How To Be A Better Parent: 4 Secrets Backed By Research

How To Be A Better Parent: 4 Secrets Backed By Research

"How to be a better parent" is discussed endlessly on the internet. But what we don't see enough of is research-backed advice that can make your kids both more ethical and more successful.

And I don't mean "gets good grades" successful. I mean kids who go on to make a name for themselves with breakthroughs that help improve the world for everyone.

Adam Grant is the youngest tenured professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the New York Times bestseller, Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success.

His awesome new book is Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World and not only does it give tips on how all of us can be more successful but it has research-backed solutions for how to be a better parent.

Want to raise kids that are movers and shakers as well as ethical citizens? I gave Adam a call to find out what you and I need to know...

1) Ask Kids, "What Would Harry Potter Do?"

As a parent, you want to be a good role model. But what Adam found was that while parents are important role models in terms of morals, they may not be the best when it comes to career if you want your kids to really soar. Here's Adam:

Parents are great role models when it comes to important values. They're not great role models if you want to be original because it's very easy that you end up copying one of your parents.

So where do the best career role models comes from? Oddly enough, it might be fiction.

From Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World:

Growing up, many originals find their first role models in their most beloved novels, where protagonists exercise their creativity in pursuit of unique accomplishments. Elon Musk and Peter Thiel each chose Lord of the Rings, the epic tale of a hobbit's adventures to destroy a dangerous ring of power. Sheryl Sandberg and Jeff Bezos both favored A Wrinkle in Time, in which a young girl learns to bend the laws of physics and travel through time. Mark Zuckerberg was partial to Ender's Game, where it's up to a group of kids to save the planet from an alien attack.

Kids who go on to mold the future of the world we live in need to see past the day to day and dream of what might be possible. Here's Adam:

As I read this research about how children's stories could actually predict innovation, I started to think maybe there's something to this. I think that we really underestimate the importance of these stories. Sometimes fiction is better for sparking the imagination than reality is. If you want to create something that doesn't exist, why not go to a source that's trying to dream that something up?

This strategy of leveraging a child's favorite fictional character can even get kids to eat better. Brian Wansink of Cornell found that asking children, "What would Batman eat?” got kids to pick apple slices over french fries. Here’s Brian:

We found we could get kids to choose the healthier food much more often if we simply asked what their favorite superhero or their favorite princess would do. Even if they responded “french fries”, half the time they took the apple slices. It simply causes an interruption in their thinking that causes them to pause, hit the reset button inside their head and think again.

Research shows that thinking about fictional characters you love can help you make better decisions. In fact, thinking about superheroes can even make you physically stronger.

(To learn the 4 new parenting tips that will make your kids awesome, click here.)

Okay, so you've got wizards and Batman on your side now. But how many rules should you set for your kids? The right answer just might be "zero"...

2) Emphasize Values Over Rules

Research shows that most families have an average of six rules for children. But what about the families of kids who scored as highly creative?

Their families averaged less than one rule. Here's Adam:

Children who scored in the top 5% in creativity tended to come from households with, on average, less than one rule. The families of kids who were less creative typically had six rules.

Kids need rules but making things so concrete might encourage them to be little lawyers who look for loopholes. By emphasizing values over rules, it starts a good conversation about right and wrong.

This way, children internalize ethics and are more likely to do the right thing because they generate rules for themselves. Here's Adam:

You need to have some boundaries for kids. They can't be allowed to do whatever they want, but in these families that mention creativity, the emphasis was not on, "This is what you do because I say so," it was, "These are principles that we believe in and here's why we think they're important. What do you think? Let's have a discussion about that." There was reflective dialogue going on. Because of that, kids took ownership of the values and essentially made some of the very rules that the less creative parents were busy trying to enforce. Instead of enforcing them, these few parents got their creative children to endorse the rules themselves because they helped to generate them.

(To learn the #1 mistake parents make when arguing with kids, click here.)

Okay, we've tossed the rules and we're focused on values. Awesome. Now what's the right way to praise good behavior? Sorry, that's another trick question. Don't praise good behavior at all...

3) Praise Character, Not Actions

Next time your kid does something kind, don't tell them, "What you did was nice." Nope. What should you tell them?

"You're a really nice person."

