BC Parent Newsmagazine

'Tis the season for family traditions. Whether your family enjoys baking together, decorating the house and Christmas tree, or just snuggling in with a few favourite seasonal movies - the time to do it is coming up. We're very fortunate in British Columbia to have so many options to help us enjoy the season. You can get up the mountains if you want to play in the snow - Cyprus Mountain is now open. Or you can attend one of the City's magical events. Here are 4 of our favourites family traditions.

A good lesson for children to learn early on is the power of saving. That $20 bill Grandma gave them can supplement their allowance, allowing for a bigger purchase in the future if they save it now. To help demonstrate the benefit of saving, brainstorm some ideas with your child about what they might want to save up for. Remembering to keep things fun will yield the best results when teaching young children about money. 

There are many reasons for a child to fall a bit behind in one school subject or another. Maybe your family moved and the new school does things differently, or maybe your child is operating on a different developmental clock than the curriculum. Whatever the reason, being behind other learners is never a happy situation for your child. You may be able to do extra work at home to catch up, but often a tutor is the best way to help a child make great strides in learning. Hiring a tutor is a serious venture. You don’t want to risk adding more stress to your child’s life and the additional expense can be a strain on your budget. You definitely want the dollars spent to bring positive results.

Playing video games is a mentally engaging task. Depending on the game, it requires fast decision making, real-time problem solving, coordination of fine motor skills and more.