![\"3](\"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/app\/uploads\/raising-kids-title-grey-final-min-1.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Giving kids a good start in life is vital to ensure they grow into happy, healthy, fulfilled, functional adults. They say it takes a community to raise a child and so input from extended family, friends, carers and teachers is vital, but we all know the job of raising boys and raising girls begins with us as parents. That said, how do we do this while taking care of ourselves?\u00a0Here are three secrets to raising kids without\u00a0going\u00a0grey!<\/p>\n
Kids health issues aside, prior to formal schooling commences, it\u2019s important to nurture play, model a love of learning and teach a spirit of giving.<\/p>\n
Many parents don\u2019t understand how vital play is in a child\u2019s development. However, letting our kids play \u2013 whether it\u2019s using toys, elements they find in nature or wholly their imagination \u2013 not only helps them gain knowledge about the world around them, but helps them achieve independence, self-confidence and unlimited potential.<\/p>\n
![\"Raising](\"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/app\/uploads\/raising-kids-little-girl-playing-blocks-low.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Walk into any toy store or toy section of a department store and you\u2019ll be inundated by a marvellous and not so marvellous array of toys. Some of the cheap, plastic, mass produced toys, while not necessarily a physical health hazard, are not designed with the idea of play in mind. Others may feature an educational component, but they\u2019re easy to break and practically disposable.<\/p>\n
Peter Emmenegger in Natural Child Magazine<\/a> highlights recent research that shows \u201cchildren who are encouraged in imaginative play prove to be more creative a few years later, have a richer vocabulary, are less impulsive and aggressive and often become leaders with their playmates.\u201d<\/p>\n Given that\u2019s surely something we all aspire for our children, Emmenegger recommends selecting toys according to their merit. This might mean:<\/p>\n “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” \u2013 Albert Einstein<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Playing make believe is the way kids learn about the world around them. Their creativity sees them thinking outside box, all the fundamental ingredients for ingenuity to thrive. Open your child\u2019s doors to possibilities today. Let them play!<\/p>\n We\u2019ve all been there. We\u2019ve experienced how soul destroying it is to learn from a boring teacher or the feeling of uselessness when we give up on something because it\u2019s too hard.<\/p>\n Contrary to popular belief, inspiring a love of learning is not about the end result of your child getting top grades. It\u2019s actually more about inspiring your child to enjoy learning even when they\u2019re not getting top grades.<\/p>\n If your child enjoys learning, he or she will find passion within their own spirit when a teacher falls short of providing it for them. So if they love Math but hate Mrs Muller, they will still be driven to excel.<\/p>\n Your child already has a giving spirit. She will give the dog a treat. He will give grandma a hug. Calling that \u2018giving\u2019 gives kids an understanding of how easy giving can be. Then it\u2019s really just about extending and growing that circle of giving to a wider network of worthy recipients!<\/p>\n The trick is letting them choose. While giving to a cancer charity may be your<\/em> preferred choice, your child, for example, may have a love of animals and instead be keen to give to an animal shelter. Exposing your child to understand that there are other children less fortunate than they are or that some people treat animals cruelly isn\u2019t about making them sad. In fact, it\u2019s the complete opposite. It\u2019s about showing them they can help now and into the future. Of course, you \u2013 as a parent \u2013 know your own and your child\u2019s best boundaries. If a YouTube video of animal cruelty is too confronting, don\u2019t show it to them. Like with any topic, find materials suitable for their age group.<\/p>\n Make giving fun! Having the whole family involved in charity fun runs or events like Relay For Life is a great way to show how it feels to conquer a challenge in the name of a giving. Make giving a regular activity, not just something that happens at Christmas time (although Christmas giving is important too!).<\/p>\n Acts of play, learning and giving are wonderful to capture on camera. They often involve fun, colour and laughter (not a grey hair in sight!). Place your child\u2019s play on canvas<\/a> and enjoy those important moments now and into the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Giving kids a good start in life is vital to ensure they grow into happy, healthy, fulfilled, functional adults. They say it takes a community to raise a child and so input from extended family, friends, carers and teachers is vital, but we all know the job of raising boys and raising girls begins with … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raising-children"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2512"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2897,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions\/2897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"Raising](\"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/app\/uploads\/raising-kids-mother-daughter-nature-low.jpg\")
<\/p>\n2. Model A Love Of Learning<\/h2>\n
![\"Raising](\"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/app\/uploads\/raising-kids-cute-smart-blackboard-low.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
3. Teach A Spirit of Giving<\/h2>\n
![\"Raising](\"https:\/\/www.thecanvasfactory.com.au\/blog\/app\/uploads\/raising-kids-mother-son-flowers-low.jpg\")
<\/p>\n