Thanksgiving Tips for Parents with Toddlers and Preschoolers

Thanksgiving Tips for Parents with Toddlers and Preschoolers

(Toronto, October 4, 2020) - The leaves are falling all around, the pumpkins are ready for picking, the smell of cooking fills the air; it’s time for Thanksgiving. Sharing special moments with your toddler or preschooler this holiday—playing in colourful leaves, baking delicious treats and enjoying the time together with your family—will create memories to last a lifetime.

The parenting and child development experts at Invest in Kids offer these Comfort, Play & Teach™ tips that will make Thanksgiving even more festive and memorable for both you and your young child. Comfort, Play & Teach™ is Invest in Kids’ research-based approach to positive parenting. It is built on everyday moments that are already part of a parent’s daily routine and shows the relationship between a parent’s behaviour and a child’s development.

Comfort Your Child

• Ask your child to help you set the Thanksgiving table, showing you value his help. This will help to build his confidence and self-esteem.
• Before dinner is started, have each family member say what he or she is thankful for this holiday. Your child will express her feelings for others and this will help her develop empathy.
• Read a special Thanksgiving book before bedtime with him like Thanks for Thanksgiving by Heather Patterson. This gives you a chance to share one-on-one time with him to talk about the holiday.

Play with Your Child

• Make leaf piles outside and jump with her in the leaves. She will see that playing with nature is fun too.
• Go for a fall walk with your child and collect colourful leaves. At home, stimulate her creativity by letting her paint and glue a table centerpiece to a paper plate.
• Take a day to visit a local farm with your child to pick pumpkins and then paint funny faces on the pumpkins. He will develop new creative skills.

Teach Your Child

• Cut out Thanksgiving food items from grocery store flyers and paste to cards. Your child can practice using his memory when you play a Thanksgiving memory game.
• Talk about the food groups with your child and what foods are used to prepare the Thanksgiving dinner. Your child will learn where foods come from.
• Allow your child to help measure, mash, bake and cook some of the dinner dishes with you. This will help your child develop math and manipulating skills, as well as the knowledge of temperatures.

With Comfort, Play & Teach™, parents can help their children reach their full potential. Learn more about this positive approach to parenting.

Invest in Kids is a national charity dedicated to helping parents become the parents they want and need to be. By translating the science of parenting and child development into engaging, easy-to-understand, relevant resources for parents and professionals, Invest in Kids aims to strengthen the parenting knowledge, skills and confidence of all those who touch the lives of our youngest children to ensure the healthy social, emotional and intellectual development of children from birth to age five.

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Media Contact:

Lindsay Robertson
Communications Coordinator
Invest in Kids
1-877-583-5437 or (416) 977-1222, ext. 224
[email protected]

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