4 Ways to Support Your Child’s Development

Prepare well-balanced meals

Well-balanced meals are key to nourishing your child’s mind and body. To grow mentally and physically, your child requires a balance of several key nutrients; when preparing their meals, aim to incorporate a protein, fat, carb, and veggie in every meal. We realize that this is easier said than done — especially with picky eaters. If you have a picky eater on your hands, here are a few tips for incorporating veggies into your child’s diet.

Arrange playdates

Socialization is an important part of a child’s development. To learn how to communicate and collaborate with others, children must interact with people outside their household. Therefore, it’s important that you arrange playdates for your children to play with kids their own age. If your child is in public school, invite their classmates to play at the park. If your child is homeschooled, get them involved with your local homeschool social groups.

Communicate

As your child grows, they may experience big emotions. Sudden emotional outbursts and tantrums are age-appropriate and common for developing children. To better manage their emotions, children must be taught emotional intelligence. As your child develops emotionally, normalize speaking openly about emotions.

If your child is experiencing big emotions, ask them to share what they’re experiencing. Validate their emotions and offer solutions for managing these emotions, like taking deep breaths or asking for affection when they need it.

Incorporate educational activities

Each day offers new opportunities to learn. As your child moves through their day, incorporate activities that challenge them and allow them to utilize basic skills like critical thinking, reading/language, math, etc. Some examples include allowing them to help out in the kitchen, asking them to help clean up messes, streaming educational TV shows during screen time, etc.