Don't praise the action, praise their character. When they see good behavior as part of their identity, they're more likely to make good choices in the future. Here's Adam:

There's a bunch of evidence suggesting that it can be more powerful to praise the person rather than the behavior. Instead of saying, "Wow, that was really nice," you say, "Wow, you are a really nice person." What that does is it helps them internalize that behavior as part of their identity so that the next time they have a chance to consider, "Do I want to share or help?", they think, "That's who I am." You can do this on the negative side too. If you want to make sure that your kids have integrity, instead of saying, "Don't cheat," you should say, "Don't be a cheater," and you can literally cut cheating in half.

What happens when you ask kids "to be helpers" instead of "to help"? They're up to 29% more likely to clean up after themselves.

From Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World:

In an ingenious series of experiments led by psychologist Christopher Bryan, children between ages three and six were 22 percent to 29 percent more likely to clean up blocks, toys, and crayons when they were asked to be helpers instead of to help.

(To learn the science of raising happy kids, click here.)

Alright, no praising good behavior. How do you correct bad behavior? Turns out the best way to punish might be to explain...

4) Explain How Bad Behavior Affects Others

During World War 2, there were non-Jews who put their lives on the line to save Jews from the Holocaust. What did these rescuers have in common?

They were more than three times as likely to have had parents who focused less on punishment and more on explaining how bad behavior affected others.

This emphasis on explanation is also disproportionately seen in both kids who don't commit crimes and children that go on to make a difference in their chosen field. Here's Adam:

When you punish kids for bad behaviors, if you just stop there, then there's a big risk that they don't understand why the behavior was wrong. What parents who do a really good job teaching moral values do is they explain, "This is how your behavior hurt others. Think about what kind of pain this child was in when you hit him."

What's the secret sauce here? Two ingredients: it helps kids develop both empathy and guilt. Here's Adam:

When you emphasize consequences for others, that tends to make children feel two things: Empathy and guilt, which I think are the king and queen of moral emotions. Empathy makes you want to right the wrong that you've done and help so that the destructive suffering goes away. Guilt has this anticipation effect where it feels really bad to have this remorse over, "Gosh, I did something wrong," and next time you're in that situation, you want to make sure you don't do that again.

Plenty of research backs Adam up. Studies show guilt works. And people who feel guilt are better leaders and better friends. Adam quotes Erma Bombeck who said:

Guilt is the gift that keeps on giving.

(To learn how to have a happy family, click here.)

Let's round up all these great ideas from Adam and learn the secret to dealing with the flood of parenting advice that makes raising successful kids such a challenge...

Sum Up

Here's what Adam had to say about how to be a better parent:

• Ask kids, "What would Harry Potter do?" Little wizards can be a big help in getting kids to do the right thing.
• Emphasize values over rules. Get values right and they'll build the rules themselves.
• Praise character, not actions. Don't make good choices seem like one-time things. Help them craft a positive identity.
• Explain how bad behavior affects others. Empathy and guilt will forge them into awesome adults.

There's an overwhelming amount of parenting advice out there. But Adam has some reassuring thoughts for everyone who wants to raise an ethical child that goes on to make a difference in the world. Here's Adam:

Parenting is one of the domains in our lives where bad is really stronger than good. It is far, far easier to extinguish the creative spark of a child than it is to light that spark. The good news about that is, kids are born with that spark. They have a natural urge to ask questions, to create, to explore. At the end of the day, all you really need to do as a parent is not get in the way of that. I've become less hard on myself through this process, knowing that, "Don't screw it up," is probably better advice than, "Here are all the steps you need to take in order to be a parent who nurtures original thinking."

You don't need to struggle to memorize a thousand pieces of advice when it comes to instilling that creative spark in a young mind. It's more important to make sure you're not extinguishing that flame.

The spark is already there. Just nurture it, support it and give it love.

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2016/01/how-to-be-a-better-parent-2/?utm_source=%22Barking+Up+The+Wrong+Tree%22+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2ad26567f8-grant_1_31_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_78d4c08a64-2ad26567f8-56389917

Understanding intelligence

Welcome back to the second semester. Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2016.

What does it mean when someone calls you smart or intelligent? According to developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, it could mean one eight things. In this video interview, Dr. Gardner addresses his eight classifications for intelligence: writing, mathematics, music, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

In the past we used to talk about being intelligent and seeing this in a singular sense and linked purely to communication and mathematical skills. For years in schools we have talked about multiple intelligence and the work of Howard Garner. This short video from Big Think is Howard Gardner discussing the meaning of his eight types of intelligence and the two new ones that he is working on at present. 

