Category: Parenting and Childcare

Bringing up a child as a parent and taking care of them.
Handling day to day changes in a child’s behaviour

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Parenting and Childcare

Avoid These Toxic Ingredients in Baby Care Products

Many parents are innocently moisturising, powdering, bathing, and wiping their babies with products including a shocking blend of toxic, harmful, chemicals. Parabens, Talc, Propylene Glycol, Sulphates, DEA, are some of the recognised lethal ingredients popularly utilised in baby care skin and hair care products and also in nappy change creams and baby wipes.

Luckily avoiding lethal ingredients in baby care products is quite simpler these days and there are at present several safer options out there.The apparent choice would be to choose a gentle, natural range of products designed principally for baby skin.

But with the thousands of products available, how does one select the one that is completely free of toxins and destructive ingredients.

Ingredients to look out for and avoid in baby care products

In a world filled with contaminants, it is essential to instruct yourself about what is in the products you are using for your baby so that you know what to watch out for and what to avoid. Take a look at some of the common toxins here:

Common Toxins in Baby Oils

Most baby oils in the market are made up of mineral oils primarily because it is money-making and easy to source. But, mineral oils can block pores and stop the skin from breathing. It also forms a layer over subtle baby skin, delaying the natural release of toxins from their bodies. Baby oils might also include vegetable glycerin blended with grain alcohol known as PPG or PEG. Even though the component may appear safe and natural, the process includes synthetic chemicals that can cause serious skin damage.

You should ideally choose toxin-free baby oil containing natural ingredients for your kid’s massages and mild rub-downs. Opt for oils that contain sesame oil to strengthen your little one’s muscle and bone strength and organic wheat germ, almond, and avocado oils to keep your baby’s dry skin well-nurtured and moisturised through the day!

Common Toxins in Baby Lotion

The fragrances present in baby lotions are usually made up of phthalates which studies have shown, can potentially cause kidney or liver damage. Phthalates are also found in baby powders, soft plastic toys, lotions, shampoos, and fragrances added to baby products.

One more ingredient to watch out for is parabens. These are utilised in products to slow down the growth of bacteria and expand the shelf life of a product. While not all might cause damage, certain parabens have been found to give rise to tumours. Search for ‘paraben-free’ products when shopping for your baby.

Apply a paraben-free baby lotion on your baby’s skin post-bath to keep his skin plump and supple through the day

Popular Toxins in Baby Soaps and Shampoos

Remember that the immaculate sea of foam you see in soap and shampoo commercials are usually produced by the addition of sulphates in baby shampoos and soaps. It can cause rashes to fragile baby skin. These are also damaging if they get into your little one’s eyes, as it can affect the growing tissue.

Choose shampoo and soap which cleans, softens and strengthens your baby’s hair and skin gently.

Find out if your product label states only ‘key ingredients’

If the baby care products do not comprise the aforementioned ingredients, you should still read the labels. A lot of popular brands mention words like natural and pure freely as marketing claims and it is natural for dependable consumers to buy these, assuming that such products may be the most excellent option at the best price.

Therefore, you should check for the ingredients despite the mention of organic, natural, and pure.

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Travel

Enjoying a Beach Vacation with your Toddler

You might have dreamt of idyllic tropical vacations surrounded by warm Eastern seas, bright sunshine, and golden-white sands! Yet, you may have cancelled your plans because a beach vacation with a toddler seems a daunting task!

So here are some tips that will inspire you to book your next vacation at a beach resort without any hesitation:

Select the Destination

Tropical beaches are warm, sunny, and usually crowded. As you move away from the Equator, the beachside air is chilly and seawater freezing. If your toddler is prone to respiratory problems in extreme weather, they will be more comfortable at a tropical destination. So, if your pre-schooler suffers from heat and rashes in hot climates, then a hot tropical beach is not suitable.

The best beachside vacation with a toddler – A tropical beach during the winter season.

