If there are some things we do not want our children to do, there are also some things our children do not want us to do. This logic is not being realized by some parents because they think that they are intelligent enough and know everything about being good. Parenting is not a one-sided relationship, but rather a two-way street where both of you could smoothly pass. To realize what I am trying to say, view these points and see what you might be missing.
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Article Source: Happy Family Matters
What Children Do Not Want From Their Parents
Additional Tips on How to Protect our Children from Bad Influences On Line
Last month, I made a post with the same title. Now, I have gathered additional tips on how to protect our children when they are on line.
1.0 Do not allow your children to play on-line computer games especially when they are just renting somewhere. Not only that it is addictive but they will think that violence is just a game. These games are for adults only.
2.0 If they have to do some research for their homework, join them while they are browsing in front of the PC. If you are not available, ask a trusted adult to watch over them. It is better if you require your child to inform you in advance so that you can adjust your schedule.
3.0 Provide passwords on your PC so that you can be sure they cannot use it without your consent. Change them regularly because your child might learn about them.
4.0 Do not expose your child’s photos, real name and other personal information anywhere on the net, especially if your child blogs. Devils on line are just waiting for a chance to catch their prey.
5.0 Place your PC where you can easily see what is on the screen. The best location is the living room, rather than in a closed room.
6.0 If you think you are not capable to monitor your child’s activities while he or she is on line, do not allow him or her at all. Require your child to wait for the right time.
Internet, just like riding a bike or reading a book is very useful to children, but can be harmful to if not being guided properly.
For children who will be reading this: follow your parents. They know what is best for you.
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Article Source: Happy Family Matters
How to help a Lonely Child
A lonely child can start as early as four years old, especially when the child is less capable with other children in terms of physical and mental abilities. He will feel rejection and isolation which will prevent him more to socialize. He will enjoy playing alone, and this problem can be brought until he grows older. If this happens, it will be more difficult to solve. Therefore, parents and teachers should start making steps and here are some of them.
Encourage him to befriend a more sociable child
By doing this, your child will likely be influenced by his friend. Although he will find it hard in the beginning, your child will later be following his friend’s actions and his confidence will gradually build up. If you pair him with a lonely child like him, he will not improve.
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Article Source: Happy Family Matters
Sleeping tips for Children of all ages
Sleep is very important factor to a child's health and growth. It promotes alertness, memory and performance. Children who get enough sleep are more likely to function better and are less prone to behavioral problems and moodiness. That is why it is important for parents to start early and help their children develop good sleep habits. Here are some very helpful tips on how parents ensure that their children have enough sleep:
Tips for Newborns
1.0 Observe the baby's sleep patterns and identify signs of sleepiness
2.0 Put baby in the crib when drowsy, not asleep
3.0 Place baby to sleep on his/her back with face and head clear of blankets and other soft items
4.0 The crib should be safety approved
5.0 A quiet and dark room at a comfortable temperature is best for sleep
6.0 Encourage nighttime sleep
Tips for Infants
1.0 Develop a regular daily bedtime schedule
2.0 Create a consistent and enjoyable bedtime routine
3.0 Establish a regular "sleep friendly" environment
4.0 Encourage your baby to fall asleep independently and to become a "self-soother."
Tips for Toddlers
1.0 Maintain a daily sleep schedule and consistent bedtime routine
2.0 The bedroom environment should be the same every night and throughout the night
3.0 Set limits
4.0 Encourage use of a security object
5.0 Develop a regular daily bedtime schedule
Tips for Preschoolers
1.0 Maintain a regular and consistent sleep schedule
2.0 Follow-through with a bedtime routine every night
3.0 The child should have the same sleeping environment every night. It should be cool, quiet and dark and without a TV.
4.0 Watch for difficulty breathing, unusual nighttime awakenings, chronic sleep problems, and behavioral problems during the day.
Tips for School-Age Children
1.0 Introduce healthy sleep habits, disease prevention and health promotion
2.0 Continue to emphasize the need for a regular and consistent sleep schedule and bedtime routine
3.0 The child's bedroom should be conducive to sleep: dark, cool and quiet. TV's and computers should be off and out of the bedroom.
4.0 Set limits
5.0 Avoid caffeine
6.0 Watch for signs of chronic difficulty sleeping, loud snoring, difficulty breathing, unusual nighttime awakenings and frequent daytime sleepiness.
According to child sleep experts, here are the required numbers of sleeping hours our children must have:
INFANTS
(0 to 2 months)…………..……10-1/2 to 18 hours*
(2-12 months)…………………..14 to 15 hours*
TODDLERS/CHILDREN
(12-18 months)…………………13 to 15 hours*
(18 months-3 years)…………12 to 14 hours*
(3-5 years) ……………………….11 to 13 hours*
(5-12 years) ……………………..9 to 11 hours
ADOLESCENTS…………………8-1/2 to 9-1/2 hours
This post is an excerpt from various articles of National Sleep Foundation.
