Fancy dress Regular dressing for our child itself seems a great job and the intention is to do it well. There are so many opportunities to dress the child in the latest dresses and use accessories to accentuate their innocence. Fancy dress is a great occasion for parents to get into creative thinking and use skills that portray the message well.  Understanding the theme for fancy dress is very important. If it’s the first time to dress your child then comfort plays an important part. An uncomfortable child will be reluctant to go on stage and it is quite a downer for the child. Usually parents are very enthusiastic during the competition. Any competition is incomplete without the spirit. Loads of fun, applause, appreciation and memories clicked via fotos are a wonderful way to capture the precious moment.  In case the topic is general, then understand your child’s favorite theme like a vegetable or a toy. The ideas can be translated into a chart board, card board, color sketches and easy hangings around the neck to convey the theme. This is usually acceptable for the child too. It is strange, that kids tend to be more creative and suggest various themes or ideas as they grow.  Under 5 age groups can be also dressed in apt ready pick up dresses available in shops on hire basis. Rehearsals at home will be important to mend seams and loose dresses. This will also boost the confidence of the child and rehearsing the dialogues with dramatic expressions will also be a nice idea.  For your child’s birthday party, it would be wonderful to arrange a general fancy dress theme with small gifts awarded to all participants. The mantra is about enjoying.

Well Mannered Child

Manners are perhaps one of the most important constituent of a child’s personality. But teaching right set of manners and etiquettes can be a challenging task for parents. Going by the way new generation is emerging; some of the old school manners seem to be vanishing. The rebellious streak has taken a toll on manners. But if you teach your kid manners from a very early age, he will be most likely to have those even in his youth. Manners form a valuable part of social skills and they will serve as a useful help for the rest of the child’s life.

Parents should lead by example. Just conveying message to your kid will not suffice. A child needs to see you practicing what you preach. So if you are teaching your kid about the best method of approaching a stranger or a sales person in a store, you need to show it first by saying it yourself. Children are quick learner and they get the drift while watching from close quarters. Manners are learned naturally and if the kid finds you inconsistent with your behaviour he might embarrass you by mentioning it.

If your child is not showing enough mannerism you need to take things in control and tell them properly how best to do what they are doing. Though, peer interaction can also affect how a child behaves. But these things are always easy to correct when kid is younger. As he grows older he will make a habit of undesirable manners and then it becomes tough to handle. So the best time to start teaching manners to child is now only.

Teaching Value of Money to Your Teen

Teenage is one of most troubled phases in a person’s life. Educational changes, hormonal changes and getting aware of new things on a regular basis makes this period extremely volatile. One of the important things parents need to teach in this phase is of handling money. Handling money appropriately does not come to everyone easily. Parents need to instil this virtue in the kids. Many parents are going through the problem of their teenagers’ inability to understand the value of the money. It requires years of hard work to earn respectable amount of money.

Teaching this value will require parents to have patience and adopt the understanding approach. One of the basic things that they can do is to have the teen some money and let him decide how to spend it, how much to save and if they are confused, helping them out. This is one skill your child is going to cherish forever if you teach him this value at the right time. Parents need to make child understand the value of money by taking them on shopping. They can demonstrate what to buy, what not to buy, what is worth buying and what to ignore. Also teach them, how bargaining is done and how to handle to handle the marketing gimmick.

If given a chance, allow your teen to earn some money doing odd jobs, daily chores or even a part time job. This by no means is disrespectful and child will have a wonderful experience about learning the value of money. Parents should allow child to decide their own shopping expenditures. Even if they have some bad experiences, they will learn quickly. You can also open a saving account for your child so that he can save some of his savings. Invest on the teaching money value on your teens and it is sure to return you good dividends.

Children and Art

Most kids love watercolors but are not good with the medium. In any painting, the planning stage is most important. Start your subject of drawing by using thumbnails- just a rough pencil outline. Once the rough thumbnail is in place, draw the required details. Many artist use tracing paper to give a detailed careful outline to the picture- remember that a good beginning is half the picture done!

 As beginners you could use tracing paper and draw and the light impression that is formed on the water colour paper can be used for further painting. Remember to keep your drawings light so that pencil marks are not seen. Now, it is important that on a rough paper you decide on the colour scheme that you want to use. It is here that you can try out all the different colour schemes. Once you have finalized on the colour scheme that you are going to choose, start preparing for the border of the page and if possible you can use a clip board. It is now that you can start painting your final product. Do not be in a hurry. Be patient. Start with a light wash of yellow so that in case you go wrong you can easily cover it up. Do all the basic coloring that is required and then proceed to do the detailing that needs to be done with fine brushes. Be careful with this! Now using the above techniques, you can easily do your water colour painting!