Finding the right preschool for your child is not easy. There are many things to consider and you obviously want to make the right decision for your child’s first step into formal education. Here are 7 factors to consider when picking a preschool for your kid. Curriculum Some preschools place emphasis on a child’s overall development; while there are others where academics are given more importance. As a parent, you need to decide what kind of school environment you want for your child. The activities in your child’s school will depend on the curriculum. These activities will have a significant impact on your child’s mental, physical and emotional development. Some schools emphasize on an imaginative play while other educational modalities are about project-based learning or where set teaching for reading and math is the norm. Safety It is important to find out safety measures at a preschool before you enroll your child. Find out if a nurse is always available for kids during school hours. What kind of safety measures are in the classrooms and at the playgrounds. How do teachers and the support staff handle emergency situations? Remember to ask these questions before you decide on a school. Location The location of your child’s school always matters.

Being a parent is a daunting task and gets even more harrowing if you are the stepmom. Having to be a substitute and entering your partner’s life at a stage where he is estranged from the mother of his children, is surely a messy business. But don’t worry, we have a a few do’s and don’ts that can make the process of acceptance and forbearance easier. Do’s Spend quality time with your stepchildren In order to have a good relationship with your stepchildren, it is imperative to spend quality time with them. Have meaningful, one-on-one interactions with them to ensure that they find comfort in your company. You can make this simpler by spending your private time doing different activities that each of them likes . Your partner should continue to be the parent The need to see their father still fulfilling all his duties as before, is very important to the children. Being convinced that things are just as normal as they were earlier, will make them more readily accept you. It is better to take a backseat and operate as a babysitter or an aunt than as the ‘mother’ that you are not. This will leave you more time for activities that you can do with the kids, thus keeping your partner happy as well.

Babysitting can often turn out to be a tough job which can make you say “ I didn’t sign up for this “. It can bring you to your toes. Being a babysitter or a nanny isn’t an easy job. It involves taking responsibility for a child – from nap times, to meals, and more importantly, the child’s safety. Are you a babysitter, nanny or a parent facing similar kind of difficulties? What if I told you that I have 6 easy and totally safe babysitting games to keep your little ones busy? Color Matching Game This game is totally safe for children and proves to be quite a good learning experience for kids, especially toddlers. You’ll have to first introduce them to the game before letting them play it by themselves. All you need is a plastic tray, pom poms, and some colored balls. You can start by giving the toddler some colored balls and talking about the colors of the balls and the names of the colors. Now all you have to do is make the kid understand the color of the swatches and make them put the balls in the matching swatches. You can watch the kids learn and play, both at once.

Is your baby crying uncontrollably? Well, then there are chances that your baby is suffering from colic. How to find if your baby has colic? Babies normally communicate through crying. If they are hungry, or thirsty, or feeling disturbed, or in pain, they communicate it through crying. Although, there is a difference if your baby has colic. A baby that has colic would be crying continuously for hours in a row, sometimes even for days in a row. If your baby is crying uncontrollably for no apparent reason and continues to cry even after drinking milk, then you must suspect colic. Here is a standard guideline to suspect colic – If your baby, which is otherwise healthy, cries for more than three hours in a day for three or more days of a week, then your baby could have colic Typically, the colic tends to peak when a baby is six weeks old and slowly reduces before the baby is four months old. What to do if you suspect that your baby has colic? If your baby shows signs of colic, it is mandatory that you visit a paediatrician. Sometimes, the pain may be self-limiting, but other times it may require medical intervention.