Parenting Your Child to Face the First School Days

This comic strip of Patterson Family by Lynn Johnson (I’m a big fan of her comic) describes the trouble that may occur in your family life every time your children have to face their first day in school. The fear of facing change and all new things, the lack of self confidence may cause this trouble.

Michael (boy) : I hate that dumb kindergarten,an' I'm never going back EVER !

Elly (mom) : You don't have to go back, Michael. It's over for the summer and in September you start Grade 1!

Elly (mom) : You'll never go back to kindergarten again

Michael (boy) : WAAAAH

Here are simple steps for you to prepare your child facing his/her big day:

Step 1Make her or him enjoy to study and to learn something new first. This is your important job as parents to build your child’s fondness for study. Your child should have a strong foundation of study fondness. An expert said that you can start teaching your child since she or he is still in mom’s uterus.

You should know what learning style is of your child. Is he or she an auditory learner, a visual learner or a kinesthetic learner? Give a playfull and pleasure atmosphere every time you teach something to them. Use attractive tools that suit with your child’s learning style in describing things, have a walk together around the neighborhood while introducing things that you’ve seen during the walk, or have a fun learning in internet by using specific browser for kids.

Step 2Prepare your child as soon as possible (at least a month) before the big day; especially if it is his or her first time to go to school or a new school. Start to wake up your child a little earlier each morning and move bedtime upward to make a new sleeping habit.

Step 3Plan a "ready-to-school" shopping day with your child and make it a special event. No need to buy all things. You can reuse things that it’s still in good condition, but buy something special to your child (example: a hot cartoon pencil case, drinking bottle, etc).

Step 4For a new year in a new school, introduce the school environment to your child before so that she or he doesn’t feel entering a strange place. Make an earlier visit to the school a week or at least one day before the first day. Ask your child together to walk around the school and make your child known the location of his or her classrooms, bathrooms and lunchroom.

Step 5
Telling your child how to go to school everyday. Introduce the route to school. If your child will take the school bus, find out the route and try it first together a few times there and back until your child understands it.

Step 6
Celebrate the big day. There are some options: ask your child out to his or her favorite eating place, have a special meal at home in the night before, or give a small gift.

rewrite source : www.ehow.com

Do you have another tips that you applied in your own family? Please share your ideas and don’t hesitant to add it on the comment section.

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Four Communication Styles of a Married Couple

Do you have an open communication and warm relationship with your couple? Can you communicate well with her or him? If all answers are ‘no’, it seems that there’s something wrong with the way you communicate. A married couple shouldn’t let this condition happen off-hand because it can lead to a bigger problem.

Before fixing this problem, you have to know first what your present communication style is. Here are these four communication styles:

Controlling style. A married couple who use this style usually doesn’t want to hear other’s talk and tends to eliminate different opinion. Example: if a wife begins to talk, a husband doesn’t want to listen and will cut the talk with more long explanation or it turns out to be an arguing with yelling each other.

In this situation, actually the wife needs advice or solution not just a do and don’t instructions. An expert says that they who apply this style don’t want to appreciate their couple’s idea and feeling and tend to force their own desires. For them, it’s more important to be a ‘never wrong’ person than maintaining a good relationship.

Conventional style. There is no open discussion or conversation on important matters between a husband and a wife. He or she tend to avoid a discussion by distracting attention to other unrelated matter.

Example : if a wife want to discuss about child’s problem, a husband will avoid this by changing the topic to another simple topic such as weather or daily activities. An expert says that this married couple actually apply an artificial communication which there is lack of respect to couple’s feeling.

Speculative style. They generally have open mind to receive and appreciate their couple’s ideas and opinion, but this style users usually finish off their times to ask many undirected questions more than to just express their true feelings.

For example: a husband wants to ask her wife to accompany him on a business trip. Instead of inviting her directly, a husband asks many questions and guesses her wife’s feeling and want. The conversation turns out to be an asking each other and it usually ends with no fair solution.

In this situation, the married couple not only doesn’t express his or her true feeling but also ‘running’ around the talked topic. It will cause a misunderstanding between them.

Full contact style. This style applied by a married couple who wants to listen and appreciate her or his couple’s opinion. They don’t hesitant to discuss every important problem and to express their own desires. This husband and wife always try to maintain their good relationship by building an open and respectful communication.

