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Huffing – Your Child can Die

By: admin
Published March 28th 2011, in Substance Abuse

And he huffed and he puffed, but he could not blow the house down. The three little pigs are one of those fairy tales that we tell our little innocent children to teach them to make the right wise decisions in life. Unfortunately “huffing”, “sniffing” and “bagging” has got nothing to do with the three little pigs and are definitely not a wise decision being made by our children.

How do they do it?

They hold the product directly to their mouths and inhale the contents.
A cloth can be placed over the product to act as a filter. The contents are then inhaled through the cloth.
Sometimes they soak a rag with the chemical, which is then held to their face or sometimes even stuffed into their mouths, to be inhaled.

This trend is particularly disturbing as 22% of children who try it for the first time die. Huffing is very popular under children between the ages of 12 to 14, but children as young as 6 to 8 years old have been found to”innocently” experiment with different household chemicals. A recent study in the USA found that 20% of all 8th Graders have on one or more occasions participated in huffing.

Cardiac arrest is the most common cause of death, but children also die as a result of suffocation, burns and choking. Due to the depression that follow the euphoria, many children commit suicide. Children who are lucky enough not to pass away suffer a variety of different damages to their bodies:

Permanent brain damage
Impaired concentration
Hearing loss
Loss of coordination
Lung, heart, liver and kidney damage.

Parents should be on the look out for the following signs that might indicate that your child might be abusing inhalants:

A chemical odor on your child’s breath and clothing is one of the most tell tale signs. Inhalants can take up to two weeks to leave the body, mostly through exhaling.
Keep a look out for stains on your child’s clothing.
Spots and sores around the mouth can be an indicator of abuse.
Children who abuse inhalants are often complaining of nausea.
They have a lack of appetite.
Weight loss due to lack of appetite and nausea are common.
They seem restless and nervous, and can have outbursts of anger.
If your child seem drunk, dazed or have glassy eyes, it is important to get him to a medical practitioner immediately.

A simple preventative measure is to talk to your child about huffing. Children are 36% less likely to try this deathly trend when their parents discuss it with them. An open and honest relationship with your child will definitely pay off.

For a comprehensive list chemicals children abuse visit: Chemicals

More Mealtime Battles

By: admin
Published March 9th 2011, in Oral Defensiveness

Do you shudder when you have to think of what to prepare for dinner tonight? I do. I have a picky eater at home and end up feeling like a short order cook, just to ensure that she eats something.

In my continuous search for solutions I discovered that we get four different types of picky eaters:

The children who do not want to try new food
Children who will only eat certain foods
Children who spend a long time at the table without actually eating anything and
Children who refuse certain colours or textures when it comes to eating food.

Shock, horror – she falls into all four categories! Jemma will not try anything new, she will only eat starchy food and meat, she will spend an inordinate amount of time at the table to just take two bites of her food and she definitely refuses anything green and crunchy.

Oral defensiveness is apparently the leading cause of being a picky eater at the dining room table. Children who are orally defensive often exhibit some of the following signs:

They only eat a limited variety of food
They are extremely reluctant to try new food types
These children only eat soft or pureed food still after the age of two
Children who are orally defensive often gag on their food
They choke easily or have difficulty sucking, chewing or swallowing
They often over stuff their mouths with food (which then can lead to gagging or choking)
These children do not like brushing teeth and can have a fear of the dentist and any dental procedure
They often prefer only hot food or only cold food
They tend to dislike toothpaste and mouthwash
They avoid seasoned, spicy, sweet, sour or salty food and would rather eat bland food.

If your child, like mine, seems to be orally defensive; here are some tips on how to overcome this sensitivity:

Forget what you learned as a child and allow your child to play with his food.
It might help to grind up the food that the rest of the family is having to get her used to different tastes without having to deal with different textures.
When you have found a favourite food, try to introduce similar foods. If for example your little one likes cheese pizza expand his repertoire slowly by adding ham to the pizza.
Usually it would be seen as a bad thing, but with orally defensive children distractions like a toy or the television, can be helpful! It draws his full attention away from what he is hesitant to do.
Bribery is a useful tool. Agree beforehand that if he tastes, chews or swallow a bit of something new – he can receive an agreed upon reward. It is all in an effort to expose him to new tastes and textures.
A reward chart in a noticeable spot in the house can be helpful. If he can see more and more stickers added on a chart on the fridge, he should become more confident and therefore more adventurous.
A limited choice will give your child a sense of control over what he puts into his mouth.
Try to include different textures on his plate of food, but remember to keep the portions of new foods small.
Give your child free reign of condiments – if he eats the peas only when covered in tomato sauce, so be it.
Praise, praise and praise your child even for the smallest effort. Do not scold him if he does not succeed, scolding will lead to negative associations with food.
Respect your child’s appetite – do not force him to eat if he is not hungry.
Stick to a routine where there are no snacks for at least an hour before mealtime
Have patience – only with repeated exposure of new foods will you succeed.
Make mealtime fun! Use a cookie cutter do make different shapes, give dips with meals, or give breakfast for dinner.
Get your child involved in the shopping, let him choose something that he wants to try out.
It is important that you set the example of healthy eating habits – if you do not eat vegetables, you cannot expect it of him.
Sometimes healthy bits can be disguised in favourite food – who will notice the blend of carrots and baby marrow in spaghetti bolognaise?
Do not become a short order cook for your child.

Many parents with children that are picky eaters are worried about their child’s weight and whether they are getting in all the minerals and vitamins that they need to grow and function. A good target to set for your child is to try and cover all the food groups in one week and not in one day. If you are unsure of what a child should be having in a period of a week, here is a reminder:

Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta (6 – 11 servings)
Fruit (2 – 4 servings)
Veg (2 – 4 servings)
Milk, Yoghurt and Cheese (2-3 servings)
Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs and Nuts (2 -3 servings)
Fats, Oils and Sweets (sparingly)

Giving a multi-vitamin, eases many parents’ worries. If your child is growing and happy, generally there should not be anything to be worried about!

Getting your Child of the Couch

By: admin
Published March 9th 2011, in Exercise, Health

Do you have to beg your children to go outside and play? Are they always playing on their Nintendo, PSP, Wii, the computer or on their cell phones? Children nowadays are spoilt with their entertainment options – they do not have to lift more than a finger to switch on the TV, or any of the other gadgets available with the promise of hours of fun. I know that when we were younger we could not wait to finish our homework to go outside to swim, jump on the trampoline, kick the ball with friends or just run around chasing the lazy dog.

My children have many activities that are structured to teach them wonderful new skills for instance horse riding, music and ballet. Even though they do enjoy these activities, they have discovered a new activity that put smiles on their faces and give them a better workout than any of their other activities. Zumbatomics get their heart rates up and their feet tapping. Zumbatomics is a unique program for children from the age of 4 to 12. It combines urban dance styles with the reggaeton, hip hop and pop dancing. In no time will they find themselves singing along to Latin American music while they are learning new exciting dance moves. And most of all Zumbatomics is all about fun!

A class starts of with a fun dance that is learned in a follow the leader kind of way. All they have to do is to copy their instructor’s funky moves, which will be age appropriate. After the first dance they learn some new simple steps which will be used in a new dance. After having the opportunity to practice the moves they will be rewarded with the feeling of success when the steps get combined with the music. All the classes end of with a fun game which encourages movement and smiling!

Besides the fun aspect of Zumbatomics, there are many benefits for your child to be involved in this form of exercise:

During a Zumbatomics session your child’s heart rate will become elevated and they will burn calories.
It is a whole body workout. From the neck and shoulders to their feet. Zumbatomics give children a hip, abdominal, thigh and buttocks workout.
Overall flexibility and beautiful posture will improve.
Coordination increases. * Your child’s balance will improve.
With every class you will notice how your child’s endurance levels increase as they become fitter.
Children involved in Zumbatomics have faster reaction times when they participate in other forms of sport.
Their confidence and self-esteem improves dramatically.
These children sleep better than children who do not take part in similar exercise.
They quickly learn to focus and concentrate.
Children in a class get the opportunity to socialize and work together in teams.
Even though it is fun, the class is disciplined and they have to adhere to that.
Zumbatomics increases your child’s bone density and muscle tone.
Your child will get the chance to express their emotions through creative movement.
There is no form of evaluation that could make a child feel pressured to perform.
Children start to feel the music in their bones.

So if you are trying to get your couch potato active without threats, begging and pleading – take him or her to a Zumbatomics class and never look back! Let them join the internationally growing Zumba party!

