If you’re a parent, teach them positive habits so that they will know and see the beauty that life has to offer. Make them enthusiastic about life. Instill into their hearts and minds all the wonders and magnificence of being alive by living life to its fullest in a positive way.

There’s a startling difference between children learning through self-discovery, and children learning through self-discovery with proper guidance. The first things that children learn are usually the things that stay with them and mold formative years until they reach adulthood.

Let us suppose you let your children learn through self-discovery. To a certain extent, self-discovery is good since it develops full independence and self-reliance. However, the learning process might be slow. In a sense, it is like a trial and error experience for children. They have to segregate the good from the bad, the right from the wrong, what they like and what they don’t. It is most likely that what they will like are the ones that come easy to them or the ones that they enjoy the most. And the ones that they enjoy the most might not necessarily be the good ones. Without proper guidance, what they like and enjoy the most might actually be hurting them although they are not aware of it. Perhaps later, if they find out that they picked the wrong choices, it may be too late.

With self-discovery through proper guidance, you will be able to leave room for them to develop independence and self-reliance. At the same time, show them what is right and what is wrong. Explain to them why. If possible, cite instances or examples based on true-to-life events to make them more convincing and realistic. The more realistic they are, the more easily the children are convinced. Likewise, try teaching them in a friendly and humorous atmosphere. Children are more attentive and eager to learn when all (both teachers and students) are in an easy mood. You will know and feel their eagerness to learn through the sparkle in their eyes and by the way they answer your questions. You can be sure that what they learn from you is acceptable to them and will stay with them. That is why, as a parent, you must show enthusiasm in life to your children.

There’s a third method of making children learn. That is through proper guidance leaving negligible room for self-discovery. But there are drawbacks. You take away from them the benefits of self-reliance and independence. The guidance you devote to them may be good and well intended, but they must not rely on you on almost everything they do. They become decision-dependent on you. There are instances wherein this type of guidance might be worse than giving no guidance at all.

There are parents who underwent hardships during their childhood, strived, and became successful financially. Although they are financially in the position to guide and assist their children to a better life, they prefer that their children undergo the same difficult experience they underwent during their younger years. Their reason: so that their children will value and experience the same things they went through. This may be applicable to stubborn and rebellious youngsters, but not to disciplined ones. Why must their sons and daughters repeat the same difficulties? There’s no reason to. This is like punishing the innocent. Instead of repeating the experience, they should learn from it. Life is too short to repeat unsavory experiences.

One of the best ways to broaden your children’s knowledge about life is by traveling. The world – its varied people, places, and cultures – has a lot of information to offer. It is perhaps as important as the conventional classroom. If you are financially able, traveling is one of the best educational experiences you can give your children. Look for exhibits or world fairs, and take your children there. Books are the next best things. It’s traveling by reading.

Fill your children with thoughts of self-importance, confidence, and positive attitude so that there will be no room for negative thinking. More importantly, fill their world with laughter, love, and understanding. You‘ll never go wrong.

That being said, there are proven potty training strategies that have worked for parents over the years. Let’s take a look at a few of them to make the potty training process as easy and painless as possible.

1.  Wait until your child is ready for potty training before you begin. Many parents, undoubtedly excited to be done with the whole diaper thing, rush potty training. Good intentions aside, if a child isn’t mentally and physically ready to learn how to use a toilet, the potty training process is going to take much longer and be frustrating for the both of you.

Signs your child is ready to begin potty training include:

• Frequent dry or clean diapers

• Curiosity about the toilet

• Communication regarding their potty habits – if a child tells you they just peed or they have to pee they’re ready for potty training.

2.  Make sure you have the right gear. There are a lot of potty training aids available. From small portable potty chairs to floating targets you can place in the toilet to help your little boy aim and enjoy the training process. Getting the gear before you begin training will help you and your child create a structure and a routine around potty training.

It also helps to have potty training friendly clothing. There’s nothing more frustrating than a child who tells you they have to go potty and then having them wet their pants because it took too long to get their clothing off. Slips on pants are the easiest and of course skirts and dresses make it easy for girls.

3.  Have a positive mindset. Mistakes will happen and children will make huge leaps forward only to then have really bad potty training days or weeks. Reward and celebrate successes and stay focused on having a positive attitude. Recrimination, punishment and yelling only makes a child feel bad about themselves, it doesn’t further the potty training process.

Know that it’s much easier for a child to be aware of their body during the daytime and nighttime accidents can happen well into elementary school. Be prepared. Protect your child’s pride and their belongings with a mattress pad, rules about drinking before bedtime and support and understanding.

