Under Seattle family law–Washington State family law–there is a distinction between custody rights to children and a parent’s fundamental right to parent her children. To illustrate, in some cases a parent has no custody or visitation rights to a child, although his parental rights have not been terminated. Under these circumstances, custodial or visitation rights can be obtained, depending upon the circumstances. To use another illustration from Seattle family law, a child’s biological father may not be known or held out as such, but he may be able to block someone else from adopting that child because his parental rights have not been terminated.

Seattle family law in this area is quite complex and much depends on the facts of each case. However, consider these policies that courts try to accomplish. First, courts generally make custody determinations based on what is in the best interests of the child. Second, it is generally in a child’s best interest to maintain a stable and consistent home environment. Third, a fit parent presumably has his or her child’s best interest in mind. While these generalizations are nowhere near a summary of Seattle family law custody factors, they can give a sense of what the law tries to accomplish.

If you are or think you are the father of a child for whom you do not have custody rights, contact a Seattle family law attorney at McKinley Irvin for some advice on your parental rights. Our lawyers also help in terminating the parental rights of an absent parent in order to allow adoption, and are highly experienced in all areas of Seattle family law litigation.

You are your child’s first teacher, and understand them better than anyone else. By talking to them, playing with them, and introducing simple skills you can help set the scene for their future development.
The first thing you have to do is that “talking and listening to your child”.
The most rapid development of your child’s brain takes place between their birth and the age of two. Your child continues to learn and develop rapidly during the important early years of their life.
By building a few simple learning games into your child’s daily routines and helping them investigate their environment, you can help give them the best possible start to their education.

You help your child to learn by giving them opportunities to:

* Look at interesting things, in the garden or in the home
* Touch a variety of objects
* Listen to a range of sounds like songs, rhymes, stories, music
* Taste a range of flavours
* Investigate things that open, close, float, sink, twist, turn
* Explore objects like large boxes, things that make noises and things that move
* Play for uninterrupted periods, alone or with others, with help from adults, and in their own way
* Talk to other children and adults

The second, reading together.

Everywhere you go with your child you have a chance to read together. Whether it’s on the bus, in shops or at the post office, you can point out the words around you and that’s the beginning of reading. Reading stories with your child, even if for just 10 minutes a day, will help to build important skills, as well as capture your child’s interest in books.

Next, learning about numbers and shapes.

Counting things and noticing shapes come naturally to children, so you can use your child’s interest in these activities to help with maths. Maths skills can be developed through stories, songs, games and imaginative play. Even helping in everyday tasks like telling time or measuring ingredients for cooking, gives children the chance to learn new maths skills.

And the last one, spending quality time together.

Turning off the television or computer and spending time with your child creates valuable opportunities for learning. Here are a few ideas about activities that your child can learn from:

* Pottering around the garden together teaches children about plant life, insects and animals
* Simple kitchen tasks, like letting your child spread the jam on sandwiches, can give an early lesson in cooking and improve motor skills
* Playing games together teaches fair play and cooperative behaviour
* Family and holiday photos can give lessons in family history and geography