Parenting

As parents, we cannot settle for anything but the best for our kids. The essential requirement for it is to raise them right. It might look easy, but you would agree how difficult it actually is. Most parents struggle to find a perfect balance between being strict and lenient such that the child gets the right attitude and values. 

For it, parents resort to several types of parenting styles. There are primarily six styles of parenting which they resort to either exclusively or in combination. One such style of parenting that is increasingly on the rise is the authoritative parenting style.  

In this write-up, we would understand what it is exactly and authoritative parenting pros and cons. It would help you get a clear idea if this style works for you in its pure form or even a modified form. Stay hooked! 

What Is Authoritative Parenting? 

Foremost, let us understand what authoritative parenting is. We often see parents who are too strict on children and impose plenty of rules on them without any avenue for the kids to communicate their feelings. In contrast to these authoritarian parents, we have permissive parents who give up on rules completely, and concede to almost all demands of their kids.  

As evident, a balance is missing in both these styles of parenting. Authoritative parenting is a combination and balance of both these parenting styles. This style of parenting recognizes the importance of rules and limits and thus flaunt a high level of demandingness. Simultaneously, they also understand the importance of communication and self-expression. Hence, they offer amicable communication and a high level of responsiveness.  

The level of demandingness and responsiveness in the authoritative parenting style is less than the pure authoritative and permissive parenting style. Here, parents pave the way for amicable communication by encouraging their children to express themselves and understanding the importance of rules set by them in a secure, amicable, and friendly but affirmative way. Here, the rules are based on the child’s caliber made evident by their past performances and achievements. 

Traits of Authoritative Parents 

Authoritative parents exhibit some telltale traits like: 

• Demand and response 

Parents set rules by discussing them with their children such that they are within the child’s potential and agreeable to the child. 

• Give and Take Verbally 

The leading trait of this style of parenting is communication. Here, parents explain the reason for setting a particular rule, permit the children to state their grievances and challenges, and come to an amicable solution in the end. Thus, two-way communication emerges as a significant feature of this type of communication.  

• Involvement and Assistance  

Authoritative parenting is all about understanding the children and their needs while helping them grow to the best of their potential. Fairness and respect are given due focus and importance. Parents offer enough support and guidance on asking to help the child achieve their goals.  

Parents ensure getting involved with the children and do not hesitate to offer help and support when asked for. The aim of this is to empower them and not intimidate them or befriend them. This attitude commands a natural respect and love from the child. 

• Critique and Praise  

Authoritative parents are very particular about fairness and respect. They allow their kids to make mistakes and do not hesitate to give honest and unbiased feedback, even if they sound harsh. Likewise, they are not miser in appreciating the child on his strengths and achievements.  

This balance and blend of appreciation and criticism help children understand their weaknesses and strengths. Gradually, it helps to build character and bring about positive development in the children.  

• Balance of Freedom and Supervision 

One of the hallmark traits of authoritative parenting is an almost perfect balance of freedom and supervision. The children are given freedom to an extent but not entirely. It helps the child to develop a sense of responsibility and fairness. Simultaneously, they realize the boundaries that they would not be allowed to cross.  

• Love and Restrictions 

Bonding with the child is an essential element of authoritative parenting. Children know that they are being loved despite given rules and restrictions to live with. They are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. They are made to understand and obey rules willingly such that they experience an overall development in all aspects.  

Hence, even if the rules look harsh, children follow them willingly as they know the reason and the goodness behind it. They are aware of their parents’ unconditional love at all times.  

• Quality Time 

Unlike the dictatorship model, authoritative parenting flaunts a cooperative and friendly way. Parents spend quality time with their children, explain to them the need for rules laid down, allow children to air their issues, make minor mistakes, and do many other things. Because of this quality time, there is enough trust, respect and love nurtured between the parents and children.  

Pros of Authoritative Parenting  

Now that we know the traits of authoritative parenting, let’s get down to authoritative parenting pros and cons. Foremost, we list the pros of authoritative parenting. Stay hooked! 

• Increased Accountability Amongst Children 

Children of authoritative parents are raised to take decisions themselves and accept its responsibility. They own their decision and its consequences, both positive and negative. It not only hones their decision-making ability but also be accountable for it. Gradually, they learn to make sound decisions. These children are also less prone to give in to peer pressure.  

