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Kids like ALL kinds of toys. They enjoy playing toys in the beginning, heck, all throughout their childhood. Some even don’t outgrown their fondness of toys. But not all toys are the same. Some can be educational and fun while others are downright hazardous. It is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that the toys are safe for your children.

And so, here are some guidelines to choose the right toys for your child:

1. Choose toys that are related to your child’s hobbies and interests. If she likes playing dolls, then you should buy a miniature cooking set of toy pots, pans, stoves, etc.

2. Buy toys that suit your child’s stage of development. You may want to buy your kid the latest Barbie doll but she’s still a year old, then opt for colorful mobiles instead. In the same manner, don’t buy Guitar Hero for prep-age kids who hardly knows how to turn them on.

3. Settle for safe and child-friendly toys. Avoid buying metallic toys for small kids, or those playthings that have rough pointed edges that could potentially hurt them. The toys should be smooth and preferably non-abrasive.

4. Choose well-built toys. Let’s face it. Some toys are not sturdy enough and durable are expected. These toys break easily and could pose health hazards for your kids. When choosing toys, choose those that are solidly built and could give your kids countless weeks of enjoyment. But hey, even the sturdiest of toys can break in a day if they are with strong hands.

5. Opt for the not-so expensive ones. My point here, there is a strong possibility that they will just break into pieces even before you have cooked dinner which by you spent less than the toy you bought for your kid.

These are just some ways and I know being a parent brings out the creative juices in a person. Picking up toys for them may seem a trivial matter, but then, it is still essential for the development of a child.

The question:  Why are some most adults mean to children?

We all know that adults need to be consistent, always listening, reasonable, and encouraging when it comes to dealing with children.  But the problem is, we have not been taught to defuse our anger.  As a result, most adults carry around unresolved anger.  Think of lava. Something irritating happens and the volcano goes off!

But this is not enough reason to vent our unresolved emotions to the poor, innocent children.  In reality, they become our shock absorbers and we thought they’ll just forget about it once we let them watch tv or play all dong long, but this is not the case, they end up saving all those hidden fears and become angry adults when they reach their older years, and so this cycle will just be inherited and we all become angry people who just go around feeling bad.

So, before inflicting anger on the kids,  see if you belong on the category of those who dump their negative emotions to the children.

1.  Spanks with every little annoying thing. One reason why it not appropriate to spank children is because parents who hold unto unresolved anger can become so explosive are likely to harm a child.

2.  Says negative words almost all the time. A small child is like unmolded clay.  Every word, each action, makes an impression on the clay.  When a child grows up with more negative than positive imprints, the child’s self-esteem is at risk.

3.  Bombards kids with relentless unkindness. As there are many stories of parents separating, the children are the number ones victims of this separations.  The parents become more distant not only from society but more so from their children because they don’t know how to go on. The children, in some cases, become the parents to their parents.

4.  Saying hurtful things to them about the other parent. The child’s heart will be divided over this bad-mouthing over each other. A child needs to have room to love each parent.

5.  Picks on the child about weight, aptitude in school, clothes, friends, habits or anything else in their life. Criticism kills and children thrive on encouragement.  While it is essential to stop a child from doing something wrong, it is not necessary to drown the child in anger to prove your point.

One effect of storing anger is rage.  And venting to children will result in them storing rage as well.  Every child does not need anger but rather needs love, nurturing, guidance, and encouragement. Children must not be the dumping ground for adult’s unresolved frustration and anger.

When you have a hyperactive toddler of two to five years old in home, you need to keep your surroundings clean, orderly, and safe. The bathroom, an area frequently used by household members,is also a frequent place of accidents for small children.  As such, bathrooms should always be checked and kept safe for your children’s sake as well as yours.  Here is a list of things parents should and guardians should remember in keeping their bathrooms in proper order:

1. Avoid clutters of bottles, canisters ans sprays. Put your shampoo, body lotion and cleansing cream containers in a place where children cannot reach them.  Similarly, toilet cleaners and other bathroom chemicals should be kept in a secured place as they contain very harmful and toxic components.

2.  Keep gadgets and tools like razor,scrubber,blow dryer in a secured cabinet away from your children’s reach. Objects like these can arouse a child’s curiosity and can cause harm.

3.  When bathing your child in a tub, make sure to put on a non-slip mat at the bottom of the tub to avoid slipping which could lead to serious injuries. Also, keep them from getting out of the tub, moving or running around by giving them toys that will catch their attention and stay seated in the bathing area.

4.  Make sure to keep the bath soaps in the proper container after bathing. Don’t just leave them around the bathing are where children could play with them or where they can be stepped upon and cause a slipping accident.

5.  Don’t allow your child to play and tinker with the faucet and shower knob,especially when there is a heater attached to them. They can accidentally  turn on the knob and could scald themselves with hot water.

The bathroom is one of the relieving parts of the house and can be of those dangerous rooms as well.  So, start teaching your kids the safe way to use the bathroom, making sure to guide them accordingly and impact alertness and caution.

Let’s face it, having kids is like living in a roller coaster of emotions. When one has a kid or a couple of them, one learns to be a Jack-of-all-trades and all the untapped potential are being tapped just to make things better for the children. Take for example my next-door neighbor, she was never a singer, well she actually hates it. But when she had a baby, I can hear her singing all kinds of sleep-inducing impromptu lyrics just to make her baby boy stop crying. And to add to her new found skills is to market the veggies to her now 3 year old baby boy. Sometimes, she would knock on my door to get help to make Simon eat his brocolli.

Thing is, I see myself in Simon. See the present tense there? Like him, I don’t like vegetables, no matter how aesthetically pleasing or nutritionally gifted they are. But with age comes regrettable wisdom, I regret that I wasn’t able to appreciate how my dad patiently asked me to eat even just two spoonfuls of brocolli.

And so, my neighbor, being the Jack that she is, is finding more creative and child-friendly ways to make her son appreciate and love eating those food he doesn’t want to chew.

So, have come up with a few tips on how to make those picky eaters not be so picky anymore.

1. Keep the food servings small. A child’s stomach is approximately the size of his fists. So, avoid making them eat more than what they can store.

2. Dip it. Children find dunking foods - and their fingers- in a tasty dip pure fun. Try cottage cheese dips, cream cheese, fruit preserves, guacamole, peanut butter, yogurt or pureed fruits or vegetables.

3. Serve the food on a nibble tray. Offering them a variety of goodies every meal time will make them feel that they have choices and are not confined to one single food. Hey, everyone wants to have options as much as possible, even the toddlers.

4. Feed them in a child-size table and chair. Their choosy behavior may not be because of the food but because of where they eat. Well, it’s because their feet dangle when they are seated in their high chair in front of the family table.

5. Sprinkle their food with colorful toppings. A new or less-desirable food with one of their favorites will help disguise the former and is a way to broaden the finicky eater’s diet.

I’m sure you have a lot of ways to make the tots eat the food we ourselves avoided when we have kids. You always mumble, ” Where did I go wrong?”, and it’s really not about you, but it’s because they are always on the go, unable to sit still for anything. Snacking their way through the day may seem unthinkable at first, but desperate times call for desperate measures.