I read one good article, I know this may help mothers and also your child who was having a hard time in their school.

You’re sure there’s problem.  You can see it on your child’s face.  And it shows up on the tests and report cards that come home from school.

We understand how hard it is to watch your child struggle with academic problems.  The question is—what should you do about it?  should you try a tutor? Videotapes? Educational software?

We know and we can help.

Start with a Sylvan Skills Assessment.^SM

While tutors focus on your child’s current assignments and videotapes and educational software offer one basic solution for every student, we begin by determining the underlying causes of academic problems.

Source:  SYLVAN Learning Center ● visit www.educate.com ● 1-800-331-8395

The Rolling and Reaching Age

Between 4 and 6 months, a baby is at the rolling and reaching age which brings problems such as grabbing for things. Your “toys” are more enjoyable that hers, so be careful with hot drinks and breakable objects. Everything she can get to will go into the mouth, including any small articles found on the floor or table. Check that small parts of toys or clothing like buttons cannot be pulled off and swallowed. Babies of this age should never be left alone on high surface because they might roll off.

A New World of Dangers

At 6 months to 1 year, a whole new world opens up to your baby because she is crawling, standing and finally walking. With it comes a new world of dangers. She can crawl to cupboards, so lock away all poisons and medicines. Electrical sockets should be covered with safety socked and all cords, hidden. Plants should be removed because roaming fingers love to dig in the mud and pull off leaves to be eaten. Furniture should be stabilized to prevent accidents when she learns to pull herself up. Heavy objects should not be left on tables and overhanging tablecloths should not be used. She should never be left unharnessed in a high chair or stroller, and safety gates should be placed at the top and bottom of stairs.

A toddler should never be left alone, and all windows, grilles and front doors should always be locked. When cooking, try to keep the toddler in a play pen to avoid kitchen accidents. Pot handles should be turned towards he back, and cords should not hang over counter-tops. All babies need to explore as a means of learning. With your guidance, your baby can do so successfully with minimal risk of accidents.

Accidents in the home are the most common cause of injury or even death of a healthy child. As a parent, you need to take necessary safety precautions.

Young children are naturally impulsive and have very short memories. They seldom learn from one bad experience. Neither do they heed your warnings the first time. Children, therefore, need repeated instructions and guidance rather than over-protection and restriction.

The first two years of a child’s life are often referred to as accident-prone years. Bringing your child through his period is a very challenging task.

Make your Home Baby-Safe

Because children spend most of their first few years at home, that’s where the majority of accidents occur. You need to go through your house, one room at a time. Think of possible hazards and make it as baby-safe as possible. As different ages bring different dangers, you also need to be aware of hazards specific to each stage.

For the very young baby, accidents are less likely to occur. However, a parent still needs to be aware of certain dangers. For example, and older brother or sister may vent his jealousy on the baby. Or a well-intentioned cuddle may carry the risk of suffocation. So older siblings should never be left alone with babies. If not correctly chosen, equipment and toys can also be a source of extreme danger to a young baby. All cribs, cots, baby chairs, etc., should meet recognized safely standards (that is, they must have no sharp edges or projections,  and they must be strong or stable to prevent falls.)

End of Part 1

While teaching the child to do specific chores, make them look fun. When teaching him how to clean the house, give him his personal broom and rag. When preparing his baon for school, teach him to wrap his sandwich with a paper napkin or wax paper, or stir the milk or juice drink. These little games will go a long way not just in teaching the child the meaning of responsibility and self-reliance, but also in making him more eager to attend school.

Adjusting to a new environment like school is often difficult for most children, particularly, younger children. Apprehension or fear is not unusual when a child is going to school for the first time. Most often, your child’s fear stems from being left alone where he no longer feels secure, where people feed and care for him and where he is the center of his own safe universe.

Giving a child simple household chores and teaching him to trust his own capabilities can make the adjustment easier. Once a child learns to trust himself in small things, trusting himself in the bigger things—like going to school, meeting “teacher” and “classmates” and other new people—becomes easier.