Choose The Hotel/Resort

The best child-friendly hotel will offer many fun activities for your kids (including the toddler). While choosing the best beach resort, look for amenities like:

  • Child-friendly menus
  • A good mix of sunlight and shaded areas
  • Toddler’s toys and play areas
  • Sandpits with soft sand
  • Kid’s pool with water toys and lifebelts
  • Lifeguards at the kid’s pool.
  • Facilities on the beach

You are going to spend a lot of time on the beach and not cooped up in the hotel! When you are vacationing with kids and especially with a toddler, you will need separate diaper-changing rooms on the beach itself. Trudging across to the hotel to change the baby’s diaper will be tiresome. Food vendors on the beach are another advantage to look for. The basic facilities like shower cubicles, shacks, loungers, umbrellas, and restrooms are usually available on the beaches.  Most popular beaches around the world also have these extra facilities which you can look for:

Babysitting Services

Parasailing, kayaking, boating, snorkelling, deep-sea diving, and jet-skiing are some of the water sports you are probably looking forward to. But these are not the activities that one would associate with a toddler! A hotel that offers babysitting facilities within its safe environment will be a real boon. You could leave your pre-schooler for a couple of hours and enjoy the adventure sports activities. But don’t forget to take your toddler along while you visit aquariums and go on trips to see dolphins, whales, turtles, and other wildlife.

I suggest that you keep some time for unplanned beach activities for the toddler in the beautiful sunshine and golden sands.

Packing for a toddler

Besides the usual items like a change of clothes and extra diapers, you will need lightweight toys like balls, buckets and spades, and a few water toys (e.g. plastic ducks). Other essentials you need to carry to the beach for the baby are:

  • Child-safe sunscreen lotion
  • Sunglasses
  • Swimsuits
  • Wide-brimmed hat preferably made of straw (usually available locally)
  • Waterproof footwear.

Wishing you the best beach holiday with your toddler! I hope these tips will not only help you but make this vacation a memorable one.

Categories
Health Parenting and Childcare

6 Secrets to Raising a Healthy and Happy Child

As parents, what are our expectations of children? We all want them to be safe, healthy, and happy. But the habit of being a happy person has to be fostered in the early child development stage. This will help your kid deal with personal and professional relationships confidently.

Here are the 6 secrets of raising a healthy and happy child:

Build a strong bond

A child who feels a strong emotional connection with others will be happy. But the foundation for such connections must be laid in the form of parent-child-sibling bond. When you foster healthy connections, your kid will grow up feeling loved. Such a child will rarely develop bad habits like smoking, drugs, or drinking.

Avoid overindulgence

It is a mistake to overindulge your kid with toys and possessions. Your purpose is to make him/her happy but this gives the wrong signal. There is a very thin line between pampering and spoiling a child. If you cross this line repeatedly, your child will develop the wrong impression that money and possessions take precedence over family and friends.

Do not coddle

As parents, we are not responsible for every emotion that a kid experiences. Emotions like sadness, anger, frustration, etc. are part of life and your kid should be allowed to experience and cope with them. Instead of over-protecting your child from such feelings, you can teach how to deal with these emotions and bounce back into a cheerful state of mind. Also, keep a good balance between spending time together and giving space to each other.

Be happy

Your kid will take his/her cue from your behaviour. The best way to raise a happy child is by being happy. If you are relaxed, smiling, cheerful, and usually speaking in a pleasant tone, the child will develop the same habits. When surrounded by a happy family, the kid will learn to find joy in interrelationships and togetherness.

Teach responsibilities

Everyone has an inherent wish to be involved with others and be liked by them. Even a toddler does not want to be excluded from the family activities. Your toddler will feel included when you give him simple tasks. As the kid learns to perform these tasks properly, your kid will develop a sense of achievement and pride in a job well done. Even small jobs like feeding the pet or laying the table will give your child a lot of happiness, especially if you praise his efforts.

Avoid criticism

You may find it difficult to see your child struggle with a task and may criticise with the intent to instruct. On the other hand, to prevent failure you may feel tempted to take over the task rather than letting your toddler struggle with it. The right thing to do is to just guide verbally and let the child complete the given task. You must make allowances for failure because kids learn from their mistakes.

The most beneficial trait of raising a happy child at home is that your kid will grow into a cheerful and confident adult.

Categories
Parenting and Childcare

8 Tips on Confident Parenting

Parenting is a stressful experience for most of us. Well-meaning but bad advice from relatives and friends adds to the confusion. You may often ask yourself, “Am I feeding the baby enough?” or “Should I give full-fat milk to increase the baby’s weight?” These self-doubts may plague you till you start feeling you are a bad parent. Which is definitely not true! Every parent makes the most effort to provide the best for the child. Here is a list of few ideas on self-confident parenting.

