Dr. Bra Vada Garrett-Akinsanya stops by
TIPical Mary Ellen to share ideas with host Mary Ellen Pinkham for making children feel special.
- Create a play wallet together. Make fake business cards and a driver's license (see photo). The child will enjoy making the wallet and playing with it, and the "pretend" documents will make the child feel important.
- Find a child's baby book and read it to him or her. Tell him or her stories about when they were babies.
- Set aside an evening for the whole family to get together to watch old home movies.
- Record a child singing over one of his favorite songs. Children will love listening to the tapes when they get older.
- Make a tape recording of one of a child's favorite books. They will still be able to listen to the book even if a parent does not have time to read it.
- Proclaim your child king or queen for the day. Dress them up in regal costumes, and let them have special privileges such as picking a TV show to watch or taking the day off from chores.
- Look through the paper and read appropriate articles together. Clip out favorites and help the child fill a scrapbook with articles.
- Tell your child about your own childhood while looking through an old family photo album together. This can also be done with extended family members.
- Help develop a child's imagination by writing a book together. Write the story on plain white paper and use cardboard, a hole punch and some string to assemble the book. If a child is too young to write, let him or her add illustrations. Have older children write and illustrate the book by themselves, then read it to the family.
- Send a child a card in the mail for no particular reason. Receiving mail always makes a child feel special.
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