Have a wonderful 2016

When we wish each other a happy and healthy new year, what does it take to achieve that?

Dear all,

Just wanted to wish you all a very Happy and Healthy Christmas and New Year. We say these words so sincerely and easily to each other, but what do we really know about what it takes to have a happy and healthy life. So I thought I'd share this TED talk with you that provides research from a 75 year study of a group of men from Boston. It is probably the longest study of its kind and gives us insight into what really makes us happy and in the long run enables us to have a healthy and longer life. Surprise, surprise, its not hard work, wealth, or achievements at work.

Enjoy and I will see you in January,

Yours
Adrian

Mastering MOOCS: Using Open Online Courses to Achieve Your Goals

Since first making headlines in 2011, massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are now offered at hundreds of universities to millions of students around the world, including atWharton. In the new ebook Mastering MOOCs, published with Wharton Digital Press, Knowledge@Wharton reports on how business professionals are using MOOCs to further their careers, and to help their companies and teams succeed.

In the following excerpt, Knowledge@Wharton looks at why some of them take MOOCs.

Max Buckley was on the cusp of graduating from the Cork Institute of Technology when he stumbled upon a relatively new form of online learning — the massive open online course, or MOOC.

Although he was studying business administration, Buckley had an eye for the technological side of things and was regretting not pursuing a more computer-related field. The Circuits and Electronics MOOC from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology caught his eye, so he enrolled in the free course.

Final exams prevented him from finishing it, but he was hooked on the concept—free classes that he could take online, on his own schedule and offered by some of the most prestigious universities in the world. He kept enrolling in interesting classes and eventually steered himself toward computer programming courses. As luck would have it, he enrolled in a data analysis course at the same time he interviewed for an internship with Google.

An even bigger stroke of luck was finding out his interviewer was also enrolled in that class. Buckley landed the internship, and then was hired full time. He is now a product quality analyst, charged with helping the tech giant fight spam.

“It wasn’t the sole reason [I got the internship], but a good part of it was that I had this blend of programming and business, and [the learning] was self-directed,” he said of his MOOC background. “I had the formal education box ticked, but this extra work was interesting. Obviously I’ve learned a lot more by using them, and that has fed back into my formal studies.”

“The ROI will depend specifically on what each learner came into the MOOC hoping to accomplish, and how much the MOOC is able to meet those goals.”

Buckley’s story may be extraordinary — not everyone is going to land a job with Google by taking a few free online courses — but it demonstrates the growing power of MOOCs as a way to bring world-class education to anyone with time, commitment and an internet connection.

Why Take a MOOC?

For Shawn Jones, a MOOC represented an escape from a dead-end retail job and the chance to get traction in an in-demand tech field.

For Michelle Warner, a MOOC was a way to learn the basic legal ins and outs of establishing a startup.
And for Abhay Tandon, MOOCs taught him global business practices that put him at the forefront of new technologies.

MOOCs gave these three learners a chance to make professional leaps that either a lack of time or money would have otherwise prevented. Working at their own pace and around the demands of their full-time jobs, they were able to crack into new professions, start businesses and position themselves to make deals on different continents.

Many of the benefits of a MOOC can be found elsewhere on the learning spectrum: textbooks, workshops, webinars, executive education courses or college degrees. Each can provide similar benefits to lifelong learners. Where MOOCs have a unique advantage, however, is in their capacity to help self-directed learners more deeply immerse themselves in new knowledge or gain new skills with relatively few barriers.

The courses are open, so you don’t need to apply and be accepted into a program, and most are free. Twitter  They offer deep dives into a wide range of subjects, but offer learners the flexibility to take only a portion of a course if they so desire. Because the courses are online, they allow learners to weave learning around their day-to-day responsibilities.

The ROI of a MOOC

Jones said he found enormous value from his MOOC experience. He can draw a line straight from his CS50 course to a new job and increased earnings. Measuring the return on investment of a MOOC isn’t always such an obvious process, however.

Since the classes are often free, it’s not as easy as calculating X money spent brought in Y dollars of savings or additional business. The ROI will depend specifically on what each learner came into the MOOC hoping to accomplish, and how much the MOOC is able to meet those goals.

