Archive for the ‘Stress free parenting’ Category
Love & Logic class starting Jan 6th, in Parker Colorado see my website for details
http://community.babycenter.com/post/a5559325/free_story_time_with_beebo_the_baby_signs…
Check out this link, its about the benefits of using sign language with babies.
We used it with both our little ones, and it demonstrates your babies ability to communicate with you well before they are physically capable of speaking. Our 4 year old still used the signs even when she was talking, she would speak the words and do the signs as well. Now she helps teach her 18month old brother the signs.
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This week save 25%
This week’s discount price to Insider Club members only: $18.71 To shop our online store click on the link above, then “Add to Cart” and enter the coupon code “070809″
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 Easing Power-Struggles with Young Children
Dear , There’s a period in almost every young child’s developmental life during which it seems like they resist just about everything we do. When it’s time to change their diaper they throw a fit and try to wiggle away. When meal time rolls around, they cry and refuse to eat their sandwich because it’s cut wrong. Etc. This stage usually subsides with time and the maturation of their wonderful little brain cells. But…in the meantime…what can we do to ease the battles? One powerful approach involves asking young kids lots and lots of questions…questions about anything. Yes, when they begin to throw their fits, look at them with an excited smile, and begin asking things like:
If asked in an excited, rapid-fire way…not pausing much for the child’s answer to each…these sorts of questions can get little ones thinking more about the answers than about the fit they are trying to throw. In fact, it’s not unusual for a small child to stop fighting and want to tell you all about something that excites them! For more fun tips on avoiding power-struggles with young children, read our book Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood. Thanks for reading!
If we have misspelled your name, or if this isn’t you, please click here to correct. ©2009 Charles Fay, Ph.D. All copyright infringement laws apply. Permission granted for photocopy reproduction and forwarding. Please do not alter or modify contents. For more information, call the Love and Logic® Institute, Inc. at (800) 338-4065. |
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Join us on Thursday, January 18th from 7:00-8:30pm in Santa Barbara, California at the Cathedral Oaks Athletic club for a free parent seminar focused on specific strategies, successful parents are using to manage the stress of parenting teens and preteens.
Recent research suggests that the top issues parents are dealing with today revolve around honest, effective and timely communication in the home. If you have ever wondered how to get your teen to open up or how to handle crises when they occur, you are not unlike most parents today. Please read the following ideas:
* How to share your knowledge without “preaching”
* How to encoureage your teen to talk with you
* How to wait and listen
* The top five questions that get teens talking
* The questions not to ask
* What teens wish you knew
The Thursday evening seminar will focus on information and conversation about each of the above ideas. Registration is free and open to the general public. Call the Cathedral Oaks Athletic Club to register 805-964-7762.
# # #
Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA, and Joe Bruzzese, MA, are California-based experts, speaking regularly on the topics of change and family communication. Read more about change and family communication at www.thinking-forward.com. If you would like more information or to schedule an interview call Joe Bruzzese at 805-889-2142 or email Joe at joe@thinking-forward.com.
Duration : 0:1:35
Our expert has some sound advice for making bedtimes stress-free - If your child has tantrums or gets upset when it’s time to go to bed, there are lots of things you can do to help prevent bedtimes becoming a battleground. In this video, NSPCC’s parenting advisor Eileen Hayes comes to the rescue of one exhausted mum with some helpful hints on making bedtimes calmer and shorter.
Duration : 0:2:25
When potty training girls, talk to them about potty training, lead by example, and try not to put stress on the child. Learn how to potty train girls through a routine with tips from a day care owner in this free video on parenting and child care.
Expert: Veronice Baragas
Contact: www.MyWigglesandGiggles.com
Bio: Veronica Baragas has been working with children and families for 10 years. She owns and operates Wiggles and Giggles, which offers home daycare, babysitting services, and special events.
Filmmaker: Todd Green
Duration : 0:2:31
Chapter 2
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Letter to an Expectant Father [Summer, 1986]
Dear Patrick :
Your excitement in anticipation of the birth of your first child - I heard it in your voice yesterday as we talked on the phone - took me right back 22 years when I, too, was about to become a father. So I admonished you, as I do all new parents, "Don't ever punish that child!"
When I said that our two sons had been brought up successfully without punishment of any kind, you asked me to write about it for your magazine [John Holt's "Growing Without Schooling"]
Just As I was thinking, as you are now, what kind of parent I was going to be, and agonizing over the "duty" of "correcting behavior", something happened that changed my life: a copy of A. S. Neill's incredible book, SUMMERHILL - A Radical Approach to Childrearing, fell into my hands. Neill taught me how extraordinary the possibilities when we really respect children, and place our trust in them and the democratic process.