The potty training process can take a while and each child’s experiences are different. Be patient, be positive and be prepared!

Here are some tips I get from my reading while dealing with a crying baby.

1. It is dangerous to shake the baby vigorously.

2. Tight cloths can cause irritation hence it should be removed.

3. If the room is hot put the fan and open the windows.

4. If the nappy is wet remove it and after cleaning the parts make it dry with a soft towel.

5. Pat her back or stroke her head slowly and let her here your soothing sound.

6. Give breast milk and make her quiet.

7. If the climate is cold cover her in soft towel.

8. Rock her gently in your arms and walk slowly in the room.

9. Take a music making doll and let her listen.

10. Try a pacifier or help her for thumb sucking.

11. If no response change her position.

12. Walk outdoors with her.

13. Put her on the cradle and rock gently.

14. If no response ask somebody to carry the baby.

Even after all these steps the baby goes on crying see for the following signs.
( Probable cause is given after every sign)

1. Press her abdomen gently,she may twist or resist you:—Colic

2. Pull her ear gently she may become worse or push your hands away:—Earache.

3. Feel her temperature with the back of your hands:–Fever due to any infection.

4. Examine the skin from head to foot:–Eruptive disease,nappy rash,measles,vesicles,allergy ect.

5. See the nose for any discharge:–Coryza.

6. Move the head gently to feel any neck stiffness:–Meningitis,head injury etc.

7. Keep your ear near her chest to hear any rattling sound:–Increased mucus in wind pipes.
(pneumonia, bronchiolitis, asthamatic bronchitis etc)
8. Examine the anal orifice:–Anal erosion,rectal polyp,crawling of worms.

9. Examine the genitalia:–Any discharge or erosion.

10. In male baby see the testicles which may be swollen or tender:–Orchitis,torsion of testes.

11. Also notice the body movements and see for any convulsions,rigors,vomiting,cough,laboured  breathing ect.

If you see the above signs or any other abnormal signs consult your doctor for proper treatment.

Anger management for kids is obtainable and is useful in dealing with a child’s troubles with rage. Teaching these skills may necessitate a little research and experimenting. There are books, movies and an abundance of useful information provided by sites on the Internet.

A child will not profit from an adult anger management support group, nor will they benefit from taking an adult-style anger management class. Their minds are not established a sufficient amount to candidly talk about their feelings. In actuality they may not understand what’s happening themselves. A counselor cannot wait for a child to open up and tell them what is making them angry. This may never happen.

Teaching them positive morals and tolerable conduct through a variety of games would be a great deal more successful than a one-on-on session with an anger management counselor. Providing them with worksheets, coloring pages, puzzles and quizzes would make the anger management lessons more appealing and pleasurable. Children can in reality be participating in a program without in fact realizing it. Anger management is a difficult idea to make clear to young children.

A child needs to become skilled at how to act properly in different situations. The have to know that it is absolutely fine to be upset but they must as well comprehend that this anger must not be used in a negative manner. Teaching kids anger management skills near the beginning of life will provide building blocks for their future. Through repetitious activities and practices, kids will eventually learn anger management techniques.

While being a mother and a career-oriented woman, all at the same time, may seem like an impossible task, it is a task that you can more than perform.  What you need to remember, although difficult as it may be, is that you should be a mom first.  However, that doesn’t mean that you should just toss your workload to the side and not care.  There are a number of different ways that you can go about being a good parent, while still bringing home an income.  One of those ways involves spending quality time with your child or children when you are not working.

One of the best ways for you to go about spending quality time with your child or children is by creating a schedule for yourself.  This schedule can be used to outline any important events that you and your child or children have planned.  Although your schedule does not need to be followed right down to the letter, it is important to have one. Mothers who create schedules for themselves are more likely to follow through with their plans.

Speaking of your plans, you may be wondering what you should do to spend quality time with your child or children.  Of course, it is important to keep your child’s age in mind. A child who is three years old will prefer different activities than one who is nine or ten years old.  With that in mind, there are a number of different activities that many children, including those of all ages, love.  A few of those activities are outlined below for your convenience.

One activity that you may want to think about doing with your child or children is taking them to the zoo. Regardless of where you live, you should have a zoo within a reasonable driving distance to your home.  Zoo trips are fun and exciting, as they often last all day.  What is nice about zoo trips is that they are fun and educational all at the same time.  This means that your quality time can benefit your child or children in more ways than one.

