Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Guest Post: Parenting Hack: Bright by Text


Hello! My name is Amanda Butler and I blog over at becomingextra-ordinary.com. I have a two year old daughter and another little boy on the way and life is crazy! Like many moms, I am strapped for time and lack creativity when it comes to thinking of new activities to do with my toddler. (I mean, there are only so many times I can pretend to feed a stuffed frog). I'm also not always sure what kinds of activities are appropriate for my daughter's age and development. That's why I was so excited to be introduced to this new text line and to be asked to review it for you. This is seriously the best mom hack ever.

So I get messages from Bright by Text about two to three times a week, with activity suggestions or parenting tips that will help my daughter learn and keep up with her development. I have even signed up for my new baby that's coming and I get suggestions for him too. The service will send you age appropriate suggestions from your third trimester up until your child is 5 years old. So basically I'm set with loads of activity ideas until my kids go to school.

I am a collector of information and I love that this text line does so much of the work for me when it comes to collecting info for my daughter's development. Which means more free time for me to play with my little girl (or binge on Netflix, don't judge). Plus the activities it suggests are not too complicated to pull off, so no Pinterest nightmares here. But the best part? It's totally free and is backed up by real research.

Some examples of text messages that I've gotten from them are...

How can you teach your child something new? Connect it to something he already knows.(Then it provided a link to a page where I could learn more about this text) --I used this message to start teaching my daughter about mom, dad, baby, brother, sister relationships. Which is helpful since we are expecting a new little one. I also used it to teach her that animals have babies and moms too. Now she points to pictures she's never seen before and names all the family members!

Music is a brain stretcher for toddlers! It supports all areas of learning and brain growth. Tips to incorporate music everyday.

Your baby is already 21 months old! Growing up has a lot of important milestones, find out what your baby could be doing by 24months! I learned from this link that toddlers like doing and helping with chores because it makes them feel like an important member of the family. Now I let my little one help with cooking dinner, emptying the dishwasher, picking up her toys, etc. She loves it, and I certainly don't mind the help (such as it is).

While you are waiting for an appointment catch your child's eye and make a silly face. How does he/she respond?

Now that your child is running around, it's time to help her balance. Make walking sideways and backwards a game. She doesn't quite trust this game yet, but we still find it fun to try when we are shopping or waiting in a lobby and she's getting bored.

Window watchers: Ask your child if he/she wants to look out the window. Follow his/her gaze as you point and say what you see.

A new baby is a joy for the family, but can be stressful for an older sibling. Follow the link to learn how to help them manage this new adjustment. This was one of the first ones I got pertaining to my pregnancy and it was very helpful. I learned that when the new baby comes my little one may stop going to bed on time and may start pushing boundaries she didn't push before because she wants to know what else will be changing. It said the best method for dealing with this is to keep the original boundaries and schedules in place. Knowing that not everything will be changing will provide her with a sense of comfort and security. I never would have guessed!!

I know that soon, the text line will also be providing area and age specific activities that you can take your child to. I'm excited for this new feature but I haven't been able to take advantage of it yet.

So if you want to be a part of this awesome service (which I highly recommend!!) then text UTFamily to 274448 and you can get started!!




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