From all those communication styles, the full contact style is the most appropriate style that should be applied by each married couple to keep their marriage life in intimate and harmonic relationship.

Well readers, what communication style is yours? If you realize now that there’s a problem in your marriage, this article may not give you yet a comprehensive information that you need. You should search more information in wikipedia or google.

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Super Dad

A super dad is really needed in a family! Hi dad, would you like to be a super dad by actively increasing your role at home?

Well, this article is still related with a previous post about after giving birth syndrome. In this case a role of a husband is very important to make a wife feel more comfortable. A dad should involve more actively in baby caring. The opinion that baby caring is a job for a mom only begins to change nowadays. It’s a team work of both parents. Don’t you agree with this also?

An expert in children psychology said that the active role of a dad in new born baby caring have a positive impact. Direct touches of a dad gives physically and psychic effect to a baby; it will build strong inner bond between you and your baby. There are many simple things that a dad can do to care a baby such as holding, touching, putting a baby to bed, changing a diaper, accompanying a baby, etc.

The expert suggests that a dad should participate in caring a baby as often as he can. These are the golden times as a dad; you should enjoy this experience, it may not repeat again!

Want to be a super dad already? Here are practical tips for you:

• If the baby hasn’t been born yet, learn seriously how to take care a baby first. It’s better if you and your wife take a short course on caring a new born baby at a local hospital. On this course you’ll learn various activities in caring a baby such as how to bathe, to message, to hold, to lift up from a baby box, to clean a baby until to prepare a nutritious food for your breast feeding wife.


• If you don’t have enough time to take a course, search more information about this by reading a lot and asking your mother or sister or aunt or anyone else that you trust to give you a lesson.


• Your new born baby is at home! Let your wife take a rest to recover her energy and emotional condition so that she will be stayed away from baby caring fatigue. Your role is very important to overcome the baby syndrome that can affect your wife.


• Be there each time your wife needs your help.


• Help your wife without being asked before.


• Do home tasks that your wife don’t have sufficient time to do it.


• Directly involve in caring your baby. Practice that you’ve learned!

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After Giving Birth the Baby

Congratulations on your new born baby! Some new mothers are very happy; but some others are not. After delivering the baby, there are quite a lot of new mothers get depressed, passionless, confused, sad, disappointed, anxious and other mix-upped negative feelings without a clear reason. An expert said that these depressed feeling is often occurred to new moms.

There are two kinds of after giving birth syndrome: baby blue syndrome and postpartum depression syndrome. Baby blue syndrome is less severe and usually happened less in a week. Postpartum syndrome is more severe and can happen in more than 2 weeks or even continuing until few months. This syndrome has no time limit when it affects new moms and it also can happen on every baby birth.

Every woman can have this syndrome, even though you’re a doctor, psychiatrist, professor etc. There is no relation with the rationality of a woman. The syndrome is more dominantly caused by the hormonal change of the woman bodies. The physical change, the fatigue after delivering the baby and the doubts in facing new things are worsened the new mom’s condition. You may still remember that a famous US actress Brooke Shield has ever had the postpartum syndrome; she felt very depressed, sick and unable to fulfill her baby needs.

This syndrome can make a new mom to feel uninterested or on the contrary very interested to her baby; too worry or too pay attention; too afraid to hurt herself and her baby and unable to sleep or even lots of sleep.

To overcome your syndrome, here are the tips that can be applied after giving birth your baby :

• Don’t get too intense, you should take times to relax


• Have enough rest first. Share home tasks and your baby care with other family member


• Limit your guests if you feel uncomfortable with too many persons in your house


• Do more relaxing activities such as listening to music, reading books, watching movies


• Build an open communication with other family member, especially with your husband. Don’t be hesitant to explain your feelings to others. A husband and other family member should know the information about the syndrome before so that they can give the best support to a new mom


• Consult to the expert if your condition is getting worst

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One Organ with Many Names

As happened in many countries, most parents are reluctant to mention the real name of the genital to their son. As parents, we commonly use alias to mention this organ. The aliases are varied; it depends on the local culture around us. In my country, the aliases are many and they all are funny names, such as tetot, titit, bird, boy, duck, the little, etc.

An expert in early aged children education said that introducing the real name of genital must be adjusted with the child’s age. If your child is still below five years old, you can introduce the genital name using alias which is familiar to use in your family and local society.