Learning how to Study

By: admin
Published March 9th 2011, in Education, Primary School

At some point in our children’s school careers, they will have to pick up their books and study. After having gone through our own schooling, we might have forgotten that studying is an acquired skill that does not come naturally to children. Children need to be taught how to absorb and recall scholastic material effectively.

Teach your child to find a place where he will not be distracted by the TV. If he studies at a desk with a computer – the computer should be switched off. No telephone calls are to take place during the time allocated for studying. Help him to organize himself before even starting to study – get all the necessary books and stationery ready. A healthy snack before study time is always a good idea. Concentration span changes according to age – young children struggle to concentrate for more than 30 minutes, therefore it is necessary to take regular breaks. Most important of all teach your child to be interested in the material he has to master. A positive attitude is half the battle won!

Not every one learns in the same way. We get visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. Visual learners learn more effectively with the aid of charts, maps, brainstorming and the use of colour. Auditory learners must hear the information, therefore it is good for them to read the material out loud to themselves. Kinesthetic learners have to experience the work in order to understand and remember it.

How do you know what kind of learner your child is?

Visual Learners are often

Good at spelling
Need quiet study time
They need time to think about the material before they understand it
They like colours and fashion
They dream in color
Like and understand charts.

Auditory Learners

Like to read out loud to themselves
Not afraid to speak in class
Like oral reports
They are good at explaining things to others
They remember names
Often notice sound effects in movies
Enjoy music
They are good at grammar and other languages
They read slowly
They follow spoken instructions well
They struggle to keep quiet for long periods of time
They enjoy acting.

Kinesthetic Learners

They are often good at sport
They also struggle to sit still for long periods of time
They are not good at spelling
They do not have the best handwriting
They love role playing
Like loud music
Like science labs and experiments
They are fidgety
They like to build models.

If you recognize your child in any of these descriptions, it would be good to teach him to learn accordingly – using the senses that resonates with him.

There are different memorizing techniques that you can try with your child:

* Repetition – going over the material again and again until they remember.
* Associations – associate an image or experience with a fact.
* Summarize the work – try to condense the work in such a way that a phrase will unlock a series of facts.
* Acronyms – they work good for lists.
* Rhythm and music – using the body and hearing simultaneously.

Once your child has prepared for a test it is up to you as a parent to help him to feel confident about his ability to recall what he has learned. A confident child is less likely to make careless mistakes due to nervousness.

Mommy Burnout

By: admin
Published April 22nd 2010, in Burnout, Parenting

So you are not perfect. You are not the mom who is home schooling four children, the mom who teaches Sunday school, the mom who cooks vegetable soup for the church’s soup kitchen from her own organically grown vegetables, the mom who volunteers every Saturday at the local hospice, the mom who is the head of the home schooling association, the mom who sews all the costumes for the ballet concert, the mom who is at every sport match her extremely well balanced and over achieving children are the stars of and you are not the mom who can still make time to train for an ultra marathon and attend the marriage enrichment course to make sure her marriage is in perfect shape. You are also not the mom who collapses at 8 pm to only wake from a coma like state to resume her daily tasks at 4 am in order to prepare a healthy balanced breakfast for her family of 6, but forgets to eat herself. I say, count your blessings.

Many mommies do not realize, but many are already burnt out or on the verge of burnout. If you thought it is only lawyers, stock brokers, doctors and other people in high powered jobs who can suffer from burnout, you were truly mistaken. We found that outside the world of paid work, caregivers are most prone to burn out. Caregivers are those people who devote their time and energy to serving people who cannot take care of themselves or need assistance in taking care of themselves and do not get remuneration for it. If you follow that train of thought, aren’t all mothers caregivers 24/7?

Why do mommies burn out? I think mommies are doing too much. We often forget that moms are daughters, wives, sisters, employees, friends and many things more. We do not just fulfill one role in life, motherhood is just added to the mix of roles which all have their demands on our time and energy. Moms also tend to do too much for our children. Why do we still set the table, wash the dishes, fold the laundry and make their beds when our children are old enough to help with all these tasks. What we see as mindless routine tasks might even give your child a sense of being an important member of the family who is needed to help things run like a well oiled machine. Moms are so worried that our children will be weighed and found too lite in comparison to their friends, that we fill their schedules with endless activities and therefore we are rushing from one end to the other. Nobody gets much needed free time.

