Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

 

Kids grow up in a blink of an eye.

I know we may have heard that all too many times.

But it IS true, isn’t it?

Our children keep growing up, whether we pay attention to their growth, developments and milestones or not.

Our children keep growing up, whether we pay attention to their growth, developments and milestones or notSo if they keep on growing so fast, and time keeps on ticking away, then the question is:

Have we been keeping a ‘record’ of our children’s moments and milestones? Do we celebrate their achievements (be it big or small)? 

I have and I do.

(perhaps a little too much, haha).

I love to capture moments. And, I love to remember the kids’ achievements (and get all excited about them!=), however little they may be.

These ‘records’ will be precious for us as the parents and also for the kids (when they look back at their ‘younger’ days and treasure how and when they actually manage to achieve certain milestones)

 

…

So, what can we capture?

– Take random day-to-day photos/videos of the kids (individually, when they’re together with siblings, when they’re with one parent or both, when they’re with our bigger families and friends)

Take photos/videos of them learning to do something / achieving something– Take photos/videos of them doing activities at home or elsewhere (eg. When they’re at the playground, at the beach, cycling, colouring, swimming, eating, sleeping, playing silly games with siblings, etc)

– Take photos/videos of them learning to do something / achieving something (eg. Learning to walk, eat on their own, drink from a glass by themselves, play musical instruments or sports, etc)

…
How can we store our photos and videos taken with our camera / phone?

For photos, I personally back them up in my computer first, then in my Google drive, in external hard disks (we need to this regularly)

For videos, I back them up on YoutubeFor videos, I back them up on Youtube (I usually just keep our daily videos as ‘private’), then I’d delete most of them from my camera/phone (so I’d always have enough memory space on my phone/camera =)

And, I then post selected moments on my Instagram and Facebook, and of course on my blog too! =)

…

ANYWAY.

Recently I wrote about the importance of encouraging different areas of our children’s development (ie. Holistic brain development).

Today, in addition to the above, I’d like to encourage all parents to also celebrate their children’s moments and precious achievements, by capturing them on camera/video! =)

…

Here are our ‘records’ of Brie’s moments:

Scribbling, drawing and colouring

We encourage all our kids to scribble, draw and colour.

We do it by :

– purposely making it easily accessible for the kids to get to some drawing paper, scrap paper, pencils, crayons, coloured pencils around our home
– not giving negative comments on what they’ve scribbled / drawn

For Brie’s case, when she’s around 15 months, she could  hold a pencil quite well. And she would just, scribble and scribble away.

She didn’t draw anything ‘spectacular’, but hey, at THAT age, to be able to hold a pencil IS a milestone already =)

What we believe is this:
When kids get to cover sheets of paper with colour and strokes, however they look like at the time (depending on their age, of course), this allows them to begin using their imagination and curiosity.

When Brie started to scribble, we believe it is the beginning of any kind of writing, drawing and painting.

Some recommended articles:
> Why toddlers’ activities need to include some scribbling
> When children draw

TIPS: 
Ask them about their scribble or drawing. They love it when we appreciate and are interested in what they’ve created!

 

…

Drinking from a glass

 

Brie was breastfed till she’s around 22 months.

Then, she started to drink from a straw bottle and a sippy cup.

(She sort of skipped drinking from a ‘milk bottle’)

By the time she’s around 3yo, we keep colourful little plastic glasses in a drawer that is easy for her (and her siblings) to reach.

This way, Brie could get her own plastic glass, press a button from the water dispenser to pour some water in it and drink it all by herself.

 

 

I could see how she’s really happy that she could do it, … you know, like a big person! =D

And of course, WE are happy too, to see how she’s becoming more and more independent (and exercising her hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills too at the same time)

TIPS:
For safety purposes, especially in the beginning, when we’re still training our child on ‘the danger of hot water’, I recommend switching off the ‘hot water’ feature on our water dispenser (if there’s no ‘locking’ system)

…

Reading books

 

 

One more thing that we also encourage and inspire our kids to do is, reading.

Being the youngest out of three children, Brie grew up watching her siblings do quite a bit of reading.

 

(So since Brie was a little toddler,sometimes she’d pick up some books and acted like she’s reading too =)

We’d read for her, talk about the pictures with her (when she’s still a baby/toddler) and as she grows bigger, she’d flip through books all on her own too.

We encourage the love for reading by keep books easily accessible for the kids.

We have a little book shelf in the living room by the sofa, book shelves in all bedrooms too.

From time to time, we’d buy children (and age-appropriate) books for each of them too.

Really, our children benefit so much from reading.

When kids love reading (with us or alone), we believe they are in fact:
> learning to calm down and wrap their minds around a story and ask questions about it
> thinking and concentrating
> exercising their language comprehension, sight and brain
> learning new knowledge and vocabulary
> building a closer relationship with the reader too! =)

…

Anyway.

How do YOU encourage your children in their growth and development? How do you celebrate your children’s milestones and achievements?

Do share your thoughts and tips! I’d love to hear from you!

…

Oh before I forget, there’s this contest that you should really check out!

Read the details here: bit.ly/MomenCerdasnyaLA
(It’s in Indonesian)

Basically, to enter the contest, you’d only need to share a photo with a story behind it.

eg. If you share a photo of your child learning to ride a bike, you can share how it went in the beginning, how you encouraged your child to keep going and how your child felt when he/she finally managed to pedal away all on their own! =)

Easy peasy! =)

There are SEVEN different themes to choose from. Go for all for them, if you can! =D

(Because if you enter 7 photos for the 7 different themes, you’ll have a chance to win a Rp2.000.000 shopping voucher!)

Hurry up and send your entries. Contest ends 30 April!

A total of TWELVE shopping prizes are up for grabs!

Top Prize: 1 x Samsung Galaxy S7
2nd Prize: 5 x shopping voucher Rp 1.000.000,-
3rd Prize: 6 xshopping voucher Rp 500.000,-

 

 

And oh, for more info and good tips, you can check out Enfa Smart Center’s Facebook Page too!

http://www.facebook.com/EnfaSmartCenter

…

Happy parenting, Moms and Dads!