Here’s wishing this New Year brings You
Lots of Luck..
Wealth in Abundance..
Never Ending Hapiness..
And Plenty of Smiles..
To last Forever..

Gong Xi Fatt Choy!
Happy Chinese New Year!

P/S: BabyMoon’s grandpa “complaints” that why no update for their blog.. Opps.. too busy and will try to update when free.. haa..

One of the many issues surrounding working mothers is that they do not know how to balance their time. Mothers who need to work or finish an upcoming project often do so, but they occasionally feel guilty about missing out on quality time with their children or their romantic partner.  It can also be the other way around, as well.  Many working mothers are afraid to, essentially, put their family first in certain situations, in fear of losing their jobs.  If these are issues that you have dealt with or if they are issues that you are currently dealing with now, you will want to continue reading on.

One of the many ways that you can go about balancing a family and a career is by setting aside time for both your family and your important career.  For instance, if at all possible, you will want to try and establish hours just for work or work related tasks.  If you have to work overtime, it is advised that you do so, especially if your job may be at risk.  That is often what is difficult for many mothers, when relying on their income, it can be fearful to put work second.  With that in mind, it is important that you leave work at work.  This gives you the opportunity to put your family first, especially when you are at home with them.

As with having set hours for work, it is also advised that you create a schedule for your family time as well. While your days don’t have to be planned out hour by hour, it is nice to at least develop a little schedule. This schedule could include days of the week when you may want to take a trip to the zoo with you children or days that you may want to spend visiting family.  By having your plans already made and in place, you are more likely to follow through with them.  Your family, including your children and your partner, will likely be pleased with this follow through.

Although raising a family is often associated with spending time with your children, that is not all that motherhood is about.  For that reason, you likely have a full plate.  That plate may include grocery shopping, the preparation of family meals, as well as house cleaning. To reduce the stress associated with many of these tasks, as well as give you more quality time to spend with you family, you may want to consider hiring assistance. Whether you choose to hire a professional housekeeper or a landscaper to mow your yard for you, this extra time may come in handy.

The above mentioned points are just a few of the many ways that you can go about balancing a career and a family. Although it may seem impossible to do right now, especially if you just recently got a new job or had your first child, it is more than possible for you have a great career, as well as happy and healthy family life at home.

Creative Art Corner. Spend quality time with gal gal Junling~~

From as young as 4 months old, babies are capable of learning to read – and they do it by learning whole words. Whole-word reading describes the process whereby a person recognizes a word at sight, without sounding out the individual letters.

According to Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, coauthors of Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, “[Whole-word reading] is simply memorization and has little merit beyond the performance.”

This conclusion is drawn at the end of an anecdote from Hirsh-Pasek about a reading toddler. The child read a set of words shown to him by his mother, but says Hirsh-Pasek, when asked to read some different words, he became flustered. Write the authors, “He had learned how to memorize words, perhaps from their shape… but he had not really learned to read.”

Critics of early reading tend to pit whole-word reading (“bad”) against phonics-based reading (“good”). Hearing their arguments, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a case of either-or. In reality, almost all children learning to read depend on both strategies. Whole-word reading is easier, so most children learn their first words this way, before they know the sounds letters make. Many kindergarten and lower-grade-school teachers teach some sight words before starting on phonics.

When children learn to read whole words at what is considered a normal age, no one criticizes them. But some people find it unsettling, “wrong” even, for a very young child to be reading – and so they attack the method in order to prove that the child isn’t “really” reading.

Whole-word reading is just the first rung on the ladder of learning to read – as we can see from an analogy drawn by another early-learning critic, David Elkind. Elkind compares reading whole words to understanding the concept of nominal numbers (numbers as names) – the first rung on the ladder of learning math. He compares reading phonetically (sounding out words) to understanding the concept of ordinal numbers (numbers as part of a sequence), and reading phonemically (recognizing that letters can be pronounced differently depending on context) to understanding the concept of interval numbers (numbers as abstract concepts).

There comes a point at which reading cannot progress without phonics – there are just too many words to rely on memory alone. Children must move on to phonetic reading followed by phonemic reading in order to become successful readers. But just as we do not criticize a child who reads phonetically but has not graduated to the phonemic level, so it seems unfair to pour scorn on the abilities of a toddler who simply has not graduated from whole-word reading to phonetic reading.

Another concern expressed by critics of whole-word reading is that children will not know to read words from left to right. When choosing a TV- or computer-based program for your child, be sure to select one that includes an arrow for indicating the direction of reading. If you’re using cards or books, it’s a good idea to run your finger under each syllable of every word as you read out words.