Basically, it’s a right thing to do if you want to introduce your child the real name of his genital. But please do this seriously, don’t you ever mention the genital name while laughing at the same time.

If your child asked why his genital has a different name with his friend, you could simply say that those names are the same organ with the same function to have a pee but there are different ways in mentioning the name. It’s better to use simple and clear words so that your child can understand thoroughly every thing that you’ve explained. The children below seven years old are still hard to understand the scientific explanation.

If your child asked why there is a difference between boy and girl genital, you could give more simple explanation that those organs still have the same function to have a pee though they have different shapes.

I hope this short article may help you. As parents, you must know how to build a good communication with your child. While explaining anything, you always have to consider the age and the ability level of your child.

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Family-Safe Internet

As parents, you must protect your child from bad informations in internet. There is added software which can be used to block or filter material that is not appropriate for your family.

Generally, the function of this software is included two categories below:

1. Browser for kids.The function is similar with other browser, but there is added facility to filter materials from internet which are seen or downloaded by your kids.
There are free browsers for your kids such as that are mentioned below. I will add other browser later.

• KidZui

download KidZui browser

KidZui is a free attractive graphical Web browser designed just for kids with access to over 2 millions kid-friendly Web sites, pictures, and videos, a search engine and online playground for kids 3-12 years-old age. Real parents and teachers review content for KidZui so your kids can surf independently. Kids build avatars to express themselves online while earning points for exploration and discovery. It’s really fun for your kids!

As parents, you don’t have to constantly watch over your kids' shoulder, when they are online. You will know what your kids are doing online. KidZui sends a weekly email that tells you what your kids are doing online. The KidZui parent account lets you share content and set limits.

• Buddy Browser

download Buddy Browser

It’s better to give your kid access to the best, most fun and educational quality kids websites that are known to be clean. Buddy browser will help you to do this! The searching on internet only takes to children friendly websites. Anything that is not child friendly is blocked.

There are TV shows, cartoons, games, homework tutors, and all kinds of things for kids to do on this website. This website is controlled by parents. You decide how many hours a day your child is allowed on Buddy Browser.

2. The specific software to block or filter the content

This software is more complex than just a browser.
There is one of filter content freewares. I’ll add another freeware in the next post.

• K9 Web Protection

You will need a K9 web protection license here : http://www1.k9webprotection.com/getk9/index.php

before installing the software :

http://www1.k9webprotection.com/getk9/download-software.php

Unlike other filtering solutions, K9 Web Protection ensures the highest level of protection by building the most relevant ratings database available. Its effective coverage reaches more than one billion Web pages. With K9 Web Protection, you finally have a chance to build a family-safe Internet experience for your home, simply and easily.

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The Meaning of Baby Crying

At a glance, the baby crying just looks the same. However, there are various possibilities that would be expressed by the baby through his cry such as feeling tired, hungry or in pain. Each has its own characteristics. According to the experts, there are certain signs in the body of baby that we can see when he's crying.

You can see the signs below:

• Brow. When a baby wrinkles his brow so that the wrinkled lines appear on the brow or around the eyes, the experts said that it is a sign that he is feeling sick or in pain. When the pain is severe, the wrinkle on his brow will appear deeper and the skin will look grayish.
• Eyes. When a baby is in pain, the baby’s eyes likely will be only partially closed. Usually around the eyes appear more wrinkled lines. It’s also depends on the degree of the pain. When the pain is extraordinary, his eyes will tightly closed although he isn’t sleeping. These closing eyes make the baby eyelids blinking.
• Mouth. The deep wrinkled lines around the baby mouth with the tightly closed lips at the same time is a sign of pain. When the pain is extraordinary, the baby mouth will open unusually.
• Arms and legs. When not feeling comfortable, a baby will loosen his arms and legs and then tighten it. However, if the baby feels sick, his arms and legs will look more stiff. The baby will also pull both knees toward the body. When the pain is more severe, the body will appear tense, the knees will be straight and both arms stiffly near the body.
• Fingers. Baby's hands will close or knead strongly if he doesn’t feel comfortable. When the pain is severe, immediately the fingers will wide open stiffly. When the pain becomes extraordinary, all fingers will knead with the thumbs inside.
• Toes. When feeling a little sick, a baby will bend his toes strongly. However, if the pain is more severe, his leg will stiff and lead to the bottom. When the pain becomes extraordinary, his thumb will pull out far from other toes.

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