• More Independent Children  

Authoritative parents set rules but also give their children plenty of independence within the boundaries. Reasonable expectations are demanded of children. This, in turn, helps a child to develop their personal expectations and gradually become far more self-reliant and independent than children raised from any other parenting styles.  

• More Respectful Towards Others  

Mutual respect is one of the leading traits of authoritative parenting. The parents show respect to their children by giving them certain freedom and right to make decisions. It is also seen as a trust imparted to children by their parents, along with respect to the children’s privacy. 

The children consciously and unconsciously acknowledge their parents’ gestures and naturally turn respectful towards them. The habit of giving respect breeds, and the children form a habit of respecting almost anybody.  

• Better Leadership Qualities  

Authoritative parents allow their children to make decisions and owe their responsibility and consequences. It breeds confidence and an independent streak in the children. It also breeds leadership qualities in them. Children of authoritative parents turn out better leaders in the future. 

• Enhanced Resiliency 

Children raised by authoritative parents make many decisions. Few lead them to failures. Consequently, children learn from these mistakes under the guidance of their parents. Likewise, they learn to revel in their success.  

• Better Academic Performance  

Authoritative parenting has clear lines of communication. Children are given freedom within boundaries. Parents do not hesitate to get involved with children and help them overcome their challenges. It leads to improved academic performance for their kids. Each study challenge is understood, and solutions are found to overcome it. 

• More Successful Children 

Studies have indicated that children of authoritative parents have better mental and physical health. They are more disciplined and always eager to learn new skills. Their positive and eager approach makes them more successful at every stage of their life.  

Cons of Authoritative Parenting  

Nothing can be without its drawbacks. Likewise, even authoritative parenting has its dark side. Few of the leading cons of authoritative parenting are: 

• Rebellion- A Natural Setback  

Expectations of parents from the children are very clearly laid down in the authoritative parenting style. It can trigger a natural phase of rebellion, apathy, and anger amongst the children. It is more pronounced during the adolescent period of the children where they often fail to comprehend the reason behind the rules and the consequences of breaking them.  

Patience from the parents and a strong parent-child bond is the way to come out of these trying times and set harmony back.  

• Difficult to Adapt  

Authoritative parents have to take a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. They have to understand the needs of the child and adapt themselves at each stage accordingly. This constant need to understand their children’s needs and adapt accordingly can be stressful for any parent. Moreover, as parents, many would find it difficult to adapt themselves to ever-changing situations.  

• Difficult Implementation 

Of all parenting styles, authoritative parenting is the easiest to discuss but the most difficult to implement. It requires an extra dose of patience and perseverance from the parents that can sometimes take a toll on them. The toll often increases ten-fold during the stubborn or angry stages of childhood.  

• More Responsibility  

Authoritative parenting puts plenty of responsibility on the shoulders of the parents. They have to mandatorily take time out of their busy schedule and spend time with their children. They have to be more involved with their children and their activities. Out-of-the-box thinking and innovative solutions are often demanded from them. The responsibility can prove taxing and sometimes too much.  

• Continual Review and Refinement of Rules 

Authoritative parenting is a rule-based style of parenting. However, the same rules do not hold valid throughout. Parents continuously need to review rules periodically, and modify it or change them to new rules based on their child’s needs and challenges.  

• Low Self-Esteem 

Till now, we talked only about the drawbacks of the parenting style for parents. But it has its con for children as well. Because they have to abide by rules at all times, they might develop feelings of continuously being controlled. They might feel confined and restricted and feel deprived of their freedom. It can trigger negative feelings and emotions in the children that can adversely impact their development.  

Wrapping up  

We hope that by now, you clearly understand the concept of authoritative parenting. Tried and tested for generations, it remains one of the best parenting styles. Understanding authoritative parenting pros and cons would definitely help you become a much better parent for your child.

Children of all ages are fond and are at times adamant to watch their favorite cartoons and animation movies. Animations and Motion pictures have become an inevitable part of their daily life. You might wonder why do kids like cartoons? What impact does a cartoon create on a child’s behavior and development?

Parents show nursery rhymes and stories available in cartoon forms, for various reasons in their child’s early development. The bright colors, mismatching shapes, funny voices, and comedic or weird character sketches with colorful attires attract the toddlers more than we know.

By watching animated tales like Frozen, Cinderella, Beauty, and the Beast, girls fantasize themselves being a princess, and boys get to imagine themselves as knights after watching Peter Pan, Aladdin, and so on.

