Foreword
“Every child is a different kind of FLOWER, and all together, makes this
world a beautiful GARDEN.” – Anonymous
By nature, children are full of happiness and enjoyment in life. They live
what they see and believe. However, it is inevitable that children will feel
afraid of something most of the time. Just like adults, children also struggle
with some challenges that hinder them from making the most of their
childhood.
Children need to deal with a number of fears as they grow up. From
entering a new school to taking a big shot to coping with a bully in school,
they are facing intimidating situations from time to time. Unfortunately,
there are many parents who don’t care about their children seriously even
when they display their fears. This is an incorrect parenting method, which
could make a child suffer from panic attacks and depression. If you love
your kids, this is the last thing you do not want to happen to them, so make
sure to give them the support they need whenever their fears take place.
This is why this book has been created. This book contains information you
need in order to help your child overcome his/her challenges in life. So,
start reading and discover all the possibilities you have for the development
of your child’s life.
Chapter 1:
Making School Less Scary For Your Kids
The biggest challenge for most preschoolers and kindergartens is the
thought of being separated from the things that are familiar, particularly
their parents. Learn how to make the whole thing smoother and easier with
the following ideas.
Make the Transition Smooth
If it seems that your child is afraid to enter the school, he/she is probably
thinking about being separated from you. You can handle it by taking the
child to the school for a visit and do it a couple of times prior the start of the
school year. Organize a tour, participate in some school events, and let
them use the playground. Each time a child visits his/her new school and
goes wearing a smile on his face and looks at you smiling, he is getting the
message, saying that he could be happy while being there.
When your child still stays with you like a fastener when the class session
goes on, you must make morning habits predictable, while making
goodbyes short. Once you leave, the teacher may have your child distracted
through letting him participate in the activity he loves. Place a note on his
lunch box or even a huge heart is good for nonreaders. Or perhaps, give him a seashell or “magic” acorn to keep inside his pocket and tell him that he
will know that you are thinking about him each time he touches it.
When your child displays anxiety with bathrooms then you should find out
the reason behind that. He is afraid maybe because he worries of not having
enough time to get there. Does he feel scared of toilets as they flush really
fast? Is there a scary experience wherein his classmate crawls beneath the
stand door? Open up his fears, and then determine and discuss some
techniques he can use to deal with them. You can also ask his teacher the
time when the restroom is most quiet, and let her tell your kid to go during
those times.
When making your visit, you can recommend visual cues, which could aid
your child in navigating the school by him alone. Let him go around,
including the bathroom area, and then show him the school’s floors. A lot of
buildings contain varied tiles or carpeting on every corridor or level.
Discuss with the teacher something about the rooms which your child
needs to get into during school days. After which, you can organize a map
or make a shoe-box model in order to aid her in knowing more about the
surrounding area.
The teacher is another factor that concerns many children entering the
school. So, you should work on this too. As the first day of school
approaches, many young students visualize a “child-crunching” monster
who sits behind the desk of the teacher, particular when older siblings
teased them such exaggerated stories. Before the school year starts, you
may introduce your child to the teacher, and let him think of your relatives
or any family friends who are also teachers. Once the school year begins,your child might also think of his teacher as someone new when she
differently does things from his daycare provider. It offers you the perfect
chance to discuss classroom rules and the way people perform things in
their unique ways.
Children by nature are good learners. You only need to make things easier
for him to understand and learn. The fact that he feels scared for being at
school should be addressed correctly and properly to allow him go through
and deal with the challenges successfully. This should eventually make you
a better parent for him. So, make sure to keep these pointers in mind when
looking to enroll your child to a school new to him.
Chapter 2:
Stop Your Kids from Hitting, Biting, Pushing, and Shoving
Sometimes, some children become aggressive in an unknown reason. They
hit, bite, push, and shove, which leads to hurting other people. You don’t
want your child to keep up this behavior, so knowing how to stop it today
should be a good help.
Stop Children Aggression
Parenting is never easy and parents are all humans. Each time your child
expresses himself in a rebellious way, you are feeling much stress. Talking
about this matter should be a great help for parents facing openly insolent
children or when coping with aggressive kids.
This is not an easy thing to deal with and it is simply easier said than done
in several cases. However, the little methods disclosed in this chapter
should help you stay calm and cool whenever you child pushes those alert
button. These methods are as follows:
Count to Ten. This might sound funny yet it really works wonders.
Allow your child to see this as you do it. As you do the counting, take
deep slow breaths. In addition, image yourself as calm, while going
through the scenario with good results.
