Celebrating Parenting Week and Toybox Parents
“We believe in parents as first educators”
Early Years recognises the important role parents play in their children’s lives, they are the first educators, they are responsible for all areas of their children’s lives from raising to educating.
Top Parenting Tips
To mark parenting week and to celebrate all parents, Early Years Toybox team has worked with our Toybox parents to recommend top parenting tips:
“Get them out in the fresh air. They get to run around and you get time to breathe”.
“I just let them do their own thing and deal with it later. You’ll go mad if you tell them off for every little thing”.
“You need to get out even for a walk away from the house”.
“Have patience”.
“Give them healthy fruit and vegetables to eat”.
“Encourage them to be active and fit both indoors and outdoors”.
Games and Play Inspiration
While parenting has changed over the generations and parents face new challenges, some childhood games still exist and are played today. Some of these games have evolved over time into new versions, however they still bring children and families together making them laugh, supporting creativity and encouraging physical activity.
The top games still played today by Toybox families include:
40-40/Tag
Kerbs
Skipping
Hopscotch
Hide and Seek
Integrating real household objects into play
Using outdoor materials such as leaves and stones
Reading aloud to your children
Reading and talking to your child is crucial, reading for pleasure can widen children’s vocabulary, social and cognitive development, comprehension and understanding of the world. Reading aloud with or without storybooks can be enjoyable for everyone. The Toybox team have created these short storytelling videos to support parents in reading aloud to their children, or to watch with your children while you have a cup of tea and a break from the amazing job you do.
Being a Parent - what does it mean to you?
Our Toybox parents give us their perspective on the role of being a parent.
Quotes from Mums and Dads:
“A lovely feeling.”
“You’re not priority but you wouldn’t change it.”
“It’s an experience you can’t forget about.”
“To see their wee smiles on their faces and to know they are happy.”
“It means everything! My kids are my best friends. Wouldn’t change it for the world. Love being a Mum to them”.
“It means everything to me”.
“It makes me feel happy and proud”.
Happy Parenting Week to all!