Motion pictures now rule the television era, all thanks to the kids’ curiosity, observing things, and fast learning capability. Animated tales and cartoons can have both negative and positive influences on the cognitive development of children and their psychological behavior. 

Why do kids like cartoons?

Kids like cartoons because cartoons create a fantasy world with extraordinary energy and superpower characters that kids can relate to and reverie to live. Special effects, storylines, sound effects, and technical aspects fascinate and engross them to a great extent.

Cartoons are developed to capture kids’ interest with simple fun and twists in the tale, hilarious voices, attractive colors, and life adventures. Cartoons narrate innocent stories and the victory tales of good over evil that imparts life lessons to kids.

Sound effects, songs, and futuristic environments with unrealistic visuals play a major role in attracting kids into their favorite imaginary world.

Superpowers, skills, physical appearance, and magic wand possessed characters and solving all problems by main characters in funny and tricky ways, and having a happy ending makes kids inseparable from cartoons.

A well-crafted cartoon scenario helps a child to learn positive and recoiling skills. Animated versions and tales can be an excellent entertainer and educator.

Cartoons and animated versions teach kids how to control their temperament, speak decently, help elders and the poor, listen to parents, and work with friends without jealousy. There are extremes when children get influenced the wrong way. Watching Television with parental supervision might keep the kids on the right track. 

How do cartoons affect the psychological behavior of kids? 

Cartoon characters and their mannerisms can diverge kids from the real world, increase the possibility of negative and aggressive behavior in them, and marginalize their cognitive mental processes.

Animated negative characters stimulate kids’ interpersonal behavior, social growth, and learning processes.

Spending long hours watching cartoons, kids gain the ability to imitate the behavior of the characters and events in real life. Children pick fights among friends in the class, one of the main reasons for their aggressive behavior could be the influence of violence based animated tales or negatively portrayed characters in cartoons.

Kids who are very engrossed in cartoons find difficulty in differentiating between reality and the fantasy world and affects their psychological development. A Child’s brain is tender during their developmental milestones, and is easily prone to form negative impressions. Parents should be selective in choosing the right shows to show. 

12 Things on How cartoons positively affect children’s development:

Children who indulge in cartoons can have various positive effects on their behavior and developmental stages. 

How animated visual cartoons can have a positive impact on children:

#1 Helps children to start learning early

There are educational cartoons that educate basic things like shapes, colors, alphabets, and numbers to the toddler in a simple, fun, and interactive way, making learning an enjoyable activity. Cartoon characters’ funny voices, moves, colorful visual effects, and talking pictures make learning more interesting, and attract toddlers to a great extent.

#2 Helps kids to explore and observe

Explorer cartoon characters make children curious to explore everything around their world, observe new things and the environment around them. Children try to put these fictional situations in real life and learn life the right way. 

Each cartoon tale is fictional and their actions and environments are not real, but there are survival lessons hidden behind the characterization.

#3 Helps them reach their developmental milestones 

Cartoons help your kids to develop cognitive skills, reasoning, and logic abilities, capture sustained and selective attention, and process auditory information.

#4 Helps children in language development

Cartoons help your children in developing linguistic ability by exposing them to different languages and cultures. When you allow kids to watch cartoons in their mother tongue, it helps them to learn and understand the language better. Cartoons improve your kid’s pronunciation and talking style.

#5 Enhances creativity and imagination

Cartoons develop their imaginative and creative knowledge, they start making up imaginative stories based on the cartoons they watch. They can even learn to make innovative art pieces when they see them being created in videos with sound effects and colors. 

#6 Helps kids to maintain good health

The main motive of cartoons is to instill laughter and joy among the audience, no matter what age they are.  With healthy laughing and learning, children can experience regulated blood circulation and stay active all day. 

Some cartoon characters portray fitness freaks and have good physiques, which inspire kids to stay fit and cultivate good eating habits.

#7 Helpful in relieving stress

With humorous scenes, jokes, and joyful environment cartoon tales can reduce the possibilities of kids being moody for whatever reasons, and instantly puts a smile on their sad faces. As a scientific fact, Laughing increases the production of endorphins in the body that can keep the mind and heart-healthy all time. 

No matter how your kid’s day goes at school, a few minutes of their favorite cartoon and snacks with you by their side can automatically lift their spirits. 