“MOOCs also offer a value beyond the skills or knowledge that can be gleaned from the courses. Major universities offer MOOCs, including top-tier programs that normally come with stiff costs and high barriers to entry.”

Warner, a Denver-based entrepreneur, has been a MOOC learner nearly since the format’s inception. Along with brushing up on her skills and refreshing her memory on key business topics, Warner, 36, said one specific MOOC helped her be a smarter consumer when she was starting a new company.

Law and the Entrepreneur, a Northwestern University Law School MOOC offered on Coursera, helped her get basic legal information on establishing her business. Since the source was a world-renowned law school, she felt comfortable using that information as she worked on building a new company while providing think-tank services for other startups, founders and small businesses.

Getting startups off the ground doesn’t leave much space for free time, so the flexibility MOOCs offered were invaluable to Warner’s learning process. Sometimes that meant completing an entire MOOC; other times, it meant jumping into one briefly to audit a specific topic.

“I’m an entrepreneur; I have to be self driven,” she said. “I have to look at what I need to do to round out my skills. If that means two weeks, to me, that’s a success. Sometimes it’s just watching the lectures.”

MOOCs also offer a value beyond the skills or knowledge that can be gleaned from the courses. Major universities offer MOOCs, including top-tier programs that normally come with stiff costs and high barriers to entry. Getting access to that knowledge, even if only for one online lecture, gives learners access to world-class institutions and their top talent without having to worry about admission exams and tuition bills.

“When I add a course from a reputable business school, it adds value [to my CV],” Tandon said. “It’s not too much time to invest in learning something new. In the long run, it’s nothing [compared to] what I’m learning from these courses.”

 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/mastering-moocs-using-open-online-courses-to-achieve-your-goals/

UNESCO art competition..Parents can enter

Calling all artists!


UNESCO Bangkok is reaching out to your networks to promote our Happy Schools! Art Contest. 


We want artists, illustrators, cartoonists, graphic designers and photographers - students, amateurs and professionals - in the Asia Pacific region to show us:

What does a Happy School look like to you?

Winners will win a trip to Bangkok and invitation to attend a UNESCO launch celebrating the Happy Schools art contest winners - in addition to other cool digital prizes!

As part of UNESCO Bangkok’s Happy Schools Project, this art contest seeks to capture actions, moments and ideas that are promoting happiness in schools. 

All residents of the Asia-Pacific region are invited to submit images of any kind (photos, drawings, cartoons, paintings, graphics, and posters) along with a caption/description that captures the concept of Happy Schools. We are accepting entries from all ages in all types of media (entries only accepted in .jpg and .png format) by 10 January 2016. 

We encourage all interested students and artists to enter. Please pass this along to any students and artists who might be interested.


Learn more about the Happy Schools! Art Contest here: http://www.unescobkk.org/happyschoolscontest

To enter, fill out the form here.
And upload your entry image(s) here.

For any enquiries about the contest, please contact us using this form.

When terror strikes, here’s what you should tell children

 

“Listen carefully to the children,” said Judith A. Myers-Walls, an expert in the impact of political violence on children. “They will tell you what they need.” (iStock)

By Lyndsey Layton November 16  

Judith A. Myers-Walls, a professor emerita at Purdue University, has studied the impact of political violence on children and offers these tips for both parents and educators in how to handle the Paris attacks:

● Assume that elementary school children have heard something about the attacks. If they haven’t mentioned it on their own, a parent or a teacher might bring it up. First, find out what they know. For the youngest kids, maybe ask them to draw pictures of what they think happened, or have them make up a story or a play. If they seem less aware or less interested, you might not want to go into depth.

The key, Myers-Walls says, is not to ignore what happened but not to focus heavily on it. Maintaining routine is an important way to reassure young children. Events are happening in the world, but they’re still going to go to school, they’re still having lunch, they’re still playing with their toys. Reassure them that they are safe, that the event did not happen near them, it involved a relatively small number of people and there are many adults who are keeping them safe.

If you are living in a community with a large population of French people or those from the Middle East, the topic is going to be more central. For everyone else, treat it the way you treat other current events. Say something about it, but do not going into great depth.

Myers-Walls cautions against what she calls the “cycle of silence,” a phenomenon that researchers have found when adults avoid discussing traumatic events with children because they are uncomfortable, and children conclude that it’s not okay to bring it up.