Mommies feel so guilty about me-time. When you finally take some time for yourself, you tend to spend it worrying about the children. Are they okay with the babysitter? Did they eat enough without my supervision? I hope they are not getting to many sweets! Oh my goodness, I did not tell the sitter to make sure that they have to brush teeth and go to the loo before bed time! Instead of enjoying the precious moments alone or with friends, you worry and end up talking about the children the whole time. To reiterate: we are more than just moms, enjoy being a friend, a wife, a daughter fully without feeling that you should have spent this time with your child teaching her some important skill.

Mommies mother in isolation. Being a mom nowadays is an extremely competitive occupation and we do it all alone. Why? Because if everyone else can do it, it will make me a bad mom if I need to ask for help. My mother and her mother had to take care of even more children without any support, I will be a failure if I ask a granny to pick up my children from school and do homework with them. Times have also changed and many extended families are scattered geographically – making it difficult to ask for help.

Burnout, I think, is a result of unrealistic expectations we set for ourselves, constant self-criticism if we do not meet those expectations, feelings of not getting acknowledged for what we put into parenting and taking on too many responsibilities because of thinking it will make us better mothers. These negative thoughts leads to a mom being in a constant state of exhaustion physically, mentally and spiritually. It leads to a loss of enthusiasm, energy, idealism, perspective and purpose. We end up where there are too many demands and way too little resources.

Burnout is a serious psychological condition due to the prolonged stress experienced when we keep up the negative thought cycle, which might warrant some psychological assistance to overcome. There are certain symptoms to look out for:

Physical Symptoms:

Feeling tired and drained most of the time
Lowered immunity, feeling sick often
Headaches
Back pain
Muscle aches
Change in appetite and sleep habits.

Emotional Symptoms:

Feeling like a failure and doubting yourself often
Feeling helpless
Feeling alone
Loss of motivation
Negative outlook on life
Decreased sense of satisfaction in thing you previously enjoyed
Loss of sense of accomplishment.

Behavioral Symptoms:

Withdrawing from responsibilities
Isolating yourself
Procrastinating
Using food, alcohol or medicines to help you cope
Being irritable and quick to react with anger.

If you suspect that you are on the road to burnout it is important that you slow down, cut back and get support from friends and family. You have to sit down and reevaluate your goals and priorities in life. It is time to make sure that your basic needs are met – eat regular meals and get enough sleep. Spend your free time wisely without worrying about your children. Most importantly change your mindset from trying to be SUPERMOM to just being yourself. Do what you do with love and authority and have fun being a mom. Many women would love to have the privilege you have to be a mom!

My Toddler's Thinking Skills

By: admin
Published February 26th 2010, in Cognitive Development, Development, Toddler Years

Try, try and try again – that is the motto of a toddler. During the toddler years, your child learns through trial and error. It helps the toddler that he can now recall things that happened hours or even days earlier. Children begin to understand cause and effect and anticipate consequences. If I drop the toy when I am sitting in a high chair, mommy will bend down and pick it up – again and again…

We can notice their cognitive growth even in their play. Children start to pretend play. In their pretend play they often imitate adults’ actions and language. We often only become aware of our own unique little habits when we see our children imitate us. Where a lot of the childrens’ play were directed earlier at objects, it now shifts to people and events.

Your toddler’s language skills develop quickly. They can give names to certain objects. They understand words and commands given to them, and can respond appropriately to those commands. It is important to remember during this phase, your child understands more than he can express – which leads to immense frustration when he cannot convey what he feels accurately. Because his attention span increases, he can concentrate for longer and can recognize and identify familiar objects in storybooks with your help. He can also match similar objects or pictures. At 19 months a average child would be able use about 20 words accurately. This increases to 100 words at 24 months. A two year old starts combining his words to form two word sentences.

During the toddler years he starts recognizing himself as a person apart from his mother. He forms a sense of self, becomes more independent and starts exploring his environment with enthusiasm. Being not connected to his mother, he can start imagining threats and become clingy. Often toddlers become fearful of strangers due to an overactive imagination. A toddler becomes aware of his own body and can usually identify different body parts accurately.

In addition to these skills, they also develop certain practical skills:

They can throw things out of containers
They can tear paper
They can pull things over
They can put things in containers and take it out again
They can solve simple problems and
They can throw objects.

A parent needs to watch a toddler with hawk eyes – they are quick, innovative and extremely daring. Some people will even go as far to say toddlers can be innocently destructive in their behaviour – who can be angry with the child drawing his first picture of him and mommy on the wall?

