Category Archives: Parenting

The Challenges Of Motherhood Are Never Over, But Neither Is The Beauty

Motherhood is a fantastic, beautiful, stressful, radiant, challenging, rewarding, nurturing, worrying, incredible, breathtaking process. It’s also very hard work. There are no mothers on this Earth who, as long as they take care of their children, aren’t admirable in some deep sense. Without mothers, this world would be much darker than it is today. The challenge of motherhood is never over. It’s just part of having children. But on the same coin, the beauty of motherhood is never over either.

However, to tackle these challenges, we can all use a little advice. There are manuals to motherhood, but none of them, even the longest ones, are close to comprehensive or conclusive. Motherhood is a lifestyle, not a singular act. It’s a purpose, not a task. As your child grows, the challenges you will face with them should shift and become new.

For that reason, it’s always best to keep these stock attitudes, so you can tailor these challenges to the solution you need:

Presence

Simply being present can help you apply yourself to the situation more appropriately. As long as you take an active role in the life of your child, you cherish them, and you work through the issues together, you can overcome anything that happens. Good and bad are both bound to happen, and can absolutely influence your decision making in the long term. But it’s very important to keep in mind the reality that there’s nothing you can’t weather. Even terrible news can be alleviated when you are with them, and they are with you. That’s the true beauty of family, and your potential as a mother.

Presence might simply mean adjusting your schedule so you have more time with your children. It might mean taking the step to be a stay-at-home mother, or to simply reduce your working hours in order to ensure a healthier work-life balance. It might even be staying open to the option of raising a family in the first place, because while this isn’t right for some people, many can find real value in living this way, even if they from ConceiveAbilities, or the fact that they are adopted, or that their half-sisters are actually from a different father. Truth can help purge the worries of a familial situation, and put everyone on the same page. If you apply it wisely, the family can be much more open with one another, and no one will ever need to tread on eggshells.

Self-Care

A mother who cannot care for herself is a mother who gets burned out. You are an important part of the family too, you know. Part of motherhood is of course being nurturing and maternal, but you can’t expect to give everything of yourself all the time without needing some serious R&R. So be sure to do that! Even just a little break from time to time can help you return with energy. Children are hard work. Pretending they’re not can simply make you become irritable when things happen, and the tests of childhood seem to rear their head.

Sleep well. Exercise, even lightly. Eat correctly. You deserve to nurture your body and mind just as you hope to do for your children. This might sound like an extra person to take care of, so don’t be afraid to open up to your partner or friend about the struggles you’re going through. It’s not uncommon for women who bottle things up to fall into depression among many other things, and sometimes that’s not a rational form of mallady to fall into in the least. Stay on top of your own health, as if you’re healthy and active, you can apply yourself more lovingly and effectively to raising your children. Not only that – you’ll enjoy it all the more.

With these tips, motherhood will remain a challenge, but one you can enjoy with all of your heart, and one that will nourish your life in a profound sense.

5 Mistakes To Avoid When Raising Toddlers

Raising children is a rewarding experience, though one fraught with problems. The toddler years, for example, are when your child starts to have great emotional, social and cognitive development. But along with the development come temper tantrums, among others, which would make it hard for you to teach your toddler a thing or two on proper behaviour. Here are mistakes you should avoid doing.

 

  1. Dealing With The Temper Tantrum – I think every child is guilty of deciding one day, that they are not happy with the way you are dealing with something, and decide to see how much noise they have to make, before you will cave in to what they want. The child is pushing his boundaries, and at the same time, testing yours. Yielding to them is really not going to work out so well and if you do, you just invited exactly the same thing to happen every time. This is a very important lesson for the child to learn. They will actually love you more, once they understand the limits, and understanding the word “no,” means they will begin to respect it from you and from others, such as their future teachers.

 

  1. Consistent Behaviour From Parents – Children learn things very quickly and if you give them half an excuse, they will play you like a fiddle. When Junior knows that Mum will say no but Dad will say yes, you are sending mixed messages. This will leave the child unsure what is generally acceptable behaviour, and will lead to strains in your relationship, as he looks to exploit your differences in approach. It is a good idea to talk to your partner about what to do under certain circumstances, like throwing food on the floor, so you are both consistent in your actions.

 

  1. Developing Your Childs Independence – Children in their early years are somewhat uncoordinated in their actions, and it is tempting to try to do everything for them, which is a mistake. Encouraging them to do things for themselves is the best way to getting them feeling good about achieving something. From putting their finger on the laces while you tie the bow on their shoes, to having them hold their glass while you pour them a drink, it all serves to help them understand and learn new skills. Every time they learn something new, they will feel a sense of achievement, so give them room to try things for themselves.

