At the age of 18 months, a typical toddler will spend about 30 seconds on an activity, or a couple of minutes among multiple activities, before wanting attention from a caregiver. So, if it feels as though your young child has a pretty short attention span, you’re right—and that’s perfectly normal. 

By the time that same child is three years old, though, he or she may spend three to eight minutes on an interesting activity; by the age of five, ten to 15 minutes if the activity is appealing. To find out more about typical attention spans by age, you can consult this chart by ParentingPress.com.

Now, here are four strategies to improve your child’s attention span.

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“Learning to spell well is extremely useful if we want children to become confident writers . . . If they’re confident spellers, they’re also much more likely to make adventurous vocabulary choices, selecting the exact word to communicate their message.” (Oxford University Press)

And, it just makes sense that, if you want your child to learn how to spell well, you make it fun. 

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flu season is usually defined as fall and winter. That’s because although influenza viruses that cause the flu exist in the United States all year long, illnesses from the viruses generally start to increase in October and reach a peak somewhere between December through February. That said, flu season can last until May. No matter what time of year it is, it makes sense to know how to respond if your young children catch the flu.

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Some days, Parents.com says, “your child will eat as if he hasn’t seen food in days; on others, he’ll play with his meal or refuse everything, even the toaster waffles he’d eat every meal if you’d let him.”

Sound familiar?

An expert quoted in the article shares that, because one of the few areas where kids have control is in what they eat, they “aren’t shy about making demands,” which can lead to power struggles.

Here’s help with common toddler feeding problems.

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It can be tough finding fun learning opportunities to do during the winter, but a site called SteamPoweredFamily.com shares fun STEM activities (science, technology, engineering and math) that are entertaining for the whole family.

Here are some fun ways to educate the kids while having fun this winter.

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Yes, it’s that time of year again — when more children wake up saying they don’t feel well. They might be coughing and sneezing or complaining about a sore throat, or their symptoms could include vomiting and diarrhea.

No matter what your child’s specific symptoms include, this typically raises two important questions:

• Is my child too sick to go to school?
• Is my child contagious?

Sometimes, the answers to these questions are pretty clear and, if you can answer “yes” to either of them, then it’s time for your child to stay home. But what if the answers aren’t entirely clear? This post will help.

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Imaginative play benefits young children in multiple ways, with four significant benefits being:

• social and emotional skills development
• language development
• thinking skills development
• the development of symbolic thinking

It’s important to understand the benefits of pretend play because that demonstrates why it’s such an important component of your child’s life. But that raises the question of how, exactly, you can encourage imaginative play. And, this post will share five simple but ingenious ways to do exactly that.

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You might hear people mention croup and not know, exactly, what it is. That’s not uncommon. At its simplest, croup is an infection that causes swelling in the:

• trachea (often called the windpipe)
• larynx (often called the voice box)

It’s common and typically occurs in children ages six months to 12 years of age, with children aged one to three the most likely to become infected. Croup is usually caused by a virus, one spread through coughing and sneezing (although there is a bacterial form of the illness).

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If you’re feeling cooped up this winter and feel as though there isn’t anything to do with your family, relax and smile! NortheastOhioFamilyFun.com has 100 ideas—and we’ve got other great sources to share for even more fun winter activities for 2018-2019. Each of them can take place at home, close to home or within a couple hours away from home.

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Sippy cups are ingenious inventions, preventing spills and any associated cleanups, and can make the transition from bottle to regular cup much easier—but, sometimes, children love their sippy cups so much that they don’t want to give them up. It can be tempting to stick with these cups, figuring there isn’t any harm in doing so; but, according to some experts, its prolonged use can delay speech development. Plus, because your child is sucking up the fluids, not actually drinking them, this causes their baby teeth to come in ongoing contact with sugar found in milk and juice, and that can lead to tooth decay.

So, to help, here are tips to ditch the sippy, once and for all!

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