Develop Your Childs Critical Thinking Skills
1. Encourage Questions. Don't answer every question, instead ask what do they think. Asking questions stimulates conversation between you and your child. 2. Don't Criticize. Criticism invites low self-esteem. Children feel that they have failed or disappointed their parents when they are criticized. Find alternate ways of correcting the problem. A child will likely shut down communication if they feel that their parents are not supportive. 3. Respect Your Child's Opinions. Your child is not an extension of you. Although it is difficult to accept at times, it is normal and healthy for your child to have their own opinion. Children who are confident in expressing their opinions are less likely to join gangs or succumb to peer pressure. 4. Teach Your Child To Embrace Diversity. Encourage your child to learn about different cultures and ethnicities. A well informed child can will understand and respect other people's values. 5. Teach Your Child To Set Personal Boundaries. Children need to have their personal space respected in order for them to respect other people's personal space. Help your child to establish their boundaries and insist that he/she enforce them with their peers. 6. Establish A Nurturing Environment. Children thrive in environments in which they know they are loved and respected. Remind them every day that you love them and support them. 7. Understand Your Child's Thinking Process. In order for you to be an advocate for your child in school, you must know and understand how your child learns. Is he/she creative, logical, musical, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic? Know your child's capabilities and accept their creativity. 8. Let Them Think For Themsleves. Encourage independent thinking. Let your child decide (within reason) what is appropriate for them. Give them enough room to make decisions, but also be there in case their plans don't work out. 9. Teach Them Stress Management Skills. Help your child to effectively deal with stress. Try not to contribute to their stress with demands and unrealistic expectations. Make learning fun! 10. Teach Your Child To Trust His/Her Instincts. In order for children to be successful in life, they must learn how to trust their decisions. Your child needs to be confident in trusting his/her instincts and feelings. Children who trust themselves are less likely to participate in unhealthy behaviors. About The Author Marie Magdala Roker is a Family Coach and Certified Breakthrough Parenting Instructor. She is completing her Masters in Health Education at Columbia University's Teachers College. She helps parents to reclaim their lives and students to unlock their academic potential. She is committed to helping build healthy families, one family member at a time. mroker@livelearnempower.com
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Blended Families Can Be Successful
Many families today are blending members from past relationships. It would be easy to give up when faced with all the conflicting methods of parenting and discipline that come to a family who has joined forces together.
How Do Campers Protect Their Children?
Oh yes you have! Suddenly, "Where's Bobby?" You instantly realize that he is not where he is supposed to be-where you told him to stay! Little kids, and even older ones, just don't behave like they used to. Has anyone noticed that?
The POWER of Reading
Reading to your child at a young age is one of the most effective tools for expanding his mind and instilling a lifelong love of learning. Reading a good book allows your child to travel to places she has never been, to meet people she has never met, and to develop an understanding of how to deal with a variety of physical and emotional situations.
Home For The Holidays: Ask Yourself Some Questions
Annie easily slipped into becoming the sole caregiver of her parents. What started out as monthly grocery shopping for them, over the course of 2 years became a full time duty, an overwhelming burden and just about broke her emotionally and financially.
Teaching Your Children with Coupons
Coupons can be a great tool in educating your child about saving money, being frugal, and shopping smart. Who doesn't want their children to grow up knowing how to save easily on every purchase? With coupon clipping you'll show them money saving skills they can use throughout their life!
How Is Peaceful Parenting® Different?
Peaceful Parenting® ideas are very different from other kinds of parenting practices that you have learned or read about. Certainly it is harder to practice Peaceful Parenting® than to simply threaten or bribe your child into following your directions or making what you consider to be the "right" choices. But what is the heart of the difference between Peaceful Parenting® and other programs?
Playful Parenting - More than Just Fun and Games
Early childhood educators have called play "children's work". Many parents believe their children should be doing something more productive than merely having fun. But, actually, play fosters physical, emotional, intellectual and social development. Encouraging your child to play is vital for his development as well as his happiness.
What To Do When You Think Your Child Might Have AD/HD
AD/HD (attention deficit disorder) is one of the most common mental health disorders seen in childhood. Studies estimate that between 3-7% of all children have AD/HD: approximately 2 million children in the USA alone, or one child in every classroom.