Ignore bad advice

Some of the common bad advice you might get is feeding fatty milk and cereals for weight gain. Another very common suggestion is giving antibiotics every time your baby has even a mild cold.

Never make drastic changes in the baby’s diet or administer strong medications without consulting the paediatrician. As long as your kid is active, doesn’t have a fever, and retains all the feeds without retching, you have nothing to worry about.

Opt for isolation in distress

When your baby is bawling and inconsolable, take the child to another room till you can calm down the baby in private. Having a kindly audience giving conflicting advice will cause more distress, both to you and the child.

Never feel guilty

No one is born with parenting experience so all of us make some mistakes. Never allow yourself to develop a guilt complex about these small errors. Just learn from them and try never to repeat them. Move on and continue parenting with confidence.

Increase exposure to emotions

Your baby will learn how to handle emotions from your reactions and moods. It is not necessary to shield your kid from all negative emotions. Your child will learn to handle emotions better by seeing you sensibly deal with them.

Follow your gut feeling

Our parenting instincts are usually very strong. Accordingly, our thoughts and actions will always be with the child’s wellbeing in mind. Once you have decided to feed something to the baby or do anything else for the child, avoid self-doubts. Just go ahead and do it!

Ignore Comparison

Friends or relatives with kids of the same age may ask nasty questions. They will ask why your kid is not walking yet or speaking at least a few words! Comparisons are fruitless. Although there are general guidelines on early child development, children learn speech and motor movements at different levels. Even siblings may develop at different speeds.

Maintain a record

Keep a ready reckoner on the baby’s temperature, frequency, and quantity of feed, urine, and stools, frequency of colic pains, sleep pattern, etc. Carry this information when you visit the paediatrician. You will never feel lost or confused when the doctor asks questions.

Avoid over-parenting

A little bit of healthy neglect is necessary. Coddling your baby to prevent a crying bout is not always a good idea. Even tiny babies know how to take advantage of a fussing parent.

Enjoy every moment of calm and confident parenting!

Categories
Parenting and Childcare

Baby Proof Your Home for Safety and Comfort

Baby proofing your house before ushering in the newborn is a task you will willingly take. You want the home to be set up as safe as possible for your little darling. This requires pre-planning because you want the best for the child.

It will take several months for your baby to start crawling. But once the baby arrives you will be too busy attending to the child’s needs to have time for the house. So here are some child-proofing tips for your home:

Baby Proofing the house for safety

  • The first step towards making your house child proof is preparing for emergencies. Some of the steps you need to take are:
  • Install electrical switches and plug points at a higher elevation so that they are out of reach of children
  • Fix door stoppers
  • If you are painting the nursery (or house), ensure that the work is done a few months before delivery
  • Stock-up the medicines and keep a first-aid kit handy
  • Install at least one landline so that you can make calls even when the mobile battery has drained
  • Keep the pediatrician’s phone number handy
  • If you are using a baby mosquito net, ensure that there are no loose strings or attachments that might choke the baby
  • Keep your neighbour’s phone numbers handy in case you need help

  • Cover sharp corners of furniture with soft padding
  • Attach non-slip padding under the rugs at the four corners
  • Decrease the lengths of curtain cords or tassels so that they are too high for the baby to reach
  • Fix child locks for drawers that are within a child’s reach
  • Store irons, curling irons, clips, pins, and sharp objects in drawers and out of reach
  • Remove toxic weeds and harmful plants from the house and garden
  • Store cleaning agents, chemical-based cosmetics, etc. out of reach
  • Take care not to keep potentially dangerous objects like buttons, beads, pins, needles, headphones, hearing aids, etc. lying within easy reach of your child
  • Buy a sturdy high chair for your toddler’s meals
  • Purchase nursery furniture according to regulatory safety standards
  • Fix child-proof fasteners on windows.

Baby-proofing the home for comfort

A comfortable baby is a happy baby! So the nursery furniture and the highchair should be designed and set up for maximum comfort. You can place a thick blanket or rug on the changing station so that your baby is not resting on a hard surface during a nappy change.

Secondly, the baby wipes and cotton should be out of the baby’s reach. Babies and toddlers tend to put everything in their mouths. So keeping potentially harmful substances out of reach of your kid is essential for properly baby proofing your house.

