Monday, March 30, 2009

Life Flowers





Name: Sana
From: IRAN
Age: 6 Month
Interests:Playing Guitar; Singing; Motor Biking;
She Is Really CUTE,Isnt She?!!!!
LEAVE COMMENT PLEASE.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Help Children Blow Away Anger

You can teach your child strategies for coping with anger that can defuse today’s temper tantrums and manage stress throughout his or her life. Ignore the tantrums while your child learns these new skills (see below). Walk away, vacuum the carpet, load the dishwasher. Tantrums won’t escalate if you don’t react to them.

1. Practice blowing bubbles with your child every day. This behavior is incompatible with getting nervous or angry. It teaches your child to breathe slowly, a coping method that can defuse anger as soon as it starts. Identify the first signs of your child’s anger, such as a sigh or grimace. Refer to blowing imaginary bubbles whenever your child starts to get mad. Be patient.

2. Identify rewards. Discuss with your child some rewards he can earn for practicing blowing bubbles every day and when he gets frustrated or angry.

3. Share your successful coping methods. Point out when you deal effectively with your own stress. Ask your child to help you blow your imaginary bubbles when you are frustrated so she learns that you have strategies to help you manage your temper.

4. Remain calm. Encourage your child to practice blowing bubbles when he starts to get angry, then stay out of the situation completely. The sooner you prompt your child, the easier it will be for him to try it. If you wait until he really loses his temper, the exercise probably will not help. Address your child quietly, in a matter-of-fact manner.

5. Don’t get drawn into your child’s situation. Avoid eye-to-eye confrontation when your child is angry. Don’t change your disciplinary strategies because you’re now angry. Don’t get drawn into negotiations.

Source: Edward R. Christophersen, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City.

New Cute Gallery

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009

Sunday, March 22, 2009

12 Tips to Follow Before Getting Pregnant


Preparing your body for pregnancy at least one month ahead of time -- both physically and nutritionally -- can be among the most important factors in improving your odds of: conceiving more easily, having a healthier pregnancy, ultimately delivering a healthy baby and recovering more easily. Wanting to have a baby creates a natural desire to make things go as healthfully and worry-free as possible. Couples want to be able to make informed decisions and take an active role every step of the way. It also brings to mind a myriad of questions about what you should and should not do! What are the most current, scientifically backed recommendations when it comes to preconception nutrition and physical fitness? The following 12 tips should be used as a guide to help you make the right choices.

1. Future moms, go visit an Ob/Gyn, and request a "preconception" check-up. Future dads should go in for a general physical (preferably 90-120 days before!!). The doctor will address immunizations you may need and personal and family medical topics.
2. See your dentist for a check-up.
3. Get to a healthy body weight (in a healthy manner). This applies to women who are too thin or too overweight before pregnancy. Do not ignore this! It is really important for the future baby, and you might need to postpone your date to start trying.
4. Eat a well-balanced diet that includes a wide variety of healthy foods from all the basic food groups. Be aware that there are some foods you should completely avoid (i.e. liver). Also, keep well hydrated primarily by drinking water.
5. Stop taking any and all supplements unless approved by your physician; this is particularly important if you are "already trying". Your doctor will likely prescribe a prenatal supplement to begin taking now.
6. Make sure your intake of the B vitamin, folic acid, is optimal to help prevent birth defects. Good sources: prenatal supplement, enriched breads, pastas, cereals, dried beans/lentils, asparagus, wheat germ, greens, and orange juice (to name a few).
7. If you’ve been told you have anemia (iron deficiency), it should be resolved prior to conception through dietary means and iron supplements prescribed by a doctor.
8. Begin reducing your intake of caffeine to very low levels; no, you don’t have to eliminate it altogether.
9. If you are not practicing really good birth control, eliminate all alcoholic beverages; dad, keep alcohol intake modest. Also, quit smoking, and no illegal drugs (mom & dad).
10. Use proper safety precautions around worksite agents, chemicals, lead, and other potential hazards (mom & dad). The future mom should not handle kitty litter; let someone else change the box from now on.
11. No more lounging in hot tubs or saunas, especially for the future father (during the entire preconception phase). Hot showers are fine.
12. Make sure you establish a reasonable, regular exercise routine. Your level of fitness prior to pregnancy is basically what will determine how active you can be once pregnant. There are many, many advantages to being physically fit during pregnancy.
One final note: Give yourself a lot of credit for being conscientious enough to plan ahead! RELAX and enjoy yourselves during this special time in your lives!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

10 Common Mistakes Parents Make

Think you're a pretty good parent? Chances are, you're right. But many of us make well-intentioned mistakes in many areas of our lives--including raising children. No parent intentionally does things wrong; we simply do the best we can with the knowledge we have.
With this in mind, here is a list of some common mistakes parents make. The list is not exhaustive, nor is it The Final Word. The ideas here come from family psychologists, educators and older parents and grandparents who have "been there, done that," yet managed to raise successful children.


