If you are interested in teaching your children to look after their money well you will like the following activity suitable for children 3 years and older (or whenever you can be sure they don't swallow stuff unexpectedly). If you haven't already got one, get your little champ a savings box (or make them one) - make sure you can get the coins out without having to break the box. Go to the bank and get $10 in various coins. Toss the coins on the floor or a table and get junior to put them in the savings box. Once they are all in, open the box and toss them out again, etc. This activity is great for practising counting and for introducing the concept of money (i.e. you can use "this coin" to buy a ball in the $1 shop). You can also use the coins to get your child to group them by colour or size etc.

"All by myself" - have you heard you little one say this over and over again when you want to do something for them, or they have seen you do something? This sentence represents a huge step in their development and their long journey to complete independence. Whether it is putting food on a plate, getting dressed, jumping off a bench or tyring out a new toy. As dads we've got a great opportunity when they reach this stage (typically between 2 and 3) to encourage our children to do things all by themselves (perhaps with a bit of assistance in the end ... but still). It's a huge confidence boost to the little ones if they can perform a task that dad used to do by themselves (give lots of praise). It's also a sign that your little princess is beginning to assert herself. So it's also important to keep this natural desire for independence and control in balance so she doesn't end up "all by herself" in the playground because she doesn't know how to take turns or ends up dominatinating play.

And since it's Friday I thought I might as well include the most appropriate song on this topic ...

Enjoy,

Stef

Today's activity in our "learning with dad series" is actually a pretty cool game you can play as a whole family. It's a memory game where you show your little champ (or everyone) a selection of objects (e.g. toys, household objects, etc) and then cover them up with a blanket. Then ask them what they remember (if you are playing this as a family with older kids or adults - get everyone to write down what they remember).

A variation of the game is where you first show all objects and then get everyone to cover their eyes (or blindfold them) and remove an object. Then ask your child (or the whole family) what's missing. You can gradually increase the difficulty of the game by using a wider selection of objects and removing more items.

Enjoy!

-Stefan

Have you got a little champ who is really not keen on going to bed? Big dramas, tantrums and a lot of crying at bed time? Here are a few different strategies you can try out:

* Options - give your little one a range of options about what order they want to do things (before going to bed) such as reading a book, brushing teeth, putting on the jammies, etc. Also ask them to choose a book, etc. It's essentially a distraction technique and is aimed at getting you out of a deadlock situation.

* No sleep - tell your little on that she doesn't HAVE to sleep ... she just needs to have the lights off and stay in her bed. Get some "glow in the dark" stars or animals which can present the perfect reason for switching off the light. Chances are once they are lying on the bed for 15 minutes (trying to stay up) they'll be asleep anyway.

We had to move house a few weeks back and it was our first move with a child. Right away when we were planning the move I realised that things are quite different when you move house with a toddler. So here's a bit of starter for 10 list for things to consider when you need to move with a small child. We did the move ourselves - some things will probably be different when you use professional movers.

1) The move takes about 3 times as long as when you're on your own
2) You need to plan, plan, plan to know where your child is at any one time and where his/her toys, food, bed, etc are
3) Shifting furniture out/in is quite dangerous with a small child running around. Make sure you've got someone attending to the child at ALL TIMES (unless you can confine him/her to a safe place away from the action)
4) A travel cot comes in really handy when you're in between places or the bed isn't set up yet

It's never too early to start introducing your children to a bit of housework!

-Stefan