Kids are so changeable these days it feels almost impossible to keep up. They might have liked something yesterday, but today they’ll deny ever being interested. Anything from the food that they like to the toys and games that they want to play with changes from one day to the next. It’s not important to know everything about your child’s life, it’s important to keep up to date for a lot of reasons. Their safety is always a concern because they could unwittingly be putting themselves in dangerous situations without knowing. It’s also impossible to buy them gifts that they like if you don’t know what the next big thing is. Having a better understanding of your child’s likes and dislikes improves the time you spend with them as well. If you’re completely clueless about your kid’s life, try these methods to gain a bit of insight.
Online Resources
The internet is full of all sorts of great parenting resources and you can use them to find out what kids are into at the minute. When you’re trying to buy gifts for young children, they’ll want exactly what all of their friends are playing with. There are plenty of sites that can tell you what the most popular toys for toddlers are at the moment. But make sure you check these sites regularly because it’s always changing. When your kids start to get a little older it’s even harder to understand them. Sometimes, they’re using so much slang it’s like they’re speaking another language. Luckily, there’s a great new site called careful parents that can help you with that. It has loads of great information on slang terms and what they mean, as well as the latest trends in toys, games, fashion, and all sorts of other things. Have a quick browse and your eyes will be opened.
Talk To Other Parents
As a parent, you’ll pick up on small snippets of your children’s lives but you’ll never get the whole picture. But if you meet other parents and you all fit those bits and pieces together like a jigsaw, you can start to build a better idea of what they’re all up to. If you hear or see anything that you’re concerned about, ask the other parents if they’ve heard anything similar. By combining your efforts, you can keep a better eye on your kids and find out the things that they aren’t telling you.
Ask Them
It seems like an obvious thing to say but many parents are afraid to do it. The key to getting them to open up to you is to be casual about it and not push them. Don’t sit them down and demand to know everything that they do when you’re not around. It’ll just make them feel persecuted and they won’t want to speak to you at all. Just take a general interest in the things that they like doing and let them know you are open to their likes and dislikes. This will build more trust between you and they should hopefully tell you more about their lives.
Don’t expect to find out everything about your child’s life, just try to keep on top of anything that might be a worry.