What Is Quality Time? Kids In Socks knows!
The information age dawned, have parents become paranoid?
Access to (often incomplete) information is instantaneous. Conclusions are jumped to and “news”is delivered with action film production values complete with dramatic music. The added demands on working parents’ time drive them to try and plan every minute of their child’s day to feel secure in knowing where they are, who they are with and what they are doing.Time “managed” however is notautomatically“quality time”.
Quality time is the time spent developing your relationship with the child.
The key word is INVOLVEMENT, actively seeking windows of opportunity in your busy schedules to share experiences and express love and affection. It is important to have realistic expectations and not beat yourself up for needing to work, but it is also important to set aside even very small blocks of time for meaningful interaction with the child as often as possible.KidsInSocks began with that in mind.
Exposure to language is learning.
KidsInSocks wanted to help parents and caregivers by transforming a common activity like getting dressed into a fun learning and bonding opportunity. Research has shown that positive attention and proactive interaction, even for very small “time bytes”, has a dynamic impact on a child’s social and emotional development. An activity as common as putting on socks can contribute to an interest in learning, and enhance literacy skills!
Closer families, one pair of socks at a time!
The KidsInSocks preschool alphabet socks collection also offers older siblings a chance to connect with their younger brothers and sisters by coaching them on the letters and their sounds. That sort of interaction has a positive impact on the development of sibling relationships too, and it builds older children’s confidence to feel they are able to teach something.
Every day dressing interaction:
Take advantage of the picture letter combo on your child’s socks both in the morning when they first get dressed, but also later in the day when they are removing them to get ready for bath and/or bedtime. Make this time positively charged for your child by:
- Asking them to choose which pair of socks they want to wear.
- Showing plenty of affection e.g. setting them on your lap while you put their socks on so they enjoy tender physical contact as well as attention, it also makes it easy for you to point to each foot or even pick up the leg and wiggle it when you talk about the picture or the letter.
- Introduce the fact that all the letters have a name AND a voice, and that sometimes the letter voice can change depending on what other letters it is hanging out with. Talk about the picture, ask them if they can think of any other words that begin with the same sound.
You will be amazed at how much more cooperative your child will become when getting dressed, and how quickly they will “own” the alphabet with KidsInSocks!
