Raising Children Effectively

Being a parent is one of the hardest jobs there is in the entire world, as raising children helps to get them ready for the changing world. They need to learn how to successfully incorporate themselves into society and make their way in the world. Kids can oftentimes be a handful and hard to manage.

You can rein even the most unruly child back into place by recognizing that being a parent, who truly cares about him, is the most important thing that you need to do. There is help for parents that plan to be raising their kids with strong work ethics, manners and respect for others.

Help For Parents with Special Needs Children

Raising kids that have special needs can be trying when it comes to being a parent. Even raising children that are perfectly healthy can create issues for the mother and father. Being a parent should mean that you both need to recognize when it is necessary to find help and guidance.

This doesn’t make you inept at taking care of your children. It simply shows that you care about your special needs child and want to learn more skills about quality and appropriate parenting for your special needs child.

The more that you can learn about raising children with your child’s specific needs, the more you will be able to provide help for parents that are going through the same thing.

Patience Is Essential To Raising Children

Help for parents is available in a variety of places including through your church, the child’s school and even through social services, but every parenting class will explain that raising a child takes a ton of patience and nurturing.

Finding help for a parent is the easy part, actually implementing patience while parenting while still being concerned for the child is more difficult while dealing with raising children. It is essential that you never yell and certainly never raise your hand to your child.

Although raising a family can be trying, you need to solidify who you are as parents and understand that you must be a team. Every professional that offers advice on child rearing will suggest that you both be a united front. Willy-nilly rules will confuse your kids. Be sure that you both are on the same team so that being consistent parents is easier for both of you.

Help For Parents Raising Children

It’s essential that people that are raising young children understand that there is always help available to parents. You can try talking to your friends, family and even a member of the clergy at your church. There is never a time that there are no avenues for you to explore when it comes to raising children. Help for parents must be sought before you lose your temper and do something that you will regret for the rest of your life.

Being a responsible and loving parent and raising a family can certainly be a challenging job but if you utilize the help for learning parenting skills that is available to you, you will be well on your way to having happy, well-adjusted children that behave appropriately. Listen to all of the advice that you can get and you will surely find that your kids will become assets to society as a whole.

Is Raising Kids Becoming a list of Do’s and Don’ts For You?

 Raising children is not easy. All parents know that. Each new day brings a new set of challenges and problems along with the immense pleasures and joys of parenthood. Both go hand in hand – problems and pleasures.

But many a time parents end up looking at their job of raising kids as a matter of Do’s and Don’ts. The child finds himself stuck with a list of Do’s and Don’ts, which may not always make sense to him but he knows if he fails to follow the work list, he is going to have a hard time from his parents.

Disciplining the child is good and necessary for developing good habits, values and character. But over discipline to the point of instilling fear in the child’s mind can prove detrimental.

I am listing here a few useful tips for parenting  to help parents understand how far to go when dealing with child behavior and where to draw the line:

Yelling doesn’t solve anything

At times, your child's behavior problems can get on your nerves. Most parents end up yelling at their children, not because they want to, but because they feel that is the only way the child is going to listen to them. This is a myth.

The child does not listen to you because she understands what is being said is for her own good. She listens to you from fear of being yelled at. In other words, the lesson you are trying to hand down to your child, gets lost in all the noise and fury. On the contrary, your wrath creates a psychological barrier in the child.

If you constantly yell at your child for every little thing, you are subjecting her to emotional abuse which can be as damaging as physical abuse. Over a period of time, children become used to yelling and they start to tune it out whenever you yell at them. In short, yelling or screaming at your children to discipline them becomes totally ineffective. On the contrary, children begin to display aggression, feel frustrated and develop animosity toward their parents’ abusive behavior.

Advice for parents: Put yourself in your child’s shoes

So how do you make him listen? Place yourself in your child’s shoes and try to view the world from their point of view. Would you like being yelled at for every little folly? Wouldn’t you rather have someone explain to you what mistake you made, what harm it caused and what good would have happened if you had done the something the proper way?