 

  1. Staying At Home Rather Than Attending Kindergarten – Once children can walk and talk, their thirst for knowledge starts to become insatiable, and staying home with Mum, may not be the best choice. A good kindergarten gives youngsters a chance to learn activities and develop problem-solving and social skills, which will be necessary when they attend formal school. You’d surely say that ‘finding a Guardian preschool near me was easy’ as a quick Internet search will undoubtedly help you locate quality Preschools in your area too.

 

  1. Being Critical Or Angry – Young children need constant reassurance that they are loved and appreciated, though in searching for assurance, they may come close to driving you crazy. It is important that you give them praise for what they were trying to do, even if they fail abjectly to succeed. Children are going to make lots of mistakes as they try to learn, and it can be very damaging for their self-confidence, if they get shouted at or are called stupid. Toddlers have very little comprehension about you being busy and are naturally curious, so frustrating as it is, it is better to stop what you are doing and pay attention, rather than screaming at them for the fifth time to please shut up.

If you are careful to avoid falling in the above traps and approach parenthood in a logical way, raising your child should be a pleasure and something you will always remember.

 

Why are Video Games Good?

We live in the 21st century where technology has invaded every facet of our lives. Children nowadays spend most of the time playing video games rather than playing outside. Many parents consider this a bad thing. However, every coin has two sides. Not only are the video games enjoyable, but they also help in the character development of your child. Apart from this, video games also help in improving the hand and eye coordination of your child. Here are a few ways how video games can help your child:

  1. Education

Video games can be a medium of education. They may not provide an academic form of education, but they help children learn some real-life skills which are not found in textbooks.

  1. Exposure to different environments

Through video games, children are exposed to a wide variety of environments which they don’t face in their daily lives. This exposure helps them adapt better when such an environment is faced in real life.

  1. Minimizing risk

Through video games, children can experience a wide variety of scenarios and situations without directly being exposed to them. This helps in developing their ability to deal with scenarios without exposing them to the real dangers and risks of it.

  1. Interactive experience

Video games allow children to directly take control of what is happening on the screen. This gives the whole thing a realistic feel. Moreover, this kind of interaction and control is not provided by other means of entertainment like TV shows or movies.

  1. Entertainment

Video games are one of the leading forms of entertainment in today’s world. They’re relatively affordable and provide a great amount of choice to the children through one platform itself. Children love video games, and they spend hours playing them.

  1. Living Multiple lives

A video game allows a child to transcend to a different life and a different reality. In video games, the physical confinement doesn’t stop them from doing what they want. Thus, they end up living many different lives adopting many different personas while playing these video games.

  1. Dealing with Emotions

Video games allow children to mentally and emotionally migrate to a different environment. Thus, it can become an outlet for emotions. They can help children deal with their emotions in a constructive way. Independent studies have shown that video games can even reduce aggressive behaviour among children.

  1. Feeling Special

Video games can really make a child feel special. When played in groups, they can really help children bond with each other and make new friends. Moreover, they make children feel consequential which further adds to their effect of making children feel special. When played during gatherings such as birthday parties, they make the gathering much more memorable and enjoyable.

The problem that limited the widespread use of video games in gatherings such as birthday parties was that it’s difficult to arrange for a large number of people. However, game trucks have now stepped in to fulfil this demand. Not only have they become quite popular in recent times, but they’ve also carved out a niche for themselves. Gamer vs. Gamer is one such company providing game trucks for social gatherings such as birthday parties.

Gamer trucks have now added a whole new dimension to video gaming. They not only add the much-needed portability to video games, but they have also greatly enhanced the experience of playing video games. Instead of trying to fight the onslaught of technology, it’s better to embrace it.

It’s time to incorporate video games into our daily lives and make them a part of social gatherings as well. The time has come to tap into the huge entertainment potential offered by video games.

A Concise Guide to Job Seeking for Stay At Home Moms

Taking care of an infant and raising a child in early years is even tougher. There is too much on your plate as a mother to a young kid and the situation could be worse if they are more. In such circumstances, many mommies choose to take a break from their careers and focus their time on taking care of their kids. This is completely understandable because it is not easy to manage a job when you are the sole responsible person for taking care of a tiny human being who requires your attention 24/7. It is difficult to focus on your career while you are worried about a toddler throwing tantrum or feed times or diaper changes among other things.

