Guide For Parenting

You may have been reading to your child since he was in the womb. You might have done countless fun reading and writing projects before schooling began and thought that your child was well on his way to perfecting his reading skills. It can be disappointing to find that your child is a reluctant reader despite your best efforts.

Have an Open Mind about Reading Material

Your first choice for material to cultivate your child’s mind and foster a love of reading may not be joke books or comics, but if that’s what it takes to get your child reading then so be it. What he reads isn’t as important in the beginning. That is not to say you should allow him free access to objectionable or violent content, but allow him to make his own choices even if you don’t always agree.

Can You Read it again Please?

Lots of kids have a favorite book that they want to read over and over. Do it even if you have to grit your teeth and read the same thing for the thousandth time. What ever gets your child interested in the written word is fine.

Continue to Read Aloud

Even if your child is old enough to read on his own, continue the routine of reading aloud together. You should continue to make this a special time for both yourself and your children. It is a great way to spend quality time together and help to cultivate their love of reading.

Show by Example

Be sure your child sees you reading, whether it is newspapers and magazines or the latest bestseller. When children see that learning to read is an important skill from you, they are more likely to pick up a book on their own. Even if your child never shows a love of reading, he can still enjoy hearing stories and using his imagination as long as you keep encouraging him.  To look at case studies on this issue, check out this site .

Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Winters can mean snowflakes and snow ball fights.  But moms know they can also mean runny noses, coughs and colds.  Take care to protect your child from winter borne germs and the illnesses they cause.

Wash Those Hands!

Although this may seem simple enough, not many parents teach their children to wash their hands several times a day. It is not enough to wash before meals and after using the restroom, you should encourage your child to wash their hands frequently during the course of the day. This is the best way to fight against germs. Using hand sanitizers is perfectly fine, but you’ll get the same results with ordinary soap and water too.

Germs Can Invade Cuts and Lesions

If your child has an open cut or sore, it is an easy step towards a skin infection. Using band-aids and antiseptic creams on cuts and sores can lessen the risk of germs using these open wounds to make their way into your child’s system. If you notice any redness or swelling around the affected area, or if the abrasion doesn’t seem to be healing properly, see your pediatrician immediately.

Say No to Antibiotics

In the past, antibiotics were prescribed for just about every ache and infection a person was presented with. It is now known that over prescribing antibiotics is a dangerous practice. We are now dealing with bacteria that have become super bugs and quite resistant to many strains of antibiotics. These drugs are only helpful when the infection is bacterial, not viral. If your pediatrician doesn’t recommend antibiotics, you will just have to sit the illness out until your child is feeling better.

Hands Away From the Face

Help your children to avoid touching their faces too much with their hands. Germs enter your system in many ways like through the eyes, nose and mouth. If children keep their hands away from their faces, the germs on their hands will have a harder time reaching their target.

Filed under: Child Health | No Comments »

If your child has a tendency to bite others it can be very distressing.  For some reason, we view this type of behavior as a reflection on our parenting skills. Many parents are flummoxed when it comes to stopping their child from biting. There are a few things you can do to minimize or completely stop this socially unacceptable behavior.

Most young children experiment with biting at one time or another during their development. This is often seen in a pre-school setting when the child is a toddler. What you can do as a parent is to start off with a firm “NO!” Immediately  remove the child from the situation. You can then mete out an appropriate consequence such as a time out, or the removal of the object that started the melee in the first place.

Always lavish affection on the child who has been bitten. This shows your child that the victim deserves sympathy while they are reaping the negative fruits of their actions. If you notice a situation arising where your child may be likely to bite again, keep a close eye out to watch the interaction and be near to diffuse the situation should the child attempt to bite.

Never bite the child back in retaliation. This only reinforces negative behavior. Approach the situation with a positive attitude. Explain to your child that no-one will want to play with him if he continues to bite others.

Children bite for many reasons; one reason may be a defense bite. Sometimes when a child is being bullied the only way they know to strike back is to bite. Some children do their biting when they become frustrated. You may have to become your child’s shadow for a while to ensure that they are not biting for any reason whatsoever. If you want to learn more about how to stop your child from biting, visit  Childcare

Filed under: Discipline | No Comments »

Getting your kids to sleep can be a daunting task.  When your child is a baby, you anticipate some sleep disruptions but you expect that your child will be able to grow out of it and be exercising healthy sleep practices by the time he reaches school age. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Many children suffer from difficulties in falling and staying asleep, and these habits if uncorrected can follow them into adulthood.

Sleep Cycles

When you sleep, you move between the sleep cycles of REM or rapid eye movement and NREM, which is non-rapid eye movement. When you are in the REM cycle of sleep your eyes will move and your body stays stationary for the most part. This is the sleep cycle where dreams occur. REM is considered a lighter sleep cycle than NREM, which is considered deep sleep. Most children as well as adults are more likely to wake up during the REM cycle of sleep.

Newborns can complete a sleep cycle in between 50-60 minutes. This keeps them in a lighter cycle of sleep and gives them lots of opportunities to awaken during the night. Babies that are older will sleep for longer periods, though they may still wake up at least once during the night. Many times they can go back to sleep on their own, but some babies may need a little help from you to get back to dreamland.

