Increasingly experts are of the view that it is parental involvement that is the key to a child’s academic progress, health and well-being.

Having books around the house is a good thing and can make a huge difference to a child’s development.

Using the TV as a babysitter is one of the worst things parents can do to their children.

This means that they are unwilling or unable to make the time to be with their children and in the absence of the parents it is the TV that is instilling (dubious) values in the children.

The parents contribution to a child’s upbringing should be separate from, but linked to the school authorities. Share responsibility and share power as well; understand that a child’s education must be a collaborative effort. Activities that involve the whole family can enable student learning.

So rather than sit about blaming the school system parents need to get involved, because what parents do is the number one predictor for a child’s academic outcome.

Source: huffingtonpost

Practice Water conservation to teach it: Water being such a necessary but imperiled resource; it is never too early to teach a child to conserve water.

Turn off the tap while brushing, while lathering with shaving foam, while scrubbing hands and let the child observe and imitate. Repair drips and leaks expeditiously, explaining that the wastage of water is not a good idea.

Go shopping: when out shopping, pick products that have been manufactured responsibly, that don’t have unnecessary amounts of packing material or which use recycled packaging material.

Explain why you are making the choices that you are and how and whom they benefit.  Encourage them to pick out things based on the same green principles and concepts.

Recycle: It goes without saying that you can teach your child about recycling as soon as the child is old enough to understand and if possible make it fun for them.

Perhaps you can have a reward point system, so that the greenest person in the family gets a badge or has their name put up on the refrigerator door for a week. There are some great resources about recycling here, such as puzzles, story books etc all woven around the central theme of recycling.

Transform: Encourage and teach your child to use household waste to make new and interesting things, such as craft or hobby items.

For instance you can make a bug mobile using egg cartons, or use tin cans to make herb pots for the kitchen window sill. For ideas such as these and more, you can take a look here.

Compost:  Make composting a routine activity for everyone in the family while explaining how great it is that rubbish can give you something as beautiful as a fresh flower!

Let your child decorate the compost bin in their own way, to give them a sense of contribution and even ownership which in turn will give a child some sense of responsibility.

In whichever way you can, teach a child how great it can be to minimize the negative impact that modern life has on the planet and how the responsibility to do that rests with all of us!

A story that recently emerged that of a young girl who had been subject to online grooming since the age of 12 which, at the age of 17 has left her so scarred that she is unable to speak with or look directly at people.

Child grooming is the term used to define actions deliberately undertaken with the aim of befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, in order to lower the child’s inhibitions in preparation for child sexual abuse.

Through social networking sites such as Facebook and the like, it is possible for sexual predators and pedophiles to gain access to children. Once contact is established, the predator can then initiate inappropriate or abusive chat sessions or induce the child to act out inappropriate acts by way of webcam.

It is shocking to know that one in twelve children who make friends with strangers or online, then go on to meet those strangers in person.

For this reasons it is vital that communication between parents and their children remain constantly open so that they are able to explain the dangers that lurk online and the ways in which predators could prey upon unsuspecting children.

Source: dailymail

However, self confidence is something your child must possess early in life if you want him/her to grow into a wonderful person.

Self confidence is important. It is the motivating factor that can help your child achieve his/her dreams in life. It is also a ticket to gaining friends and performing well in school.

You don’t want your child to end up being a loner and so unsure of himself/herself. Below are 3 tips to boost your child’s confidence:

1. Expose him/her to activities

You can help your child get over his/her shyness by exposing him/her to people and activities. You can bring him/her to parties, family reunions, or other social events. You should also encourage him/her to join in clubs or engage in sports.

2. Make your child feel special

One of the reasons why children lack self confidence is because they don’t feel loved. Make your child feel special by telling him/her kind words that can boost his/her self confidence. Never put your child down by saying negative things that can break his/her spirit.

3. Be supportive

You should also be there for your child. You must show your unending support by being present in affairs that require you to be there. You can boost his/her self confidence by doing your job as a responsible and loving parent.

Once your child possesses self confidence, it will be easier for you to develop in him/her other positive attitudes.

According to a study, which put kids through a three month mentoring program, it was observed that those children who were trained to control or manage their anger were more in control of their emotions. They were also seen as being better behaved in class. Such children were also less likely to suffer punishments or reprimands.

There was a lot of difference observed between children who had been part of the mentoring program and those who had not. It was not mental health professionals; but simply adults who mentored the children which yielded results. The skills in relation to self control that the children imbibed were seen to help them function better in class and also meet school expectations better. The effects of the mentoring were direct and positive.

We have perhaps known ourselves as adults what a destructive and wasteful emotion anger can be and how disempowering it can be to lose control. If we are able to tutor our children to be the master of their anger, we can do them a big favor!

Source: softpedia

It does not lift one’s mood or make them feel better, because it produces no results for the most part.

So the next time you feel like nagging, ask yourself if there is not a more constructive way of going about getting things done?

Imagine for a minute your child going on and on about something that they want; say a new toy. It is repeated, it is unrelenting; as sort of water on stone technique formed to wear you down.

You think to yourself what did you do to deserve it! Where the child got it from, you think to yourself! Well you know what they say, what goes around, comes around.

A child will usually pick up what he or she hears and sees and if your child is whining a lot, ask yourself if you are not guilty of nagging? Don’t get me wrong I am not saying here that every whining child whines because of a nagging parent; not at all. But do introspect if your child is whining a lot; it should not be that your child is simply acting out the childish equivalent of nagging.

Also understand that as you will mostly tune out the whining of a child, so the child will learn to tune out the nagging, so that nagging is not only ineffectual, it is also counterproductive because it teaches a child to ‘tune out’ repeated instructions.

