Best Parents

Did you know there is a monster lurking in your home? Well it is not really lurking anywhere, it is blatantly staring you in the face and you may not even recognize it as a monster.

You will more than likely find it dominating your lounge room. There it reigns in the name of the television set. That monster stays on almost all day. We women turn it on first thing in the morning to have breakfast with our favourite morning show host. The younger kids like to watch things like "the Wiggles" before they go outside to play. Then there are the soapies, and after school childrens’ programmes, Don’t forget about the news which happens to be on just when we are having tea, we can’t miss it so we eat our meal in the lounge room. Total evenings are taken up with watching one not to be missed episode after another. I mean, really, how can we turn the television off when Simon Baker is up next?

So how do we tame the monster? Do we turn it off altogether? Do we rise up, raise it above our heads and throw it through the window as a way of publicly showing our new resolve? That should attract some attention. Perhaps we could form a group "citizens against television", meet in public buildings and brainstorm ways of destroying the infernal machine! Those options might be fun but I doubt that they would really carry much weight. There may even be a backlash of people who form groups determined to save "House" from imminent demise as one television set after another is thrown into the street. No seriously, this is not the way forward but it is good for a laugh.

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Motherhood starts at the time when a woman conceives. The mother to love her baby, as she feels it in her womb. After the birth of her baby she is ready to serve the baby in the form of breast-feeding.

The first secretion of milk is the colostrum that should be fed. The colostrum is enriched with all the essential vital nutrients.

There are many postures in breastfeeding a baby, but it is always advisable to feed the baby in the sitting posture. Place the baby in the cradle position and feed, this gives the new born the warmth which it gets from the mother.

Never lie down and breastfeed as the baby would not get enough air to breathe and thus suffocates. As the days pass by the baby gets used in sucking. At this stage the new mother feels the pain, that occurs due to sore nipples and dryness around the areola.

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Working mom or stay at home mom? When I was a working mom all I could think of was spending more time with my son and now that I am a stay at home mom I think how horrible it is to be financially dependent. The devil of the mind will always look for greener pastures in the things that it does not have. So the only way I know to hold the reins of the wild horses is to do some self introspection and visit the sorted list of priorities at any given point in time.

There is a huge data base on the Internet on working mom versus a stay at home mom. Now that I have experienced a little of both worlds I must say each has its own pros and cons and it is really a personal thing. As a working mom the common lunch table discussions with my colleagues who were moms was the perpetual lack of time available to do enviable things stay at home mommies do – spend time children, good housekeeping and cooking and pursuing hobbies. Now that I am a stay at home mommy and I regularly take my child out to play in the evenings, I meet other mothers who too were once working women and many time the favourite topic of discussion is the desire to start work again.

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"The job of a mother is never done," is what my mother use to say to me. Sitting and reflecting back makes me appreciate her words of wisdom. My mother worked tirelessly to ensure that her family was well taken care of. After working full-time at night, my mother would come home and start her primary job of tending to her family during the day. Rarely did my mother take time out for herself. It was only after all the children had left home that she began to treat herself to some real enjoyment. As women and mothers I ask the questions, "How often do we stop and take time for ourselves?" When was the last time you purposely set aside some time to do something that you enjoy?

As women and mothers we can get so wrapped up in our jobs, children, spouse, friends, relationships and all the other cares of life to the point that we forget about ourselves. I’m not speaking in a selfish manner but rather a healthy manner. I’m speaking to the women and mothers that put everyone and everything else before them. They are supporters of multiple functions and family activities as well as the volunteers for just about anything. At some point in time it’s necessary to make time for yourself; to do something that helps to recharge you to continue to do the things you do.

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If this is your first time getting pregnant I’m sure you’re all pretty excited about it; I bet you’re already asking all kinds of advice to those veteran moms out there for tips on how to cope with pregnancy, and how to best take care of yourself and the baby in your womb.

Before we continue to the necessary things you need to know let me say Congratulations to you! This is one of the best stages of being a woman; this is where you get to cherish something so precious, and you would definitely consider this as one of your greatest achievements in your life.

Many would be somehow overwhelmed with the extreme feeling you are having now and they would even have a hard time relating to you, which is normal; as the saying goes ‘it takes one to know one’. This means that it takes another mom to relate to you and sympathize with you. It’s great to mingle to other moms in this stage of your life,

I’m sure they would be really excited to help you out and give proper advice that they have learned when they were at the same situation as you do. Now I’m not saying that an OB-GYN will not be a good help but I would suggest that you get a doctor that’s already have her own kids and not someone who is still single because they will have a hard time relating to your sudden change of moods and feelings.