#8 Helpful in learning visual effects and colors

A kid’s mind is a blank paper that can be filled with anything during their developmental milestones. With Visual mediums that capture their interest in seconds, children love learning through animated cartoons. Their interpretation of colors and shapes are wide when they learn through visual mediums.  

Attractive colors, beautiful animations, and other settings enhance kids to differentiate colors accurately and help them to draw art pieces with wild imaginations.

#9 Helps kids learn difficult concepts easily

Cartoons help kids to learn about their country’s customs, history, traditions, language, and mythology very easily. By watching epic series like Ramayana and Mahabharata in animated versions, kids can easily know Indian mythology. There are historical animated tales that teach good morals, compassion, and kindness to your kids.

#10 Helps them in enhancing their speech ability

There are proven instances of cartoons and animations helping children with lesser speaking abilities convey and confess their thoughts and ideas more clearly and effectively. Cartoons can help them at places where parents get stressed enough not knowing what can help them in speaking fluently.  

#11 Helps kids in getting along with friends and elders 

Children learn from everything that happens around them. There are many single children who do not know how to get along with other kids owing to their family situations. Cartoons help them in getting along with new people and respecting new elders as well. 

#12 Instills life values in children

Cartoons make the work of teaching children about life values like equality, loyalty, honesty, trust, compassion, and kindness easier than having had to explain them with exceeded talk and tasks. 

There are always two sides to a coin. As much as there are positive effects of watching cartoons, there are still negative effects of watching animations without parental supervision. 

Early warning of children watching exceeded cartoons:

Violence and aggression

Cartoons depict violence and encourage kids to become violent in their life. Cartoons also play an aggressive part, there are a lot of negative characters who perform aggressive roles. Kids are too small to differentiate between negative and positive roles, and easily get aggressive in real life.

Lack of empathy and unruly behavior

Some cartoons display rude and disobedient behavior towards their elders and teachers. Children get encouraged by watching cartoons and they start mimicking in front of their teachers or parents.

Improper Cartoons also use foul or unfit language for kids, they start to use bad language in daily life. It’s always okay to let your kids watch their favorite cartoons, except ensure that they are safe to watch and learn about. 

Encourages anti-social behavior

Some cartoons encourage characters to be antisocial behavior and give wrong or negative messages to kids. Children think that it’s perfectly okay to behave spoiled, aggressive, and violent. As parents, it is always your responsibility to stay vigilant about what goes into your child’s head. 

To avoid negative effects, parents should sit and watch television and animated versions of cartoons with kids. Spending quality time with kids increases your bonding time and observation level with your young ones. 

Your Little one’s heart is pure, soft, and innocent with full of honesty, give your time when it is needed and direct them in the right way.

The Coronavirus outbreak was totally unpredicted and so was the work from the home situation that arose because of it. While we would have given anything to work in our beds before this whole thing, it has become a nuisance for all of us now that it has become mandatory for most of us.

The section of the working class that is struggling, the most, consists of parents who are working from home. Not only they are struggling to keep their work and personal life separated but they also have to deal with their children coming in the way of giving their best at their work. 

As such, in this article, we are giving you a solution (10, in fact) to this problem – how to keep kids busy while working from home. So, in a nutshell, here are 10 ways on how to keep a toddler busy while working from home.

1. Washing their toys
2. Art – Drawing, Coloring, and Shadow Tracing
3. Something with cardboard shipping boxes
4. Target toss from a bean bag
5. Making necklaces
6. Scavenger hunt
7. Rock Painting
8. Household Chores – Sweeping/Mopping/Dusting

You are still here! So, let’s get to it. We will be diving into each of these activities on how to keep kids busy while working from home. Let’s begin!

Toy Washing

The first activity we have for you when you are looking for how to keep kids busy while working from home is – Toy Washing.

We all know that one thing that kids absolutely love is – their toys. If you had to think of another thing that your kid loves the most, it would mostly be water. Kids love playing with water unless it is the winter season (obviously).

Toy washing put together two things that kids love the most – toys and water. Here’s why this is one of the most effective ways of how to keep kids/toddlers busy while working from home. You just fill in a bucket, tub, sink, or any other container with water and provide your kids with all the toys they have (and a towel). Yes, ask them to dry up their washed-up toys as well.

Caution: Give only plastic or rubber toys to your kids during this activity. Avoid any toy with electronic elements.       