Show Some Authority. Determine that nobody has the true authority
over you except when you allow them. Furthermore, it is your choice to get upset or angry. Keep yourself reminded that if you give away
more power, your insolent child will have less power to take from you.
There is nobody else, but you will hold the key to your individual
actions.
Always Monitor Your Progress. Create a list of the incidents wherein
you have been successful when coping with aggressive behavior of
children. And then, if you seem to falter, just keep yourself reminded
of the good times when you’ve prevailed in and get the best of the
situation.
Tell Yourself that It Won’t Last Long. Always remind yourself that it
won’t last more than a couple of moments. Think that it will simply
pass and that nothing would last forever. And, your child will
eventually grow up, whether defiant or aggressive, more likely quicker
than you actually like them to.
Feel Good For Being Responsible. Keep yourself reminded of how
good it feels to take responsibility for your emotional reactions. Give
yourself some time for positive thoughts and feelings.
Always Take Things Positively. Consider the idea that someone else
always takes it more difficult than you and that your experience can’t
be compared to what somebody else may have. Remember that a
greater trial, the more fulfilling and greater the triumph would feel.
Make use of it as your motivation until you get there, and eventually,
you will.
Don’t Respond To Aggression With Aggression. Keep in mind that
responding to aggressive behavior with another aggressive behavior is
never a good idea. This will just validate and enforce the behavior of
the child. Your child desperately wants to become just like you and he
or she would imitate any attitude you show.
Become An Example. If you want to teach your child with good
behaviors, you will need to practice the things you preach so as to
guide his misbehavior effectively in the correct direction. Always
teach and show your capability to manage your emotions. Keep in
mind that the spotlight strikes on you. Hence, each time you feel
enticed to curse or yell, stop and then reconsider that line of thinking.
Teach Your Child The Alternatives. Show and teach your child some
alternative techniques to manage his emotions. Provide approaches
that are more constructive and more positive. Let him learn the ways
to direct his emotions with creative expression. Encourage him to
inform you whenever he feels upset or angry when possible.
Recognize Their Efforts Consistently. Providing kids some reason to
like changing is normally as simple as sharing affirmative recognition.
No matter what, always remember that every child demands
attention. Bad attention is quite better than totally no attention.
Always provide your support, and apply positive encouragement with
your efforts whenever possible. All those methods mixed with positive
encouragement should aid you in shaping an aggressive child into the
more controlled and developed person.
These tips mentioned above are only a few of the many ways that you can
use to stay with composure when coping with aggressive kids. You have all
the capability to stay calm when coping with aggressive kids and what it
only takes is to know the best ways to respond in advance. When it comes to
parenting, you will certainly appreciate the outcome of using the most
applicable information available for dealing with misbehaving children. It
doesn’t need to be very hard, as all you really require is some fresh
perspectives
Chapter 3:
Control Your Children’s Anger
Just about every child feels angry seldom, yet when angry, negative
comments and aggressive acts become a norm. It is crucial for parents to do
the right action to aid their children. Parents may help their children learn
to deal with their emotions and display anger in proper ways. Learn how to
make it happen in this chapter.
Anger Management among Children
A lot of child behavior issues focus on kids struggling with anger
management. Disrespect, conflict, aggression and oppositional behavior
may normally be alleviated through helping your kids know better handling
of their anger. Once you teach your child with effective anger management
skill, this will develop behavior, while providing him one of the most
essential skills in life.
If you want your child to become a better person, teaching him how to
better manage his anger is important. Start today by considering the
following pointers:
Distinguish Between Behavior And feelings
Normally, children face difficulty in knowing and understanding the
distinction between aggressive behavior and feelings. Let your child know
about feelings, allowing them to learn verbalizing the feelings of disappointment, frustration and anger. Basically, feelings, such as hurt and
sadness are covered by aggressive behaviors. Teach the child how to
determine and verbalize his feelings rather than acting them out.
Furthermore, mention that feeling angry is fine. Anger is similar to some
other emotion. Just know the right times when to feel it. Considering this
will help children understand that discussing anger and feeling angry are
not bad.
Mold Proper Anger Management Skills
It is important for you to become a role model of appropriate behaviors,
teaching them the better management of their anger. When your child sees
you losing your control, he will be more likely to experience trouble dealing
with his own anger or distinguishing what’s right from wrong.
There are times when parents choose to hide their frustrations and feelings
from their children. Even though it is right to protect children from adult
issues, they also have to witness just how you manage your feeling of anger.
Produce chances to discuss feelings and allocate right ways to cope with
them. Citing some instances when you get frustrated can teach children
how to discuss their feelings.
Be responsible for your own behavior, especially when you lose control in
front of your kids. Say sorry and talk about what should be done instead.
