No Vicks VapoRub for baby under 2

Click to enlarge

How to Talk to Your Baby

For some mums, chatting to their little ones comes naturally, but for others, it can feel daunting to talk to a tiny baby - what an earth should they say?! However, experts know that talking is one of the most important skills your baby will learn and mums and dads especially, have an important role to play in helping their children learn to communicate.

The more you talk with and listen to your baby, the more you help him learn, develop good relationships, do well at school and be a confident, happy child. For those worrying about how or what they will say to their baby, help is at hand! Cathy Hamer, Director of policy at the National Literacy Trust, (www.talktoyourbaby.org.uk) answers questions from parents about when and how to start talking to your little one to guide you from birth to creating little chatter boxes!

1.    When should I start talking to my baby?

Cathy Hamer: You can't start early enough!  Getting to know your baby starts before birth.  As you feel your baby move, start talking to your bump and encourage your partner to do the same. Your baby can already hear your voice.  Research shows that when babies are born they recognise their mother's voice and first language compared to other languages. Singing and talking will help your baby recognise your voice after birth.

Your baby will find your voice reassuring and enjoy it when you smile and talk. You can give your child the best possible start in life by communicating with you baby - talking, listening and responding to your baby's sounds and expressions. By making a connection with your baby from the earliest possible opportunity you are starting a lifelong conversation that will benefit both of you more than you can begin to imagine.

Bridge the Gap

A talk with your teen neednt always be stressful. Here are some useful tips.

Parent: You dont want to spend any time with us. You are either out with your friends or on the phone with them. Teen: Stop nagging me all the time. Please back off and give me space. This is an oft-repeated situation in many homes with teens. Distraught, anxious parents trying to find a spot in their estranged teens life and a resentful, monosyllabic teenager who keeps pulling away from them. Whats happening

The Teen-brain Architecture

To understand this process, lets try and under-stand what is really happening in the teenage brain. Latest research in neuroscience has revealed that the teenage brain loses about 20 billion synapses (regions where nerve impulses are transmitted) from age 12. Simply put, the teen brain is work-in-progress. It is only when a person is 20 or 21 that the brain matures into a finely-tuned, sophisticated neural circuitry. With this kind of neuro-restructuring and pruning going on, the teenager needs some time to just be and process all the changes in his/her brain and body. I know what you are thinking: if he needs the space to process, then why does he/she want to spend so much time with his/her friends. Science answers: teenage girls get a surge of happy hormone oxytocin when they are connecting, talking, bonding with their peer group. Similarly, boys seek a testosterone rush when they are with their friendsplaying sports, talking about their latest achievements, taking risks, being adventurous. Now,arent these highs tough to get at the dining table with mom and dad Its equally important to understand that most parents of teens are rather anxious about their school, sleep habits, food, peer group, safety and so on. And this translates to question time and lecture sessions, which teens want to avoid.

What you Can Do

Accept. First understand the struggle of their pruning brain and their need for hormone highs. Next, shun the victim role (You think our home is a hotel you can walk in and out of) and critical and nagging parenting style (Who do you think you are). These will only push him/her further away. Seek newer connections. Rather than face-to-face interactions, think of other ways of staying connectedthrough email, sms or even handwritten notes. I know a parent who wrote a love letter to her distant daughter and it worked like magic. Invite. Be innovative and send them cards saying, I would love to go out for a coffee with you this week. Let me know when it is convenient. Just coffeeno lecture! Listen. When you do get to spend time together, show interest in what is happening in his/her life. But listen without judging or jumping to conclusions. Use every opportunity. As Faber and Mazlish point out in How to Talk So Teens Will Listen & Listen So Teens Will Talk, rather than waiting for the big talk, look for small opportunities to connect with your teen. Interact with them on your way to the school bus stop, or while watching their favourite sitcom or at post-dinner icecream treats. Remember, despite all the prickliness, your teens will love you for hanging in there despite their I dont care attitude.

Source: IndiaTodayPrevention



How Happy Are Your Children?

We all want our children to be happy - but how much does our own happiness, affect our little ones? As  part of a study conducted by The Understanding Society, children aged between 10 and 15 years were asked about how satisfied they were with their lives. It's not surprising that one of the main findings was  that a mother's happiness is tied-up with that of her children.

Children with mothers who were happy in their own relationships were happier than those with mothers who were unhappy in a partnership. It also indicated that a mother's well-being and happiness is more important to her offspring than the happiness and well-being of the father. This could possibly be down to the fact that women show their emotions more readily than men.

The findings indicate that the happiest children are those living with two parents, either biological or step, and who don't have a younger sibling. They also show that the happiest children do not argue with their parents regularly - this obviously is more relevant to older children.

 

The study also revealed that the happiest children are those who eat at least three evening meals per week with the family. 

Commenting on the findings, Dr Maria Iacovou said: "These findings show that family relationships and the happiness of parents are key to the happiness of young people. Contrary to popular belief that children only want to spend time playing video games or watching TV we found that they were most happy when interacting with their parents or  siblings."

Probably the most interesting finding was the fact that children with younger siblings have a lower level of happiness then those without. The effect of this unhappiness is greater if more than one younger sibling lives in the house.

 

Dr Iacovou commented further that: "Together these findings reveal the complex influences of different family relationships on a child's happiness."

Most parents will be concerned with their children's well-being but there isn't much that an be done about older siblings being unhappier if they have younger brothers or sisters (unless you are planning on having just one child). However, eating three evening meals a week as a family seems like a  good idea once your children are old enough to eat a little later than 5pm!

Source: www.gurgle.com

Loving Your Kids

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research,

Never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked,

"Did you obtain any scholarships in school?"

The youth answered "none".

15 parenting mistakes you don’t know you’re making

Through my work, I've had the honour of interacting with thousands of students and young adults.

When students and young adults share their struggles with me, it becomes evident that many of these struggles have to do with their relationship with their parents.

Obviously, parents would never intentionally frustrate their children. But none of us are perfect, and parents are no exception.

In this article, I'll describe 15 things that parents often do inadvertently, which hurt their children.

I'll make it clear upfront that I'm not a parent myself; all of these observations are written from the child's perspective.