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Being a grandparent is a joy for so many reasons. The little miracle grandbabies remind you in lots of ways of your own children when they were little. This will make one reminisce about the times you had with your children, which is very pleasant. Also, the grandchildren bring hope for the family’s future, and you are a part of that also. When you see that grandbaby for the first time, they will steal your heart.

Grandchildren are alot of entertainment. I think when we are older and wiser we appreciate so many more things about our grandchildren, that we may have missed with our own children. We aren’t too busy to see the world through a child’s eyes when we are older. We are certainly more patient. We get to have fun with them, and the parents do the hard stuff.

I have a 3 1/2 year old grandson who was my first grandchild. I have had the privilege to get to see him often and be a part of his life. He is so smart! From the time he was an infant until now he has enjoyed watching the new educational cartoons, and learned things alot faster than the children did when I was raising children. It is fascinating watching him learn and grow. He is old enough now to call me once in a while and talk to me on the phone. It is so sweet! He named me gah gah.

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Did you know that from 3 months to about 2 1/2 years old your baby can actually tell the difference between 94 and 95? While your baby is born not recognizing our numerical representation of quantity, your baby can automatically perceive quantity without counting or guessing.

Math is just another language. Categorized like a language math is made up of only 10 words: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.

However, children taught numbers, but never exposed to quantity find it impossible to do instant math. Instead, they rely on memorization of actual equations (ex. 7 x 2 = 14; 7 x 3 = 21) to come up with the correct answer. This differs from instant math because once you forget a fact you have to start all over again. And even if you do remember all of your times tables, what happens when you reach numbers about 12?

First you need to cover How to Teach Baby Math – Quantity Recognition, Quantity Equations, and Quantity Problem Solving (find the link below). That could be considered part one on How to Teach Baby Math.

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Kayleen is serving tea and muffins to Oscar the Grouch while sporting a faded felt snowman hat. Not too far away, C.J. is holding a baby doll and gently taking her temperature with a big plastic thermometer. What do these two year olds have in common? They’re both engaging in the time-less activity of ‘make-believe’ play.

Through make-believe, young children learn about themselves and the world around them. Little babies playing pat-a-cake are making believe. Depending on the age of the child, their role playing games will vary. Imaginative children don’t need fancy toys or equipment to pretend; they’re happy with a box and a toilet tissue roll. When they engage in pretend play with a variety of objects, they’re learning life skills that will help them as adults.

We’ve all watched little kids playing dress-up or ‘house.’ Children can create an imaginary world anywhere – when molding clay animals, when helping mom or dad match-up socks (sock puppets are the best after all.) If they’re this creative with just a sock, then think what they can do with special make-believe props. 

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When it comes to our children we do need to be the ones in control.  We are responsible for their safety and well being of course. But we are also the ones that need to teach them independence, good decision making skills, and build their self esteem at the same time.  Learn to pick your battles and your whole family will run smoother and everyone will be much happier.

First off does it really matter if your child wears red striped pants with a blue polka dotted shirt?  If we are going to church or somewhere special then yes I would prefer that my daughter at least somewhat match, but if we are at home or just running to the store I let her pick her own clothes as long as they are weather appropriate.  Yes I get some funny looks but I will have my revenge later because I of course take pictures of all the colorful clothing combinations she has chosen and will be able to tease her about them later.  My mom did the same thing with me, she has this wonderful picture of me with orange and pink flowered pants and a green and blue striped shirt.

Does it really matter if every corner of her room is picked up each and every day?  I say no, she has an area where she does her "projects" and I personally see no reason why that can’t be a little messy at times.  But we do have a hard and fast rule that once a week the room is totally cleaned and any toys or books must be picked up from other areas of the house before bed.  She wins and I win.

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Reading is such an important life skill that it is important to do everything that you can to help your children become the best readers they can be. To encourage your child’s reading habits, it is pertinent that you not only give them the skills to succeed at reading, but give them the tools that make them enjoy it as well. If you can get your children to love reading at an early age, you will turn them into life long readers and studies show that kids that love reading tend to do better in school, which helps them to prepare for whatever life throws at them.

There are several ways to help your children in their quest for reading knowledge. There are many good programs, books, and even games on the market that help children learn the basics of reading fundamentals. With the market so saturated with different reading and phonics programs, parents often overlook a rather simple and fun way to get their kids excited about reading. Magazines are a great resource to use when you are trying to develop a love of learning in your children.

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