How to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read

Teaching your child to read starts in the womb. Let the fetus listen to Western Classical music by placing headphones against your tummy - Classical Symphonies have a highly beneficial effect on the forming mind.

Purchase or borrow other media. Reading sources such as magazines, newspapers, etc., are another way to interest your child in reading.

Give books as presents. Books are ideal gifts for birthdays, holidays, Christmas, traveling, as rewards, etc.

Teach your child to respect and love books. If you can teach children to see books as their lifelong friends, they'll have innate respect for them.

Spend time in the library together as a regular outing. Let your child choose favorite books to read and borrow, and encourage your child to explore the library and enjoy all of the activities it offers.

Teach your child about famous writers, actors and characters who are in books, or who write classic books.

Read often and your child will mimic you.

Pay attention to your child's changing interests. As your child gets older, pay attention to subjects that interest your tween or teen.

Maintain a regime for reading but be spontaneous. If your child wants to read at night before bed, let them read for a time limit and then lights out.

How to Develop Social Skills in Children

·         Demonstrate social skills to babies. Babies enjoy social interaction as demonstrated by their smiles.

·         Help toddlers to respect people and their property. In the toddler stage, children have access to some words and basic sentences

·         Assist pre-schoolers to expand their circle of friends. Pre-schoolers can express their feelings in words and should be encouraged to make friends with other children.

·         Develop social skills in school-aged children. When children attend school, they have a built-in environment that exposes them to opportunities to interact with others, to share toys and to communicate with others about their feelings and needs.

·         Encourage her to be helpful; let her help sort the washing or clear the table. Children who see themselves within a culture that cares about other people are more likely to have better social skills.

·         Set a good example. Parents should be polite, respectful and caring to each other if they want their children to act in this way.

·         Show affection to your children -- even if you find this difficult. Children who are more open and affectionate are more likely to have friends.

·         Value her social skills. When she is thoughtful or polite tell her how proud you are of her. Expect and value mutual respect and caring.

Easy Ways to Be a Fantastic Parent

• Take charge. Children crave limits, which help them understand and manage an often confusing world.  

• Don't clip your child's wings. Your toddler's mission in life is to gain independence.

• Don't try to fix everything. Give young kids a chance to find their own solutions. 

• When you lovingly acknowledge a child's minor frustrations without immediately rushing in to save her, you teach her self-reliance and resilience.

• Remember that discipline is not punishment. Enforcing limits is really about teaching kids how to behave in the world and helping them to become competent, caring, and in control.

• Pick your battles. Kids can't absorb too many rules without turning off completely. 

• Forget arguing about little stuff like fashion choices and occasional potty language. 

• Focus on the things that really matter -- that means no hitting, rude talk, or lying.

• Play with your children. Let them choose the activity, and don't worry about rules.

•  Just go with the flow and have fun. That's the name of the game.

• Read books together every day.

• Schedule daily special time.

• Encourage daddy time.

• Make warm memories.  

15 Tips for Instilling Leadership Skills in Children

1. Set a good example.

As a leader, you realize the importance of setting a good example for your team.

2. Encourage team activities.

3. Emphasize perseverance.

4. Build negotiation skills.

5. Hone decision-making abilities.

6. Practice confident communication.

7. Encourage work.

8. Enrol in summer camp.

9. Have family game night.

10. Teach project planning skills.

11. Use vision boards.

12. Avoid jumping in.

13. Find a mentor.

14. Encourage reading

15. Reward optimistic thinking.

Top Tips on Stopping Your Child Biting

Why do they bite?

Understanding why a child bites is key to beating the problem. Not all children bite out of anger or to hurt.

• Expressing emotion: Oddly enough, young toddlers can bite as a way of showing love. "Toddlers have really intense feelings but don’t know how to show them"
•  Experimenting: Toddlers are learning how their body works – they put things in their mouths, and sometimes nip. It’s impulsive and they don’t mean to hurt.
• Defending: Young children learn to bite as a defence, especially if they can’t talk.
• Controlling: Some children know biting is a way of getting other children – or their parents – to do what they want. They don’t always do this consciously

How to stop it?

•     Intervene: Open your eyes – look at how intense, how frequent bites are and what the triggers are.
•     Teach them it’s wrong: When your child bites, use simple but firm words. Try, “that’s biting, that’s wrong” or a firm “no”. If you’re in a group, remove them from the situation. Explain that it hurts others and why you don’t like them doing it.
•      Teach them to express themselves: When things have calmed down, try to help your child find a less painful way to express their feelings.
•      Reduce the effectiveness: When children bite to gain attention, dealing with it is trickier. After the first big talking to, don’t try to continue to reason or explain.

   

Attachment: Why it's crucial for your baby

• Why attachment is important??

From the moment they arrive, babies are ready to teach us what they need.

• Won't I spoil my child? 

Do you want your baby to be happy? Of course! But it's hard to know where to draw the line sometimes.

• The attachment theory

To understand why, it helps to know a bit about what's called attachment theory. All infants naturally attach to their primary caregivers, even to adults who are less nurturing.

• What happens if your baby doesn't connect with you?

About 35 percent of babies form unhealthy, insecure attachments. In their young minds, it's not clear that their parents will come through for them.

• You can make a difference

Most scientists believe that what makes the difference between healthy and unhealthy attachment is the parent's response.

• Why the first year is key?

This kind of attention is especially important during the first year because that's when the brain is growing the fastest.

Helping Your Visually Impaired Child Develop Good Motor Skills

Balance

• Balance is a child's ability to hold her body parts upright. This ability starts first with her head, then continues down her body to shoulders, trunk, hips, and legs. Balance is part of running, jumping, standing on one leg, cycling, and ball throwing.

1.  Giving your child lots of time lying on her tummy. She may act as if she doesn't like this  position. And she probably won't—until she has learned to balance, turn her head, and lift it up  off the floor
2.  Giving him chances to sit or stand alone.
3.  Giving her some support and then letting go for a few seconds. See if she can catch herself      before she loses her balance.

•   To help your child practice walking you can:
•    Give your child a chance to walk frequently. It builds up his self-confidence, and yours.

1.  Be sure your child has an opportunity to walk on many different surfaces—rugs, bare floors,  grass sidewalks, gravel, tile, etc.
2.  See that your child has a chance to walk on both even and uneven surfaces—steps, hills,  sloping driveways, etc.

Running

• For young children, running is a release of energy, a source of power

1. ·         "He can't see where he's going."
2. ·         "He'll run into something."
3. ·         "He could fall down and hurt himself!"

• Any one of these could happen. But since there are so many benefits to running, the best idea is to help your child to run safely. You can do that by:

1. ·         Begin by carrying your child as you run.
2. ·         Running together, hand in hand.
3. ·         Running together, each holding the end of a rope.