When my kids were little I made the rule that they can't watch TV, but they can watch a television program. Even when they couldn't read, I would read them their options in the program guide and they would choose.

When my child was 4 1/3 years old we were going on a trip cross-country and we decided that a video camera was way to cumbersome and especially for use in the car. We thought about writing a journal but I found I got more involved with writing and missed half of the sights along the way. 

Well, telling a small child to be patient or to wait 20 minutes, doesn't go very far. So, like many good ideas, this one came out of an unexpected trial and error experience.

We enjoy taking family trips, but nobody enjoys that constant "How much further" or "Are we almost there?" coming from the backseat. So my wife and I try a game we'd heard about to put a stop to the constant questioning. 

What we found was that buying cards was very expensive and my kids have many, many relatives and they all wanted to see pictures of the children as they grew because, unfortunately we didn't live close to these relatives. 

Once my daughter turned five, she wanted to learn to read. She is still five and now reading at the beginning level. 

As a parent you are always trying to come up with new ways to keep your kid interested in reading and books. One of the things I do that my sons really enjoy is rather than reading them like I normally would, I sing them! It's something I decided I'd try one day and so far it's been a hit! 

To prevent young children from being overwhelmed by many toys, here's an idea of how to keep the number of toys children play with to a manageable number for both kids and parents.