1. Inadequate Supervision
"Children get away with so much in contemporary society," says Robert Billingham, professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Indiana University, and the father of four. "It's a tragedy that there just isn't the parental supervision there used to be."
So how do you know if your child is being adequately supervised? "If your child is in daycare, make frequent, unannounced visits. If supervision is lacking, find another daycare," says Billingham. For older children, in most states the legal age that children can be left by themselves is 13, and most experts agree that the time of day when most kids get into trouble is the after-school/before-parents-get-home-from-work window. How to avoid? Hire a sitter or rearrange your work schedule. The bottom line: make sure someone is watching those kids.

2. Failing To Listen
"Many parents are in too much of a hurry to slow down and really listen to what their child has to say," says Charles Fay, Ph.D., a nationally certified school psychologist. For example, say little Billy comes home with a black eye. A parent's natural tendency may be to jump right in and demand to know who hit little Billy, when the reality may be that a ball smacked him in the eye, or maybe Billy started a fight. The fact is, parents don't know what's really going on until their child tells them.
For very young children, a good way to find out what's on their minds is to watch them play, says Dr. Fay. Give them some dolls and just sit back and watch. "It takes a little time, but it's one of the most powerful tools a parent has for understanding what their child's life is like when the parents are not around."

3. Short-sighted Parenting
"I tell parents to raise their 2-year-old not to be a successful toddler, but to be a successful adult," says Billingham. This means parents have to let their children make mistakes, have to let them learn from mistakes and have to let them encounter situations parents would rather protect them from. "When children face bullies, for example, there is a tendency for parents to rush in. But at some point this 7-year-old will be 30 and will have a boss who is a bully, so the child has to learn for himself how to cope." This doesn't mean that parents can't help, but becoming too involved can also be a mistake, says Billingham. "Help the child solve his problems, but don't solve them for him."

4. Over Scheduling
"Many parents today seem to be going 100 miles an hour with their hair on fire," says Judy Haire, co-founder of Liberty Christian School in Texas, mother of two and grandmother of five. "Kids need down time, time to be bored, because that's when their creativity kicks in."
Instead of giving kids time to play in a relaxed, unstructured way, many parents rush their children around from activity to activity, and this can create stress and anxiety in both parents and kids. "I suggest that parents give each child one or two extracurricular activities, max, and that parents make sure that children have several hours each week that are left completely unscheduled. Just make sure they don't fill those hours with TV!" says Haire.

5. Arguing in Front of Children
Parents arguing in front of their children is a very damaging behavior, according to Sara B. Miller, Ph.D., a psychiatrist in Wayne, Pa., who specializes in marriage and family issues. "When a couple argues in front of young children, especially boys, the end result is often an extremely insensitive man who cannot relate to women in a healthy way," says Miller.
Parents should save heated discussions for times when the kids aren't around. That's not to say that kids should never see parents disagree; it's healthy for kids to see Mom and Dad have a difference of opinion, then work it out. But subjecting children to parents' arguing can make them insecure and fearful. "Use common sense," says Miller.

6. Inconsistency
You've seen it in the supermarket a thousand times: a mom in the checkout line tells her child he cannot have candy. The child begins to whine, then beg, getting louder and louder, until the mom finally caves in and buys the candy. Kid: 1, Mom: 0.
"Children need to feel that their parents are in control," says Lisa Balch, a graphic designer and mother of two. "When a parent gives in after having said no, then the child learns that whining and begging are very effective tools for negotiation. I hear parents complain all the time about their children whining, but in many cases the parents are reinforcing the very behavior they would like to change."
7. Ignoring Your Intuition
"I think that in many cases people are too trusting, both of their children and of the people their children spend time with," says Haire. "It's easier to just go with the flow and ignore that still small voice when it tells you that something isn't quite right. I've learned, through the years, that parents should pay attention to that intuition."

8. Too Much TV
According to the Neilsen Media Research, the average American child ages 2-11 watches 3 hours and 22 minutes of television per day. The average number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children? 38.5. Astoundingly, 25 percent of children ages 2-5 have a television in their bedroom, and over half (52 percent) of kids ages 5-17 have a television in their bedroom.

9. Out-of-Control Materialism
"Kids today have way too much stuff," says Lois Hodgson, mother of four and grandmother of six. There's nothing wrong with toys and gadgets and exotic vacations, but it seems that in many cases what the children really want is quality time with their parents, says Hodgson. "When my children were young I made it a point to sit down with them after school and hear about their day, every day. Some of the neighborhood kids used to come, too--they just wanted an adult to listen to them."

10. Neglecting Your Spouse
"All too often I see parents who have made their children the center of their relationship," says Haire. "They lose sight of who they are as a couple, and once the kids are gone there isn't much left between them." The remedy? "Spend some time together alone every day--even 10 minutes at the end of the day. And make sure the kids know that this time is important and is not to be interrupted."

http://www.parenthood.com

Thursday, March 12, 2009