Parenting – Tiwing.com

Cell Phones For Kids. How Young Can They Be?

One. This is how old our kids were when they began to mimic our behaviour of talking on the phone. Sure it was a banana or a bit of cardboard or a toy car, but it was held up to their ear just like a phone would be.

Two. Our kids were this old when they got their first toy mobile phone. Pushing the buttons made sounds like you might have heard from a mid 90s phone. But who cares because it made sounds.

Three. It was about this time that they both learned how to pinch-zoom and swipe through photo galleries. And maybe even take a picture or two using Mom’s phone.

Where Are The Parents?

Our son attends Karate every Monday evening. The setting is informal – it is not a dedicated Karate Dojo. Instead, it is a class run by two (sometimes three) black belts and taught out of a school gymnasium. At least two of the black belts have their own Dojo, and I believe this is a way for them to reach more people than they could in their own Dojo. It’s certainly not charity, but for us it is a much less expensive alternative than putting our children into a class taught in a proper Dojo.

Of the 20 or so kids in this class, there are only a small handful that take it seriously and pay attention. Also, of the 20 or so kids there are only a small number of parents who are regularly present and pay attention to their children’s class. Many of these parent-less kids are the ones not paying attention and disrupting the class for everyone else. Where are the parents?
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Don’t Call Me Buddy

I hear it almost every day, and it drives me nuts. Fathers calling their sons “Buddy”.

I don’t understand. Are these men desperate to be liked by their sons? Do they think that using an alternate word for “friend” will strengthen the relationship that they have with their sons? Do they think that using the term is somehow more calming and reassuring than using their proper name, or are there actually that many boys named “Buddy”? (The only Buddy I know of is Buddy the Elf.)
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How Busy Should We Keep Our Kids?

Just for a minute, forget about the cost of after school activities. Pretend you have unlimited money. Ignore your own time constraints and the fact that you have to fix dinner and go to work.

Now that’s out of the way we can have a philosophical conversation.

How busy should we keep our kids?

And what should we keep them busy with?

There are a number of ways of looking at this. The two extremes are of course

Keep them really busy so they stay out of trouble, and
They’re kids, let them be kids and let them play.

I think the answer is somewhere in between these two, and of course some will depend on your religious, community, or family involvement which will take away from activity time.
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Don’t Miss The Concerts.

Tomorrow is my son’s school concert. He’s in Grade 1 and it is his first year in French Immersion. In previous years in a different school they always held the year end concert on a Saturday so I was always able to make it.

This year his is on a Friday right in the middle of the workday. And there is a ton of stuff to do at work. There always is.
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Should Boys Go To Dance Class?

I have a six year old son and a four year daughter. My wife and I have spent a lot of time planning out the activities we want them involved in.

We both feel strongly that we want our kids involved in a minimum of one activity outside of school almost all the time, and that there are a couple of activities that are not optional.

For example, knowing how to swim could save their life one day. It is not optional and both our kids have been in swimming for over a year. Also, since we are Canadians we consider skating lessons, hockey school, and hockey not optional at least for a few years. Once the kids are old enough to decide for themselves, they will continue in Hockey. Our daughter will be starting in the fall and our son is going into his 3rd year.

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