May
31
Rewarding Good Behavior
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Quick Tip: Rewarding Children Ages 3 and Up
One unique way to reward children is by buying or making tickets. The child gets a ticket for each thing they do right. They later can exchange their tickets for gifts or rewards (such as free movie night or 15 minutes extra play time). Make rewards equal to a few tickets. This not only teaches the child to behave well, but also teaches them how to save and work for what they want. It is a fun and easy game.
If you have a lot of kids and you don’t want to make your own tickets, why not save time by purchasing a cheap roll of event tickets. You can find them here: tickets
May
30
Help Kids Build Self Esteem
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Quick Tip: Building Self Esteem
A great parenting tip is for young children (6-10) years of age that have a hard time with self-worth. Have the child stand in front of the mirror with one parent. Ask them to look themselves in the mirror and tell themselves they are a good child and that their parents love them and they are going to try to be good that day because they love themselves. It would not hurt if religious families have the child say that God loves them too. Have them also smile at themselves too. A parent can be behind them to see if they are truly looking at themselves the first time and monitor later, but this truly is something the child needs to learn to do by themselves. Once a day in the morning is good. This will build their self esteem and motivate them in ways beyond what a parent tells them because they will want to try to be happy, good and loving. I have seen this work many times. It is a very beautiful sight.
May
29
Kids and Vegetables
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Quick Tip: Encouraging toddlers to eat vegetables.
When your child sits down at the table hungry, serve the vegetables first. Don’t make a big deal about them having to eat them, or even say anything about them, just leave them alone for a minute while you are getting the rest of the meal served. A hungry child left alone with food in front of them will often start munching without thinking about it too much. If you serve everything together, they will eat what they like the most first, then you can often be faced with trying to get them to eat some vegetables at the end when they aren’t feeling hungry anymore. Start as early as possible with this tip and you will minimize dinner time arguments.
May
27
Children and Chores
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Quick Tip:
Getting kids to do chores: This is for any age group. Too many parents back off of asking their children to do chores or clean up their room because they remember fights with their own parents over the same issues. Seeking to avoid bitter argument, they simply do these things themselves rather than enlist the aid of the children. They are confusing the message — taking responsibility for oneself and one’s surrounding — with the the messenger — usually their mother. You are not raising children, your job is to raise competent adults — part of that entails them learning at an early age how to accept small disappointments (I’d rather play with my friends instead of mowing the lawn) so that later in life they can survive bigger disappointments. Be prepared to accept a job that isn’t done exactly perfectly. The point is to teach the child to contribute to their level of ability. Being an exacting taskmaster will only lead to the arguments you are seeking to avoid. If the child argues, don’t argue, sit down and explain why everyone has to contribute to family life. It may take a while, but in the end, you will raise happier, well adjusted adults who will be ready to take their rightful place in the world.
May
27
Letting Kids Grow Up
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One of the biggest challenges I face is being an over-protective mom. I have tried to shelter my son (I didn’t hardly take him out of the house for the first 6 month of his life.) I have been called a little irrational by some, but when it’s your child’s welfare, how much is too much?
Remember that the more the children do for themselves and the more independent they are, the better for them in the long run. Let them take care of the little things, such as putting on their shoes, for themselves. Also allowing them to make small decisions really helps them develop a sense of their own identity.
I found a great Top Ten Parenting Tips List Here.
http://www.parentingbookmark.com/pages/KN03.htm
Check it out. It helps to keep things in perspective.