“Pretty soon you’ve got this cycle of silence with both sides not talking about it and you lose the opportunity to work through it together,” she said. “You may think the kids haven’t noticed, but maybe they did. It’s important to at least open the door.”

● It’s important to help children separate the actions of some violent people from the rest of that community, she said. With the Paris attacks, there’s going to be a public backlash, against Syrians, against people from the Middle East, against Muslims, Myers-Walls said.

“This is a great opportunity for schools and parents to say ‘let’s learn something about Syria, Lebanon, France,’” Myers-Walls said, noting that children might not only be afraid to learn about a terrorist attack, they might be sad or angry.

“It’s important to give them a sense of control by helping them find something they can do, like helping people who are injured who are close to them,” she said. “Sending letters or cards to children in the hospital – even if it is unconnected to this event – will allow them to help people who are hurting.”

● Middle school students and high school students will want to know the causes of the attack, Myers-Walls said. “They want to know causality and they want to know who to blame,” she said, adding that educators and parents should focus on the larger context, teaching about Islam and Middle East history.

But be sure to include stories of successful peacemaking efforts, too, such as that of Malala, the Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban who became an education activist and the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. And tap into the natural idealism of children at age 11 and 12 by encouraging action of some kind, Myers-Walls said. “They could decide as a school to do a recycling project – it doesn’t have any direct connection to the event but it’s a way of taking action and doing something,” she said.

● High school students can explore in depth the nature of prejudice, political violence and political conflict, she said.

“This is an interesting time for high schoolers,” Myers-Walls said. “We’ve been at war for more than a decade, most of their lives. The Paris attacks are closely related to many of the deployments we’ve experienced. High school students can talk about what the U.S. response should be, what the country is doing diplomatically, what kind of action can they take to support what they think is important. It’s very important, especially for teachers, to recognize there will be a variety of opinions. Some students may relate to the military, some people are pacifists, some may want to ignore this.”

Losing our grip: More students entering school without fine motor skills

As art teacher Alisa Leidich sends four vertical lines marching across an oversize drawing pad in paradelike formation, 20 kindergartners put their hands to paper and try their best to mimic her.

It’s not as easy as it might seem.

Local teachers and occupational therapists say an increasing number of children are showing up for kindergarten without the fine motor skills needed to grip a marker, hold their paper still while coloring or cut and glue shapes.

“We’re basically reteaching a lot of things,” says Denver Elementary School’s Denise Young, a teacher for 23 years. “It’s hard to get a lesson accomplished.”

In a typical year, Young and colleague Trisha Pohronezny estimate just two of 20 students arrive with enough hand strength and coordination to use scissors. Only about half can hold a pencil correctly, versus the fisted approach they should have grown out of by age 3.

Near-constant corrections take valuable time from quick-paced academic programs, while individual sessions to build or strengthen skills require students to miss class and cost districts big money.

Denver Elementary Principal Angela Marley says occupational referrals to address such deficits doubled over a three- to four-year period. Districtwide, Cocalico saw its elementary school therapy spending jump from $85,440 in 2011-12 to $208,104 last school year.

“We’ve been questioning, ‘Why is this happening more and more?’’’ says Linda Cunningham, an occupational therapist with Lancaster-Lebanon IU13 who spends four days a week at Denver Elementary.

“It’s just our busy world. There’s real pressure to get your kid involved (in organized activities) earlier and earlier, so there’s less time to play in the backyard. … Kids need to manipulate their environments to understand spatial concepts. They usually learn not by being told, but by doing.”

Cocalico officials this year instituted an art program that aims to improve coordination and concentration. In years past, kindergartners had only sporadic exposure to art. Now they get one 25-minute session each week, working on pre-writing concepts and skills like cutting, coloring and spatial orientation.

Surrounded by Monet prints, the Mona Lisa and bottles of bold tempera paint, Pohronezny’s students meet Mr. Line in mid-October.

Leidich has students hop out of their chairs and imitate the line: They stand tall for vertical, pretend to sleep on the floor for horizontal, and skip for a broken line. The idea is to connect the writing skills to physical activity.

Getting students in the earliest grades to move while focusing on a task helps with sensory integration. It can also help build muscle. In some cases, Cunningham says, young students are unable to stay seated for sustained periods because they don’t have adequate trunk strength.

