What helped give your child the best start in life? Win a £200 voucher

[CeriMumsnet]

If you’re parenting a child aged 0–5 - or you’ve already been through the early years - we’d love to hear from you. What’s one thing that’s helped your child thrive so far, or one piece of advice you’d share with another parent at a similar stage?

It could be something small but genuinely helpful - for example, around feeding or weaning, building that early bond, settling your child into childcare, or helping them feel ready for school. We’re especially keen to hear practical tips or real-life experiences that made a positive difference and could help other parents right now.

Share one tip or experience that made a difference for your child’s early years by 14th February for a chance to win a £200 VEX voucher (Mumsnet T&Cs).

And if you want to read up on different stages as your child grows, the government’s Best Start in Life website brings together trusted, NHS-approved guidance to support you at every stage.

Listen to them - take time and get down to their level with struggling toddlers, can avoid a lot of frustrated tantrums. With older and particularly teens, again listen and make them feel they have some autonomy and that their views are important. Doesn’t mean always giving them the final say but listen and talk - two way communication and respect.

Nails it.

Follow their interests, let them make decisions when it is safe and appropriate,even before they are verbal. It will make them confident to be themselves

Read to your children and put your phone down (this goes for both parents!). Life was always so stressful when they were small but I tried to put the stresses to one side and interact with positivity.

Using Raindrops of regulation emotional literacy resources!

They are small for such a short time, and you are the most important person in their life, make sure you are the focus of theirs.

Be silly, playful, make them laugh. Its not all about routines and discipline. Nothing better than the sound of your child laughing, it releases endorphins, great for bonding and I think it does improve resilience.

Definitely reading to the child and modelling the behavior by reading myself and not just going on my phone!

Exposure to as many experiences you can easily afford. Make it feel like an adventure.
My 5 year old loves days out to the park, beach, library, museums.

School has said they can see he has had outside the home exposure and his learning flourishes because of it.

Relax but expect, and teach, your children to be polite and use manners - practise using words like - please, thank you, hello, goodnight, how are you, may I please ..
Set the table and use cutlery.

Breast feeding, co-sleeping and genuinely enjoying their company. Having fun together. It gave him confidence.

I hope my ds never felt he was inconvenient or in the way.

Try to let go. Accept that your baby is (obviously) as clueless as you, you are allies in this mess together. When people say "don't worry, it's just a phase", they may be correct but where one ends, another begins which might mean a completely different change of attitude/behaviour is needed.

So I wish someone had told control freak me that flexibility will be the key to being happier!

I think the person who knows their child the best is their parents, they know when they are troubled, I also think that being part of a mum group and having good support is also essential - they say it takes a town to raise a child and the more involvement the better for you and your child.

Parent the child you have and be prepared to adapt how you do it.

There’s a reason that traditional Nursery Rhymes and songs have been around and used for years. Surrounding your young child with repetitive text, rhyme and anticipation songs and games are fantastic ways to develop shared attention and language skills.
Sing, dance, chant, join in, be silly, have fun, share, soothe, calm. Indoors, outdoors, in the bath, changing time, in the car.
Use puppets or toys from a young age so that they can choose e.g.a wand for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, toy kettle for Polly put the kettle on. Use a drawstring bag.
Make sure you share any favourites with Grandparents or childcare professionals. They won’t accidentally find out that a particular song soothes your child or encourages them to join in.
Never too early to start! Pregnancy is the time to prep.

Being led by my preschooler has led to her having far more independence than I would have expected. She wants to help with everything, so I let her have a go - chopping mushrooms or peeling potatoes with a toddler safe knife, putting her own coat and shoes on, helping feed the dog, water the plants, plant vegetables or do the dusting - it can feel like a chore to have them help because they do make it harder and messier, but it builds so many skills, teaches responsibility and makes them feel confident and capable.

Getting out and exposing your child to experiences - artistic, cultural, musical and literary. Mine went to the library, theatre and concerts from babyhood and it's been wonderful for their cultural development.

Not all screen time is equal. Numbrblocks is fantastic! Also always have the subtitles on

Pumping every morning as soon as I got home from hospital for the first couple of months to build my breastmilk production. Despite Colic from about 4 months and bottle refusal I was able to keep breastfeeding for 17 months. Also using an app to keep a record of feeding times and nappy changes in the early days meant I had an answer for any midwives with questions about weight and was able to avoid the pressure to supplement with formula.

Reading to and with your children as much as possible.

Always packing snacks and toys even for short outings.

Routine and clear boundaries, it's ok to say no.

Routine. Predictability and parental reliability about what happens, that you are there etc is very emotionally containing.

Teach them to read and go love books. I taught all of my 3 DC to read by the time they were 4 and by 5 my DD was reading Heidi and DS's animal books.

Be prepared - if you're prepared, everything is so much easier!
I ambled through pregnancy with the naive assumption that parenting would be a piece of cake - NEWFLASH! it isn't!
After a long & problematic labour, my milk didn't come in - meaning my plan of breastfeeding went out the window - an eventuality I hadn't even considered, so I had no bottles of formula at all! Had I been prepared, this needn't have been so stressful.
Something I'm really glad I was able to do was take a full 12 months off work before my son started nursery - I loved all the baby groups, library groups, etc - go to as many as you can, it's great for your baby to socialise with others & for you too!
When you do encounter difficult periods - there are so many great parenting resources - books, websites (inc. Mumsnet, of course!), podcasts, etc - just knowing someone has been there before & come through it gives you hope & reminds you to take it a day at a time!

Read with them as much as you can and when they start school practice their reading and phonics at every opportunity early on.
The more children read and see words then the better their spelling and writing so everything is just more automatic at school.

Reading! Exposure to books, texts, library, songs and audiobooks in the car etc.