Art – Drawing, Coloring, and Shadow Tracing

Just like toys, most kids love drawing, coloring, and similar artsy stuff. So, the next thing that works if you are looking for how to keep toddler busy while working from home is artsy stuff.

Here’s the psychology behind this. Kids love when they get brand new stuff, right? The idea is to use this to advantage. Get your kid(s) new art supplies. This activity works with old supplies too but getting new art supplies will just get them more excited about this. 

You all get what coloring and drawing are. You can either get them those drawing sheets or real-life objects that you probably won’t need and ask them to draw on it or color it. Another activity that you can add to this list is – Shadow tracing.

Ask your kids to just pick up random objects and trace them on a piece of paper. If you have more than one kid, make it a competition. Whoever manages to trace more objects gets more candies. 

This is one of the most common ways of how to keep kids busy while working from home. If this doesn’t work with our kids, don’t worry. The next one probably should.

Playing With Cardboard Shipping Boxes

If you have cardboard shipping boxes lying around in your house, they are a blessing in disguise for you if you are looking for ways of how to keep kids busy while working from home. 

If you have saved some of the older shipping boxes with you, you can just give them to your children and ask them to build houses, fortresses, and whatnot. You can even throw in some crayons and coloring pens with the shipping cardboard boxes and ask your kids to draw rooms in the homes or fortresses they are building.

Besides this, if your kids are a bit older, you can also include scissors and glue with this activity. These simple additions will only make this activity more fun.

This activity will keep your kids busy for hours and you can just stay focused on your work without any nuisance. In our research, this is one of the most popular methods among parents who are looking for how to keep kids/toddlers busy while working from home.

Target Toss From A Bean Bag

This activity can keep your kids busy for hours at length when you are looking for ways of how to keep toddler busy while working from home. 

Set up a bean bag in our living room along with dustbins, hula hoops, laundry baskets, etc. in your living room. You can arrange for objects to throw in these targets, It could be anything from paper airplanes, or anything else, This is where you can get creative. 

Again, if you have more than 1 kid, you can make this a competition. You can ask them to maintain a scorecard and whoever wins gets some sort of privilege – some extra candies, extra television minutes, or anything else that can work for your kids. 

This activity is one of the most effective ones when you are looking for how to keep kids busy while working from home. 

Related Read: 10 Hacks on how to keep your child busy during the summer

Necklace Making

Well, this is undoubtedly one of the most popular ways of how to keep kids busy while working from home. Of course, it depends on what your kids like or dislike.

If you think that your kids like creating things or are even a bit creative, necklace making is definitely something you should try. Give your kids a bucket of tiny objects & a thread, and ask them to weave a necklace for you using those objects.

As you all already know that weaving a necklace is an activity that requires patience, you can not only expect this activity to keep your ids busty but also help them be more creative and productive with their time.

You can also include other objects like cereals to make this activity more fun and engaging for your kids. 

Scavenger Hunt

You can get as creative with this activity as you can with this. This is one of the most effective ways where you are looking for how to keep kids busy while working from home. Having said that, creating a scavenger hunt for your kids will take some work. So, we advise you to create a scavenger hunt for your kids the night before you plan to use it.

Keep in mind that you are creating this scavenger hunt for your kids. As such, it should neither be too easy nor too hard. It could be as simple as creating a list of items around your house and asking your kids to tick items on that list after they find them.

Here’s a word of caution. While scavenger hunt works when you are looking for how to keep kids busy while working from home only list items that are easy to reach for your kids. This means that avoid listing down items that your kid might not be able to reach and end up getting hurt.

Painting Rocks

Well, who doesn’t love painting rocks? You can use this activity when looking for how to keep toddler busy while working from home. 

Find a bunch of rock – big and small and get some coloring supplies (painting brushes, washable paints, etc.) for your kids. Ask your kids to paint on these rocks and to get as creative as possible. This activity won’t just keep your kids busy but will also help them to realize the creative side in them.

Caution: Make sure that the rocks you choose for this activity are not too heavy to hurt your kids. 

Rock painting is one of the activities that has worked for parents who are working from home. So, it should work for you too when you are looking for how to keep kids busy while working from home.

Household Chores – Sweeping/Mopping/Dusting

Remember how, as kids, we quickly wanted to grow up? Well, kids of this generation are no different.

Your kids are longing to play adults and this activity will allow them to be. And if you are lucky enough you will have a few chores left for you to do after this. Give your kids a duster/sweeper and assign them a few easy chores.