Article Source:Effective Parenting Tips
What your Child’s First Teacher Should Know
Before your child will have his first school day, it is advisable that you meet first with his teacher. This is very essential to both parties, especially to your child since it will be the start of a new world for him. Here are some serious topics you should be able to discuss about.
1.0 Your child’s activities and routines. This includes favorite foods, toilet and sleeping habits and his temperament and activities that your child enjoys doing. After his teacher understands them, it will be easier for both your child and his teacher to bond with each other, and you child will then enjoy his schooling.
2.0 Your home life. It will be helpful for your child’s teacher if she knows what is new in your house that may affect your child. Some examples includes new family pet, a member in the family who is in the hospital or away from home, or any other small changes in the house. These things can also be an added topic when they are in their light moods.
3.0 Your child’s character. His teacher must know how your child expresses his anger, sadness and when he is scared, strange behaviors, as well as the meaning of your child’s facial expression when he cannot express himself. By learning about this, his teacher can comfort and pacify him in such cases.
4.0 Your child’s approach towards other children. His teacher must know how your child interacts with other children, in both sexes. This is very important especially if he is the only child in the house, or he is a loner. His teacher then can adjust herself when approaching your child, and aware his child’s classmates.
5.0 Your own feelings. As a parent, you can be a nervous as your child. You may also have questions to ask his teacher. She should also know your expectations and something about you that is related to your child’s study. It is not only your child that must have bonding with your teacher; it is also a must for you.
Teachers are the second parents of our child, but it is our duty to help them.
This post was inspired by Jan Drucker, Ph.D. and his article entitled What Teachers Want Parents to know (and Vice Versa) on Scholastic Parent & Child magazine September 2004 issue.
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Article Source: Happy Family Matters
An Appeal from a Blogger Parent
I love blogging about being a good parent because I am learning a lot, and I am happy that somehow I am able to help other parents and child bloggers. However, when I started to look for some directories where I can submit this blog, it took me four straight hours to find one that has a category for parents. And sad to say, only few blogs about parenting have been submitted.
Unfortunately, there are numerous blogs about nonsense in most directories I visited and making money. I know I may sound absurd to some of you and you call me any name that you like. But the truth hurts, all of us working hard to earn money for the future of our children, and yet we forget who we are working for.
Maybe I was not just lucky enough to spot my target at once. I hope I was wrong, I wish there are a lot of directories where parents are the star bloggers. With this, I am appealing to all directory owners to consider adding a category for parents because after all, you are a parent or a future parent.
For parents who own a blog like mine, I will be thankful if you could provide me some directories where I can submit this blog.
But for now, I am very thankful to Lama Web Directory for having a heart, and how I wish more blogs will be submitted to your parenting category.
Article Source:Effective Parenting Tips
10 Bad Reasons why Children Hate to Stay Home
Photo credit to Fazeal Mah
When your teenagers start having friends within your community, or have close classmates with the same gender or not, they will be leaving your house regularly. They will even go straight to other places instead of going home. The more you tell them to stay home, you more they will not follow you. They will also tend to make stories just to leave the house. Though this is quite normal for them, you must be a keen observer because they may have some problems you do not realize.
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Article Source: Happy Family Matters
Why you Should Allow your Children to Blog
When I was just starting here as a blogger, I realized there are also children as young as 12 years old who blogs since they were ten. Their ideas are great, and some of them are earning even higher than I do. I was wondering how these blogger children are enjoying what they do, and here are some things I noticed:
1.0 They can express themselves without any hinder, and talk to older people without hesitation.
2.0 They can create their own identity and boost their talent and self-confidence.
3.0 They can meet new friends who can learn a lot from, and share opinions and ideas as well.
4.0 They can improve their communication skills especially in writing, as well as reading.
5.0 They can discover new vocabulary words, histories that haven’t been taught in school, and keep updated on different facts around the world.
6.0 They can learn to analyze things by their own, and experiment on things they wish.
7.0 They can keep themselves away from bad influences of the real world, like illegal drugs.
8.0 They can stay at home regularly which makes them safer.
9.0 They can correct their mistakes without being afraid to be punished.
10.0 They can have more bonding with their parents, especially if the parents are bloggers too.
11.0 They can learn to manage their time and organize heir activities.
12.0 They can inspire us adults like Meghna is doing to me right now. In fact, I made her a poem as sign of my deepest gratitude.
However, there are still some restrictions that parents should observe very strictly:
1.0 Studies should still be child’s first priority.
2.0 Health should also be considered, especially when the child stays too long in front of the PC.
3.0 They should always have enough time to sleep, rest and play.
4.0 Know the sites they visit, topics that they blog and people they meet on line. They might be influence by what they thought is correct.
5.0 If he is earning, you still have the right to keep his money. Make sure that it is being spent wisely.
6.0 Make sure that the PC he is using is protected from bad influences on line.
7.0 Blogging is enjoyable, but he already wants to stop, so be it. Do not force him on anything unless you are sure it will harm him.
If my daughter who is now 11 years old asks me to allow her to blog, I will support her all the way, provided by the restrictions I mentioned above.