As a victim of severe child abuse at the hands of a brutal "guardian" in a freelance "foster home" (this was in the back hills of Vermont in the 30s), I could see, at first, few alternatives to "a good slap" or "a sound thrashing", when "needed". I had known no other. Abandoned by my mother at age four and by my father at age seven, I was "farmed out" to work for my keep.
For five years I labored, serving as a front for a criminal abortion racket. I was beaten regularly and severely with a hardwood stick - for the "sin" of being a child. My indoctrination in the hellfire and brimstone of Christian fundamentalism forced the belief that, having been born in sin, I deserved the frequent beatings, the shaming and humiliation. Endure it without complaint, and my reward will be in heaven. Expect no happiness in this life.
In college courses I discovered there were other ways of controlling a child's behavior. Yet, as a philosophy student, I was rankled by the question: Control for what purpose? And for whose? Later, as a public school teacher, I never used punishment, never sent a pupil to the principal, and yet had no problem with discipline. Nonetheless, as I approached fatherhood I assumed I would have to spank, determined as I was to be a "good father". (Such is the strength of the roles society assigns us.) But I couldn't accept that. Is there no better way of treating children? I asked.
So I researched the psychology literature, and could find not one alternative to the behaviorists' reward and punishment, carrot-and-stick, conditioning. Any suggested alternatives to assault amounted to subterfuge, trickery, or outright lies. All seemed manipulative, exploiting advantages any adult has over the innocent and trusting. To me, those were all unethical, disrespectful, demeaning, and certainly harmful. If we can't make ourselves worthy of the child's trust, I asked, then who are we? If a child's faith in our word and our protection is not sacred, what is?
Then I learned that almost all Americans, to some degree, have a deep emotional investment in dominating and exploiting children to meet their own emotional needs. And the reason they do, though not consciously, is to suppress the horrible memory of their own victimization as children.
My own gulag-type experience, I saw, was no different in kind from 95% of all other children - only in degree. Nearly all children are either attacked with sticks, switches, paddles, and other weapons, as I was, or they were slapped, spanked, shaken, pinched punched, and kicked. All were yelled at and suffered humiliation and indignities and told it was not only good for them, it was by Biblical command.
Some children today endure "only" face slaps, spankings, "go to your rooms" and the now-popular "time-outs". Others, like me, barely escape with their lives. The list of those who don't survive it grows with every edition of the news. Despite the headlines, our ghastly tradition of physical and emotional violence against children continues.
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Little children love the world. That is why
they are so good at learning about it.
For it is love, not tricks and techniques of thought,
that lies at the heart of all true learning.
Can we bring ourselves to let children
learn and grow through that love?
John Holt
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A few years later, my college students, future teachers and parents, vehemently defended their "right", their DUTY, to force children, "in any way necessary", to submit to authority. Otherwise, they feared, the inmates would take over the home, the classroom, and/or the asylum. My sons, they argued, must be exceptional, or over-conditioned "robots". Or that I had exceptional patience, (a charge which invariably provoked laughter). Nothing would convince them that punishment was not necessary - until I brought my pre-school boys and their mother into the classroom. Henry and Russell, by their naturalness and authenticity, brought all argument to an end. Just by being genuine, they charmed their pants off.
To go back: I began with vowing NEVER to use physical punishment. And for good reason: I could not risk releasing on children the rage within me, internalized by my earlier beatings. Then I became intrigued by the philosophical question: How can ANY punishment of children be justified - ethically or otherwise? I searched the literature for months - and could find no valid justification. The pro-punishment argument came down to this: The child must submit to our will, because children are born bad, and we must shape them to suit us and society. That, clearly, would not stand as valid on any grounds.
When the babies came I realized I knew nothing. So I looked to them to teach me who they were, how they learn, and how they should be treated. Then my real education concerning childrearing began, for my sons taught me the most important things I know.
My FIRST surprise came in discovering how EASY it is to raise children if they are not "taught lessons". I had imagined I would have to develop patience - of which I had not an ounce. To my astonishment, it didn't require any. The alternatives to punishment now seem obvious to me, and so much fun!
The SECOND surprise was how well behaved, how spontaneous and enjoyable and lovable children can be when not living under the threat of violence or humiliation or "correction". And how they naturally search out what they need to learn - without lessons, without teaching or preaching or any sort of coercion. No "preparing for life," no "bending the twig," no shaping and forming. No authoritarian control.
