Home  Blog by Parents Parents and Parenting Blog Journals, thoughts, opinions, experiences of parents from around the world.
|
|
The best gift for your child: Teaching children how to think for themselves |
|
|
Parenting
|
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Monday, 16 April 2007 |
We always encourage parents to teach their child to be independent and think on their foot. To us, what better gift than giving your child the ability to live and survive without our constant involvement.
Doreen Nagle shares her tips on how you can teach your kids to think for oneself. She is the author of "But I Don't Feel Too Old To Be A Mommy." Here's a snapshot of what you can do. And children learn from us parents by modeling, according to Doreen:
Do what I say, not what I do -- or not: Too often, parents tell their children to behave one way while participating in punishable behavior themselves. For instance, mom and dad say stealing is not OK. However, both regularly helps themselves to the supply closet at work. Remember that actions speak louder than words.
Make room for preferences and temperament: It's almost cliche to think of the football star's child who refuses to play sports, or the math teacher's child preferring literature. No matter how much we may hope (or push) otherwise, our child's own temperament will always come through. Expose your children to as many healthy choices and experiences as possible, but let them lead you to their preferences. No matter how you maneuver and manipulate, you can't put a round peg into a square hole. You can lead the horse to water, but -- you know the rest.
Explain: Teach your child every value, attitude and preference you have. This is not only your right as a parent, but also your duty. Keep in mind that explaining your reasoning will help lock your preferences into your child's value system. It also demonstrates to your child how the reasoning process works.
Ask, question, check in: There are rules, which need to be followed; there are facts, which require no further discussion; and then there are opinions. When offering your children an opinion, check to see how they feel about it. For instance, does your little one believe that green is a better choice for coloring in the background of a picture she's drawing, or does she think another color will work better? As your children mature, raise the stakes by making them think through tougher questions. Let your children know they should listen to other people's opinions, but they should also be discerning. Thinking for oneself -- rather than being manipulated by others -- is a habit to be learned.
Teaching your child problem solving skills is definitely a matured and happy adult in the making.
|
|
|
Environmental Education for Kids |
|
|
Fun Times
|
|
Written by DR Mitchell
|
|
Monday, 16 April 2007 |
|
The growing focus on environmental issues and the gravity of the problems related to global warming and associated environmental matters behooves us as parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and others who play a significant role in the lives of young people, to do all we can to educate children about the environment and, more important, what they and we can do to make positive changes for now and the future. At the same time, I believe the process of promoting positive changes should be as fun and engaging as possible while remaining educational and productive. Activities we can do with our children, which allow us to learn along with them and perhaps even recapture some of the wonder of the natural world in the process, seems to me to be a good approach. While searching the Internet for some ideas in this area, I found a few sites that I would like to share in the hope that parents will seriously consider educating their children and themselves about the environment and then take action. I know there are many more sites, but here is a place to start.
|
|
|
How to Teach Young Children Writing: The One Tool You Need |
|
|
Parenting
|
|
Written by Abel Cheng
|
|
Friday, 13 April 2007 |
|
My daughter proudly told me last night, "Daddy, I know how to write 1 to 10."
I was surprised as this is the first time I got to know this. And I thought she was scribbling for no purpose using one of this toys called Magna Doodle.
To me, it's just a simple toy and nothing fantastic about it. But that was how I used to think about the toy. Not anymore, from now on, I will not look down on toys no matter how simple or plain they look. You can never imagine how powerful and useful a toy can be to your child.
For the past few nights, my daughter has been playing with Magna Doodle after she gets home from the nanny's house. She seems like she's hooked to it. She draws everything under the sun: self-made connect-the-dots game, writing ABC, writing 123, or things that you don't understand. Of course, my wife and I sometimes show her how to write ABC and 123 the proper way. And that's about it. After that she writes by herself. The toy is good and you can erase anything written on it just by sliding a tiny knob at the bottom. And there you go, you can start again with a blank board. It's better than paper and pen because it's erasable, reusable and it saves trees! |
|
|
My four-teeth toddler son |
|
|
Parenting
|
|
Written by Chris Young
|
|
Thursday, 12 April 2007 |
I think my 14-month old son has stopped teething since he has 4 teeth a few months back. Whatever reason it is, he stops at 4 teeth. Two top, two bottom. I can't help but confused why the teething has stopped.