We have observed that kids actually love doing this and even might end up learning these things for their own good when you are not around to micromanage them. As such, this activity definitely deserves a spot in the list of activities on how to keep kids busy while working from home.

Final Words

There are many other activities that can be helpful to you. For instance, letter writing (to grandparents, God, or anyone else) can be effective when you are looking for ways on how to keep kids busy while working from home.

Having said that, if you are tired of doing all these activities on your own, Pencil Voyages can help you out. They have a list of outdoor activities that will help your kids learn while having fun and making friends.

Whether standing alone or in a group, tall people naturally draw attention. It adds an extra edge of attraction to them. Given that, it’s not surprising that almost every adolescent looks at ways to add a few inches to their height.  

Even though a person’s height is a genetic feature, you find people striving to add a few extra inches. Going by the popular belief, the most common Google search is, ‘Can jumping rope make you taller?’ or even, ‘How to grow taller?’ 

In this write-up, we would try to research its correct answer, throw light on a few myths and facts around it, and finally look at a few concrete ways to help any adolescent grow taller. Stay hooked! 

Can Jumping Rope Make You Taller? 

Answering straight to the point, jumping a rope does not make you taller but helps you maximize your height potential.  

You grow your full height, which is predominantly genetically decided between the age of 18 and 25. By this time, your bones get ossified, and the epiphyseal plates also seal entirely. Once this has happened, nothing can make you gain a few extra inches.  

However, regularly jumping improves your posture, and that gives the impression of you gaining a few inches. This is what probably triggered the myth of jumping rope making a person taller. 

Factors Affecting Our Height 

Before we delve into the myth of jumping rope making you taller and the fact behind it, let us first throw light on the factors determining our height. While many factors are influencing our height, the major ones are: 

Hereditary and genetic factor:

According to scientists, more than 700 different genes present in our genetic make-up determines our height. They impact both our growth plates and the production of growth hormones. It is the primary determinant of how tall a person would be.  

Environmental conditions:

The environment also plays a crucial role in the development of a person, including height. Adverse environment conditions can impact every phase of your life, but the most sensitive stage is the infancy phase. It can negatively impact both the physical and mental development of a person, including height.  

A proper and healthy diet:

After genetic factors, nutrition plays a critical role in the development of a person’s height. Studies have established that children with a proper and balanced diet are always comparatively taller than those without it. Even though all food components are essential, a diet rich in proteins, calcium, minerals, Vitamin A and Vitamin D is extra beneficial in increasing height.  

Our lifestyle:

Not many realize, but a lifestyle also plays an essential role in the development of a person, including height. A happy, healthy, and productive lifestyle goes a long way in maximizing a person’s height. 

Health conditions:

A healthy body is vital for the proper growth of height. If a child is suffering from any disease, it will impact his/her development. Consequently, a child might not attain full height potential.  

Exercises:

Exercise plays a vital role in the development of a person. If an adolescent child is exercising correctly and adequately, then he/she will inevitably grow taller. Exercises like jumping ropes, squatting, basketball, hanging, etc. go a long way in maximizing height development. 

Right body posture:

We have already discussed posture being the key to looking taller. Proper posture eliminates spinal compression and helps the spinal cord straight and properly aligned. Even adults who practice good posture will appear taller due to stronger and properly aligned spinal muscles and bones.  

Facts About Getting Taller  

• A perspective of factors determining the height 

The main factor deciding your height is genetics. It predetermines your height by 60% to 85%. The rest is decided by environmental and lifestyle factors, including your nutrition. Studies show that you can surpass your genetically determined height by eating balanced and nutritious food during your growing years.  

It was made evident by an article that stated a three-inch increase in the average height of the Japanese post-war due to more access to fish protein. Likewise, Denmark flaunts the tallest people in the world because it has one of the world’s highest wealth per capita, which means better nutrition.  

• Age of growth  

You grow all through your adolescent age, which stops typically between the age of 18 and 25. The main reason for your height is determined by the epiphyseal plates located at the end of your bones. These plates are added rapidly during your puberty that leads to your growth spurt.  

Once you have maximized your growth, the epiphyseal plates seal themselves, and the bones start to ossify. Post this, no matter what you do; you cannot attain any further height.  

The Myth of Jumping Rope Making You Taller 

Now let us understand the facts behind the myth of jumping rope making you taller.  

