Do Only Children Have Worse Social Skills?

Does being an only child increase the risk of bad teenage social skills? Not according to a new study out of the University of Ohio. When researchers surveyed over 13,000 adolescents and teenagers without siblings, they found no lack of social skills among only children – or a lack of friends.

Do Teens without Siblings Have More Problems Making Friends?

Growing up without siblings may give a child less opportunity to interact with other kids their own age, but it doesn’t seem to hurt their social skills, at least not during the teenage years. To look at this issue, researchers asked more than 13,000 kids in grades seven through twelve to pick five male and female friends out of a complete list of students. By counting the number of times a student was picked, they were able to gauge how popular he or she was.

When they compared kids without siblings to ones who had brothers or sisters, they found no significant difference in the number of times other kids choose them to be their friend. It also didn’t matter how many or how few siblings a kid had. The researchers took into account and controlled for other factors that may have affected the results such as the age of the parents, whether both parents lived at home, race, and socioeconomic status.

Kids without Siblings May Have Less Developed Social Skills Early in Life

If kids without siblings have fewer social skills, they seem to develop them by the time they reach middle school. In another study, researchers asked teachers to rate the social skills of students in their classrooms. They found, according to teacher reports, children of kindergarten age had worse social skills than their classmates with at least one brother or sister – but it’s more difficult to draw conclusions from this study since it’s based solely on subjective ratings by teachers.

Social Skills and Being an Only Child

Being an only child could make it more difficult for a child to develop social skills during the early years, but there’s little difference in only children and kids with siblings by the time they reach adolescence. Teen social skills don’t seem to be affected by whether or not a child has brothers and sisters. This should be reassuring news for parents who only want one child.

References:

Eurekalert.com. “Growing Up Without Sibs Doesn’t Hurt Social Skills”.

5 Simple Ways to Bring Your Family Together

Is your family disconnected? Are you finding it more and more difficult to spend quality time together as a family? You’re not alone. Job duties, after-school programs, friends and even technology play a key role in keeping families from interacting with one another on a daily basis. Whether you’re a parent trying to reconnect with your teenage kids or you’re a child determined to get your busy family to spend more quality time with each other, there are many simple ways to bring your family together.

1. Play board games. Playing board games with your family, like Monopoly, is a surefire way to bring your family together. Get together with your family and designate one night of the week for game night. Find a game all family members like and simply kick back, relax and enjoy the quality time spent with your family. Board games are inexpensive and give out hours and hours of pure entertainment and fun.

2. Watch movies. Nothing brings a family together quicker than a good movie. Instead of opting in on ordering movies online, take your entire crew to your local video store to select the movies together. Let everyone pick their own movie and then vote on which movie to watch first. To keep the atmosphere stress free and inviting, be sure to order in a tasty pizza the whole family will enjoy.

3. Partake in outdoor recreational activities. Whether you’re into hiking, running, cycling or walking, get your family active and involved in outdoor activities. Not only will you help bring your family closer together while partaking in outdoor recreational activities, but you’ll also help keep yourself and your family as fit and healthy as possible. If you’re looking for a free, inexpensive way to spend time with your family outdoors, visit your local park. Remember, the family that plays together stays together, so get outdoors with your family today and enjoy all that nature offers.

4. Cook together. Food is comforting and tasty and serves as a great tool when it comes to bringing your family together. Be sure to include your family in the entire process of cooking a meal by taking them out to purchase the foods together, beforehand. Taking time out of your precious day to cook a healthy, appetizing meal with your family members is something you’ll not regret. Cooking with your family is a simple, memorable way to bring your family together.

5. Eat one meal per day together. Due to the vast amount of distractions prevalent in our current society, the majority of families rarely sit down and eat a meal together. Instead of sitting in front of the television with your food, opt in on sitting at a table with your family. Turn off all distractions and politely ask your family members to sit down and eat a meal with you. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, taking the time to eat a meal with your family is a great way to bring your family together.

Rainy Day Activities for Kids: Creativity Day

When rainy weather forces the kids indoors, don’t let boredom rule the day. With a little forethought, you can have ready-made activities for those times when your kids and their friends are house-bound. Consider keeping a “rainy day box” at the ready, stocked with basics such as construction paper, poster board, old magazines, glue, tape and crayons. For more versatility, include ribbon, yarn, crepe paper streamers and child-safe scissors. When dark clouds gather and you hear the distant rumble of thunder, don’t worry. With your “rainy day box” and a little imagination, your kids may decide that playing indoors is the most fun of all.

