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Water babies

  • June 19, 2011 1:36 pm

It has become part of our Sunday routine to take the girls swimming, this is something that they always look forward to. It has numerous benefits such as:

  • It can be done regardless of the weather
  • It is great exercise
  • It costs very little
  • It is something that we can all do as a family
  • The girls learn a new skill
  • It is a great confidence booster

Like any parent I encourage the girls to be active, whether this is playing a game of football in the park or playing on the wii so the fact that they enjoy going swimming is fantastic. Even when they were babies the girls have always loved playing with water, particularly Holly who now cries when she has to get out of the pool.

Another advantage of swimming is that they learn water safety but they learn through play so it reinforces the fact that water can be fun as long as you follow the safety guidelines. It also teaches them about diet and exercise, which is becoming a very popular topic, especially due to the rise in obesity. So as you can see there are lots of advantages to swimming, so why not see when your local pool have public swimming sessions and see for yourself.

Attitudes towards children

  • April 11, 2011 7:50 pm

Why is it that the elderly generally have 1 of 2 opinions towards children? They are either cooing over them like “oh aren’t they adorable” or they act like they are worst creatures in existance. It’s a bit like marmite they either love them or they hate them. Classic example of this was on a recent trip to Derby.

Lucie now likes to sit on a seat of her own instead of sitting on my knee on the bus. On the bus an elderly lady sat next to Lucie and the pair of them were chatting away quite happily with the occasional coo in Holly’s direction. Whilst waiting for the bus home an elderly lady barged straight into Lucie knocking her off balance and causing her to get tangled up in the lady’s bags. When this factor was pointed out to her she looked disgusted at Lucie and those of us who pointed this out to her. Her response was: “well she shouldn’t have been in my way, her mother should have better control over her”. My jaw dropped at this point as Lucie was standing right next to the pushchair causing no trouble at all.

Other instances where have encountered this bizzare attitude is queuing for toilets and in supermarkets when either waiting to pay for the items or whilst actually doing the shopping

Good bath and bed time practice

  • January 28, 2011 12:08 pm

Bath time is a good way to help young children wind down at the end of the day and get ready for bed time. Bath time is the perfect opportunity for messy play, pouring and blowing bubbles can be lots of fun. Make bath time a fun time by using toys ,bubble bath and games like lets pretend. show your child how to clean themself and then encourage them to have a go at washing themselves . When washing your child’s hair keep the bath water shallow this makes it easier for them to lie down and rinse the shampoo off. Remind your chid when it is time to get out the bath. nce they are out let them pull the plug out and encourage them to help you dry themselves and help with putting thir PJs on ready for bed. Always make sure someone is suppervising your child at all times while in the bath. Once your child is ready for bed, a bedtimes story can help a child unwind and relax and show them that it is nearly time to go to sleep. Make sure your child’s comforter is near by if they have one. Having a comforter can help your child be relaxed and go to sleep easier without you in the room. Always remember a good night kiss and cuddle and reassure them that you will see them in the morning. It is a good idea not to leave a tv on in their room at night as this will stimulate them and they will not go to sleep. All of these things will help make bath and bed time an easy relaxing and enjoyable time for all of you.

How to comunicate well with your child

  • January 28, 2011 11:57 am

Try to talk to your child in a positive way as much as possaible.
Be respectful to your child ,don’t scream,swear or shout. If your child shouts back at your dont retaliate by shouting back; screaming matches don’t work. tell your child in a calm way not to speak to you in that manner. Praise your child when he/she is behaving well don’t be abrupt or bark out commands (this will lead to instant resistance). Try not to offer to many choices to a young child as this will confuse them an may cause conflict where its not neccessary this is easily avoided by keeping choices short and simple. Instead of always telling your child what to you don’t want them to do, try putting it in a different way for example- instead of saying – don’t put your dirty hands all over the sofa try saying – let’s wash your hands now they are dirty , then you can come and sit on the sofa and we can read a story. all of these things will help you keep in control an help you to comunicate well with your child.

Routine

  • January 28, 2011 11:53 am

Giving your child a good routine can make your child feel more secure and conflict can be avoided if there is a clear patteren or framework to their day. A good way to get good structure is to start with good getting up time- Every day can be more enjoyable with clear acceptable wake up times for you an your child to help start the day is 2 meal times – Having breakfast,dinner and tea at around the same time everyday can make life easier for you and help your child to understand the patteren of the day. Step 3 bath time – bath time is ofter a calming and nice way to relax your child ready to focous on bedtime and sleep. Last step bedtime -keeping the same bedtime routine is important. This should include a winding down time and avoidance of over excitment bedfore bed times. these routine tips will really help your child, consistency and routine matters to your child and will really help with your child behaviour and overall happiness in day to day life .