Heredity is the primary determinant of your height. Going by a Forbes quotation, you lose about 1% of your height by spinal compression. The discs between the spinal vertebrae dehydrate and compress. 

Another reason for height loss is poor posture. Due to poor posture, your spinal cord becomes curved, and the vertebrae might collapse due to osteoporosis or loss of bone density.  

Now stretching and hanging exercises like jumping ropes, hanging, etc. help in stretching the spinal cord and reverse the compression. Thus, the key to height increase is that correct posture, and jumping ropes are one of the best ways to achieve it. The myth probably started from there.  

Can Jumping Rope Make You Taller?- The Truth

We have now understood how posture plays a critical role in your being taller. Jumping rope does not make you taller by increasing your bone length. Instead, it helps you gain the right posture and attain your maximum height.  

How to grow taller with jumping ropes? 

When using a jumping rope, your torso, back, and shoulders take an erect position, and your head is placed neutral. Moreover, your body has to center itself over your feet to help you attain balance while jumping. These work cumulatively on the alignment of the spine and adjust any issues there.  

Again, jumping rope increases the pumping of the heart. It also triggers a high acceleration of leg movement. The skipping exercise increases the flexibility of your muscles and ligaments by continual stretching and contracting.  

If you are jumping rope during your puberty, you achieve an increase in your bone mass. Moreover, continuous knee bending during the activity helps expand the muscles in the calf area in a vertical direction. This enables any person to achieve his maximum height potential if backed by good and healthy nutrition.  

Moreover, as jumping is a high aerobic activity, it leads to weight loss and the melting of the tummy fat. A slimmer body always appears tall.  

Hence, jumping rope helps you reach your maximum height possible while you are at your puberty and helps you regain your height post-growth phase by aligning and decompressing your spinal cord correctly.  

How to Grow Taller with Jumping Rope  

If you intend jumping rope to grow taller, you would need to follow a few rules. They are: 

• Foremost, consistency is the key to success. You would not grow tall just by jumping for a day. You need to be disciplined and consistent with it. You would get the desired result only with it. You must skip a minimum of five to seven months daily to get the desired result.  
• A good skipping rope is essential for you to embark on this journey. Its length should be in proportion to the size of your body. An extra-long cord would make your trip and fall, while a short one would make jumping difficult. It should also be crafted from soft material like elastic or foam so that you do not get hurt while jumping.  
• Many people jump bare feet, but it can make your feet sore. Getting a good pair of shoes or trainers will help give both support and grip to your feet. It would also protect your feet from getting sore.  
• If you have never jumped rope, then it’s best to take things easy first. You can start with 50 skips a day and gradually increase it until you reach 700 to 800 skips per day.  

Do’s of Jumping Ropes  

Now that you know the basic rules, let’s walk through some dos and don’ts of jumping ropes. 

• It is essential to keep your heart rate steady while jumping ropes. In case you are losing your breath and it is getting out of control, you must stop immediately and take a few sips of water. You can resume once your breathing is regular.  
• Skipping tends to dehydrate your body. Hence it advisable to drink plenty of water at least 10 minutes before starting the jumping ropes session.  

Don’ts of Jumping Ropes  

• You must never continue skipping if short of breath. It can be risky to your health.  
• You must not drink water in between and immediately after the skipping process. In case you feel breathless, or your throat is feeling parched, you should take only a few sips of water. Drinking more water will harm your health.   

Frequently Asked Questions & Answers 

Here, we tackle some of the most common queries that arise in your minds.  

Does jumping rope really increase height? 

If an individual during puberty is jumping rope, his/her muscles and ligaments continually stretch and contract. Body fitness also rises. Consequently, the density of the bones increases and they can grow vertically to the maximum. Thus, one can grow taller.  

How much taller can you grow by jumping ropes? 

Whether you are reversing your spinal compression or trying to reach your maximum height potential, you can easily add a couple of inches to your height.  

What other exercises can help you grow taller? 

Besides, skipping you can do varied jumping exercises like basketball, jumping on a trampoline, etc. There are many yoga poses as well, like the dog pose, Surya pranam, cobra pose, etc. that help you reach your true height potential. Mixed with proper nutrition and adequate sleep, a person can indeed grow taller. 

Can you recommend a few good ropes and shoes to buy for jumping ropes? 