Have a creativity day! Have each child make a book. Cut pages out of poster board. Cut pictures from old magazines and glue to the pages. Then, have children write captions for each picture to create a story. Help younger children as needed. Cover each page with clear contact paper and tape each page together to form a book. Or you could use a hole-punch to make three holes on one edge of each page and string yarn through the holes to bind the books. Let each child take a turn reading their story out loud while showing the pictures to the listeners.

Cut out pictures of cartoon characters or animals from old magazines or comics. Glue the cutouts to poster-board and then glue to a popsicle stick to make puppets. Have a puppet show. Let the kids make up a story or a play to act out with their puppets. Providing the voices for a variety of characters can be hilarious for kids!

Use paper bags to make masks. Place the bag over the child’s head first to locate the correct locations to cut out the eyes, nose and mouth. Let children decorate the masks with glitter, markers, sequins, cotton balls, feathers or any craft items you have on hand. Another way to make a mask is to use paper plates. Punch holes on either side to run string or yarn through and after the kids have decorated them, they can be tied on.

Make a memory box. Use an empty shoebox. Cover the box with contact paper or construction paper. Glue on decorations such as dried, pressed flowers, glitter, sequins, pictures or words cut from magazines or even photos. Cover all this with clear contact paper. The box can be used for anything they choose such as photos of friends, birthday cards, notes, letters or memorabilia such as ticket stubs from special events.

Form a marching band complete with flags and music! Make a drum using a coffee can. Use wooden spoons as drumsticks. For, cymbals, two pot covers clanged together work perfectly. Put beans or macaroni in an empty oatmeal cylinder, tape the lid closed and shake. For a stringed instrument, cut a hole in the cover of a shoebox, tape the cover on and stretch rubber bands over the box. Strum the rubber bands. For a flag, tape crepe paper streamers to a stick or dowel and wave in the air. Now, line up and parade through the house with flags flying and music playing!

If you have small dinosaur toys or jungle animal figures, use a shoebox to make a diorama of their habitat. Color the background first or cut paper to make a background of blue sky. Glue on cotton balls for clouds. Decorate the interior of the shoebox with trees and grasses made from construction paper, yarn, felt or other material.

Start a story by providing a simple beginning and let each child help to complete the story. For instance, you could say, “When I was walking through the park, I saw a black and white cat with her kitten.” The children then add to the story, taking it wherever their imaginations may go.

Rainy days inside don’t have to be boring. Children learn by using their creativity to entertain themselves and to make something they can use or display. So, when storm clouds threaten, bring out the “rain day box” and let the fun begin!

Kidkraft Garage Playset

Our Deluxe Kidkraft Garage Set is loaded with fun, interactive features and will keep kids entertained for hours at a time. The exciting wooden Kidkraft Garage Playset gives kids so many options, they’ll never run out of new ways to play!

 

Features include:

 

• Winding ramp goes from the top floor to the ground level, and cars will soar all the way down without stopping
• 6 cars and trucks
• 4 smiling townspeople
• Helicopter and helipad
• Car wash with moving scrubbers, ticket booth and gas station

• Moving elevator
• Garage door opens and closes
• Molded rubber bumpers keep cars from rolling off the sides
• Gated entrance keeps out unwanted vehicles
• Vivid, detailed artwork 
• Makes a great gift for families with multiple children
• Made of MDF wood
• Sturdy construction

 

Dimensions:  30″ x 17.5″ x 25″

Recommended for ages 3+

 

All paints and finishes on Kidkraft furniture and toys are lead-free and non-toxic.

The Kidkraft Garage Playset is now available at A Kid Place 

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Kidkraft Furniture and Toys – New For 2009

Kidkraft, leading creator, manufacturer and distributor of children’s furniture, toy, gift and room accessory items has lots of exciting new items coming out this year. Some of the great items include activity tables, kids desks, children’s vanity tables, backyard sandboxes and train sets – all of which will be available at www.akidplace.com

As these exciting items become available, our blog will be updated to fill you in, so be sure to check back often.

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Welcome to A Kid Place’s blog!

About us: Well, what can we say? Our name pretty much says it all! A Kid Place is the place for the best items for kids – children’s furniture, toys – educational toys, pretend play, outdoor toys, wooden toys and more! We also carry baby necessities – baby bathtubs, high chairs, monitors, safety gates and strollers.

We are constantly seeking great new innovative products to add to our selection so be sure to bookmark us and check back often. If there is a product you would like to see at A Kid Place, email us at orders@akidplace.com and we will gladly look into it. What we won’t sell are toys we consider to be dangerous or any items which encourage violence. We love items that serve multi-purposes and excite, stimulate and educate your children.

If there is something you would like to see posted here – child development, baby care and parenting tips, etc, please email us at orders@akidplace.com for consideration.

Thank you for visiting : )