Parenting Boys
Parenting Boys is not Easy
Parents with both daughters and sons will tell you that parenting both are widely different. Boys have a completely different temperament as well as learning ability from girls. According to scientific research, brain differences and hormones such as testosterones account for the differences in the actions and development between boys and girls. Most parents find out for themselves that parenting girls are relatively easier than parenting boys. An insight on the gender disparity due to male hormones and handling it sensibly will go a long way in making boys grow up to be capable, caring and confident individuals.
Here are some common problems related to parenting boys and tips on how to deal with them:
Hyperactive
Boys are naturally active and full of energy that need to have an outlet, the reason why they run around, shout and love to rough around. Parents should encourage boys to take up a sport where they can expend all these excess energies. Sports are also one way of teaching a child team spirit, leadership skill and build character.
Act without thinking
Boys often get into trouble more frequently than girls because they tend to act first before they think. It is so easy for boys to be in a fight and most often physical fights. Parents should deal with this by discussing it with them in a calm and open manner and explain to them ways of amicably settling conflicts.
Separation angst
Boys more than girls get upset from being separated from parents. This may seem surprising since it is the common belief that boys are stronger than girls. They may be stronger physically but emotionally young boys are more fragile than girls. Parents should realize this and devote more attention to young boys and if possible delay or put-off leaving sons to child minders.
Parenting Children with ADHD
There is Help for ADHD Children
ADHD is an ailment of the nervous system brought about by a chemical disproportion in the brain. The usual symptoms of ADHD on children are distraction, obstinacy, recklessness and hyperactivity. Most children afflicted with ADHD want instant satisfaction of their needs. They will usually go into tantrums or become vehemently angry and even resort to destructiveness when their wish or desires are not granted at once.
Parenting per se is already a difficult and exacting task but parenting children afflicted with ADHD is twice as difficult, stressful and arduous. Parents will need a lot of help in dealing with children afflicted with ADHD.
Here are some ways to make the task of parenting a child with ADHD easier:
Understand what ADHD is
Parents should be fully aware of what ADHD is, its causes, symptoms and treatment. The more information a parent has about ADHD, the more prepared they will be to deal with the child. A medical check-up is required to get total and comprehensive findings of the child’s problem.
Seek professional assistance
Parents of children with ADHD will be better helped by counseling professionals, either psychiatrists or psychologists that specialize in cases of children with ADHD. Another source of assistance could be support groups such as organization of parents going through the same problem they can learn from the experiences of other parents of children with ADHD on how to deal with their child.
Review or take a close look on how they treat their child
Parents should be aware of how they are treating their child. There are times when a parent’s response to a child’s actions and behavior may be contributing to the child’s problem. But this should not mean that they should accept the blame for their child’s condition. ADHD is a nervous disorder and although good parenting could help lessen its negative effect, it is not the total solution to it.
Parenting Step Children
Step children - a Challenge
Parenting is a most fulfilling and gratifying undertaking, but it can also be one of the most difficult and challenging task for anyone. The task becomes doubly difficult when you are a step parent. Although parenting is basically the same whether you are raising your own child or a step child there is that added ingredient of having to contend with the shadow of another ”parent” that your step child lost either to death or to divorce.
Parenting a one year old step child is also very much different from parenting a teenage step child or even step children of school age. A baby has no memory of their real parent, so there is no basis of comparison, but older children, particularly those in their teens are another story. For one thing, they may still be suffering from the loss of a parent and of their first family. And when step children who are products of a divorce are still harboring that hope and dream that their real parents will still get together, your entry into the picture will be regarded as the main obstacle for that hope and dream, making you enemy number one in their eyes.
Despite all these, becoming a good parent to a step child is still possible. It won’t be easy nor will it happen overnight but it can be done step by slow step. The first thing to remember in creating a bond or relationship with a step child is to make them realize that you are not there to replace the parent that they’ve lost. Assuming that role will assuredly meet violent resistance and may cause your relationship with your step child irreparable damage. In the eyes of a child, no one can replace the parent that they’ve lost.