Family Holidays

By: admin
Published February 8th 2010, in Holidays

I have always struggled to find the right accommodation that is up to my meticulous standards. It has become even harder after we added two little ones to our household! Usually hotels, B&B’s, apartments are either designed for the parents or are overly kid friendly – in other words not adult inviting…

I did find this website that provides a wide range of family friendly destinations all over South Africa. I do think this is worthwhile to bookmark. Have a look and let me know what you think! This early in the year just before Valentine’s day – a nice weekend breakaway might just soothe the shattered nerves!

The Battle of Fruit and Veg

By: admin
Published January 19th 2010, in Fruit and Vegetables, Nutrition

If you are lucky enough to have a child that likes to eat fruit and vegetables, sit down and count your blessings, while I will quickly go green with envy. Most children start their dietary life of on fruit and veg, and then suddenly, like the onset of menopause, they develop an absolute aversion to the idea of having to place a single piece of fruit in their mouth. My daughter, Jemma, will not partake in anything at the breakfast, lunch or dinner table that resembles healthy food in any way. In her words :”I do not do healthy.”

My frustration has lead me to google tips to entice her to eat fruit and vegetables. Here is what I found, no guarantees that it will work, but I will give it a try:

Be a role model. If you eat fruit and veg on a daily basis (without pulling nasty faces) your child will probably over time start to imitate your healthy habits.
Explain the benefits of eating healthy food. If there is no reason to eat healthy food, why should they? It is important not to dwell on the long term benefits, but rather focus on how much the broccoli will help her swim extra fast at her swimming lesson this afternoon. I found this brilliant site which allows children to discover for themselves the benefit of good food whilst playing a computer game. Have a look at MyPyramid Blast Off Game (http://www.mypyramid.gov/kids/kids_game.html).
Give them a choice. Take your child to the shops and give her the chance to choose the vegetables she is willing to try out. Having a say in the matter is a good motivator to try something new.
Small bites. If you haven’t tried something before, it feels safer to start off with a small bite. If your child has not tried grapes before – start with one grape and not a bunch of grapes.
Availability. Make sure that the fruit and veg you want your child to eat, is always readily available. It does not help to hide it away in the fridge while the cookie jar is on the kitchen counter. It is important that they know that they can help themselves to it without having to ask permission.
The problem with snacking. All children have the odd snack here and there, try to avoid unhealthy snacks when healthier options are available. Filling up on biscuits and crackers just before dinner will not promote vegetable consumption at the dinner table. If they really need a snack before dinner, sneak a small bite of the veg or salad going to the dinner table to them without anyone seeing…
Freezing cold. Serving frozen fruit or even vegetables on a stick might convince her to give it a try – even just because of the novelty value of it.
Portioning. Allow your child to dish up for herself at the dinner table. Being able to decide on their own portions will probably lead to dishing up a bigger variety of foods, with smaller less overwhelming helpings.
Soups and dips. I am still to meet the child who does not like dipping a french fry into tomato sauce. Providing dips for vegetables and fruit might just entice them to give something new a try. Many children love soups and vegetables can easily be added without really changing the taste of old favorites.
Become the farmer. When children plant their own fruit or vegetables, they develop a sense of ownership and achievement. Something so natural surely cannot be all bad?
Perseverance. If you want to succeed – you need to toughen up and keep on serving the same fruits and vegetables, even when you experience a great sense of rejection. Fruit and vegetables are a acquired taste, so you have to give your little one some time.
Deception. If all else fails, hide vegetables in their firm favorites like spaghetti bolognaise. What they do not know will not harm them…

I hope that the tips and dips might make the road ahead easier. Ultimately all teenage girls turn into vegetarians and then we will wonder why we went to all the trouble.

Dine Without Whine – A Family Friendly Weekly Menu Planner

Dealing with a Sulky Child

By: admin
Published December 7th 2009, in Discipline, Sulking

I despise sulking. In my opinion it is the worst type of passive aggressive behavior that can be used by my kids. And they do use it. Often. Why? Because it works…

Sulking or pouting is a silent temper tantrum. You can spot the lip from a thousand miles. I have reached the point where I actually spot the downwards turn of the lip as I utter the word “NO” . Usually the lip is accompanied by a stomping of the foot and an abrupt 180 degree turn. Have you ever noticed that a sulking child will never go out of our sight. They hang around to punish us for not giving them their way.