The THIRD big surprise was how HAPPY our family was in contrast to the suppression, the competitiveness, and the underlying resentment so evident in other homes, those heavy vibes that kill spontaneity and warmth. On witnessing the callousness and incivility dealt children in stores, homes and the street, my sons would whisper in shock and horror, "Daddy, why is that lady hitting that boy?"
The FOURTH surprise to me was how quickly and eagerly they assumed the responsibility for their own behavior, how mature they were compared to others their ages. This quality is what impressed my students most.
And the FIFTH and biggest surprise was how a simple change in my view and thinking - that is, dismissing as an option all punishment - brought about a positive and remarkable change in me as a person. Unburdened of father-authority-punisher self-concept, I was rapidly becoming a more understanding, a more compassionate, a more loving person.
My colleagues and friends began commenting on it; I was a lot more enjoyable to be around, they said, - what happened? I felt better about myself, more self-accepting and approving, therefore I developed more tolerance, more compassion. I had more self-respect, confident now that I was not the kind of person who would exploit or harm any child. And I was greatly unburdened of the internal conflict between loving my children on the one hand, and inflicting pain in the name of "parental duty" on the other. I am now convinced that letting go of the punitive mentality can rapidly make any person happier, more self-accepting, and more understanding, even if they have no children of their own.
Comes the inevitable question: So what did you DO instead of punishing, instead of spanking, say, for "disobeying" by running into the road? (Why is this always the example? It is the universal justification for walloping children - "for their own good".) Their mother and I recognized that punishing does not teach safety, it teaches fear. And all punishment forces the burden - sometimes life or death - squarely on the child, conveniently allowing the parent to avoid responsibility for the safety of the child. (I TOLD him not to run into the road!")
The boys and I decided to install an inexpensive three-foot high wire fence (see PWP issue No. 1) around the front yard where they could play in safety, in view and within earshot of the kitchen. During the times we walked near traffic, we held their hands, with no fear-talk about getting run over, killed, so forth.
Instead of the bedtime tantrums we saw in other homes, we developed an evening routine of clean-up, sitting on laps and story reading plus music listening. In our weekly family meetings, bedtime was negotiated, arrived at by consensus. With shared authority, there was no problem. The clock, not the parents, announced time for bed. No tears, no hassle.
In family meetings, everything was fair game for questioning, for discussion and negotiation - with one exception: Health and Safety. Here we, as parents, reserved dictatorial control. The message was clear and firm: "We are responsible for your growing up safely and in good health. It is our job to protect you, even from yourself if necessary, and we intend to do a good job of it. But unless we can justify a given instance as a matter of either health or safety, no one has a right to interfere with your chosen activities."
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European Countries That Forbid Any Form of Physical Punishment of Children: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Latvia, Germany, Italy
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The boys readily accepted that - indeed they were delighted with limits that made sense, combined with a general freedom to follow their interests. We sometimes explained dangers, but without instilling fear. We rarely announced rules to obey. What few rules there were came out of family meeting decisions. The boys were then able to enjoy their childhood, with its serious business of play, and know the security of parental care.
The alternative to punishment is not neglect, as so many parents assume - and even seem to wish. It is not "permissiveness", the claim of those who know only the extremes of punishment and neglect. The alternative to punishment is accepting the RESPONSIBILITY of providing a growing-up environment free from fear, free from hazards, and free from domination, and not forcing it on the children with punishment.
Don't forget to send me a birth announcement. If you ever think it "necessary" to inflict punishment in any form on your child, give me a call first. - Norm
UP-DATE: Henry and Russell, now ages 35 and 36, live happy and fulfilling lives with their respective successful careers and families. Both earned college degrees, neither went to jail despite all the dire warnings from friends, colleagues and students that they would tear out the drapes, dump paint in my typewriter, and set fire to the cat.
P.S.: Henry and his wife have made me a grandfather. To all of us, the idea of punishing little Charlotte is unthinkable.
Why We Can't Wait
I AM PUBLISHING THESE CHAPTERS BECAUSE we need to get serious about making changes in how children are viewed and treated. We cannot wait yet another generation to reduce the hatred and violence in our fast-deteriorating society, and because the price of punishment is too high in human suffering.
For most of my life there was at least the excuse that we didn't know any better. But serious large-scale research on the long-term effects of punishment began in the 1940s, and during the past 25 years overwhelming evidence has been amassed showing the counter-productive nature of punishment. The cost in human suffering is beyond calculation, the cost to taxpayers amounts to billions of dollars annually in medical care and therapy responses to spouse-bashing, mental illness, large-scale clinical depression, plus a justice system to deal with nearly every adolescent criminal offense from date-rape to murder. America's War On Children has gone on far too long.