Article Source:Effective Parenting Tips
The Best Christmas gift to your Children: Their Safety
Christmas is just around the corner, and Christians are seeing it as the best season to celebrate with their family, relatives, and friends and of course, children. During this season, children are very excited to receive gifts, and have new clothes, toys and other stuffs. However, in this time of holiday shopping, parents tend to bring their children too. With the crowded places and busy people in public places, parents should realize the unexpected danger that will come. So here are some guarding tips parents may learn from:
1.0 When my son was 5 years old, he had problems with his speech. When we shop or just go window shopping, my wife writes his name, our telephone numbers and address in a piece of paper; and put it on his pocket. So if a Good Samaritan finds him, our boy can be returned to us easily. You can also do this even your child has normal speech capability.
2.0 Before leaving your house, remind your child all the safety information he must know, like not letting go off your hand, or sight. Explain to him what will be the consequences in case he will be lost. He will be cautious somehow.
3.0 Do not expect your child to always hold your hand or dress. Check him regularly and be sure it is your child who is holding yours. It is much better to know exactly where to shop and have a list so that you can leave the mall at once.
4.0 Do not be distracted by other shoppers. They might be just disguising in order to fool you, and later your child will be kidnapped. Never trust strangers to look over your child even if they look decent.
5.0 Always bring him with you even in rest rooms. If your child is grown up, let him/her wait very near the restroom and talk to each other to ensure that he is still there.
6.0 Memorize your child’s clothes and shoes, and tell him how to recognize you easily in case he had gone quite far. It is better if both of you will wear bright colors and easier to describe.
7.0 For toddlers, you may consider using a cute but long enough harness to tie you somehow. For babies, it is better to bring along someone with you to carry him, instead of placing him in a stroller.
8.0 Know where the emergency exits are, or a safe place to hide in case of commotion. Learn also how to react in case of emergency such as fire, earthquakes, etc.
9.0 Shop early; do not join the holiday rush. The more people inside the shopping mall, the longer time to shop and the more dangerous it is.
10.0 My best tip: do not bring your child when shopping. You can take his/her body and feet measurements anyway. Absence of body is better than presence of mind.
As they say, Christmas is for children and therefore we must give them the best gift ever, the priceless ones!
Article Source:Effective Parenting Tips
The Truth about Lies
When a child can already distinguish fantasy from reality, which is from age three to four, he will now be capable of lying. This can be a serious problem in the future if parents will just ignore it. According to Dr. Mirriam Stoppard, there are different purposes why a child will tell a lie:
1.0 Exploratory: This is to see how a parent will react. A good example would be telling that he does not want the food but he ate it all. This is serious and should be discouraged because there is a great tendency that he will do this repeatedly until he gets use to it.
2.0 Bragging: This is when a child tells exaggerated stories to impress his friends and to boost his self-confidence. Although it is not really harmless, this must be discouraged because when his friends will learn that he is lying, then he might loose them.
3.0 Make-believe: This is when the child mixes fantasy with reality. Monsters and fairies are among of those a child would tell his parents that he sees, when in reality it is just his imagination. This is not dangerous since it is normal for a child to be in a fantasy world.
4.0 Cover-up: This is very dangerous situation. It is being deliberately done to avoid punishment and it can be upgraded as the child grows. Parents should be careful in dealing this. Punishing or not punishing your child might still lead him to lie again.
Here are some of the actions parents should make:
1.0 Act calmly. A child may sometimes be confused fantasy from reality.
2.0 Understand his motives. Maybe he is just afraid to be punished.
3.0 Explain to him the consequences of his actions. You may site simple examples.
4.0 Make your punishments reasonable. If not, he will lie again.
5.0 Show anger but let him be aware that you still love him in spite of his wrongdoing.
6.0 For bragging, increase his self-esteem and help him bring back his confidence.
7.0 Never hurt or curse your child. If you are consistent with this, you are just encouraging him to tell a lie again.
If you want to live a life, honesty is still the best policy.
Article Source:Effective Parenting Tips
What does Love mean? According to children...
If you think children do not know what love is, think again.
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8-year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:
1.0 "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca - age 8
2.0 "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4
3.0 "Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5
4.0 "Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy - age 6
5.0 "Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." Terri - age 4
6.0 "Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." Danny - age 7
7.0 "Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss." Emily - age 8
8.0 "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
9.0 "If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
10.0 "Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." Noelle - age 7
11.0 "Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - age 6
12.0 "During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." Cindy - age 8
13.0 "My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." Clare - age 6
14.0 "Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine - age 5
15.0 "Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt." Chris - age 7
16.0 "Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." Mary Ann - age 4
17.0 "I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." Lauren - age 4
18.0 "When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image) Karen - age 7
19.0 "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." Jessica - age 8
20.0 And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four-year-old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry....."
This is a forwarded mail send to me about a year ago, but I just realized recently that one of the recipients of this mail was Ms. Lea Salonga, the world reknowned Filipina artist, and became the most admired artist who performed as Kim in Miss Saigon, and who is now a parent herself.
Article Source:Effective Parenting Tips
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