When your child discovers the meaning of responsibility and self-reliance early in life, he deepens his understanding of what it takes or live a comfortable and orderly life; learns that some things must be done, that all the family member must share in the workload equally, and that doing chores together strengthens the bond among family members. He learns to put value on extending and receiving help. More importantly, he learns to trust himself.

Once armed with that self-confidence, there is simply nothing that your child cannot do, no environment that he cannot conquer.

Many parents in the 90s encourage self-reliance and responsibility in their children as a way of life and also out of necessity. In more and more families, both parents go to work, and children are quite often left at home during certain hours of the day with only a maid or yaya in the house to care for them.

Learning self—reliance early in life—such as dressing up by himself or doing his homework on his own—prepares your child to become a more responsible and successful adult. He gains self-confidence and a sense of responsibility. He will be better equipped to adjust quickly to a new environment.

But how do you provide your child with the skills necessary for him to become successful and well-adjusted?

The first mistake most parents make is to rush their child into learning. Teach him one skill at a time. You are grapping with a mind and vocabulary much more limited than yours. Remember that a seven—year—old will learn things and concepts much faster than, say, a two—year—old.

Between the ages of 4 to 5, the child must be taught to do the following for himself; use the toilet, bathe, dress up, use a spoon and fork, eat and drink, comb his hair, brush his teeth, wash or wipe his face and keep himself clean. These are best taught through actual demonstration and good example. If your child saw you doing these things naturally as part of your daily routine, it would be easy for him to adopt them. As long as he makes progress, you must not fret and fuss.

But generous with praise when the child masters a skill. This will encourage him and make the learning process easier for you both.

End of Part 1

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester, Syracuse University, and the University of Notre Dame, found that this happens because such kids have more difficulty paying attention to the tasks before them.

This study is one of the first to chart how children”s concerns about their parents” relationship may increase their vulnerability to later adjustment problems.

For the study, researchers looked at a group of 216 predominantly White 6-year-olds, their parents, and their teachers annually over a three-year period.

Children were evaluated to determine their negative thoughts and worries about how their parents got along, based on how they completed unfinished stories about conflicts between parents.

Teachers reported on children”s ability to get along with their classmates and take part in class activities, and on their behaviour as a measure of how they had adjusted to school.

Specifically, they were asked whether the children were cooperative with peers, followed teachers” directions, used classroom materials responsibly, and usually acted appropriately.

Children”s attention problems were assessed through reports by parents and computerized measures of how they were able to focus and sustain attention.

The researchers found that kids who had concerns about how their parents got along had more attention problems a year after the concern was first identified, according to the study.

These attention problems, in turn, were linked to reports by teachers that the children had problems adjusting to school in the same year and one year later.

Attention difficulties accounted for an average of 34 percent of the relationship between children”s worries about their parents and school problems.

In many cases, children”s negative thoughts were based on witnessing actual relationship problems between parents, and the study suggests that the children may have used the negative thoughts to help them cope with stress in high-conflict homes.  – The Times of India

The study appears in the September/October 2008 issue of the journal Child Development.

A new study has revealed that moms play a crucial role in how their children develop advanced cognitive abilities.

Executive functioning is a set of advanced cognitive functions—such as the ability to control impulses, remember things, and show mental flexibility—that help us plan and monitor what we do to reach goals.

Although it speedily develops between ages 1 and 6, the new research led by University of Montreal and the University of Minnesota researchers has shown that mothers have a crucial role to play.

The researchers looked at 80 pairs of middle-income Canadian moms and their year-old babies.

It turns out that the ways moms act when they’re playing and solving puzzles with their babies can explain some of the differences in children’s development of executive functioning.

Children of moms who answered their children’s requests for help quickly and accurately; talked about their children’s preferences, thoughts, and memories during play; and encouraged successful strategies to help solve difficult problems performed better at a year and a half and 2 years on tasks that call for executive skills than children of moms who didn’t use these techniques in interacting with their youngsters.