Eating problems

  • December 21, 2010 4:35 pm

I have found that a lot of my friends with young children have asked me about their childrens’ eating habits and the problems they have come across. This is a common problem for many parents. I find that the most important thing to do is from the moment you introduce your child to food to make it a fun and rewarding experience with everything they eat and not to make it a chore, more something they can look forword to each meal time. Making vegetables fun is easier than it sounds; doing simple things like making shapes and faces on their plates and giving plenty of praise for eating them or making a reward chart when they have eaten all the food they get a reward for it. Children also learn especially younger children by the sense of touch so setting up finger foods vegetables and fruits as a spread on the table can be very beneficial as they not only get to taste the food but but they get to feel the different shapes and textures aswell this can be very helpful with their development skills and fun too. You don’t always have to eat food using things such as potatoes and carrots to make print pictures is really fun and messy which as we all know is what kids love to do best it also keeps up with how fun food is and never a bad thing. Explaing to your children the importance of helthy eating and doing fun activities can all help and should help prevent any problems in the future and help your children lead a happy and healthy lifestyle.

Hippy Parenting?

  • November 30, 2010 3:31 pm

I recently got accused of being a hippy parent because I don’t specify that my 2 daughters don’t have to play exclusively with girls toys amongst other things:

  • Getting them to try new things, regardless of whether I like them or not.
  • Allowing them items of an ethnic origin
  • Refusing to use smacking as a form of discipline

and the list goes on. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do I get accused of being a hippy parent; the latest 2 are using washable nappies and the fact that I tend to go to the local health shop and buy things like vanilla pods and various other things because Holly got hold of 1 ages ago and enjoyed chewing on it so have been buying them for her since.

To be honest as long as the child(ren) are happy and healthy what does it matter? The answer to this question should be nothing but because it seems odd or because it is different to the style of someone else it is criticised. News Flash everyone is different and you have to accept that regardless of whether or not you agree.

child bad behaviour advice

  • November 8, 2010 12:43 pm

Recently I have been struggling to deal with my 5 year old son’s temper tantrums. I have found that a common problem for many parents on how it is best to deal with there child’s tantrums and i have now discovered a couple of methods on dealing with his tantrums.

The most effective way of getting your child to do things which they don’t wont to do is to punish their bad behaviour by removing there privileges such as toys and not watching there favourite programs on the television,and rewarding the good behaviour so that when they do something positive they are rewarded with a special treat or getting there privileges back.

Another way to deal with tantrums is to use a naughty step or room, when your child is having an uncontrollable tantrum and you are finding it hard to control I find using the naughty step or room is the best an most effective way to control the tantrum. Once they are calm ask your child to apologise for there bad behaviour and explain to them why what they was wrong, this helps your child to understand an realise the difference between good an bad behaviour. I hope that this information and advice helps you as it has me.

Special Need Parents to get more help?

  • May 3, 2010 5:40 pm

Parents of children with special needs should be given more support, an inquiry is set to recommend.
A government-commissioned study by Brian Lamb says that a significant number of parents are not satisfied with the help they receive. In response, the government will promise measures including a national support helpline and clearer information about rights to support.

Parents have complained that feel they have to “fight the system”. The report by Mr Lamb will reflect calls for more parent-friendly support for families with children with special needs. It will say that parents want to know what help is available and to have clearer guidelines about what should happen in schools.There will also be proposals that the Local Government Ombudsman should be funded to consider parents’ complaints against local authorities.

Special needs tribunals are also set to be improved and and there will be promises for more support for children who face bullying. The National Autistic Society’s chief executive, Mark Lever, said: “A great many parents of children and young people with autism have to fight huge battles to get the education support that should be theirs by right, often at considerable emotional and financial expense. “We hear terrible stories from parents of local authorities flouting the law by ignoring diagnoses, not meeting statutory timescales, failing to write statements properly, and even saying they ‘don’t do’ statements any more.

“It is hardly surprising then that parents have little confidence in the special educational needs system, and they could be forgiven for thinking that this report will do little to change what for them is an often complicated, intimidating, and sometimes infuriating system.” Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said: “In the New Year we will set our plans to address the recommendations that Brian has made to address the changes to teaching and learning that are necessary to improve educational outcomes for children with SEN. “We are now working to ensure all parents have confidence in decision making by giving them and their children a stronger voice at the heart of the SEN system.”

Take a deep breath

  • March 31, 2010 8:07 pm

Earlier today my daughter was getting rather stressed which started to turn into a tantrum. I got down to her level and explained what we were going to do then asked her to take a deep breath and then slowly breathe out; which she did a few times. This calmed her down which was what I wanted to happen.

I didn’t think anything of it until a lady with a pushchair walked up to me and said “how did you do that?” Which confused me as it hadn’t occurred to me that this was odd, the woman must have noticed the look on my face, so she said “your daughter went from having a tantrum to a calm little girl in 2 minutes”.

At this point still thinking I was missing something I just told her what I had done and then walked away. I looked at my best friend who explained that a lot of parents just tend to yell at their kid when their kids have a tantrum or just drag them along screaming behind them. Until that point I’d just thought that the way I dealt with the kids when they were acting up was nothing out of the ordinary, because I don’t see the point of shouting and screaming at the girls as it makes the situation worse as everyone involved just gets even more frustrated.