process.