“The study sheds light on the role parents play in helping children develop skills that are important for later school success and social competence,” said Annie Bernier, professor of psychology at the University of Montreal and the study’s lead author.  – The Times of India

The study appears in journal Child Development.

Trying to protect kids from major loss and trauma often backfires, say Barbara Coloroso, author of Parenting Through Crisis Helping Kids in Times of Loss , Grief, and Change (HarperResource).  “Knowledge the truth may be frightening, but it’s much scarier not to know.”  Explain simply what cerebral palsy is, using the real medical terms along with drawings.  That way, he can be a buffer for his little brother, which will give him something positive to do.  “Knowledge is power, and the words you give him now will be a part of his life story.”  He needs to know what his brother will be able to do (“Evan’s not going to be able to run and play, but he’s going to grow and develop and love you and fight will you”) as well as what the doctors are doing to help him.  He also needs to know that it’s O.K. for him to do things that this brother can’t do.  most of talk, he needs your humor and your optimism.

Parents who stay at home and look after the household are the most stressed out, a new UK study claims.

According to a research conducted by Mindlab Organisation, mothers or fathers who do household chores are more frazzled than those with traditionally high-pressure jobs, like city trading, teaching or nursing.

Stress levels were investigated in British adults as per their “work” roles – stay-at-home parents, taxi drivers, teachers, nurses and city dealers.

The conclusion was reached by measuring levels of the stress hormone cortisol throughout an average working day. It was found that stay-at-home parents proved to be the most under pressure. Nurses ranked second in the list, followed by the traders, then teachers and finally, taxi drivers.

A bio-monitoring equipment was used to measure and record the heart rate and skin conductance. The participants were connected to the equipment and tested over a seven-hour period.

Also, samples of saliva were taken at crucial junctures during the day to measure cortisol, which is a direct indicator of stress. “The key here is the degree of control each of these professionals feel able to exercise over their lives,” the Daily Express quoted Dr David Lewis, who was part of the research, as saying.

“Stay-at-home parents receive little or no specific training and are furthermore typically isolated from other adults for much of the day,” he added.

Psychologist Jenni Trent Hughes said: “The answer is simply to be selfish and take some time out. After 21 years of running around after the family, pets, supermarket and the house, women have earned it.

“If you’re not taking care of your- self then how can you properly take care of anyone else?

“If you’re ratty or short-tempered, tired or at your wits’ end how can you possibly be the best you can be for your partner, children, family and last but definitely not least yourself?” – The Times of Inida

Ask questions. When you sit down for your summit, introduce your topic generally and gently—and don’t make demands right away.  Instead of saying, “You have to let me go camping!”  say, “I wanted to talk about the camping trip,”  Then ask questions like “Are you still against my going?  Why?”  Hopefully you’ll be prepared with smart, well-planned responses.

Watch your words. No mom in the history of motherhood has ever said yes after being accused of incurable lameness (“You never let me do anything!”) or getting compared with another person.   So don’t tell you mom that her opinions are wrong; instead, tell her what you do right.  The trick:  before you say anything, mentally rewrite sentences that start with “you” to begin with “I.”  So “You treat me like a baby” would become “I’m responsible now, and I show you that because I always come home exactly when I say I will.”  This trick will likely keep her (and therefore you) from yelling at each other, which is good; the softer your voice, the more likely she is to hear it.

Know when to back off.  If nothing is changing your mom’s mind, let her “win” the argument—for now.  Giving in doesn’t mean she’s right; it just means that you’re looking ahead.  Every fair fight—including every graceful loss—is money in Mom’s Good Impression Bank.  And once she sees how maturely you can conduct yourself in an argument, she’ll realize that you’re becoming a responsible adult—and she’ll start giving you more freedom.  Remember:  When you fight fair, you may lose a battle or two.  But you’ll always win the best thing of all:  Mom’s respect. – Lynn Harris