Before working at Help Me Grow Utah, I spent ten years as a children's librarian and fell in love with early literacy. No, I was not teaching toddlers and preschoolers to read, but I was instead teaching parents to put into practice the underlying skills kids need to be good readers when they are ready. Those practices boil down to things parents do with their kids all the time, like talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing! The best thing...

D ay of the Dead, otherwise known as Día de los Muertos, is a celebration of life as people remember their ancestors. During this holiday, it is believed that past relatives return as spirits to the land of the living to spend time with their loved ones. Although this holiday originated in Mexico, it is celebrated throughout Latin America during a two-day festival (Nov. 1 and 2). The centerpiece of this celebration is the altar which people displ...

  As I was growing up, my parents were always looking for ways to help support our neighbors and community. Whether it was cleaning up yards for people in our neighborhood or helping pick fruit at the local orchards, my parents signed us up to help. While I complained about this a great deal at the time, looking back on it helps me understand more about my parents and our family values. It also helps me understand how important it is for eac...

In 2018 the most downloaded iPhone app in the world, was a Chinese export: TikTok. Formerly the apps musical.ly, Byte Dance acquired the older lip-synching video app and TikTok (known as Douyin in China) was born. Social media giants have tried hard to capture the attention of younger children and preteens. Facebook created Messenger Kids, YouTube has YouTube Kids and Snapchat has SnapKidz. Despite those efforts, none of them have come close to r...

When talking to families about special time, parents often respond, "I already spend all day with my children" or "We have lots of one-on-one time together." I love hearing when parents are able to be home and enjoy spending time with their children! I also wanted to highlight some of ways that "special time" differs from other one on one time and the benefits it can offer to ALL families – whether you are home with your children all day or not. ...

Summer break is one of the most exciting times to be a kid; a time to forget about the most demanding part of life-- school. But does a summer break without learning really help children in the long run? A report pointed out that, on average, children forget the last month of learning from the previous school year, with some areas reporting a greater loss of 25-30% of the learning of that same year! The greatest loss of learning was measured to b...

I can remember the fun times that my brother and I often had with my dad growing up. We used to cook while watching movies together, and talk about what we would cook later. Oftentimes, I can remember my dad and brother playing basketball in the backyard while I played with the dog. I'd often practice throwing razor sharp knives while my brother played with nunchucks… Wait a minute, knives and nunchucks? Now that I've got your attention, let's fo...

Does this sound familiar? Get your brand new baby ready for college! Prepare your child's resume to look spectacular. Get them involved in extracurricular activities early! Get them into classes to learn how to play sports and dance, so they can be the best when it counts. These are all opportunities that will set them apart and get them into the best universities. If your child is not involved in at least three extracurricular activities or unab...

Voting is an important part of civic engagement and is a privilege we should all use and teach our children to use. Talking with our children about the voting process, why we vote, and why it matters prepares them to be informed citizens when they grow older and enables them to help shape the world around them. You can even bring them with you to the polls or let them watch you fill out your ballot for a first-hand look at how our democracy works...

I love to play games, especially card games. There's just something about being surrounded by others and enjoying the conversation as you strategize your next move. I'm the first to admit that not all games are child-friendly. But with a little creativity, you can involve children in many games, even if they aren't able to comprehend the strategy involved. Games are fantastic for those times you find yourself waiting. For example, have you ever f...

Looking for something fun to do with your children and only have a piece of paper? This is a fun way to entertain children (and yourself) while exercising your brain muscles: Tangrams. Tangrams is an ancient Chinese puzzle that has seven pieces (tans) of geometric shapes. Each set has one square, one parallelogram, and a variety of triangle sizes (two large, one medium, and two small). A simple way to play with tangrams is to print out ...