In this article
Praise your child
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"Whenever my daughter is crying for no particular reason, I try to find something to praise her for. It can be anything like reaching for a hanky or tissue paper or taking a deep breath to try to calm herself down. She then can't help but smile and we can carry on with our day."
"When my son's a bit quiet and out of sorts, I remind him of something he's done well recently. Last time I told him how much I loved the drawing he'd done the previous day. We stood and looked at it taped on the cupboard and I encouraged him to do another one for the fridge. He was soon so involved in his artwork that the bad mood was forgotten."
Get musical
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Every time my son gets cranky, I break into a song or recite one of his favourite nursery rhymes. Then I purposely forget some of the words or sing out of tune and my son can’t resist the temptation to correct me. Soon he starts singing and forgets why he was upset in the first place.”
"My daughter is a big fan of the latest hits. If she's a bit unhappy, I play a video I made with her favourite songs and encourage her to dance or sing along. We have our own little steps for a few of the songs and we're soon exhausted from laughing."
"Who can be grumpy when they're dancing? Whenever my toddler starts getting upset, I turn the volume up on the radio or TV and start free styling. He soon gets the giggles and joins in."
“Banging a spoon on a katori light’s up my little one’s face instantly. She also loves it when I play on her toy drums or piano. Sometimes the crumpling or rustling of old newspapers or clapping my hands is enough to get her interested. It does get noisy, but her joy is worth all the commotion!”
“I video tape her song and dance routine and play it whenever she is unhappy. I find watching herself on the TV screen, singing and dancing gets her engaged and she cheers up instantly”.
Get some exercise
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“I encourage my child to be active and run around in the park. She also enjoys rides on her tricycle around the apartment complex. I’ve bought a tricycle with a push handle as that allows me to control the tricycle when she’s too tired to pedal”.
"It took me a while to realise that my child was often in a bad mood when he was feeling frustrated. So I enrolled us for mum and baby yoga classes which make him feel happy and more like himself."
"My daughter used to have really bad mood swings. As soon as I introduced weekly swimming lessons and trips to the park she really cheered up. She's much more content day-to-day. The wonder of exercise!"
Stop and listen to your child
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"When my son is feeling upset, sometimes all he needs is for me to listen to him. I stop what I'm doing, sit down with him on my lap and ask him what's wrong. The one-to-one time reassures him that everything is going to be just fine."
"I used to try to find a quick fix as soon as my daughter started crying. I now realise it’s more helpful to take the time out to get to the root of the problem. If she's not ready to talk about it, I give her lots of attention to let her know I'm there for her whenever she is ready."
Go out and meet people
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"My son is always happiest when he's surrounded by a group of family and friends. I think it's because he enjoys the attention of people he knows and loves. If he seems miserable I try to take him to the park, organise a play-date or visit my parents or in-laws and that always seems to perk him up. I love that he's learning the joy of interacting with lots of different types of people at such a young age."
"Sometimes my daughter gets fed up of just my company, so we go for a little picnic to the park as often as we can. If the weather outside is too hot or cold, or if it is raining, I take her to the play area in a mall close by.”
Use your imagination
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“I’m never afraid to play a clown, especially when it gets my child to giggle and laugh. I pick up her toy ball and pretend that it keeps slipping from my hand. I go all over the house trying to catch it. Sometimes I make hand puppets with a pair of socks and make-believe that they are trying to pinch my nose. All this silly fun guarantees me a happy child in the end!
"My daughter loves the game we play where I pretend to make her into a stuffed parantha. I pick her up and knead the dough, which is really just tickling. Then I roll out the parantha which means gently pressing her tummy and pretend to stuff her with make-believe spices, paneer (her favourite), onions (pyaaz) and coriander (dhaniya). Once that’s done, I pick her up and plop her on the tava, otherwise known as the sofa. And that's the end of her bad mood!"
"My little boy loves playing with his toy tools. If he's grouchy about something I'll take out his tool set and drive up a toy car shouting, "Help, help there's something wrong with my car. I need a mechanic." He can never resist coming over to 'fix it' for his daddy and before we know it we're having a lovely time together."
“I draw the curtains and switch on the bedside lamp. Then proceed to make shadow animals with my hands. That always fascinates her! We make up our own stories, songs and sounds and spend some magical moments together”.
“I put a Feng Shui crystal by the window, where the sunlight streams in. This creates hundreds of rainbows in the room and my baby loves watching the changing colours. I sometimes spin the crystal around and she runs around happily trying to catch the revolving rainbows on the floor and wall.”
Get some fresh air
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“I’ve found that making bubbles is the biggest stress buster for my child. I tell him to blow out all his anger into a bubble and watch it drift away. Before we know it, there are just plenty of bubbles and giggles all around”.
"In the car is where my son gets most moody, probably because he’s stuck in his car seat. I've found that rolling down the window by an inch does wonders. The fresh breeze calms everyone down and makes the rest of the journey less stressful.
On hot muggy days, I set the AC on and direct the air flow towards him. I also hang a little paper plane on a string next to his window and he enjoys watching it bounce around when we go over speed breakers."
"When my daughter's in the middle of a meltdown at home, I'll take her hand and lead her to the balcony where we'll stand and take deep breaths together. We blow all the 'bad' air out of our bodies and go inside feeling much better."
Looking for more inspiration? Get great ideas for fun games to play with your baby or your toddler! Not only will you have a lot of fun, you'll also help stimulate your child's development.
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