Place the crib, playpen, and changing station away from powerful lamps, wall pictures, radiators, curtain cords, and other items that could be dangerous for the baby. Also, avoid carrying out noisy repairs and/or painting work once the baby arrives. Paints give off toxic fumes that are potentially dangerous for the baby as they cause respiratory problems. Loud noises can scare the baby. So all repairs and maintenance work should be carried out before your baby’s homecoming.

Keep your baby safe, healthy, and happy!

Categories
Parenting and Childcare

The Pleasure in Parent-Child Bonding Activities

Bonding with your baby is an indispensable part of early childhood development. Children who receive adequate attention, love, guidance, and nurturing grow up to be stronger individuals. The family bond is stronger when the parent-child bonding activities are enjoyable. A family that laughs together, stays together!

Outdoor Parent-Child Bonding Activities

The primary advantage of parent-child activities outdoors is that you all can enjoy the sunlight and fresh air. The easiest and cheapest activity is, playing together in the nearby park. You can walk, jog, race, or play football. Other equally pleasurable outdoor family-bonding activities include:

  1. Gardening – For you, tasks like weeding, digging, planting, trimming, etc. are chores. But when you include your little toddler to plant seedlings, it becomes an enjoyable activity. You can put each kid in charge of tending one plant.
  2. Nature trails – Plan a nature trail to a nearby forest. While walking along the paths, point out interesting trees, plants, flowers, creepers, birds, and small animals. Believe me, even your toddler will absorb some of the information. Kids have an infinite capacity to store knowledge. Gardening and nature trails will also teach your kids to love nature.
  3. Parent-child classes–There are several parent-toddler classes that you can enrol in. Parents and children can enjoy together, leading to a stronger parent-child bond. Such classes may be art and craft, colouring, music, dance, etc.

Indoor Parent-Child Bonding Activities

In bad weather, you compel your kid to stay indoors. They become restless and irritable. But these fun-filled indoor parent-child bonding activities give a lot of pleasure:

  1. Reading competition – Take turns in reading storybooks aloud. The best reader gets the largest piece of cake. Your toddler gets a turn to read as well, and never mind the gibberish!
  2. Dance session–Clear floor space in the center of the living room. Use CDs or smartphones to play the latest popular tracks. Sing and dance together to your heart’s content!
  3. Artwork – One of the most popular and effective parent-child bonding activities indoors is painting. You can use paper, stones, shells, discarded cans, boxes, or any other surface on which to paint. Always use toddler-safe paints, crayons, and pencils for artwork. Try out Origami (paper folding) and colouring books.
  4. Soft-toy party–The most thrilling way of teaching kids organizational skills is by letting them plan and organize a party for their teddies and dolls. From seating arrangements for the toys to the choice of music, leave it to the kids. You are invitees and so are the soft toys. The kids will love being in charge. Keep some scones, sandwiches, and juice.
  5. Photoshoot–In this activity, each family member wears a favourite outfit and you click pictures in different sections of the house. Make sure you all pose differently for each shot. Make a collage of the pictures and frames.

Irrespective of the parent-toddler bonding methods you use, expressing love with kind words and hugs always strengthens the bond. Listen to your kid’s words and spend a lot of time together.

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Development Parenting and Childcare

Effective Techniques to Improve your Child’s Skills

The first and most important teacher in your child’s life is you! Your baby is gathering new information and developing new skills every day. Teaching various skills at the early child development stage is the most appropriate way of managing their behaviour. Instruction is the common way in which all of us try to teach our kids different skills. But the more effective and pleasant way of teaching children skills by example.

Teaching Children Skills Through Instruction And Example

Telling your child how to do things is the first method we use to develop children’s skills. But this method can sometimes ignite toddler temper tantrums which can turn into rebellion as the child grows. But if you combine examples along with instruction, then you are bound to get a more positive response from your kid.

To make your child follow the instructions, always:

  • Kneel and speak to the child as an equal
  • Speak in simple sentences that your toddler will understand easily
  • Use a calm and pleasant tone of voice
  • Alternate between instructions and requests to get the desired result
  • Avoid using your smartphone while teaching your child skills
  • Make sure a distraction like TV is shut off
  • Use hand or facial gestures to emphasize important aspects of the instruction
  • Use props like drawings, posters, pictures, photos, educational toys, etc. to teach skills.
Set an example
  • Demonstrate a new skill by showing how to do it
  • Ensure your child is watching carefully while you do it
  • Teach your child social skills by following a certain pattern of social behaviour
  • Lay emphasis on some important aspects of a particular task
  • Give your child ample practice
  • Indulge in role-playing games where these skills can be included.
  • For instance, you can play the game “party-party”. While playing, you can demonstrate and teach skills like greeting the guests, laying the table, serving the food, etc.
Teach Skills At The Child’s Pace

You cannot expect your toddler to learn everything at the first attempt. Overloading your kid with instructions will only confuse the child. This can result in frustration and potential toddler temper tantrums. Understand the speed at which your child can assimilate information and teach your child skills at that pace.