Implement Anger Rules
When it comes to anger, most families preset informal family rules
regarding the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Other families do notmind slammed doors or raised voices, while some might have less
acceptance for those behaviors. Make written home rules, which clarify kids
the things they could do when they are angry and the kinds of behavior that
might lead to certain consequences.
Anger rules must focus on respectfully behaving towards others. Children
have to realize that only because they are angry does not give them the
authority to hurt anybody. Deal with areas, like name calling, physical
aggression and property destruction, so they know that they cannot throw
and break things, or punt physically or verbally when they are mad.
Educate Healthy Approaches To Manage Anger
Children have to be aware of the right way to cope with anger. Rather than
simply telling, “Don’t hurt your sister”, say what they should do when
feeling frustrated. Use time out as discipline rather than punishment. This
way, kids will learn taking breaks by themselves, helping them to cool
down.
Children may also take advantage from knowing some coping skills. Let
them learn how to take breaks when they are frustrated. Demonstrate to
them some relaxation techniques through doing some enjoyable activities.
Furthermore, you may teach them some problem-solving skills, while
helping them know how to resolve conflicts calmly. Most especially, tell
them to walk out when they are angry to avoid being aggressive.
Give Consequences When Needed
Children demand positive consequences once they follow anger rules, while
they need negative consequences once they break them. Positive consequences are particularly crucial for children, who normally face
hardships with anger management. A token economy or reward system
may offer additional incentive to aid them to stay calm and apply their
skills for managing their anger safely.
For any aggressive behavior presented, there has to be direct consequences.
Based on the age of your child, consequences might include loss of
privilege, time out or even restitution payment through performing
additional chores or giving a toy to his victim.
It is just normal for children to have a hard time when managing their
anger sometimes. However, this difficulty in anger management might
result to some serious issues for some children in the long run. When the
concern about the behaviors of your child or child anger management
issues grows, seeking professional assistance is recommended. A
knowledgeable and skilled professional may rule out any fundamental
psychological health concerns and may provide producing a behavior or
anger management plan.
Chapter 4:
Provide Best Nutrition to Avoid Your Kid from Falling Sic
To become a better person, children need to be emotionally, mentally and
physically healthy. No parent would want her child to get sick, so making
sure that he is healthy, especially physically, is really important. Offer your
child with the best nutrition to prevent sickness from taking place. You
have to know how with the following ideas.
A Healthy Body Is Away From Illness
Nutrition for children is based on similar principles of adults’ nutrition.
Everyone requires similar kinds of nutrients, including minerals, protein,
fat, carbohydrates and vitamins. However, children have specific needs that
should be sustained appropriately.
Feeding young children with a balanced diet could be very hard, specifically
when he belongs to the group of fussy eaters. With this problem, you might
feel worried that he might not get sufficient nutrients to grow and stay
healthy.
A balanced diet contains an extensive range of foods, consumed in varied
combinations daily. Through eating a lot of different food items, a balanced
diet may help to provide your child all the vitamins and nutrients his body
requires. It simply means that you need not to worry about him lacking
something that is important in his diet.
On the other hand, giving your child with a balanced diet daily could be a
bit of a challenge. Hence, try not to over think when you do not always
attain it because provided that your child consumes well at most times, he
would be gaining lots of nutrients he needs.
Types of Food You Should Feed Your Child for a Balanced Diet
The main idea to keep in mind is that you do not need to stick with a
particular food item to help your child get some nutrients his body needs.
For instance, meat would provide your child with protein, yet he may also
acquire protein from chickpeas or nuts.
Furthermore, you may provide your child with primary nutrients in various
forms. So, when he refuses a glass of milk and one boiled egg, you may
instead try providing him with a pancake. Giving your child a range of foods
and remaining to be creative with the meals serve would help in making the
consumption a lot more exciting. Also, it encourages him to try different
flavors.
To aid your child in eating well, provide him a range of foods from the
following food groups.
Starchy Foods (Carbohydrates)
Provide him with starchy foods in every meal and some snacks. These foods
include:
Cereals
Rice
Couscous
Pasta
Sweet potatoes and potatoes
Plantains
Yams
Foods made of flour, including bread and crackers, also belong to starchy
foods. Your child might not appreciate starchy foods from wholegrain, so
try providing a combination of non-wholegrain and wholegrain foods.
Doing this would also avoid him from feeling excessively full with highfiber foods to acquire a fine variety of nutrients. Keep in mind that your
child has a tiny stomach and it will be easy for him to feel full.
