Expectations Vs Reality - Bringing up your child with Alternate Caregivers
What does it mean to be a mommy in this modern day and age?
With disruptive technology, changing societal norms and greater awareness of how a mother’s role can impact a child’s development and growth, modern motherhood is vastly different from what it was just a decade ago.
Today, we talked about the divide between Expectations vs Reality when alternate caregivers and parents share parenting responsibilities on the Mommy Matters podcast, which you can listen on Spotify or Apple Music.
Parenting Styles
Depending on how the alternative caregivers perceive parenting and taking into consideration their other roles and responsibilities that they may be juggling at the same time, alternative caregivers may find it difficult to actively engage and provide sufficient stimulation for children under their care. For modern parents, who are aware of the benefits that certain approaches have, e.g. the montessori style, they often lack the time, manpower and resources to clearly and effectively communicate this to alternate caregivers.
However, fret not! We have a simple yet detailed guide with fun, easy activities parents and caregivers can engage their children with, with little or no preparation required.
We also touched on parent modelling - children love to mimic our behaviour. So creating a positive family environment is important as well. Parents are very much encouraged to show their appreciation and acknowledgement of caregivers who put in their time and effort to child minding. This naturally then encourages children to develop an appreciation and understanding of others.
Screentime - A “necessary evil”?
The Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health from the National University of Singapore published several articles on the negative impact that long hours of screen time have on a child’s development. We took a closer look at the research and talked about how minimising screen time is definitely doable with just one child, it’s a whole different story altogether when multiple siblings are involved. We talked about how best to maximise screen time - choosing more educational videos; or including movement to turn it into a physical activity. This alleviates some of the concerns posed by the World Health Organisation on the negative impacts that too much sedentary activities have on child development.
Weaning - Traditional vs Baby Led Weaning, Food and Nutrition
We talked about how despite our best efforts, our children have a mind of their own and agreed that nutritional value is far more important than the chosen style of eating. We shared some interesting facts on nutrition, the potential impact that certain foods can have on child behaviour and how to reduce stress on caregivers by planning groceries wisely and stocking up on pantry necessities. We have an easy-to-follow grocery list to ensure your child has the essential vitamins and minerals for healthy growth and development here.
Collaborative Communication
We discussed the difficulties of relying on caregivers; and the need to be open towards their opinions, needs and decisions with regards to our children. With good communication, parents and caregivers can easily collaborate and work together on what method of discipline works best, what activities they can independently play, or what activities they need more supervision and guidance with. After all, at the end of the day, we all want the best for our children!
In addition, we also encouraged mothers to publicly acknowledge the amazing women in their support network who have enabled them to become better versions of themselves with Bioderma’s giveaway to celebrate International Women’s Day. Details of the contest are as below:
Healthy skin = beautiful skin! This coming Women’s Day, we want to send our love to 20 beautiful women with an exclusive head-to-toe Bioderma Atoderm skincare bundle:
- Atoderm Huile de douche (Anti-irritation shower oil) 200ml
- Atoderm PP Baume (Ultra-nourishing balm) 200ml
- Sensibio H2O micellar cleansing water 100ml
- Hydrabio Serum 5ml
Worth $68.60!
Nominate a woman in your life that deserves to be treated to this nourishing skincare bundle, and tell us why! BOTH you & your nomination will stand the chance to walk away with this bundle!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE?
- Be a MumsClubSG member at https://mumsclub.sg
- Follow MumsClub and Bioderma on Social Media
Instagram @mumsclub.sg & @biodermasg
Facebook @mumsclubsg & @BiodermaSingapore
- Like & Share this post, tag your nomination and comment why you nominate her.
Multiple entries are welcome!
5 pairs of winners will be selected to win the bundles, so start nominating now!
Contest ends on 26 March 2021, 2359hrs. The lucky winners will be notify via DM by 31 March 2021.
To listen to our podcast, check us out on Spotify
Additional sources:
- https://sph.nus.edu.sg/2020/02/too-much-screen-time-for-young-children-may-lead-to-unhealthy-behaviours-growing-up/
- https://sph.nus.edu.sg/2014/08/screen-exposure-among-young-children-a-cause-for-concern/
- https://www.who.int/news/item/24-04-2019-to-grow-up-healthy-children-need-to-sit-less-and-play-more