We have already highlighted the guidelines for buying ropes and shoes. Few that we recommend are: 

Final Words 

We hope that you now know the answer to, ‘Can Jumping rope make you taller?’ While it cannot help you outgrow your genetic limitations, it can certainly help you reach your true height potential.  

The trick to how to grow taller is in proper exercise, balanced nutrition, and right posture. However, you will get the desired result only with a consistent and disciplined workout every day. The result is slow and takes time to manifest.  

We hope you enjoyed reading. Do get back to us with your queries, suggestions, and any feedback. Till then, happy jumping!

Parents, you can call them the guiding stars of your life. Throughout your childhood, and growing up, they are there to hold your hands. From cheering you on at the bleachers to taking your pictures at prom, and kissing the pain of your bruised knees away, they are there to hold your hands through thick and thin. Yet, the once inconceivable thought of separating from them becomes more of a reality with each passing day that we grow up, which brings us to the question, why do children abandon their parents at their old age?

The causes of conflict between children and parents may vary. Children often cut off relationships with their parents because of abuse or trauma they might have faced when young.

Other reasons behind kids ignoring their parents include growing up with an alcoholic or a drug-abusing parent, issues related to money and property, etc.

Although an exact reason cannot be pinpointed to be the answer behind the recurring question of why do children abandon their parents, there are some common themes that have reoccurred throughout time.

If you find yourself thinking “my child disowned me” often, read on to know about all the possible reasons it might have happened for.

Why do children abandon their parents:

1. Feeling Unloved:

sometimes, your children may feel like you didn’t love them enough. This might have happened because you were unable to express your love for them in a sufficiently open manner, or lived in a time that did not allow you to express your love. At times, your children might have gone through a scarring event that you don’t even remember. This makes them harbor resentment against you and act on it later.

2. A Broken Family:

Abandoned parents often have a history of separation or divorce from their significant others. Children blame their parents for such occurrences. Even if you remain in contact with each other after separating, it may create a lasting trauma that your children do not get over even in adulthood. The rift ultimately results in the children separating from their parents in their old age.

3. Babying Your Child Way Into Their Adulthood:

The society is structured in a way that makes the parents the caregivers and guardians of their young wards. However, oftentimes, it is difficult for a parent to give up that role even after their children have reached adulthood. This results in parents giving unsolicited advice, disapproving of their life choices, and dictating how they live their lives, etc. If you think you are doing this to your kids, you might want to consider stopping it! It is a serious and common reason for conflict and why youth are abandoning their elderly parents.

4. Conflicting Values:

Children often grow up with ideas different from those of their parents. Parents fail to accept the fact that their kids are adults with different values. This creates conflict on both ends and results in the children abandoning their parents.

5. Marriage:

Marriage is a significant cause of conflict between parents and children. It is especially common in marriages that occur between families of vastly different societal or cultural backgrounds. Other times, the parents and the spouse don’t see eye to eye or are not accepting of each other’s presence. The resulting conflict ends up in the parents getting abandoned while the children move on with their lives.

6. Toxicity in the Relationship:

While the definition of toxic differs from person to person, generally a relationship is considered toxic if one person’s presence is harmful to the other one. The dampening effect may be emotional, physical, or spiritual. If this is the case between a child and his or her parents, the child may want to remove himself/herself from the situation and live an independent life.

7. Having Narcissistic Parents:

Having parents that only focus only on their own needs is pretty difficult for a child to bear. Constant criticism and lack of appreciation from parents can lead to broken self-esteem.

8. Lack of Empathy:

Kids these days are surprisingly lacking in empathy towards old people. A difference in generational values and lifestyle contribute greatly towards this phenomenon. It leads to an increase in the abandonment of parents in their old age.

How to empathize kids right from childhood not to abandon their parents?

Parents who get abandoned by their children in old age find it hard to cope up with the situation. However, if you are worried that this may happen to you, it is important that you teach them to value old people from their young age.

Respect your parents and spend time with them to set up a good example for your kids to follow. Cultivate a sense of empathy towards the old in your children and spend quality time with them as much as possible.

A feeling of friendship and mutual respect creates a healthy relationship without any toxicity. Remember, communicating with your children is key if you want to strengthen your bond with them as they grow up.

To conclude, cultivating a healthy relationship with your children with enough respect, communication, and space is the bridge that will ultimately lead to a happy, healthy family that stays together despite all storms.