It is quite simple, really. Children are not stupid, they have very intelligent, receptive minds and they understand everything. Explain to your child, gently and firmly, the gravity of the mistake she made and what she could have achieved by handling it differently or modifying how she dealt with the situation. Once your child understands the missed opportunity and the responsibility of doing things right, you will find your child will remember the lesson for a very long time.

Do not insult your child

Insulting your child in front of others, especially other children, can be hugely damaging to the child’s psychology. If you are unhappy that your child is not getting good grades in school, then talk to him about the importance of studying, help him realize his capabilities and motivate him to do better. Insulting or shaming your child can have adverse effects on the child and such children usually suffer from low self-esteem and lack of confidence.

The simple but effective parents’ tips you can follow include:

1. Create a regular routine for studies, playtime, meals, bedtime and other activities. Following a regular routine will help your child learn to manage time. But before expecting your child to follow a timetable, make sure you follow one yourself.
2. Try to be around for help and guidance when your child is studying or doing homework. Your presence as a parent is highly motivating for your child, especially young children who feel confident when their mom or dad is around during study time.
3. Do not overly praise your child in front of others or insult her in front of others. Rather let others praise your child for good behavior or school performance. When your child finds others praising her in front of her delighted parents, her confidence and morale will receive a boost from the feeling of making her parents happy. For most children, making their parents happy is the primary objective. So let your child know what makes you happy by keeping open a regular channel of friendly communication.

To ensure good parenting, spend quality time with your children. Go to watch children's movies together, make it a habit to read bedtime stories to your child or watch motivating videos that help children develop character and values and overcome their behavior problems. Raising children is not easy. But parenthood definitely is the most joyous experience.

Teach Children To Forgive

Have you ever observed how your daughter fights with her friend one day and goes to play with her the very next day? This shows that children usually don't hold onto grudges like adults. So many people believe that teaching kids about forgiveness is not essential. But what we fail to understand is that it is we adults who teach children to behave in a certain manner.
When children see their mom and dad not speaking to other family members for some past misunderstanding or not keeping in touch with their own parents, children also develop the feeling that it is OK not to forgive. They develop negative habits such as developing grievances or complaining over little things.
What we generally tend to forget is that unforgiveness is a weakness that can be improved upon. And when you hold onto a grudge for a long time, it can get stuck in your body, which can eventually make you sick. As parents, the onus lies on you to cause your children to understand the importance of forgiveness. So here is some useful advice for parents and parenting tips to help you do that:
Communicate & encourage your child to accept different views
If your child is upset because he has gotten involved in a fight or argument with someone, talk to him about it. Listen to your child patiently and let him vent out the feelings, anger and frustrations.

Once your child cools down, encourage your child to have a discussion with the person who has her to feel this way. Help your child understand that every person has different opinions and it's ok to have disagreements. Once your child understands that different people can have different point of view, it will be far easier for your child to accept the other opinions and viewpoints.
Be patient
When your child is hurt by someone, don't force her to just forgive without understanding what it actually means. That will not be of help. Had you been hurt by your friend, would it be easy for you to forgive? So be patient and give your child a little time to get over the hurtful feelings. And then help her understand that forgiving someone doesn't condone their actions. In fact forgiving is a way to release the pain and the bad feelings. After all, holding onto past grudges will take you nowhere.

Be a role model
Children observe their parents very closely. So practice what you preach. If on the one hand, you keep teaching your child to forgive others, but on the other hand, you yourself are bitter or can't stop complaining about your friend, then what kind of impression are you going to make on your child? So be a role model to your kids. When your children see how graciously you forgive others, they too will automatically learn the same.
It is very important to teach children the importance of forgiveness at an early age. Apart from following the above mentioned tips, you can also show a motivational video to a child which explains the need for forgiveness with the help of beautiful images. After all, a picture says a thousand words.
What you are trying to convey to your child in words can be more poignantly and effectively conveyed with the help of an inspirational video that specially uses children quotes to convey the message a child would understand. But as they say, motivation doesn't last long. Well, even bathing lasts for only one day. That's why you need to make an effort to watch some really good motivational videos everyday with your child.
Once you develop a habit of reading some inspirational quotes everyday or watching a motivational video you can pass on life's important lessons about forgiveness, respect, kindness and honestly much more effectively to your child. Moreover these motivational videos offer some really great parenting tips on how to support child development and nurture successful parent children relationships.
So teach children to choose to let go and choose to forgive. You will help your child to feel so much lighter and happier.