Teaching children skills one step at a time is a pleasant way of going about it. This way, you will not overestimate your kid’s abilities. For example, if you are teaching your toddler to wear his footwear, on the first day just teach how to wear socks. The next day, teach your kid to slide the feet into the shoes. Once your toddler has learned to wear the correct shoe on the correct foot, you can teach the skill of fastening the strap or tying the laces. Splitting the task of wearing socks and shoes into three distinct steps is an easy way to teach a child skills.

To sum up, the most effective habit of parents in improving a child’s skills is doing things at the child’s pace. You should neither overestimate nor underestimate your toddler’s capacity to learn new skills

Categories
Development Parenting and Childcare

Tips on Raising Bilingual/Multilingual Kids

If you and your husband speak different languages, you may wish your children to develop learning these languages. Raising bilingual or multilingual children has several benefits. For instance, it can enhance communication and bonds in your immediate and extended family. The most excellent way to assist your children to learn broad vocabulary in different languages is to always use those languages with them, particularly in the early years.

Raising multilingual or bilingual children: the family’s options

The decisions you and your husband make about assisting your children learn to utilise your languages depend on your family situation.

One person-one language

If you and your husband have different languages, the one person-one language model for supporting multilingualism or bilingualism may work for you. For instance, if your language is English and your husband is Tamil, you speak English to your children and your partner speaks Tamil to them. This model can work with more than one language other than English. For instance, if you speak Telegu and your husband speaks Hindi, each speaks their language to your children at home. If you both speak English as well, you might choose to use English with them when out. Your children will also learn to use English at school and in the community.

It is perfect if you both know each other’s languages so none of you feels bad.

Tips for assisting your kid’s bilingual or multilingual development

Take part in games
  • Read and narrate stories in your lingo, and persuade your child to join in.
  • Be creative and use dress-ups!
  • Play games in your language, particularly games that focus on language.
  • Sing songs, play music, and dance in your language. Children love music, and melody is a great way to assist them to remember things.
  • Search for word game apps in your language for your child.
Community activities
  • Search for schools, child care centres or multilingual and bilingual programs that back your child’s use of your language.
  • Organise playtime with other kids who speak a similar language.
  • Organise visits to or from speakers of your language. You can also take your child to visit countries where individuals converse your language as this can enhance his/her interest in the culture and ability to speak the language.
  • Visit the library and borrow magazines, DVDs, CDs, age-appropriate fiction, and picture books in your language.
  • Search for cultural activities that you and your child can do together to tap into your family’s identity and cultural heritage.
At home
  • Observe radio programs in your language, including popular music channels and programs for kids.
  • If you have friends and family who reside overseas, you can encourage your children to associate with them utilizing a video-messaging app.
  • Think a typical recipe from your community and about what your kid is fascinated in – for instance, music, soccer, cooking, TV shows, and so on. Try including your language into these curiosities. For instance, you can find your child’s favourite recipe or cook it together using your language.
  • Watch sports or movies in your language.
  • Assist your child find secure, interest-based online communities in other languages.

Remember that you can teach a kid a second language at any age. However, experts say that under the age of seven is the optimal time for children to find it relatively easy.

Categories
Fun Parenting and Childcare

Tips on How to Design Kids’ Rooms to Foster Creativity

Although most people believe that creativity is a natural talent and that their children either do or do not have: just as all kids are not evenly intelligent, all kids are not creative as well. But in reality, creativity is a skill rather than innate aptitude, and it is a skill that parents can assist their kids to develop.

Every child is born with the ability for imagination and creativity, but that capacity can be limited if, for instance, you do not give them the opportunity and space to use and develop their creative energy. That chiefly means offering your child the liberty to make something creative on their own. But, it is also about being able to test new ideas.

How to foster the creative process?

It is essential to emphasise the creative process. That means showing your appreciation and support for their efforts, not the result. You should offer the stimulation for creativity but do not attempt to control the play. Rather, it enables kids to develop their sense of liberty.