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PUNISHMENT DIMINISHES OR DESTROYS:
1. the child's love for you
2. self-esteem, self-respect, self-acceptance - the child's, and yours
3. the child's respect for you
4. the child's capacity to live a healthy life with minimum stress and internal conflicts
5. the ability to accept responsibility
6. the capacity to love another person, or themselves
7. the right to a happy, loving, home, safe from fear
8. the child's creative drive, learning - , and later, earning - power
9. the chances of growing up to be non-violent parents and spouses
10 their parents' chances of evolving into happy, stress-free human beings
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NETWORK NEWS & NOTICES
Websites worth visiting: www.nospank.net is Jordan Riak's organization, PTAVE (Parents And Teachers Against Violence in Education). His booklet, "Plain Talk About Spanking" has been read by thousands nation-wide. His non-profit and the one below are vital supporters in our local effort during April.
The Annual Spank-Out Day - April 30 - is sponsored by EPOCH-USA's Center For Effective Discipline (www.stophitting.org).
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Continuing Narrative: The Strange Case of the Children Who Were Not Punished
Crayons on the walls.
The lovely old farmhouse we lived in had beautiful oak frames around each door. Henry and Russell had just begun drawing on them when I happened by. "Orange door frames?" I asked. "That won't do."
But how can we draw on the walls with our crayons? Henry wanted to know.
"Well let's figure out how that can be possible," I said. The discussion ranged from coloring books, to large sheets of newspaper on the dining room table, to maybe bidding on an easel at an auction, if there was an auction with one and no one else bid on it. But the discussion always returned to the desire to draw "standing up" and drawing large-scale. Admittedly the wall was perfect for that. "How about if the wall has the paper on it?" someone - I think it was I - said.
"We don't have paper big enough", came the objection.
"Then where can we find big-enough paper?"
Further talk brought us to newspapers again, but it was already "drawn on" - with ink. What about newsprint, newspapers before it was covered with ink? Where can we find some? The newspaper printing plant! A quick search in the phone book, and fast phone call gave us the information we needed: Yes, they had "end rolls" of newsprint they'd give us cheap. A trip to the plant and $3 got us all the paper we'd ever need.
We began on one corner of the dining room, exactly the place they had begun drawing on the woodwork, and proceeded, masking-taping our way, all around the room, skipping the doorways, of course. Then the entire family joined the "crayon party". After a week or so we tired of looking at it, tore it down, put up fresh paper, and did it again. What a great time we had!
That went on for several days. When it was over, it was over. They never again wrote or drew on the walls, or even mentioned the idea.
http://www.nopunish.net/pwp-ch2.htm
Never hurt or punish your child. Just say no. IF your going to punish your child do it mentally although don't torture them mentally. You do this by taking stuff that means alot to them like video games, tv, computer whatever. Just don't take away really important things like food and water since that is cruel. And if you have problem with scribblers on walls get the markers that only write on paper that way it will stay on paper and not your walls. I grew up perfectly normal without being punish except for having tv and my books taken away along with drawing and reading when I was being really bad. MY cousins however got beaten and now one can go to the bathroom properly the other needs someone everywhere including the bathroom and the other can't eat right since she is paranoid into thinking anything she does is bad and she will get beaten. [Thats about it.. sorry if this doesn't help or is to vague but I got to go]
Call 1-888-KIDS-414 (1-888-543-7414)or click http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/fosterparents/index.asp
for information about becoming a foster parent in the state of Washington.
Foster Parents share their stories about the joys and challenges of being a foster parent from the heart.
This video was shown at the 2007 Washington state Capitol Celebration for Foster Care Month and made with the DSHS Children’s Administration, Department of Information Services and Passion to Action.
For more information on being a foster parent in Washington please call Call 1-888-KIDS-414 (1-888-543-7414)or see http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/fosterparents/index.asp
You can be a foster parent in Washington if you are:
• Are 21 years of age or older;
• Do not have disqualifying criminal history or a history of
founded child abuse and neglect;
• Are single, married, divorced, gay or lesbian, or widowed;
• Have a regular source of income to meet your own family’s needs;
• Complete the required number of hours of Foster Care &
Adoptive Parent Pre-service Training;
• Complete CPR/First Aid and HIV/AIDs awareness training;
• Are free from Tuberculosis (TB)
• Have your home inspected to meet minimum licensing
requirements;
• Participate in a home study (assessment) of your entire family;
• Are willing to meet with a social worker to determine if fostering
is appropriate for you and your family.
Foster facts -
Children who need foster care or relative care through DSHS are temporarily separated from their families due to abuse or neglect.
The children:
Range in age.
Boys and girls.
May be part of a sibling group (2 or more).