Anyway, let's move on....
Now he can listen to simple instructions like "bye-bye," "raise your hand," "kiss," "lie down," and "sleep."
Last night, what's surprising was that he took a piece of tissue paper and starting to wipe his chin. Maybe he learned from one of us. He is sharp at observing at his stage so we better be careful not to do something bad in front of him ;-).
Every morning, when his elder sister gets ready for kindergarten, my son follows. He asks me to wear shoes for him, just like what his sister does before stepping out of home for school.
I just can't imagine how fast children grow. |
|
|
Cows' milk is not for us! |
|
|
Parenting
|
|
Written by RosalindB
|
|
Wednesday, 11 April 2007 |
This has been a hot topic since god knows when. But nothing is done about it. We all know that cows' milk is not for us, it's for baby cows. Unfortunately, we still drink it.
I strongly believe that it's a conspiracy. We are told to drink cow's milk and consume dairy products only for one reason: for milk companies to make profits!
I totally agree with Stewart David who wrote a letter to the editor of Citizen-Times.com:
"Milk is part of a healthy meal, as long as you are an infant and drinking the milk of your own species. But why are we still drinking it? We hear a lot about the obesity crisis, yet little mention that the consumption of dairy products is a major reason that Americans are becoming as big as cows.
Not only that, dairy product consumption also contributes to osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes."
I wish there would be more effort especially from the Government to create this awareness in all. Don't protect a few companies at consumers' expense.
|
|
|
A Story of Child Abuse |
|
|
Parenting
|
|
Written by Abel Cheng
|
|
Monday, 09 April 2007 |
My heart ached. I felt bad for Jen.
I don't know why, I just can't listen to stories like this. I can't imagine how fragile and vulnerable a small kid is when he is being abused or beaten by a parent. He is so innocent and naive. How on earth a parent could do such things to his own child! In this case, it was her mother that wielded violence on Jen just because of bad mood or lost in gamble. Her mother used her as the target for releasing her anger and stress.
For those who have the tendency to beat your child up, no matter how bad you feel, be real and don't victimize your child. Use other channels that are more proper. Instead, you should shower them with love. Make a commitment to yourself, use only your mouth not your hands when it comes to giving your child a lesson. It worked for me (yes, I used to use spanking when my child refused to listen or other things that upset me), so there should be no excuses.
Alternatively, learn how you can play a part in preventing child abuse and put a stop to it. |
|
|
Women are as likely to cheat as men? |
|
|
Marriage and Relationship
|
|
Written by Abel Cheng
|
|
Friday, 06 April 2007 |
I don't know about you but when it comes to infidelity or cheating spouse, we usually blame the men. God knows why. Is it the nature of men to do that? I think many men will not agree with me on this.
There is a new research suggests that women are just as likely to cheat as their male counterparts. To me this is something interesting as it's different from what I used to think.
Here are a few interesting points from the 10-year research:
1) Women's fluctuating hormones and later sexual peak, often in the mid 30s, as other reasons for straying.
2) "Infidelity is more apparent and more obvious in today's society. We are products of our biology, but our culture, society and psychology probably exert much stronger control over us."
3) "I don't think it's natural to be monogamous. Most mammals will screw anything, so we inherently want to do the same as humans. We're just a step up, as far as I'm concerned."
As I can see now, Point #2 is quite obvious as more and more partners are cheating and it's not a good sign especially for children. And for Point #3, babies of animals are more independent than humans', human babies need more care and love. So there's still a BIG difference here. |
|
|
Capturing family moments with digital video camera |
|
|
Fun Times
|
|
Written by Abel Cheng
|
|
Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
I was contemplating about it for quite some time. It's long over due (ahem!) I was supposed to get it when my second son was born more than a year ago. The excuse is to capture the moments of my children growing up. Hey, at least I've got a valid reason to spend.
