With bicycling listed as the second most popular outdoor activity in the US, it only makes sense that sometime in the possibly not-so-distant future you will be looking for a new bike for your child.

When you first start looking, the massive wall of bikes at your bike shop or retailer can be overwhelming to say the least. There are a lot of options to choose from and it may be difficult to know which one is right for your child if you aren’t sure what to look for.

The most important thing and first decision to be made is about the size of the bike. Bikes for children are measured by the wheel’s diameter and can be from twelve to 24 inches. The size you’ll need depends on your child’s age and either his or her height or leg length. An easy example – a two-year-old will likely start on a 12-inch bike.

To make sure the bike has a proper fit with your child, have he or she sit on the bike with hands on the handlebars. A bike that is a good fit will allow your child to sit comfortably on the bike with both feet on the ground.

Safety is also very important and no bike purchase is complete without a helmet. By purchasing a helmet with your child’s first bike, you are setting them on a course of good, solid habits early on, not to mention, some states – like Maryland – require helmets for any bike riders under the age of 16.

Helmets can come in all shapes and sizes so be sure to pick one that fits properly: it should be tight against the back of your child’s head while the front is parallel with the eyes. The helmet should also sit two fingers’ width above your child’s eyebrows.

You may also want to consider bells or horns for your child’s bike as a further added safety precaution. It never hurts to have your child get in the habit of alerting people that a little one is scooting by.

While for some parents, sending their children to camp for the majority of the summer seems as natural as breathing, while for others it’s an 8-week guilt trip.

It is difficult for us as parents to send our children away for extended periods of time, especially when the children suffer from being homesick – don’t worry, homesickness is normal!

Here are a few tips to help you and your children get through the first few days of being apart:

• In the months leading up to leaving summer camp, do a couple of “dry runs” and spend time apart from your children. Send them to sleepovers at friends or even to spend a few days with grandparents or other relatives.
• Let your child or children help in choosing the camp. The more they are involved with the process, the more excited they will be when the time comes.
• Talk about what will go on at camp – using outdoor restrooms, keeping a flashlight handy, etc.
• Send one of their favorite personal items from home – maybe their favorite stuffed animal and even send a letter to your child so that it arrives the first day of camp.
• Do NOT bribe your child to stay at camp!

The inevitable “I hate it here and want to come home” phone call will happen. The best thing to do is stay calm, reassure your child that it will get better and to give it a few more days. Avoid that first instinct to “save” your child and rush right there to pick him or her up. When you talk to your child in a few days, you can re-evaluate the homesickness and see if it really is an urgent case or not.

Lastly, don’t feel guilty about leaving your child at summer camp. This is their first chance to experience independence on some level – encourage them to make the most of it.

We offer a variety of summer camp programs here and would love to have you and your family be apart of them! Enroll early and receive half off your registration! Call our center for details- thank you for reading!

Stargazing is a wonderful way to spend time with your children – and a great way to turn that time into something educational. Astronomy is more than just gazing at stars – it teaches children about the universe, provides them with what can be a lifelong hobby or even a career later in life.

Astronomy is more than just grabbing a set of binoculars or a telescope and looking into the night’s sky. To get a true appreciation of the wonderment the constellations can bring, spend an evening with your children looking at the sky the way it was meant to be seen – with the naked eye. This allows your child to really get an idea of just how enormous the sky is and the beauty it contains, without the restriction of a telescope lens.

Start by teaching your children to look at and understand the phases of the moon and the bigger, easy-to-see constellations like The Big Dipper and the North Star. You’ll be surprised how excited your children will be when they can recognize a constellation and can point out at to you.

Now, if you aren’t sure about the constellations yourself, this presents a new opportunity for you to learn right along with your children. You can either take a class – sometimes your local library or science museum will offer classes perfect for beginners. There is also plenty of software and websites out there that can turn your computer into a mini planetarium.

Perhaps the biggest attraction to astronomy is that you are only limited by your own imagination. When you and your children have grasped the basics of stargazing, you can literally spend hours discovering all that the universe has to offer.

Thank you for reading!