12 Things Parents Can Do Everyday With Their Children

7. Encourage Their Curiosity

One of the most amazing, and frustrating, things about kids is how curious they can be. It’s amazing to see their little brains learning and growing, but it can be frustrating fielding their endless questions and queries about the world. Still, that curiosity and that questioning mind is an important thing to encourage, so turn the tables on your child every now and again.

Ask them what they think will happen, and why, ask them how you might find something out, ask them what they want to know. Talk to them about their thoughts, and how they think things feel, taste or smell. Get them to think, and to ask, and to learn.

8. Teach Them Practical Skills

We often seek to protect our children from the challenges of day to day living, wanting to be there for them in every aspect. But what you might not realise, or what you might not want to see, is that by not allowing them to try (and sometimes fail), kids can’t learn. So get your child involved in practical skills.

Teach them to garden, to clean and peel vegetables (and to chop when they’re older), to fold clothes, to make their own bed and to get dressed by themselves in the morning. If they want to do something, encourage them to reach those goals, and be a better person for it.

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Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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