School-Age Children

When children begin school, they still need plenty of sleep, between nine and twelve hours per night. Once kids start school, sleep deprivation can become common and prevent your child from performing at their best. You can see for yourself if your child is getting the sleep they need by checking if they fall asleep within a half hour. Kids who are getting enough sleep will wake easily in the morning when you tell them to rise and shine, and you shouldn’t have to keep going in their room to check that they are up. To find out if your child is getting enough sleep, and to correct sleep problems early visit Your Child: Development & Behavior Resources.

Filed under: Child Health | No Comments »

Getting your child to eat healthy can be a challenge.  But consider the parents of millions of children who have food allergies.  The danger of their child exposed to a food substance that they are allergic to is always foremost on their minds.

Food allergies are triggered when the body interprets a food protein as a toxin, sparking off an intense reaction from the immune systems.  The most common culprits responsible for causing food allergies inn children are peanuts, shrimp, milk, wheat, soy, shell fish, and eggs.  There is no cure for food allergies. The only cure lies in avoiding the foodstuffs that cause them. 

The possibility of an allergy attack at school is always present.  Although drugs are available in case of an allergy attack, making sure that school authorities and cafeteria staff are aware of a child’s allergies is very important. 

Here are some ways to help the school deal with your child’s allergies.

Get your physician to make a list of all the foodstuffs your child is allergic to. Also include the medication he needs to be administered in case of an attack in school. Hand this list over to school authorities.

Also include the contact information of at least three persons who can be called in the event of an attack.

 Tell your child to contact a teacher or other staff member for help if he recognizes the signs of an attack.  Make sure he knows exactly who to seek out for help. 

 Make sure that allergy medication is available at school and that it’s stored under optimal conditions.

 Teach your child a code that he can use to signal a teacher of an oncoming attack.

 The website of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) has more detailed information about dealing with food allergies in children.

Filed under: Child Health | No Comments »

Thousands of parents make the crucial decision every year to homeschool their children. The reasons they give are varied. They might want to educate their children to ensure a religious foundation. Or they might decide their kids need to have sound communication skills. Homeschooling seems to offer parents the assurance that their children will be able to retain their ethnic, racial or linguistic identity that might otherwise be lost in a uniform school environment.

Whatever the reasons, make sure you’re clear about them because once you announce that you are homeschooling your kids, they’ll be plenty of people around who’ll think you’re out of your mind!

If you’re convinced that homeschooling is the route for your family, make sure you understand some basic points about homeschooling and how it differs from regular schooling.

Make a list of your educational goals for your children and how you plan to meet these through homeschooling. For instance, you might feel a public school education may not be sufficient to equip them with the skills necessary to lead productive lives as adults. Your vision of education for your children might be to raise kids who are familiar with various cultures, speak more than one language and have a strong basis in human values.

Make sure you follow a school style setting. What this means is that there should be set timings for studies, and periods for rest. Make it a point of having your child keep his school materials – books, crayons, pencils – in a single box or bag which he can then take out whenever study time begins.

Ensure discipline. This can be difficult to do at home but lazing about and procrastinating are real dangers in a home schooling environment. Make sure your kids know that there are assignment deadlines that need to be maintained.

Pay as much attention to the enhancement of life skills as you do to academic achievement. Sewing, cooking, and doing simple chores are all necessary parts of leading productive adult lives.

Finally, give homeschooling a year before you pass judgment on whether it’s the right choice for your family. If it isn’t you can always put your children in a regular school. If it does work, your family will have found the perfect balance between home and school that’s the basis for a great home schooling experience.

For more advice on how to make the best of your home schooling experience, visit the Home School Site.

Filed under: Schooling | No Comments »

Parenting can sometimes seem like one never ending challenge. Life can seem like a series of injuries, illnesses, broken things, noisy games and uncomfortable questions.  To make it worse the general assumption (of people in your mother’s generation anyway) seems to be that parenting is an inborn skill.  Definitely not something that needs training to be developed or perfected. 

Fortunately, while our parents may have had to rely on magazines and books to offer well meaning advice on child rearing issues, we are lucky to live in the information age with a wealth of helpful advice and tips practically at our fingertips through the Internet.

While parenting sites on the Web proliferate with reams of cyberspace devoted to the right ways to get your child to eat, sleep, exercise, study, make friends and just about every other aspect of raising your child, I’d like to focus on one that does a terrific job of addressing a child’s physical and emotional health needs.  Kids Health is an excellent resource for those looking to deal with the challenges of raising children, including a section that explains these from the child’s eyes. This one is a child health portal and not a parenting site per se, but it’s a terrific place to dig up answers to many of the questions that dog us as parents.

Kids Health is divided into three sections – Information for Parents, Kids, and Teens.  The Parents section has enough information and tips to help deal with a lot of the most common health and safety issues that you might face in the parenting process. There’s advice on dealing with common injuries and illnesses as well as advice on handling specific behavioral and emotional issues. The Kids section is particularly useful for a parent who wants to explain difficult physical concepts to a child., especially those that relate to puberty and body changes.  These are addressed to the child in a question and answer format and you can  use the answers and others like these to effectively to deal with issues of single parenting, sibling rivalry, and so on. 

