MANOLOGY
BY ADAM BAILEY
7
WAYS TO ENTERTAIN TODDLERS without Electronics
Y
ou are somewhere in public. Maybe it’s in your doctor’s waiting room. Or maybe it’s in your favorite restaurant, and it’s taking longer than you expected. Your child is getting restless. And irritable (I mean REAL irritable). You start to panic. What do you do?
The simple notion that, as a parent, you turn to your phone or tablet whenever your child becomes bored, or unhappy, is not the kind of life-lesson we need to be teaching our children. Admittedly, it’s very tempting to quickly shove an iPhone into a child’s hands—alleviating any potential temper-tantrum. That being said, don’t you want them growing up with the ability to entertain themselves? Listed below are a few fun,
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SEPTEMBER 2021
| SBMAG.NET
brain-boosting ideas to keep on deck should a meltdown start to arise. All can be modified, within reason, to meet your child’s level of cognition for spontaneous fun and endless entertainment. Give it a try! What’s the worst that could happen? 1. I Spy Something… This is classic entertainment and is good for all ages. Pick an object both you and your kid can see, and say, “I spy something .” If your child has a modest vocabulary, as well as a basic understanding of the alphabet, fill in the blank with a letter. “I spy something, and it begins with the letter B.” It can help if you sound it out: “Ba-Ba-Ba.” For younger kids who may only know shapes or colors, substitute those categories instead. I spy something blue, like the sky.” You can also describe the object’s properties: “I spy something, and it’s rough and shiny and smooth.”
