Tag Archives: Supervision

Staying with Kids at Parties

With toddlers and preschoolers, parents generally seem pretty clear on the concept that if their child is invited to a birthday party, they are supposed to stay with the child to help and supervise. But, what about elementary-aged children? How old does a child need to be before a parent stops going along? Can a parent go even if other parents don’t and how old is too old to have mom or dad tagging along? I know that some of you would like hard and fast rules, or at least a page from Emily Post offering the suggested age range … Continue reading →

Is This Your Child? Bullies and Bad Behavior

We have had a marvelous winter snow. I know that for many of you, this is not a very big deal–in fact, it can be pretty common place, but here in the Pacific Northwest–a fluffy white snow with enough accumulation to play in here on the valley floor is a very big deal indeed. This morning, I watched out my window while I was working as a neighborhood dad and his 3-year-old son worked for nearly an hour building what may have been the child’s first snow man. Then, a half-hour later, I watched as a gang of 4, 6-7-year-olds … Continue reading →

Parking Lot Kids

I live in a neighborhood with cul-de-sacs, wide shared driveways and parking lots. As a matter of fact, in the condo/townhouse complex where I live, we have plenty of green space, playgrounds, bike paths and sidewalks—but the young children are often playing unsupervised in the parking lot… I know that this reality isn’t isolated to my neighborhood. For some reason, either parents think that parking lots are a safe place for kids to play, or kids just gravitate to them as open spaces and parents are not intervening. When my own children were little bike-riders, parking lots and shared driveways, … Continue reading →

Would I Watch Over Them ALL The Time If I Could?

When my children were little, I really did want to be a guardian angel following them everywhere they went. I can remember how much I would actually ache when I’d have to be away from the three of them when they were tiny—even if it was just for one over night. Somewhere around the time my kids hit adolescence, I started to feel a bit differently. While I definitely still worry and fuss about them when I don’t know what they are up to, I don’t suppose I want to actually SEE and KNOW everything that they do now! I … Continue reading →

Shower Time: Switching from Baths

My six-year-old daughter, Samantha just started taking showers instead of our usual bath routine. I knew she was ready, because I had taught her how to wash her hair and body. She did it well on her own after some time. We also have a bar on the shower wall that she can hold onto if she feels she’ll fall. The bottom of the tub is covered with a grip-type covering to reduce the risk of falling. How do you know when your child’s ready to have shower time? 1. They wash and rinse their body and hair thoroughly. 2. … Continue reading →