Archive for July, 2009

 

When it comes to your baby, there are so many things that a parent needs. It can seem hard sometimes to keep up with everything. With all the options, how do you really know which ones are best? There are so many different brands and vast array of baby products out there to choose from, locating the best ones can prove to be difficult. You have diaper bags, baby carriers, baby shoes, strollers, high chairs, baby cribs, baby furniture and baby skin care items. This is just a few of the things that run through your mind everyday. You can find some of the best baby books and children’s books around such as Disney, the Little Golden Books, Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street, Thomas the Train, Dr. Seuss and more. You can build an excellent selection of books that you can enjoy with your baby today as well as for many years in the future. When you want to find the best to offer in the things that you need and use every day such as diaper bags or baby carriers, you can trust in the products from the top sites which have been specially selected from the best in the industry and you can find items needed to make your life as a parent easier. Use all of the tools the internet has to offer, check out blogs, forums and social networking sites to see what other parents opinions are about the products you are interested in purchasing. The internet has the best selection of baby care essentials such as high chairs for feeding, baby cribs to give your little one a safe place to sleep as well as strollers, infant bedding and more. When choosing skin care products for your baby be selective and choose doctor recommended products, this will keep your baby’s skin healthy and keep little one happy and comfortable.

 

Does your child have problems with controlling their anger? Are you trying to locate information and resources about the latest anger management therapies? Are you becoming stressed and tired by the emotional burden that associates having a teenager with anger management issues?

I would have answered yes to all of these questions a few months ago, I have a daughter who is thirteen years of age, to say she had difficulty controlling her anger would be an understatement. Happily she has now turned full circle and all though not perfect, which nobody is of course, my daughter has returned to be the loving, caring and decent human being that she used to be. This article describes the long road/journey that we went on in an attempt to find a suitable anger management therapy course.

Before I start I would like to confirm that I am in no way an anger management expert; I am a person who works in various fields including stuttering therapy, offering a DVD duplication service and I am also in a partnership with a freelance web designer.

Many people ask me if there is any underlying reason why me daughter has these issues. As strange as it may sound there isn’t. I have wracked my brains and have not been able to think of one credible reason for her lack of control. It seemed to gradually grow, my daughter laughs about it now and has stated that she did not understand what was wrong with her at the time and just put it down to puberty.

During the period, she threw cups at her bedroom wall, slapped her mum, banged her head on a wall and many other crazy acts. As parents her mother and I were at a loss as to what to do. We wanted to try and establish what was wrong; to discover why she had these issus. We therefore sat her down and started to ask her a number of questions. We tried to in a way buy her affection back, this sounds so stupid now.

We were however to be quite fortunate. Our daughter actually approached us, after around six months of acting in this way, to ask for help. She realised that she was always seemingly in a bad mood and wanted it to end.

We looked for help via the doctor and searched on the internet. We eventually found an anger management specialist in London who stated that he could help. It was not cheap but we decided to give it a go.

He talked to her about many aspects of her life and she seemed to enjoy chatting with him. Part of the problem happened to be her diet, part was the fact that she was going to bed too late and therefore not getting enough sleep, the other area was the fact that she thought that her parents still treated her like a child.

The sessions lasted for around two months and I will be ever grateful to that anger specialist.

There is nothing as important as spending time with your children. Unfortunately, time is a limited commodity, and nobody has enough. That is why it is important to make every second that you can be with them as valuable as you possibly can.

The following are a couple of inspirations that may help you to improve the quality of the time you spend with your kids. Unlike guidelines, these are only designed to make you think more deeply about your relationship with your family, your home, and with yourself.

1. Pencil Them In

You should set aside at least a few hours at the same time and day every week, to spend with your kids. This teaches them to trust you, and lets them know that they can count on you, which can deepen the overall relationship. It also gives them a positive, regular routine. Routines are important for kids because it helps them earn about the cyclic nature of the world, which in turn can help them to develop the quality of dependability.

2. Turn Off That Phone!

Maybe you can’t completely isolate yourself from the world but you can at least put your cell phone on silent when you are with your kids. Don’t make them take a backseat to whoever decides to call you. If there is an emergency, whoever it is will leave a message. In the meantime, you have to focus on what is most important in your life.

3. Give Each Child Special Time

If you have more than one kid, it is important that you don’t start lumping them together as “the children”. Each and every one is special in their own unique way, and you have to treat them like that. Make time to pursue special activities with each of them separately, and use this time to get to know who they are on a deeper level. Just be certain to spend equal time with each child, and to make it clear that is what you are doing. Otherwise you could end up with some hurt fealings.

4. Family Time

While you have to spend some time alone with each of your children, it is also important to create a sense of unity within the whole family. That is why activities such as family outings, and vacations are so important. The memories that are built, help to give the kids an identity as part of the family as a whole, and brings you all closer together.

5. Don’t be Afraid to Do Things You Like

Your kids are smarter than you think. Just because you don’t they would like an activity that you enjoy, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it out. Whether it’s the opera, a sports game, or even just walking through a book store, there are ways to help your child enjoy these activities. Just be sure to explain what is going on in clear details, and answer any questions they may have.