Represent diverse ethnic and cultural populations.
May have medical, mental and/or physical health issues.
May have developmental delays.
May have developmental disabilities.
May have been exposed to drug and alcohol use/abuse.
All foster children are affected by the separation from their family and sometimes this stress and worry show up in their behavior. Some children have never learned to live within the usual routines of family life and will need extra amounts of understanding and patience.
Foster Parenting..You can too..
http://www.dshs.wa.gov/mediareleases/2008/pr08047.shtml
Duration : 0:4:49
Parenting was alot easrier and stress free when I only had one child, now I have three although the two youngest are just babies(5mos) I feel like I have set myself up for a sad life. I read all these comments bout people having unhappy childhoods and I wonder will mine write stuff like that . Also I don't understand I had a child I knew what parenting felt like, I did'n think It was all that bad. Now that I have two more I feel that maybe I made a bad choice. Have anyone every felt this way after having a second child. I'm trying to figure out what prompted me to take the plurge a second time(intentional) and why I don't feel that confident now. I know it's sad. Maybe I'm just reacting to the lose in freedom and ease of life with one child. I know I made my bed, but does the matteress have to feel soo hard. Anyone out there with more than one child , that can give me a message of hope, some advice how you stay yourself with so many little people depending on you. I don;t want to lose
It's been five months and these feelings are just nagging me. I have no routine and I feel that I have damaged my first born in some way. I thought having another would add love to the family not strife. I feel like I'm not giving the oldest any attention. I just wish things were a little different. Trying soo hard. I not a baby I'm fully grown > 30 yrs. I thought I had everything planned out, just didn't plan on feeling like this. I know this is not my first time posting a question like this , but it seems that I need daily confirmation that I will not always feel this way.
Involve your oldest in the care of the youngest. Eventually your routine will settle down. You are now the parent of 3 children. That is very different then being the parent of one child. But, you found that out. You need to spend time with all of your children. The oldest will remember a happy childhood if you make it happy for him (her). Occasionally do something special with your oldest.
http://www.OneNewVideo.com/childbehavior This easy to follow, step-by-step plan, will guide you into being a fantastic parent in no time flat. With way less effort and stress than before.
Let Me Hand You The Formula for Raising a Happy and Cooperative Child With Half the Effort. And End Whining and Irritating Behaviors Permanently…
No Matter How Unruly Your Child.
First, read these real life success stories from
parents JUST LIKE YOU who have finally found a way
to stop their child’s bratty behaviors and enjoy
stress FREE parenting…
This Secret Formula can Transform Children from Brats Into Loving Angels… It is that effective.
Yet Sadly (and it truly makes me cry) Almost No One Knows About This Secret!
…There are only a select few in the world that have access to this information
In The “20 Days to a New Child” Plan
You Will Learn:
The Step by Step Formula for Eliminating Your Childs Behavioral Problems Permanently
The Truth About Crying (And what to do when your child cries)
How to Reduce Nos by 80% and Have a MORE Cooperative Child
One Highly Destructive Approach to Discipline that Almost Every Parent uses (And how you can avoid it)
How to Raise Your Child Without Yelling, Spanking or Nagging
The Virtually Unknown way to get Your Child to Cooperate
The Healthy Way to get your Child Sleeping Through the Night
One Critical Mistake Most Parents Make When Trying to Stop Unruly Behavior
How You’re Recycling a Parenting Method that is Actually Harming Your Childs Health (I will tell you what it is and what you can do about it)
The Five Parenting Donts if You Want Your Child to Respect You
Why Most Parenting Programs Dont Work (And by using them you could be doing your child more harm than good)
How to Stop Aggression and Anger at the Roots, so its Gone Permanently
One Powerful Technique that Eliminates Whining and Other Annoying Behavior
How to get Your Child to Clean up Without Asking (Yes, even your toddler)
Why shy Children Werent Born that Way and How You can Transform It
The Most Powerful Secret you Need to Know to Raise a Healthy Child
(Learn this and you will never need to use punishment again)
How to Remain Calm when Your Child is Pushing Your Buttons
(If you dont it could be devastating to your childs mental health)
Learn why Siblings Fight and What you Can do About it
The 3 Elements that Must be Included When Playing with your Child
(Most parents do not know this)
How to Boost Your Own Self Esteem and Naturally Boost your Child’s at the Same Time
The Cure for Bed Wetting (Simple, and I bet youve never heard this one before)
Learn What Every Parent Must Know About Time Outs
(After hearing this you will never consider a time out again)
How to Create a Deep, Powerful and Lasting Bond with Your Child
Duration : 0:1:15