Useful Tips For Stress-Free Parenting

Parenting children is a task in itself, no less than a full-time job. At times, it can get frustrating for parents especially if they face child behavior problems. Parenting is never easy but it can become a bit less stressful if you motivate your kids and maintain a healthy communication with them. Here are a few tips on good parenting that will provide you with useful parenting help:
Spend time with your children
Find some time everyday to spend with your children. Having a healthy communication is one of the sure ways to strengthen your child parent relationship. Sit down with your child, play with him/her, take her out for a walk and most importantly, talk to your child. These are the little memories that your child will cherish when he grows up.

If you are a homemaker or stay-at-home parent, you have a wonderful opportunity of being there for your child whenever he/she needs you. Utilize this opportunity to spend time with your child in fun and creative activities, doing homework, watching some good programs or CDs or inspirational videos for children that help your child to develop good values, wisdom and morals.
Communication is essential for parent child relationship
Try to connect with your child as much as possible. Listen to your child, and discuss the things which you used to do when you were a kid. Don't force your opinions on your child. Rather, try to understand your child's point of view and be understanding.
Be firm to discipline children
In order to enforce discipline, don't be cruel to your child. Rather be firm and yet gentle. If your child has made a mistake, then explain to him/her gently. Don't shout or scold. Yelling at your child for every little thing is going to make him/her stubborn and rebellious and lead to child behavior problems later. You have to be very tactful in this. So be firm to discipline your child and yet not lose your peace and poise.

Be a mentor
Practice what you preach. This is the most important mantra of good parenting. If you do not want your child to watch television during meals, you must also practice the same. If you want your child to spend time on reading and other extra-curricular activities, you must also spend some time on these activities. Similarly if you want your child to eat fruits and vegetables, you should do the same.

In short, children closely follow their parents. Whatever you do, your children will follow in your footsteps. So be a mentor to your child. As they say, "children learn to smile from their parents". To make your child develop a positive attitude and pursue creative activities and good habits, you must lead with example.

Get children involved in interesting activities
Get your child involved in activities which he/she enjoys such as dancing, music, guitar, swimming, sports and so on. But don't push your child to do something that he doesn't enjoy. Let him do what he enjoys the most and always encourage him.
Motivate kids with the help using inspirational videos
You can also spend quality time with your child by watching motivational videos with your child together. Various websites offer motivational videos meant for kids that are specially designed for children in the approximate age range of 3 to 10 years old. They convey essential life wisdom of instilling character and values into children such as honesty, kindness and responsibility. Besides these inspirational quotes videos also provide useful parenting advice on raising children with good values and positive attitude.
Moreover these motivational videos are a great help for parents as it allows them to start a meaningful conversation with their children on important matters of life wisdom and conveys the messages beautifully and effectively.

Does Your Child Know the Meaning of Charity?

All parents have big dreams for their children. But most often, the dreams or aspirations are limited to the professional arena. If you ask a parent on what he/she plans for his/her child, the most likely answer would be something related to either academics or sports or maybe the arts. Yes, all parents aspire for their children to excel in academics, or in sports or maybe make a mark as a noted singer or artist. And they do spend money, time and efforts to arrange for their children to receive the best of training, facilities and opportunities to achieve those dreams.

But how many parents have you heard say, “I want my child to become a good human being who is of strong character, is helpful, generous and loving.” Maybe parents don’t say this because this is taken for granted. Well, of course, all parents want to see in their children have a deep sense of integrity, honesty and character. So is it something that needs to be specially worked on?

Yes, simply put, IT IS.  All human beings are born good. It is only the circumstances, such as parents, family environment, social environment, friends, peers and others that lead them to develop certain character traits.

