Kid In Development Services - KIDS

Do’s and Don’ts of Feeding Toddlers and Children Under 3 Years Old

DO NOT:
Turn meal times into a battlefield.
Allow your child to use food refusal to gain your attention.
Let your child use food to manipulate the family members.
Bribe, cajole or force your child to eat.
Top up the meal with milk or snacks.
"Entertain" your child with the television, toys or games to coax him to eat.
Drag meal times for longer than 30 minutes.
Expect your child to finish every meal.
Dream-feed your toddler (i.e. feed milk when asleep) to prevent excessive weight gain and dental caries.

DO:
Respect your child’s preferences as children have individual tastes for textures and flavours.
Offer the same foods everyone else is eating but make sure there is at least one food he likes.
Offer your child all the foods the family eats, as tastes change over time, so previously-rejected foods may become acceptable a few months later.
Remove distractions by turning off the television, removing toys and electronic gadgets like tablet computers, smartphones. Instead, allow your child to sit at the dining table and interact with the rest of the family.
Cut down on sweet drinks such as fruit juices and ensure that milk intake is not excessive. Milk intake of 500ml per day would be adequate for toddlers who are already eating a varied diet of 3 main meals per day. .
Be a good role model for your child by enjoying meal times together so that your child can observe your skills for eating.
Have realistic expectations by offering only child portions.
​Allow your child to feed himself/herself, including using fingers.
Involve your child in food preparation, where suitable.

7 Fun Indoor Games to Help Your Toddler Improve Balance

1. Standing on One Foot
Although this exercise is simple for you, it could be a challenge for your child. If they’re having trouble standing on one foot, do this game next to a wall so they can hold on for a bit of support.

Challenge your toddler to stand further from the wall each time you play, and let them put a piece of tape on the floor themselves so they can keep track.

Eventually, your toddler won’t even need the wall. Challenge each other to see who can stand on one foot the longest — the winner gets a treat!

2. Ladder Bridge
Take a sturdy ladder, preferably a wooden one, and support it with pillows at each end so that the ladder lies horizontally just a few centimeters or inches above the ground.

Challenge your toddler to walk on the ladder from one side to the other, carefully balancing with each step. As they learn how to walk, you can suspend the ladder at different heights to make it more challenging.

3. Yoga Time
One of the most effective ways to improve your child’s balance (and yours!) is with yoga.

Try simple poses, such as tree pose, cat and cow pose, airplane, mountain pose, downward-facing dog, and the forward bend. These yoga exercises will help your toddler improve balance, as well as cultivate self-health and body awareness.

Our very own Jordan Metzler teaches yoga and dance studios for children of all ages >

4. Surf’s Up!
Pick a flat and sturdy surface, like a wooden board, that’s wide enough to stand on with a spread stance.

Place a cylinder underneath — like a tennis ball container or empty shampoo bottle — and instruct your child to stand with feet a little wider than hip-width. Balance back and forth trying to keep the board on the cylinder.

Add some tropical music to make it even more fun. You can get creative once your little tyke has gotten the hang of it. Challenge them to freeze dance or to try moving feet closer together and further apart.

5. Indoor Hopscotch
This is one of the most beloved balance games for toddlers. Use tape to create nine squares for the hopscotch course on the floor surface and get a coin or stone handy.

The first player will throw the coin into the first square without allowing it to touch the lines or bounce outside the box. If successful, they’ll hop one foot on the squares until they reach the top box.

On the way back, the player must pick up the coin. The game continues until you’ve reached the final square.

6. Freeze!
Play your child’s favorite music and have a dance party. Then, stop the music and freeze!

If your child wants to win the game, they’ll have to freeze when the music stops and wait until it plays again. This challenges their body’s ability to move freely and suddenly stop, helping your child develop balance.

7. Tightrope Walking
Use a jump rope or piece of string to create a line that your toddler has to walk as if it were a balance beam, placing the heel of one foot in front of the toes of the other foot, step by step. Add toys on the line as obstacles, and challenge them to walk backward.

Take Action
Early intervention services are provided to assist a child in five developmental areas:

Motor/Physical (sits, walks)
Cognition (pays attention, solve problems)
Language/Communication (talks, understands)
Social/Emotional (plays/interacts with others, has confidence)
Adaptive/Self-Help (eats, dresses self)

We offer early intervention services that focus on helping your child and family within your daily life, culture, values, and priorities.

K.I.D.S. believes that the goal of family-centered early intervention is to empower families by:

Assisting them in locating, accessing, and utilizing services and resources within their community.
Providing families with new information and strategies to use in their everyday routines and activities that will support their child's development.

Early Intervention Program for Infants & Toddlers

Serving Charleston, Horry, Georgetown, Berkeley, Dorchester Counties and NOW serving Orangeburg, Richland, Lexington Williamsburg County, and Calhoun Counties of South Carolina

Service coordination to help bring together the different people, information, community resources, and other services that will support your child and family. Others who will work with you and offer support may include a physical therapist, speech pathologist, early childhood teacher, your child’s doctor, or other professionals.

5 Tips for Playing With Your Toddler and Pre-Schooler

Pretend… everything! Are you going to the grocery store later? Play grocery store. It may be the thick of winter, but you can pretend swimming in a pool or on a beach. Even driving around town to run errands can be a rich source of pretend – preschoolers love to be drivers of imaginary cars because it makes them feel powerful and act like the grown-ups in their lives. If you’re having difficulty thinking of pretend scenarios, look no further than your child’s favorite picture books.

In, Out, Up, Down, Under. The “preposition game” is a fun one to play when children start to understand the concepts of “in,” “out,” “up,” “down,” “under,” and “over.” Give them a stuffed animal and a direction: “Put Paddington under the pillow!” or “What happens when Paddington goes in the box? Show me!”

I Spy. Don’t forget the classics! “I spy with my little eye… something blue!” The beauty of this game is that you can play it in situations where you are waiting – in a doctor’s office, at the airport, standing in line at the post office. If you’re home and are less constrained, you can create an “I Spy” poster or display together: cut out pictures from magazines and glue onto a blank page.

Use “True” Toys. Toys with batteries, lights and flashy parts may seem better than an empty Kleenex box and a washcloth, but research shows that the simpler the toy, the richer the play. “True” toys like balls, scarves, simple trucks and dolls are more likely to engage the imagination by allowing children to think beyond what they see and create a new reality – rather than follow the prescribed narrative of a Saturday-morning-TV toy.

Watch, Comment and Ask. More than anything, your attention is what matters the most when you and your child sit down to play together. Watch your child carefully and make comments about what he or she is doing. And then don’t be afraid to ask questions and share suggestions! “I noticed that all of the foods in this bowl are yellow. Do yellow foods taste different from blue ones?”

Parents can also get discouraged comparing the growth and development of their own child against that of other children.

It is important to keep in mind that for each milestone, there is a range of ages during which a child will normally meet it.

What does your toddler love to eat?

Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range.

It is important for parents to

"learn the signs and act early".

Visit the "Learn the Signs. Act Early" website for great, easy to read information about childhood developmental milestones and delays!