Vegetables and Fruit
Getting your child to consume a range of fruit, and particularly vegetables
could be challenging. Keep giving them to your child so that he knows that
they are a typical part of the meal. You may also experiment with
uncommon fruit, like star fruit, in order to keep the interest of the child. Or,
provide a plate of various-colored fruit to lure him, including kiwi fruit,
strawberries, banana, and blueberries.
Try to always provide your toddler with fruit as part of his sweet meal.
High-Protein and High-Iron Foods
Your child has to consume foods which are rich in protein and iron for at
least two times daily. Those food items that contain a lot of protein and iron
are:
Fish
Meat
Nuts
Eggs
Pulses (such as beans, lentils and chickpeas)
Ensure that any products containing meat you purchase are high quality,
and are made from lean meat with low quantity of additional salt. When
need to feed your child with nuts, you can grind them up and blend them
into the meal. This should help in preventing him from choking.
You may try to keep those foods interesting through experimenting with
meat marinades and producing your own hummus or lentil dhal.
Dairy Foods
You can give your child some dairy foods for 3 times per day. Dairy
products contain high calcium content that is essential for strong teeth and
bone. These dairy foods can include:
Milk
Yogurt
Cheese
When feeding your child with yogurt, choose the plain one or the type,
which does not contain excessive sugar. In order to sweeten plain yogurt,
you may mix it with some pureed fruit.
For young children, milk is still a great source of calcium. Choose to provide
your child about 350ml of milk per day. It is good not to provide him more
than the amount because it would alleviate his appetite to other foods.
Your child’s health is important more than any other things, so make sure
to give him the highest wellness level he deserves by making a checklist of
the food items mentioned above. By considering this, you will be able to aid
your child in preventing against sickness
Chapter 5:
Replacing Junk Food with Healthy Snacks
Who don’t love junk foods? Almost everyone is craving for the delicious
tastes of these ready-to-eat food items, which are more loved by most
children in several countries. However, parents should know that too much
eating of junk foods of their children might lead to unhealthy lifestyle.
Know how to replace junk foods with healthy snacks in this chapter.
Getting Healthy Snacks over Junk Food
Junk food pertains to any food item that contains low or no nutritional
value. However, today, it seems that this type of food has already been
consumed by lots of people of all ages, especially young children. You do
not want junk foods to consume your child, so how exactly could you keep
your child away from these unhealthy snacks?
As a parent, you know for the fact that junk foods won’t make your children
healthy, and it could be difficult to find ways to prevent their craving to it,
as they are found everywhere. In this case, what you need is an effective
alternative to junk food.
Junk food has provided “snacking” a bad impression. Actually, taking
snacks between meals is never a bad idea, depending on your food choices
though. So, if you want to give your child with some healthy snacks,
consider the following:
Popcorn – The fat within these microwave brands may be the mere
negative here. You can go for healthier versions, having 98 percent
fat-free. When you choose plain popcorn, it is fine to sprinkle a bit of
butter or margarine (no trans-fat). It is better than those full-fat
brands in which you cannot control the added fat.
Ice Cream – Let’s be real. Everyone knows ice cream is not a daily
snack. However, there are some fine choices within the ice cream
land. Breyer’s Light Vanilla can be one of the best tasting vanillas. In
addition, fudge bars could be very delicious. They will suffice your ice
cream and chocolate craving. Furthermore, they have 4g soluble fiber,
roughly any fat, 80 calories, and extremely fine flavor.
Fruit And Fruit Smoothies – These are really fine snack choices. For a
sustainable, complete snack, you can produce some fruit smoothies
for your child. The dairy should sustain you.
Cookies – This is a healthy choice for a snack. You can make some
creative cookies that will lure your kids from trying some on their
snacks. Cookies are something that kids will really enjoy, put some
effort though.
Crackers And Cheese – This can be another great choice only when
you choose a reduced-fat cheese, which tastes really good. Reduced
fat means greater amount of protein. Crackers must be low-fat
wholegrain in order for it to become a healthy snack. More fat
contained in a cracker means more trans-fat it would contain.
Frozen Yogurt/Yogurt – If your child does not like drinking milk,
yogurt can be a great alternative source for calcium. Yogurt does not
require sugar in order to taste good. Purchase plain yogurt and
complement it with something, such as fruit and low-fat granola, for a
really healthy snack.
Cereals – This is a good choice for a healthy snack. But, make sure to
choose low-sugar, high-fiber cereals such as oatmeal.
Frozen Fruit/Popsicles Bars – Another fine snack, these bars can be
great addition to your healthy junk food alternative. However, you
have to go for the right ones. There are a few excellent choices
around, including the 100 percent fruit-juice selections out there.