6. You Can Have Fun Doing Kids Stuff Too

That’s right, kids stuff is fun. Just because you’re a snooty old adult doesn’t mean you can’t participate with enthusiasm. Join in sing along’s, clap your hands, laugh, and don’t take yourself too seriously. You will have more fun, and so will your children.

7. Don’t Get Overwhelmed

As a parent you do everything for your children. But it is important that you do some small things for yourself as well. If you are too selfless with them, you might start to resent them, which would be a horrible situation to get into. Make sure to occasionally take time off and do something to pamper you. Whether it is spending 15 minutes a day alone reading or going to a spa resort every few months, you will be happier, which will make your kids happier.

8. Don’t Be Boring

Spice things up, try new things, and don’t be afraid to experiment. The same old activities will eventually be as boring for your kids as they are for you. In doing new things, which you have never tried before, you will create truly unique memories which are very powerful and important.

These are just a list of things to consider when evaluating your relationship with your kids. None of them are hard rules; they are merely designed to make you think. As you explore your relationship with your children, it is always important to evaluate your time together, and make sure that it is as effective as it can possibly be.

I learned from having a young nephew that toddlers aren’t shy about going online and playing games. As a matter of fact, he became Internet savvy at a very young age. Using a mouse wasn’t daunting to him at all. With his savvy came the ability to search online, accompanied by an almost insatiable desire for more activities.

His mother bookmarked all his favorites, so I went onto the sites and tried them myself. I get nearly as much enjoyment out of them as my nephew does! You might find that your children like them too.

Please note that some of the resources or sites linked from them are for older children but plenty of them are perfect for toddlers.

Disney Preschool (http://home.disney.go.com/foryou/preschool/)
As could be expected, Disney offers a web channel for pre-schoolers, which is chock full of fun videos and music. They also offer activities, such as Pooh’s Playful Kite Flight, Pop-up Assignments and Rhythms in the Warehouse. Children can also enter the “worlds” (AKA Web sites) of Disney characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Special Agent Oso, Little Einsteins (or “Iddle Dine-dines” as my nephew calls them) and many other kid favorites.

HubPages (http://hubpages.com/_coloringpages/)
HubPages is a communal blogging site that offers all kinds of information and resources, including kids activities. There are free flower coloring pages for kids, Halloween coloring pages and crafts and Christmas coloring pages and activities, as well as many others. You can either click the links in this article or search the HubPages site for other coloring pages and activities.

Nick Games (http://www.nick.com/games/)
Nickolodeon brings cartoons to life on their game site. Along with plenty of other offerings, they feature The Pollution Solution game, starring The Penguins of Madagascar, Race to the Goo Lagoon and nine other games starring SpongeBob Squarepants, Otis’ Chopper Challenge game from Back at the Barnyard and the Space Blast game from Jimmy Neutron. There are also many other categories of games for kids of all ages.

Coloring.com (home page: http://www.coloring.com/, categorized index page: http://www.coloring.com/pictures/choose.cdc)
This site is pretty low-tech, making it easy for you to find the coloring page you want to download. Their large selection of coloring pages are accessible by those who can read the categories. These can be accessed by going to the “categorized index page” URL shown above. The home page, however, has pictures, so your child might be able to find everything without your help.

I hope your children enjoy these sites!

ODD controlling anger

Today we are going to discuss a very interesting technique that will help you reduce the level of anger in your ODD children. I would like to say right now, when you can apply it, it is 100% effective. I will explain to you why that is.

We all know that emotions affect the body.  Meaning a person who is upset or angry has a faster pulse, higher blood pressure, there are physiological changes in the body because of emotions.

What many people do not realize is that it goes the other way too. You can actually control your emotions by changing your body. This very important and very powerful because a lot of us cannot control our emotions very well, but we all have complete control over what our body does.

This is how you can use this idea. What you can do if your child is upset, angry, fighting, or making an angry face, take a pen and give it to your child. Have your child put the pen in his mouth sideways so that he bites down and the pen forces a smile on his face.

When a person is smiling, it is physiologically impossible to continue to be angry. So as long as your child has a pen in his mouth and if he keeps it in long enough, he stops being angry.

Again, it is physiologically impossible to be angry when you are smiling. Smiling will force a person’s emotions to get out of anger and will work every time, providing that you can have your child do it.

This technique was really developed to work best in the car when siblings are fighting and won’t stop. Have both children bite down on pens until the end of the car ride and by that time they should both be laughing and not fighting.

Again, this is a great technique when you can use it. This technique is 100% effective. It shows parents a good principle that you can control the body to change the emotions. This is one example of many to change your child’s body physiologically. Your children will have fun and it will work.

This is Dr. Anthony Kane with the Complete Connection Parenting Program.
For great parenting tips log on to www.ccparenting.com.
Sign up for our free newsletter. At our site, you will learn the one word that will help you win battles with your ODD child or ODD teenager.