When raising children, it is vitally important for parents to instill good values, wisdom and awareness in children to help them develop strong and compassionate character traits. Honesty, integrity, tolerance, love, compassion and respect are values that need to be instilled right from the tender years to enable the child to grow up with these values ingrained in the psyche. If you look for parenting advice on how to develop these values, start with simple acts that children can easily identify with.

Charity is one such essential value and habit all parents must instill in their children. Charity as they say, begins at home. For parents, it is extremely important to teach children how to give back to people in need and to the society as a whole. What we teach children in the formative years will have a strong influence on them in future. Hence, teaching the value of charity to children should become an everyday part of life.

What exactly is Charity

When raising children, you must be careful not to impose anything forcefully on your child. Children have very intelligent minds and easily accept something about which they are convinced. Hence, an advice for parents will be to gently explain to your child the real meaning of charity, which simply put, is “giving for the joy of giving”.

Be a role model

Set an example for your children. You can donate clothes and household items which you no longer use but are in good condition to NGO's, charitable organizations and the less fortunate people. When possible, contribute your services for some social welfare work. Your children will follow in your footsteps if they observe you being charitable to others. So practice what you preach.

When your child understands that charity helps to ease and reduce another’s burden and it demands nothing in return, he/she will experience the true joy behind such a noble gesture.

Encourage children to offer selfless service

Encourage your child to participate in social welfare activities, to try and understand another person’s need and being a step ahead of others in helping those in need. When children understand the real significance of charity, it will help them to develop feelings of compassion, generosity and selflessness.

Other ways of being charitable

Being charitable doesn't only mean donating items. It also means being friendly to a new kid in the school, holding the door open for an elderly person, helping your mother clean the table, offering a helping hand at the neighborhood store, assisting your father in cleaning the snow. Charity also means being gentle and kind to animals. As parents, you need to teach these small little things of being caring and compassionate to your children.

Talk to children about charitable people

Have conversations with your children about people who do charity. If your child is fond of movies, tell him/her how some stars are devoted to helping others and do lots of charity. You can also tell kids about Bill Gates, Paul Newman and other humanitarians.

When talking to your child on issues of life wisdom, take the assistance of illustrated books, news items and motivational videos that have inspiring messages and beautiful images.  Good parenting means value-based parenting, which takes into account the overall personality development of your child and helping him/her grow up into a good, sincere, kind and loving human being. When teaching these values to your children, as a parent you will also find that you are building a strong parent child relationship.

Charity is doing good just for goodness sake and that makes our world a kinder place. With all these above-mentioned parenting help, you can help your children understand the significance of charity and help kids grow to be a caring, compassionate and wonderful human beings.

Parenting Tips To Teach Children To Care For Pets

Having a pet at home is a wonderful experience be it a dog, a cat, a rabbit or a chick. Bonding with a pet can teach children about togetherness, love, attachment, compassion, empathy, responsibility, and sensitivity. But it takes effort on the part of parents to teach children to be kind to animals and how to care for them.

Occasionally there are some parents who don't feel the need to educate children about caring for animals, however, this is a mistake. Children who are cruel towards animals often turn to violence, aggression and animal cruelty. On the other hand, when you teach a child to be sensitive to animals, it benefits the child and society as a whole. After all, when we care about others and animals, then we make this world a better place to live in.    

As parents, you need to make your children know that just like human beings, even animals have feelings. Here are a few tips for parents that will help you develop sensitivity in children toward animals.

Assign some chores to children

Give your child some duties regarding the pet. For instance, you can ask your child to feed the pet. This will instill a feeling of responsibility in your child. But make sure you assign those duties that your child can do easily. If you tell a 5 or 6 year child to clean the floor after the pet has made it dirty, you can't expect him to do such a wonderful job. You need to give children the tasks which they can handle on their own.                              

Involve your child in different activities

One of the best ways to teach your children to be gentle toward animals is to be loving toward your pet yourself. When your child will sees how you lovingly take care of the pet, she will eventually do the same. Involve your children in activities such as giving a bath to your dog, playing with your pet or take your child along when you take your pet out for a walk.