Candy Bars – When you give your child the mini-sized ones and not
the oversized, candy bars can be a fine choice. Do not deprive your
child to eating something, as it will only lead them to compulsively
overeating.
Chapter 6:
Is Home School Better For Kids?
Sometimes, parents choose to let their kids attend home school rather than
letting them attend the normal school. But then, there are some parents
who wonder if home schooling is really good for kids or not. Know the
reasons behind with the following ideas in this chapter.
Home Schooling: Is It A Good Choice?
Parents may choose to teach their children for several reasons. Some of
these reasons include the fact that they like to spend more bonding time
with their kids, while establishing a more favorable relationship between
them. A lot of parents may choose home schooling for their kids when they
are unable to carry on with the standard curriculum.
Actually, the option for home schooling depends on your child’s unique
situation. For instance, children with ADHD are more likely to experience
writing trouble. With this, they may find problems in dealing with their
written tasks since they face difficulties with their planning. This option
should enable them to do their tasks at their own disposal. Parents of
ADHD children attested that the option has eased them from stress. They
customize lessons depending on the learning capabilities of their children.
Since schools may overload their minds with unneeded information,
parents who choose to home school their kids could ensure that they teach
their child in a way through which he/she can easily learn.
Furthermore, parents become apprehensive about schools’ learning
environment with their kids learning wrong or bad behavior from other
students. On the other hand, when home schooled, kids might not just
become better behaved the way their parents like, but also acquire the
necessary education.
Experts suggest several good reasons as to why parents should instruct
their own children. With home schooling, parents will no longer need to aid
their kids with tiresome homework as well as additional assignments. The
tedious schedule doesn’t enable them to be the kids they are and participate
and enjoy in other exciting activities. With home schooling, parents will be
able to teach their kids with focused content, while avoiding excessively
tiring work.
To make the approach more effective, hiring an educational consultant may
be a good idea. This consultant will help you out when dealing with the
curriculum for home schooling your child. She will monitor your child’s
progress. There are times when families could have mixed meetings and
scheduled play dates for the kids in the office of the consultant.
Moreover, you may also check some online information provided by the
local authorities, helping you with successful home schooling for your child.
Home schooling could become a fulfilling and enjoyable experience with
the right methods and assistance at hand. Don’t forget to mix parent’s love
and care to the ingredients to make it more successful.
Chapter 7:
Does Your Child Have ADHD?
A lot of parents are afraid of finding out that their child has ADHD.
Different from other disorders and problems, ADHD is a condition that
bears both social and psychological impacts on just about anyone related to
the child. Learn how to determine if your child has one in this chapter.
Identifying ADHD in Children
ADHD, which stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is
considered as a neurological disorder. The condition is characterized by
hyperactivity, mood swings, and forgetfulness. Not only children, but even
adults could be affected by the disorder, with as many as 5-8 percent of
children suffering from this condition, while many go undiagnosed every
year.
What Is ADHD?
ADHD is a disorder in which the sufferer finds himself distracted, oblivious
of what it occurring around, or extremely active in doing his activities. Most
of the cases among children are being developed before reaching 7 years
old. Its diagnosis might come when there are issues about their
development. For instance, they might display behavior, which is wrong in
attention or might become very impulsive, leading the condition to other
issues.
Common places where this could be observed include education, peer and
family relations, in social and occupational skills. When your child has
insufficiency within these areas, it is recommended to seek some
professional assistance, such as a pediatrician.
Symptoms
There are 3 kinds of ADHD, namely predominantly hyperactive-impulsive,
inattentive and the combined type. The following are a few ADHD
symptoms:
Destructiveness
Restlessness
Impulsive behavior that includes too much talking, interrupting
others, and blurting out the answer before a question should be
answered. In addition, people suffering from this condition normally
feel the desire to speak what’s on their mind, which typically comes
with creating statements without considering about their
consequences. Kids might feel the urge to retort to a dare given to
them.
Inattentiveness that could be both a hardship with persistence to
activities or sustaining attention.
Hyperactivity occurs mostly in middle and early school age kids and it
normally alleviates as they grow.
Difficulty in reengaging a recent task is evident as well.
In adulthood, it could include restlessness and the need to remain
busy physically is obvious.
For children, who have predominantly inattentive kind of ADHD,
symptoms may include:
Sluggish behavior
Confused behavior
Staring frequently
Hypo active
Daydreaming
ADHD can be a serious issue that parents should immediately address. So,
if you suspect that your child might be having one, do not think twice and
bring him immediately to a medical professional, who can suggest ways on
how to effectively deal with the problem. Early diagnosis means early
treatment, so make sure to make the right decision today!