Have you ever wondered why your child continuously sulks at home, but no teacher or friend’s parents ever notice this behavior? They think it is only their children who sulk! Children do not sulk at school, because they know that it will not change the situation, they will not get their way, sulking does not get reinforced at school.

I have found that children coming from very strict homes, where the parents are over- controlling sulk because they are not allowed to verbally express that they are unhappy with the situation. On the other hand, children coming from homes where the parents are very permissive, use sulking plainly because it works… Somewhere in between we have to find a way to deal with the ugly habit of sulking.

There are three ways of dealing with sulking:

Making a rule against sulking. It takes time to teach your child not to sulk, by making a rule that they are not allowed in your personal space when they sulk, you take away their ability to punish you. They soon learn that it is silly to still sulk when they cannot see you and you cannot see them.
No consequences. When you do not respond to sulking by blaming, accusing or trying to reason with your child, you take the incentive to sulk away. In other words you do not give your child her way and she is also not rewarded with attention, even though it might be negative attention. Ignoring “the poor little me” act will lead to the habit dwindling very soon.
Visual cues . A technique that might work with younger children is to call her name, mimic her downward facing lip and use your fingers to turn your sulk into a smile. I did say younger children, because I tried it with my 8 year old and she did not find it amusing at all!

As a parent you need willpower to deal with sulking. To give in to one act of sulking, is to start the whole process of getting rid of sulking all over again. You have to teach your child that they have to use their words to deal with unpleasant situations and sometimes just to accept that life does not revolve around them.

Good luck!

Helping my Child to make Friends

By: admin
Published November 18th 2009, in Development, Forming Friendships, Social Development

Forming friendships are a very important part of growing up. Friendship or the lack there of, can really make of break a child’s experience of school and boost or damage her self esteem. I found as a parent, that I often wonder and worry about the amount and quality of my two daughters’ friendships. We all want our children to be popular and well-liked by other children and their parents – but what can we do to assist our children to become a good friend to others?

It is very important to realize that all children are unique and that their temperaments differ. Two children growing up in the same house might differ completely on the introversion-extroversion continuum. One might be a social butterfly, whilst the other one might always be hiding behind your legs at birthday parties. We should celebrate their differences and help both of them to learn the necessary social skills they will need in the future and find their own B.F.F.

What can you as a parent do?

Teach your child what friendship entails. Children should know what is seen as friendly behavior and what not. Gossiping is unacceptable and hurtful behavior. In order to maintain friendships, they should continuously work at it. Point out to your child when you notice she is doing something nice for example sharing her lunch with her friend.
Do not push your child to be popular. Some children will have many friends and others only few. At the end of the day it is important for your child to have someone they can confide in and trust completely.

Encourage diversity in friendships. I think it is beneficial to children to have friends out of all walks of life. A child does not have to only have friends in their class at school, there should also be friends at extra-mural activities and other social groupings. You can use your child’s interests to help her meet other children with similar interests.
Teach your child how to effectively express herself. When a child knows how to convey her feelings and thoughts effectively, she is able to be open and honest in her friendships. Point out to her how her attitude and even appearance can either promote social interaction or prevent it.
Be a good listener. Listening to your child’s conversations gives you the opportunity to pick up when she is experiencing difficulties in her friendships.
Model good friendship behavior. Our children are always watching us. When we have good friendships and maintain those friendships our children learn from us and copy our behavior. Hospitality is such an important skill to learn and we as parents should strive to always be hospitable – it is not only beneficial to our own friendships, but children learn how to make their friends feel at home and act in a friendly manner.

How can you help your shy child to form friendships?

Use every opportunity to build friendships based on what your child finds interesting.
Include brothers, sisters, cousins and other potential friends in your child’s daily routine.
Organize playdates, but keep them small and short. Plan ahead and have activities which your child enjoys and is good at.
Embrace the latest fad, whether it is silkworms or stickers. The fad is something that the children will have in common.
Be a play date to your child. This gives you the chance to see how your child plays with other children and also gives you the opportunity to model correct behavior.

Good friendships will boost your child’s confidence and self-esteem, whilst a bad friendship will leave her feeling belittled and down. As parents we cannot choose our childrens’ friends or interfere with all the fights, but we have to monitor and guide our children for their own benefit.

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