Parenting Blog

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Teresa Te

By The Rules: 3 Behavior Management Strategies For Every Age

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child-misbehaving

Kids are masters at testing limits; it’s how they learn about the world and become independent. Unfortunately, the majority of children engage in this type of behavior to learn about you as well – when mom says to clean up, can they ignore her for five minutes? For twenty minutes? Figuring out what makes their parents mad and what they can get away with is just part of growing up.

As a parent, of course, you want you children to behave, ideally the first time you give a direction, but this won’t always happen and there will need to be consequences. If you’re currently struggling to provide your child with healthy boundaries or coping with problematic behaviors, it’s time to make a change. These 3 tried and true strategies for handling problem behaviors may be just what you need.

Consistency Is Key

One of the most important things that parents need to do when applying rules and disciplining their children is to always be consistent. If the rules say your child can’t eat in the living room, but you let them have a snack on the couch sometimes, then you can’t expect your child to understand whether or not that rule is actually meaningful. This leads to testing – your child will take food to the couch, and if you ignore it one day and yell about it the next, they may become anxious or unsure of how to respond. [Read more…] about By The Rules: 3 Behavior Management Strategies For Every Age

When Your Child Doesn’t Talk: Hearing Issues Underlying Speech Delay

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parent talking to child

When you child doesn’t speak much, there are several different causes that might run through your head. First, there may be panic – parents tend to immediately worry that children who are slow to speak may be autistic, but limited speech isn’t the only symptom of autism. Those parents with chatty older children may also worry that the other siblings speak for or over their younger children, discouraging them from developing speech.

One commonly overlooked reason that your child may be slow to learn to speak, however, is that they’re suffering from hearing problems. These can be caused by any number of things, and using hearing aids and providing speech therapy early on is vital to helping your child meet communication milestones.

Causing Of Childhood Hearing Loss

Many children are born with compromised hearing, which may go undetected due to the difficulty of accurately testing hearing in young children. Children born prematurely or who spent time in the NICU are more prone to such problems, as are those who go on to suffer a large number of ear infections or who have relatives who also had childhood hearing loss. It’s also important to remember that young children are especially susceptible to hearing damage, so make sure you protect your child’s ears if they’re going be in a loud environment. [Read more…] about When Your Child Doesn’t Talk: Hearing Issues Underlying Speech Delay

Tips For Teaching Your Child How To Care For A Pet Dog Or Puppy

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Every child wants a pet at some point, and often their pet of choice is a dog or a puppy. They say they’ll take care of them and you won’t have to do any work, but they don’t realize that taking care of a dog is about more than just playing with them. They also don’t realize that a dog can be an expensive investment that costs money for many years.

One good reason to get a dog, or a puppy, though, is when your whole family wants one and wants to chip in to raise it and care for it. Don’t just get one for your child, as your dog will become a part of your whole family. [Read more…] about Tips For Teaching Your Child How To Care For A Pet Dog Or Puppy

Late-Life Decisions For Adults and Their Parents

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Sometimes the idea of parenting isn’t just about kids, but also about your parents as well. When your mom and dad get past retirement age and into the ‘elderly’ category, there are a lot of decisions to be made, and the more you can communicate these details with each other early on, the better those decisions are going to be.

couple-making-a-will

To make a point of this, consider living situation arrangements, the process of will-writing, moving financial resources around later in life, end-of-life care (like hospice, for example), and funeral arrangements. All of these can and should be dealt with when you are your parents are still both cognizant of consequences of decisions. [Read more…] about Late-Life Decisions For Adults and Their Parents

3 Ways to Encourage Your Children To Develop a Healthy Work Ethic

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teen girl working

With today’s ever competitive workforce, it’s important for parents to give their children the best chance possible to be able to provide for themselves as adults. Too often we see young adults who don’t have the drive or determination to put in the work necessary to become accomplished in their fields or persevere ahead of their peers. So what can parents do for their little ones now in order to help instill vital work ethic skills into their small characters? To help you on this journey of self discovery, here are three ways parents and other adults can encourage children to develop a healthy work ethic. [Read more…] about 3 Ways to Encourage Your Children To Develop a Healthy Work Ethic

3 Things to Consider When Baby-Proofing Your Home

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baby-gate-living-room

Bringing a new baby into a home can be an exciting and stressful time. From purchasing all the baby gear to washing all those tiny clothes and banking as much sleep as possible, many parents feel that they have enough to worry about without having to prep the home for the havoc that a mobile baby can bring. But once those legs and arms start moving and you’ve got a crawler or a walker on your hands, you’re going to wish you’d put more thought into baby-proofing.

So to help with this ordeal, here are three things you may want to consider when baby-proofing your home in order to keep your children safe. [Read more…] about 3 Things to Consider When Baby-Proofing Your Home

Spoiling Yourself As a Parent: The Royal Treatment

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Not everything about being a parent means that you have to focus just on your kids. You’re still an adult. You still enjoy your personal time, and you still have your individuality. Plus, as an adult, you have money that you didn’t have when you were younger, so at some point, you should spoil yourself and give yourself a reward for your hard work. Yes, your time will probably be largely selfless as you help your kids grow up, but give yourself some credit!

And a few ways to do this, once you get the funds in order, would be to do things like buy a pedicure chair, take a vacation without the kids, go for the occasional dinner and a movie date, create your perfect master bedroom, or maybe even buy a nice car.

mom having a pedicure
[Read more…] about Spoiling Yourself As a Parent: The Royal Treatment

3 Tips for Introducing Your Children to Fine Art

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girl painting

When having children, you experience a refreshed viewpoint of the world. While it is easy for adults to become cynical or distanced from the wonder of life, children see everything for the first time and are amazed. The joy a child experiences over every new thing, from their first taste of ice cream to their first trip to a museum can cause some of the most cynical adults to be renewed.

Museums are the kind of reverential places many children find amazing and intriguing. They are exposed to brilliant new colors in paint, abnormal shapes in sculpture, and portraits of people like Grandma and Grandpa in charcoal. Places like Park West Gallery can quickly become a favorite destination among children as they learn to create at home and mimic artists. [Read more…] about 3 Tips for Introducing Your Children to Fine Art

Time Apart, Separation, and Divorce: How It Affects Children

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couple-fighting

The modern world can be a confusing place for both parents and children with respect to current social norms. And the harder that people try to traditionalize things, or the more they look to the past for answers, the more confused it all gets. Because time marches on, technology changes, the way the world interacts through communication changes, and how all of this connectedness and disconnectedness plays out is something that people can only guess.

But, when it comes to parents having issues and require time apart, trial separation, or even potentially divorce, it’s important to consider what kind of an impact that’s going to have on children. So think of the following if you or someone you know is in that situation. [Read more…] about Time Apart, Separation, and Divorce: How It Affects Children