Amazingly, babies taught to read whole words often begin figuring out the rules of phonics for themselves – in much the same way as babies learning their native language spontaneously figure out grammar rules. A new teaching-reading system for babies includes a specially designed phonics program aimed at facilitating the young child’s natural ability at decoding words. More proof that when it comes to teaching reading, it’s not a case of either-or – you can teach whole words and phonics right from the get-go.

Please visit BrillKids.com to learn more about teaching your baby to read.

As your child goes from toddler to youngster to tween to teenager, something in what you say gets lost in translation.  They can give you that blank stare as if the words that are coming out of your mouth sound like the unseen teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons.

It’s not easy to improve the communication bridges with a teen but it’s important to try to get through as these years and the choices they make now will have a vital impact on their future.

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Watch your body language. How you move says a lot about you.  When a person is tired, they tend to slump.  When angered, your jaw muscles tighten and your eyes narrow into slits. Believe it or not, teenagers are good at interpreting body language.  Yours will betray you when you are talking to them.  Keep it open and honest.  Avoid sitting with your arms crossed, eyes looking away from them or squirming in your seat.

2. Make eye contact. When you don’t look at the person you are talking to it says that you are either hiding something or you are not at all interested in what they have to say.  Your teenager will shut down emotionally when they suspect that you are not “tuned in” to them.  Sit comfortably and give your teen undivided attention with consistent eye contact.  It lets them know that you care.

3. Keep your emotions in check. Remember back to when you were a teenager.  Some of the things you said to your parents were aimed at freaking them out.  Teenagers will push your buttons if they can.  Don’t go overboard and get upset.  Their target is the situations they know make you mad.  Instead, take a deep breath and ignore the taunt.  Do the opposite of what they expect because really, they want you to see through their ploy and find out the real problem.

4. Ask them about their day. This technique works with spouses also.  Even if your teen only grunts or says the obligatory, “It was okay,” ask anyway.  Your show of caring will go a long way to convince them that you are interested in the things that they do and how they feel.

5. Be honest with them. If you don’t understand the situation they are talking about then say so.  Kids know when you are being insincere.  Discuss the situation until you get an idea of where they are coming from.  Your teen won’t mind explaining as long as they know you are listening.

6. Allow them their privacy. This one is tricky and since you know your child better than anyone else, you can draw the line.  Teens value their time alone.  While the policy in your home may be that there are no locks on the doors, always show respect by knocking before entering.  If they don’t want to be pressed about a situation in school, wait until they are ready (if it’s not urgent) and then talk about it.

Parenting a teenager takes a tough skin, a willingness to be vulnerable and lots of love.  You will make mistakes but whatever you do, don’t ever stop talking.

Every toy, book, and TV show that comes out has been designed and redesigned several times in order to make it educational and entertaining for children.  The great thing about nature is that, while being entertaining and stimulating to the imagination, it’s also educational. Nature can teach children the basics of science, economics, and creativity.

It’s cheap. Depending on where you live, exploring nature is usually pretty inexpensive, if not free. It may mean going out in your backyard, local park, or perhaps going to the local nature center or state park (which usually have low cost fees or memberships). This way, you don’t have to pay for expensive toys, jungle gyms, or memberships to expensive entertainment centers, but you still get the benefit of stimulating and educational play.

It makes them think. Lately there’s been a trend in education towards inquiry based learning. Researchers have found that if students explore and experiment to figure out answers on their own, they’re going to learn better, and retain more information. It also helps them develop skills to be able to learn things on their own later. What better environment to learn things than out in nature.  There are lessons for kids of all ages to discover about the world around them.

It may help the world. Everyone these days is trying to be more green and more environmentally conscious. What better way to help do your part than to get your children interested in their own planet than right now when they’re young and impressionable? What might be a fun time for them now, might be a future hobby, career, or world saving invention.

It’s fun. While it’s easy to forget, childhood isn’t just for learning about how to be an adult, it’s also about having fun. Nature gives kids a chance to use their imagination and be free to just be kids.

While unstructured play outside is great for kids, you can also find a lot of places offering structured classes and learning sessions for kids that focus on the natural world. Check your local park, zoo, or museum. There’s a good chance they have classes you can sign up for, and since many of these places are not for profit, they’re usually affordable as well as informative.

Across the world, there are millions of dollars being spent to help promote sending your kids outside to learn from nature.  That’s because spending time in the outside world is so important for developing minds. It can also be a great escape for you as well.