Encourage bonding between the child and pet

Encourage your children to play with the pet. Teach them how to carefully hold the small animals in their arms. In short, encourage children to bond with the animals.

Encourage empathy toward all animals

Caring for animals should not be restricted only to the pets at home. Compassion should be extended to other animals as well. When raising children with compassion and caring, take your children to the Zoo, aquariums or a natural park or even the local animal shelter and encourage kids to donate pet foods there.

Most importantly, regularly talk to your child about the importance of being sensitive toward animals. And read them good books in which you find interesting animal characters, take children to watch good, non-violent animal-based movies or show them motivational videos which, with the help of beautiful pictures and inspirational quotes, tell children how important it is to care for animals. Good parenting advice on raising children with empathy and kindness always guides parents on helping their kids learn the values of compassion and charity. When you join your child in developing a bond with animals and pets, you also create a beautiful and strong parent child relationship.

Parenting Advice: Small Efforts Lead To Big Goals

Do you remember how difficult it was for you as a child to learn to ride a bicycle? Now your children face the same challenge. Children have the curiosity to do many new things but at times they are afraid to try anything new because of the initial difficulty. Being children, they tend to get discouraged quickly. As parents, you need to help your children understand the importance of taking small steps at a time.

Take one step at a time

No great achievements in this world were accomplished with one grand gesture. Rather all achievements are a result of many small steps which may seem ordinary but they are the ones which make the goal achievable. Each goal is accomplished step by step. There are no shortcuts to success.

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."

- Dale Carnegie

Just as millions of water drops make an ocean, a mountain is climbed one step at a time. Similarly you can achieve whatever you want by taking one step at a time. So if your child is disheartened that he is not able to ride a bicycle, you must encourage him to keep trying till he is able to do it.

Choose games in which your child must use her creative and constructive faculties. Let her think and find the solutions, step by step. Have you played scrabble with your child? You will be surprised to find how quickly your daughter picks up the game by thinking up small words and then moves on to create bigger and still bigger words. Enjoy losing to her because her win will give her confidence in her powers of thinking on her feet.

As parents, you need to help your children understand
the importance of taking small steps at a time

Encourage your child

Remember,  never push your child towards doing something he doesn’t want to. It could be that you love strumming the guitar but your son is fascinated with the drums. Let him start by learning to practice the easy beats first and then encourage him to play something which he is familiar with. He will love the experience of hitting the right notes.

Importance of taking small steps

The point behind taking small steps is that children, and adults, too, give up quite easily. We begin to believe that although we would love to achieve big goals, we don't have the means or the capability to accomplish them. The truth is that nothing is impossible.

“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I’M POSSIBLE” – Audrey Hepburn

 Nothing is out of reach for you. You just need to make your child understand to take joy in the little things he does and not to worry about the future.

Take joy in the small efforts

To make your future brighter, you need to make the most of the present. Encourage your children to give their best in whatever they are doing NOW. That is why so much importance is given to taking little steps at a time because that gives a sense of satisfaction that he or she is accomplishing something and working towards the end result.

Don't push your child to take big steps

Don't commit the blunder of pushing your child to take big steps and learn things fast. This will only cause your child to feel de-motivated and he will lose confidence and the spirit to try anything new again. 

 As Louis Sachar rightly said,"It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward."

Encourage your children to give their best in
whatever they are doing NOW

 

As parents raising kids, it is your responsibility to constantly encourage your child regarding the efforts your child is making no matter how small those efforts are. Appreciation by parents can motivate children to try harder and to not quit. Besides it also strengthens the  child parent relationship.

Child behavior improves greatly when you create an environment at home in which the child feels loved and motivated. For this, you can read good books to your children, tell them stories of how the big cities were built by small but worthwhile efforts of individuals, how the grand monuments and the biggest inventions were created with small but definite and determined steps.

Inspirational videos for children, motivational stories and inspiring children quotes are all useful tools that convey the significance of making small efforts towards reaching a bigger goal. Spend time with your child to inspire their young mind and heart towards believing that every step counts, every time.