I bought a Sony DVD digital video camera last week. It was my first "hands-on research" on camcorders since I wanted to buy one. It just happened that I bumped into a roadshow on electronics gadgets (digital cameras and camcorders) and guess what I bought it without doing any comparisons! I know you're going to tell me that I am not a smart consumer. Let me tell you why.
I felt good about the Handycam: it's small, lightweight, the latest model, it uses harddisk (no messy DVD discs that you need to carry along) and best of all I got many freebies (free tripod, hard carrying case, picnic chair, screen protector).
Okay, I admit I am trying to convince you that I got a good deal. And also to justify that I deserve it.
Anyway, as you may have guessed, I spent the last few days capturing fun moments with my children with the newly-acquired gadget. Of course, my 4-year old daughter is happy as she has the chance to see herself on TV. My son? He's still too young to appreciate. But both of them are very happy and the videos create a lot of laughter.
It's quite different when you capture them on video compared to still photos. Some moments you just can't cut it with digital cameras like walking wobblingly, the sound of learning to talk and screaming, etc. You get what I mean.
I think it's interesting to create a collection of videos that captures the growth of our children. I have yet to learn the video editing software that comes with the camcorder. May have to learn it so that I can put up a nice little family movie. |
|
|
What's your parenting style? |
|
|
Parenting
|
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Wednesday, 04 April 2007 |
Do you know your parenting style? What kind of parent are you?
Heck, you don’t know? Don't worry, it's easy to find out by taking the following parenting style quizzes:
1) Parenting Style Quiz - About.com
2) Do You Know Your Parenting Style? - ChildrenToday.com
Basically there are three types of parenting style. But we think that you should not get too hung up with the results from the quiz as what matters most is how you help your child to be the best based on his capabilities. Not so much which style you belong to.
So have fun finding out your parenting style! |
|
|
A child's weaknesses and strengths |
|
|
Parenting
|
|
Written by Abel Cheng
|
|
Tuesday, 03 April 2007 |
When you know that your child is not good at doing certain things (sometimes it's just so darn obvious), would you tell him that he's just not born with the skill? Or you give him a praise to motivate him instead.
Will praises help your kid to become a smarter child? A research shows that it's not necessarily true. Telling your child is smart will sometimes backfire.
What I will do is to tell him the truth. Everyone of us is born with certain talents and strengths. We can do certain things better and more easily than others. That's a fact. I will ask my child to focus on his strengths and not weaknesses. Because you can't improve weaknesses and the most you can get is an improved "weakness." Still not a strength yet.
You know what, when your child is using his talents, he feels the joy and satisfaction. That's what we want for our kids, right? That's what it counts - to see our kids happy.
Unfortunately, the education systems in schools do not reflect this. The teachers want our children to be perfect in all areas. Is it possible? Yes, it is but you may need to trade off your child's happiness, to some extent. That explains why I feel "sad and upset" when people focus so much on academic excellence. If this is true, all the professors in the universities are the most successful in the world. Which I think you know it's not true. On the other hand, the highly successful people aren't necessarily get the best grades at school.
So focus on your child's talents and strengths and please don't expect him to be perfect. Hey, nobody is perfect including you. So why would you want your child to be one anyway? |
|
|
Should children be tested at primary school? |
|
|
Parenting
|
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Monday, 02 April 2007 |
An interesting survey for New Zealand parents on "Should children be tested at primary school?" Look at the responses from parents, at a glance, they are all in favor of the tests.
We think that the idea of conducting tests to measure against own's past results is better than against your peers'. This creates nothing but unnecessary pressure on the children. What do you think? Do you think we should put pressure on our kids from such a young age? |
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
|
Donate
 Enjoy this site? Buy us a coffee or two. What about a grande Starbucks Coffee Frappuccino for $3? Or choose any amount you wish to tip. Click to donate »
|