No matter how dedicated mother you are, there will be a time when you will feel the urge to go back to go work. Many Giving birth to a child is a physically draining, emotionally exhausting and mentally taxing process. mommies decide to start working to generate extra income to be able to provide a better life to their little munchkins while some wish to go back to their careers for their own satisfaction and self-actualization process. Whatever the reason is, what shudders them from taking the leap is the break that marked their profile while they stayed at home taking care of their bundle of joy. The good news is that contrary to popular opinion, being a stay at home parent does not mean your career aspirations are gone forever. You can still land a decent job if you know the right tools.

Network, Network, Network

Be socially active and that will take you a long way in your career. Networking plays an important role in the recruitment process and you can easily benefit from it. Join women support groups and mommy groups and be vocal about your career aspirations and how you took a career break to be with your child. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn can also be of great help. Whenever you interact with people, be honest about the reason of gap in your career and take pride in it. Most people will actually respect you for that rather than looking down upon you for it.

An Honest Resume

Your employer will be assessing you majorly based on your resume and it would be a bad idea to either lie about your time gap or to not explain it altogether. You need to be honest with the recruiter and let him know that you were busy fulfilling your duties as a parent. The best way to do that is to mention it as part of your occupational profile and mention the year range. There are a lot of resume examples online that will explain to you how you can explain a time gap in your career on your resume. Many people are concerned with the fact that their knowledge or skill might have become obsolete and job market requirements might have changed. You can simply catch up with the changes by enrolling in flexible courses or relevant distance learning programs that can help upgrade your skills and knowledge.

The Teething Maniac and My Hero: Amber Necklace for Babies

My baby started teething much earlier than all the baby books had said she would. By the first week of the second month, it was undeniable. She had stopped sleeping longer than 15 minutes at a time, she was drooling everywhere, and her gums were so inflamed that she just wanted to chew on everything.

I had no idea what I should do, and everything that had already been suggested to me had failed miserably. I decided to ask an online group that I was apart of because I was desperate, and surely a group full of thousands of moms across the world would have some suggestion that would work for us.

Unfortunately, most of the advice being given was from moms who tried the same things as I did. Teething tablets, teething toys, alternating Motrin and Tylenol. I was beginning to think that my baby was broken, or maybe I was the one who was broken, and we would just live in this never ending loop of desperation and tears for the rest of our lives. She would grow to resent me for not being able to soothe her teething woes, I just knew it.

Once I pulled myself out of that self loathing episode, I became determined to find something that would alleviate some of her discomforts. I googled “alternative teething remedies” and happened upon a crunchy mom blog who talked about Baltic amber teething necklaces. I wouldn’t necessarily classify myself as a “crunchy mom”, but I was definitely willing to try her suggestion if she said it worked!

Baltic amber gets its name from the region it’s found in.  Amber is made from the sap of conifer trees that are located near the Baltic sea. The sap is collected and then the resin is separated from the sap and formed into amber stones. The sap found in this region has the highest traces of succinic acid found on the market today.

Succinic acid is the healing component in amber that relieves your headaches, muscle and joint aches, and other ailments caused by inflammation. It’s also renowned for its antioxidant properties, making it the perfect natural vitamin.

Baltic amber works best when it’s worn against skin because your body is able to heat the stone, allowing for the medicinal resins to be pulled through the surface and absorbed into your bloodstream. Once absorbed, it’s as if you took an anti-inflammatory or multivitamin.

I took a look at the website http://balticwonder.com and found that teething necklaces come in a variety of colors, from your light variants like lemonade and honey to your darker colors like cognac and cherry. The color doesn’t mean much unless you’re purchasing a polished bead, in which you would want to buy your necklace in a lighter shade due to the higher traces of succinic acid. The porous surface of the raw bead makes it easier for the oils to seep through it’s surface, and so if you’re buying polished, you would want a stronger bead.

I put the necklace on my daughter soon after it arrived. Within two nights, we had already noticed a difference in her attitude. She was far less cranky and she was sleeping for longer stretches. It also seemed as if her appetite had gone back to normal, whereas before she seemed annoyed by food. I took a look inside her mouth and noticed that her gum inflammation had decreased significantly. I was so thankful!

We kept wearing the necklace and hoped that the improvements would stick around, and they did! We survived the teething maniac phase, all thanks to one mom’s alternative teething remedies! If you’re like I was and overly exhausted, desperate, and looking for something you haven’t tried yet, order yourself a Baltic amber necklace and see what it can do for your family!