So how do you stop yourself from nagging your child? Well for one remembers that you are the adult in the situation, and nagging is a grown up equivalent of whining.

So since you are the grown up you cannot whine. Be firm, be unequivocal and tell the child what is required to be done in no uncertain terms. Make sure that you have your child’s attention and get down to his or her level, look her in the eye and then make sure the message gets across.

There is no need to order, just firmness that brooks no refusal will do. That firmness of attitude may well get the job done as no amount of nagging ever could.

Also resist the urge to be sarcastic or cutting; it can be tempting, but that can be detrimental to a child’s fragile self esteem and makes an adult sound perilously like a child themselves.

So if you as a parent manage to remember that you are the adult in that situation you may well be able to break free from the vicious cycle of nag-disobey-nag!

The study that had 3000 children in their mid teens answered a questionnaire, found that the risk of having low attachment to parents and peers increased proportional to the amount of time spent watching TV or on the computer. Every hour of TV viewing was seen to increase risk by 4%. Every hour of playing games on the computer was seen to increase this risk of lowering attachment by as much as 5%.

By contrast, the level of attachment to parents was higher in those teens who spent more time studying and reading. Since attachment to parents is vital to health and development in adolescence, this is cause for concern according to those in charge of the study.

“With the rapid advance of screen-based options for entertainment, communication and education, ongoing research is needed to monitor the effect that these technologies have on social development and psychological and physical well-being among adolescents,” they were quoted as having said.

Source: ivanhoe

However, as parents we all know that vegetables should be a part of our child’s diet.

Vegetables are excellent sources of essential vitamins and minerals needed by our kids to grow strong and healthy. However, we find it hard to feed our children vegetables. If you are also having the same problem, then you must try these tips which can help you teach your child to love vegetables:

1. Try a different recipe

If you always prepare vegetables in the same manner, now you have to change your style. Prepare a special recipe that includes your child’s favorite ingredients and add vegetables. They will be curious to have a bite of your new dish.

2. Shake it

Vegetables like carrots can be made into a delicious drink. Just add milk, sugar, and ice and blend them together for a delicious milk shake with a twist.

3. Make vegetable candies

This may sound new but you can definitely make candies from vegetables. Squash and sweet potato are examples of vegetables which you can make into candies. Just boil them, mash, and add sugar and condensed milk for a sweet treat.

Remember, your child needs vegetables to grow and you must find some creative means for them to eat vegetables.

50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do), pivots on the premise of less is more when talking about parenting and trying to insulate children against all manners of injury, either physical or emotional.

And when you think about it, our children are perhaps missing out on being kids the way we or our parents were?

There is a persuasive argument made against Hyper parenting by this book and others like it such as The Dangerous Book for Boys or Carl Honore’s Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting.

It is not being suggested that one lets children do dangerous things deliberately; only that parents do perhaps have to lighten up a little. It is the old adage isn’t it; that ‘You have to learn to fall before you learn to walk’ and if you are never allowed to fall how do you ever learn to be careful for yourself! We do perhaps need to shake the conviction that children are in peril when in fact recent studies show the contrary; that this is the safest time in history for children!

Source: Ottawa Citizen

I was angry at what I thought was her inability to understand me and my friends.

I know now that it had a lot to do with the hormones running through my body and less to do with my mom’s grip on my life.

Looking back I see how weird it was to have a person who smiled and talked to you about everything transform into a sulky stranger ready to yell at and defy your every request.

I know a lot of parents are dealing with this situation right now, and having a son who is full of rage is especially challenging. What causes these flare-ups? How do you diffuse these tension filled situations? You can’t just say that it is a part of life and that he will grow out of it.

Often, if left alone and ignored the situation will get worse, and without intervention the teen will grow up to be an adult who thinks angry outbursts are the norm and will use it to intimidate other people.

I know it can be a constant battle at home. You tell him one thing and he is arguing and saying another. The arguments have to stop. It is not a good idea to just let him have his way.

Also, if left alone, the rage could develop into worse behavioral problems. It is a bad idea to push him because it could lead to a harmful and dangerous situation. Avoid playing the authority figure and check your anger because it only fuels the fire.

Studies have shown that grounding your raging teen only makes it worse. Just like children younger than they are, you can say ‘no’ but give them an explanation why they can’t do something.

Teenagers may look like adults but their thinking is still very much like children. When you both are calm, it is easy to find out the source of the anger and frustration.

Much of their rage comes from insecurity, like not fitting in at school, or not doing well in sports or in class. Sometimes things like not having the right clothes or appearance can be the source of what’s bothering them. It could be not getting the girl he wants or a break up that causes the stress and rage.

Once you have found the source of their frustrations, acknowledge it and try to promote a sense of responsibility and connect their involvement in it, then diffuse it by changing their focus and having them exert themselves at something else.

For example, your son just blew up at his basketball coach and he is now home and still seething at some wrong that you did not witness. Ask him, calmly, what was up with the basketball game.

He may tell you that it wasn’t really anything the coach did; he was upset because his girlfriend broke up with him. Then say that you understand how upsetting a break up could be, the only problem is that the coach did not know that.

The coach is probably mad at the outburst and that it would be too bad since you know how much basketball means to him. You can tell him to talk it over with the coach.

Get your teenager to see his part in it. Then, after the talk, go for a run or play some basketball, or surf, whatever lets your teen burn off some of the adrenaline and get their mind off what just happened.

When you start listening you’ll find that he is willing to talk. He will also be able to cope with anger problems better. Don’t put all the blame on him, remember that you were that age once and you probably thought that adults never listened to anything you said, and you may have been right.

My mom and I patched it up when she started to ask me to tell her my issues, and she listened without any judgment. I felt I could talk to her again, and it also helped that she signed me up for soccer, where I could burn off a lot of frustration and adrenaline on the field.