The tools you offer for this creative play should thus not be limited, but leave room for their thoughts to begin. You can change equipment often to keep it thrilling and provide the prospective for them to come up with new ideas, but also an enhanced challenge, so they do not start to become bored with this type of play.

Why make kids room a creative hub?

When we are talking about kids’ room ideas to motivate their imagination, what we mean is that you can create a little station or hub where they have a range of activities and tools on-hand to chase an interest. By setting up a creative station in a kid’s room, you are making it easily accessible, and thus, more likely to be used. You are also providing them ownership of it.

A creative space must welcome clutter and supplies must be put on a show. This motivates your kids to feel like there are no limitations on them. Your children must not inbuilt with any fears about using the space.

Best kids room ideas to support their creative pursuits
Kids room design Ideas for Arts And Crafts

Arts and crafts are favourite for kids and maybe the first area you think of when it comes to bringing out your kid’s creative side.

Craft corner

The craft table is possibly the most renowned creative space in family homes. But, instead of putting out supplies that seem to surpass your kitchen bench or dining table always, you can set up a chosen space in your child’s room and design it nicely.

Chalkboard

Chalkboard paint indicates you can turn the whole wall into a drawing space. On the other hand, you can paint an extensive stripe across the room or even in a corner if you like a more concentrated area for your kid to get creative.

Gallery wall

A gallery wall in the room is the most excellent way of displaying your kids’ latest artistic creations. This way, it also enhances as beautification for your kids’ room that can easily develop as they grow. You can simply utilise frames to exhibit the artwork or twine up a line with some hooks attached to make it simple to convert the art.

Reading corner

Reading can be entertaining for your kids with a cosy spot to enjoy their books. Your kid will love to have a tent at the corner with soft cushions and favourite stuffed animals.

These creative interior designing ideas can motivate and assist offer your kids the room of their wildest dreams.

Categories
Activities Behaviour and Discipline Parenting and Childcare

Helpful Tips for Busy Parents to Keep Homes Clean

It can be difficult to keep the home clean with kids around. Once you get one room cleaned another room becomes a mess. It is an everlasting job of picking it up, put it away, and do again. The good thing is that a home does not always have to be untidy just because children are there.

Here are a few tips and tricks that make home cleaning simpler for parents:

Establish playtime rules and designate a place for toys

Teach your children to take out one toy set at a time. Before they move on to their next playful venture they need to put the previous items away. Kids do not need to spread toys throughout the house; the dining room, living room or even the bedroom of the parents’ can be a toy-free zone. Educate them not to take toys into that one room. Or if you do not have that type of space, then choose an area, like the table or a countertop.

Keep a huge vacant box or container around to throw things in

When you require diving through the areas and cleaning fast, or if anyone leaves something laying out overnight, throw it all in the large basket. This way, it is all in one area and everybody knows where to search for their things. As the basket gets filled, the entire family can get fifteen minutes to vacant it all out and put it away.

Have a cleanup time each day

Just before bedtime, get everything cleaned. Lift everything that has been taken out and put it away. It is so fast and easy, and once you get in the routine, the messes are less irresistible.

Have a specific spot for everything

If no one understands where it goes, then how will they be able to place it away? Ensure everything you bring in the house has a place where it belongs. If you are having a difficult time finding a place for everything, it is time to take inventory and dispose of a few things or rearrange.

Educate kids to clean up what they are playing with

Kids tend to move from one game to another fast. They leave a section of the room scattered with toys and go off to do something else. When you see the games or toys abandoned, have them stop what they are doing and come back to clean it up. They might not like it, but they will get accustomed to it and with your assistance, they will be trained to place their things at the proper place. Make it entertaining by being joyful as they put their things away fast.

Get rid of things

If you see you are getting overrun and it is becoming very challenging to get it cleaned up, then it is time to cleanse Make it a goal to get rid of everything that you do not have space for.

Practice what you teach

If you want the kids to be a bit clean, be sure you are doing your best to stay neat too. Before you go to bed spend a few minutes picking up the things that are around the house.

Let the kids do some of the work

Get the children to do a cleanup of the house once a day with dad or mom. Remember that cleaning together can be entertaining if mom or dad keeps their attitude happy and humorous.

These are some of the simple tips using which you can keep your home neat and clean.