Instead strive to build a wholesome and healthy relationship first with your step child. Support your partner in raising their children without imposing your own rules and brand of discipline. Be there for them as a friend, supportive and encouraging. As a step parent you can have an enormous influence in the life of your step child and a solid and genuine relationship based on mutual respect can be beneficial both to your step child and to you.
How to Deal with Difficult Children
Difficult Children Need Love
Parenting volatile, highly excitable and difficult children is an uphill struggle and stressful to parents. It takes a lot of patience, tolerance, and love to deal with difficult children. Even the most even tempered parent sometimes reaches a breaking point and will say or do things that they do not mean and are sorry for long after an incident. But someone said that it is children who act unlovable that need love most. However difficult children are, parents should keep in mind that they are gifts and these difficult children need their parent’s love the most. This may be easier said than done especially when children start acting up, but there are some things parents can do to make life easier for them and even for the difficult child. Here are some of them:
Stop thinking of the child as difficult
When parents think or regard their children as difficult, children could sense this, sensitive and perceptive that they are. When children intuit or perceive that their parents have negative feelings and thoughts about them they react to it by way of tantrums, by being argumentative, with incessant whining and complaining and generally being difficult.
Ignore bad behavior
When a child starts acting up do not pay attention to them, don’t react with anger and antagonism. Leave the room quietly and calmly and bear in mind that this is temporary and there is always time to deal with it later. This is not the time to argue, persuade and dispute with them. Once you’ve calmed down go back to the room and talk to the child.
Focus on the good
Rather than continually calling the child’s attention to every infraction, focus on what they are doing right. It is not easy to do this especially when the child is being particularly obnoxious. But the option is to constantly feel awful because of a child’s negative behavior or feel good by focusing on what the child is doing right.
Parents should change their attitude and behavior towards their child first before they can expect to change their child’s behavior.
Teach Your Baby to Sleep at Normal Hours
How to Teach Baby to Sleep at Normal Hours
New mothers and even fathers, usually complain that their babies are awake just when they are just getting ready to sleep. They sleep all day and are awake all night making new parents look like zombies during the day time. For working fathers, this can be disastrous. No one wants to be caught napping in the middle of working hours. For mothers with other children to attend to at home, this too is a hassle. The challenge is how to teach a baby at a very early age to sleep at normal hours and to help them sleep peacefully through the night.
Here are some tips on bedtime routine that will help your baby sleep peacefully and serenely at night:
- Bathe your baby before preparing them for bed
Bathing a baby in tepid water before bed time will make them feel clean, fresh and relax and will augur well for a deep and restful sleep. Make sure that the room where you will bathe the baby has no draft to prevent them catching a cold. After a bath wrap them in a clean, warm towel and pat them dry thoroughly. Dress them up in a warm comfortable night clothes before putting them to sleep.
- Give your baby a gentle massage
Another helpful parenting tip is to give a baby a gentle massage. A gentle massage will go a long way to completely relax your baby and help them sleep peacefully. Touch therapy is highly recommended by experts to give babies a special bonding connection with the parents. It also improves a baby’s weight gain. Massage the baby using scented baby lotion, oil or talcum powder, babies favorably respond to scents. Play some soft and gentle music while massaging the baby. Some parents even play classical music to their babies at sleep time.
- Comfortable bed and quiet atmosphere
Make sure that the baby’s bed is comfortable and the atmosphere in the room is quiet and conducive for sleeping to ensure that the baby will sleep deeply.
- Proper conditioning
Give babies the proper conditioning. Even babies learn owing to routines. When it is almost bedtime, dim the lights, turn off the television set, play the soft music before bath time. Babies will recognize the signs and they will know that it’s time to sleep.
Caring for babies is one of the most fulfilling parenting jobs. Teaching your baby to sleep at normal hours will even make it more pleasurable.