Filed under: Child Health | No Comments »

Going from a trio to a family of four can be an exhilarating experience for the parents. For the older child however it opens up a can of worms of insecurities and confusion.  Preparing your child for a new brother or sister is something that should be begun well before the baby arrives. Investing some time in easing your child’s introduction to the baby will placate his fears and smoothen out your journey to a bigger happier family! 

Help your toddler prepare for the impending birth by showing him pictures from your ultrasound.  Talk to him about what his babyhood was like and show him pictures of his first few days. This gives him a sense of what to expect in a few months’ time.  

When the baby arrives there will be but naturally more fuss made about the new addition to the family than your older child. Visitors will drop by oohing and aahing over your bundle of joy. It’s easy for a child to feel left out in this new scheme of things.  Boost your child’s feeling of self importance by keeping a basket of gifts for her so you can hand them to her when guests troop in with armloads of gifts for the newborn.   

Another great idea to get a child involved with the new arrival is to ask for his or her help in looking after the baby.  Get your child to do small chores that relate to the baby – helping fold baby clothes, giving you a hand while you’re changing the baby etc.  Being involved in the upbringing process will make the baby seem less of an intruder. 

Invest in more time with your toddler. If possible spend your waking moments holding or cuddling your older child before you begin attending to the baby.  This might seem easier said than done, but it will help eliminate any feelings of resentment or bitterness. 

A child’s feelings of insecurity over the new baby will in many cases lead to various degrees of sibling rivalry down the line. To learn how you as a parent can be fair and resolve conflict, check out Sibling Rivalry Tips.  

Filed under: Family Issues | No Comments »

At least 10 per cent of school age children are victims of bullying.  Most parents however can’t tell if their child is being bullied simply because it’s rare that a child will actually come out and tell his parents he is being harassed at school.  Look out for these tell tale signs that your child is being bullied: 

Having trouble sleepingAvoids schoolChanges in personality or behavior patternsAlways seems anxious, nervous or afraidUnexplainable changes in school gradesOdd physical complaints that crop up only during school daysComes home with some belongings damaged or missing 

If you suspect your child is being bullied at school, don’t come right out and ask him.  Chances are he’ll deny it.  Instead ask open ended questions – is everything OK in school, is he being teased in the playground or in the school bus or classroom.   Ask if there are any bullies at school.   

If your suspicions are confirmed, there are some things that you can advise your child to do in the face of harassment.

Tell him to be polite, but firm with the bully.

Tell him if possible not to show emotions or cry.  If this is not possible, tell him to walk away.

Make him understand it’s not his fault.

Don’t encourage him to fight back.  Some parents however prefer to enroll their children in a martial arts class to teach them to be assertive.  This is a good idea provided the child does not use the training to pick fights or be aggressive. 

Make use of role playing exercises to demonstrate tactics that will help your child deal with bullying.

Talk to school authorities about the problem.  They might be able to monitor your child better and intervene when bullying begins. 

If the problem increases, have a meeting with the school authorities and the parents of the bully.   

For more ways to deal with the problem check out http://www.parentinged.com/bullying/How-To-Deal-With-The-Effects-Of-Bullying-In-Children.html  

Filed under: Schooling | No Comments »

Bed wetting can be a stressful condition for both the child and the parent. It’s more common among boys than girls, and is more likely to be related to problems with bladder control than any physical conditions. A child is also likely to suffer from nocturnal enuresis (the medical term for bed wetting) if one or both parents had this problem in their childhood. Medical conditions can also be a cause but only in extremely rare cases.

If you child is between 6 to 8 years old and still wets his bed, it could indicate a limited bladder capacity. This simply means that his bladder has a smaller capacity to hold urine. Children also wet the bed when they can’t tell that their bladder is full. For these reasons, the main treatment methods for bed wetting focus on recognizing a full bladder and increasing its capacity to hold urine. Here are some things you can do to deal with this problem.

Make sure your child visits the bathroom before his bed time.

Wake him up at least once or twice during the night. You could wake him about 2-3 hours after he’s gone to sleep. Use an alarm clock to wake him once more if possible. This will condition him to recognize the signs of a full bladder.

Avoid giving him fluids at least a couple of hours before his bed time. Increase the stretches of time in between his normal urination schedule in the day time. This will help the bladder increase its capacity to hold urine.

Buy a moisture alarm that can recognize signs of wetness in the middle of the night. The wireless Potty Pager wakes up children at the first sign of wetness by mechanical vibrations. Check out their website at http://www.pottypager.com/ to order a model.

Whatever methods you choose to adopt, avoid blaming or teasing the child. It only aggravates the situation. If none of these methods work, your physician may prescribe medication usually in the form of anti depressants. However this is only to be used as a last ditch option, when all else has failed. Most kids however tend to outgrow this phase pretty quickly.

Filed under: Child Health | No Comments »