During the animated lesson, Leidich, Pohronezny and an aide work the room, looking for errors in posture, grip and arm support.

Once they’ve made shapes with Mr. Line, they’re invited to do “World’s Best Coloring,” a verbal cue to focus on the image and use slow, controlled movements to stay within the lines.

Students get gentle reminders to keep their “helper hands” on the paper, and when Leidich spots Laiklyn Lloyd closing her fingers around her marker, she takes her hand and shows her how to “pinch the tip and flip it.”

Concerns about physical readiness for school are growing locally and nationally.

Warwick School District has also seen an increase in occupational therapy needs, according to Melanie Calender, director of elementary education and student services.

Calender says the years between birth and 3 are “instrumental in core muscle development” and recommends parents incorporate a mix of gross and fine motor skills into at-home play.

While Warwick kindergarten teachers continue to focus on fine and gross motor skills through center-based and instructional activities, parents shouldn’t stop providing hands-on opportunities once their kids are school-age.

“They can continue to use the activities they’ve worked on in the preschool years, mindful to keep a balance with screen time,” says Calender.

In Ephrata Area School District, all early childhood programs include fine motor skill development, according to spokeswoman Sarah McBee. That includes Plant the Seed of Learning, a program that started in partnership with Ephrata Community Hospital in 2002 and now serves eight districts. During sessions, children and their parents work on early literacy and science skills while manipulating play dough or catching bubbles.

The New York Times reported in February that public schools in New York City saw a 30 percent increase in the number of students referred to occupational therapy, with the number jumping 20 percent in three years in Chicago and 30 percent over five years in Los Angeles.

While some of those increases are due in part to an increased diagnoses of sensory or autism spectrum disorders, Marley says the additional need at her school is related to children without cognitive impairment.

What’s changed?

Cunningham says many therapists believe the Back to Sleep campaign, which promotes placing infants on their backs to sleep, has delayed muscle development. The problem becomes more pronounced when parents skip wakeful tummy time because their kids don’t like it: toddlers might not be able to hold their bodies upright as well as their peers did years ago.

They might not be as adept at spreading their hands and using their arms to push themselves up, a fundamental base for good seated posture and proper shoulder support when writing. Their eyes also may wander, making focusing on detailed tasks difficult.

Today’s children also spend less time outside, where they might have more opportunities to explore how their bodies move through space, learn to balance and figure how to handle toys and tools in relation to one another.

Some parents, says Cunningham, are afraid to let their children engage in physical play or cut with scissors. Others have traded in the messiness of hands-on play dough for a sterile “educational” tablet.

“Rather than sit and color the way they used to do, our kids are part of the burst of technology,” says Cunningham. “It’s amazing to see a kid who can swipe an iPad, but you put a pair of scissors in their hand and they don’t know what to do.”

AT-HOME SKILLS BUILDING

Some skills critical for kindergarten readiness are simple to build at home. Try incorporating these activities into the daily routine:

• Work on tummy time. This should start in infancy, but older kids can be encouraged to read or work on puzzles while lying on the floor, says occupational therapist Linda Cunningham. Many children like the novelty of it.

• Raid the pantry. Kitchen experiments like flour-based dough or homemade putty strengthen muscles in the hands and fingers, says Cunningham. Make a batch, then let your child work with it at the counter while you make dinner.

String it together. Kindergarten teacher Denise Young suggests making bracelets by threading open-ended pasta, cereal loops or beads onto pipe cleaners.

• Play dress up. Kindergarten teacher Trisha Pohronezny recommends practicing putting on coats and gloves, zipping up, snapping, buttoning and tying shoes. All can help with dexterity.

• Play with scissors (with supervision). An array of safety scissors are available for preschoolers, including some designed without metal edges that can cut only paper. Others offer an extra piece that makes squeezing the handles together a cinch, Cunningham says.

• Color in the lines. Encourage creativity, but throw in projects that require slow, controlled movements. Squeeze glitter glue over a line, fill in shapes with paint or use small, circular strokes to color an image.

 http://lancasteronline.com/features/trending/losing-our-grip-more-students-entering-school-without-fine-motor/article_c0f235d0-7ba2-11e5-bf0d-5745f74f9717.html#.VjUxI4srX1w.facebook