If your child is being bullied - 20 top tips for parents
Keith is now in the fourth grade and he dislikes school. For a fourthgrader, this does not sound right. The reason Keith dislikes school thoughdoes not have anything to do with academics. Keith is being bullied beforeschool, at school, and on the school bus. Who can blame him for not wantingto go into that environment? The basic definition of bullying is when someone keeps doing or sayingthings to have power over another person. Bullying involves crossing intoone's space without permission. Isn't bullying just something that happens to all children and we're justmaking a fuss over this? The children will get over it, right? Shouldn't wetell Keith to grow up and handle it? Wrong. Bullying happens to far too many
children and adults shouldn't be ignoring it. WHAT CAN A PARENT DO? If Keith is being bullied and he is not reporting it to his parents thenthere are some very important questions to address.· Why wouldn't he tell his parents?· What message have Keith's parents sent to him about bullies?· Does Keith's parents have a history of dismissing what he says?· Possibly Keith's parents have had a habit of getting too involved insolving his problems. Tips for parents:· Encourage your child to report any bullying incidents to you.· Validate your child's feelings. It is normal for your child to feelhurt, sad, and angry.· Ask your child how he/she has tried to stop the bullying. Askingquestions is a wonderful way to have your child do the thinking.· Ask how is he/she going to solve this. We want the child to do thethinking before we jump in. See how many options he can come up with.· Coach your child in alternatives. Ideally the best solution is having your
child solve this without anyone interfering. Most of the time unfortunately,
this isn't possible. Share these strategies: avoidance is often an excellentstrategy, playing in a different place, play a different game, stay near asupervisor, look for new friends, join social activities outside of school.· Talk with your child's teacher. Make sure they are aware of what isgoing on.· Encourage your child to seek help from other school personnel.· Volunteer to help supervise activities at school.· Do not ignore your child's reports. Ignoring them sends the wrongmessage.· Do not confront the bully or the bullies' family.· Teach your child how to defend him or herself.· Teach self-respect.· Give numerous positive comments to your child.· Avoid labeling or name-calling.· Let your child know it is okay to express their anger. There arepositive and negative ways to express anger, we want to teach and model thepositive ways.· Let your children stand up to you now and then. It makes it morelikely they will stand up to a bully.· Stress the importance of body language.· Teach your child to use 'I' statements.· Teach positive self-talk.· Teach how to use humor, 'out crazy' them. For example, if the bullysays to Keith, "Hey, boy you're ugly." Keith can respond in a coupledifferent ways:"Thanks for sharing""Yes, I know, I always have been""Yes, today's lunch was disgusting" then walk away. There is many other aspects of bullying to look at: Why your child is the victim, whypeople bully, what you child can do if he/she is bullied, signs your child is beingbullied, what the schools should be doing, handling the school bus issues. Allof these are addressed in The Shameful Epidemic, How to protect your child from bullies and school violence.Visit www.stoppingschoolviolence.com to learn what is possible. There are solutions.
Car Wash Fundraiser Preparation
Are you considering a car wash fundraiser for your group? We all no it is getting harder and harder to raise the funds for non-profit groups these days. Especially kids groups such as youth groups, sports teams, high school bands and scouts. Now more than ever it is important that we take special care to mentor our youth. One of the most important things you need to do to insure a successful car wash fundraiser is to pay special attention to the pre-planning preparation.
Childrens Safety in Public Places - 10 Useful Tips
My kids ask me all the time to take them to playgrounds or any other public place. I can't help to think that the risk involved in this is greater than we are often aware of. I have four kids, which makes the task of keeping track of everyone very stressful. To me, taking my children to a public place is not "a walk in the park" anymore. Actually, I feel that I am a little traumatized. My 8 year old son, (a very active little guy), has been lost 3 times in public places. Once in a huge department store at the age of 3, another time in a natural park where he took off in his bicycle by himself at the age of 4 and the latest time in a crowded public fair at the age of 5. Fortunately he has always been found save and sound.
Using Cloth Nappies
We all know that using cloth nappies is best for the environment and for our baby's health (not to mention our pockets) but just how easy are they to use?
8 Tips To Save On Child Care Costs
Child care costs are are one of the most expensive costs associated with going back to work. Finding ways to cut down on child care costs without sacrificing quality child care is a top priority for all working parents. Here are a few ideas that can help trim your child care costs without sacrificing child care quality:
Learning Responsibility is a Lifelong Process
Learning responsibility is an ever widening and lifelong
process.
Thirteen Values You Can Teach Through Homework
Are you a parent concerned about passing values on to your kids?
Do you worry that you can't find the time, or don't know how?
You don't need thirty-minute multi-media presentations!
You can do it with homework.
In those precious moments you spend supervising your child's
homework, here are thirteen values you can subtly pass on:
The Safest Stuffed Toys for the Kids on your Gift List
Although it's hard to say when the first stuffed dogs appeared, I would guess that it was soon after dogs were domesticated. We do know that as long as there have been children, there have been dolls, rattles, miniature weapons, and hand-made animals. Anthropologists have found evidence of toys dating back to the earliest records of human life.
Drugs and Violence In Public Schools
Many public schools not only fail to educate our children, they can also be dangerous places. These schools are a natural breeding ground for drugs and violence. Children are packed into classrooms with twenty or more other immature children or teenagers, all the same age. Here, peer pressure becomes socialization, pushing many children into using drugs and alcohol.
Its OK to Say No
In the last 20 years we've all been introduced to a new style of parenting that is much more democratic than most of us experienced, growing up. Families are more child- centered than they were before, we no longer advocate spanking as an effective form of discipline, we often allow children to negotiate for privileges or things, and we're much more involved in our children's lives than most of our parents were in our lives. Parenting is much, much less autocratic than it was in previous generations.
Homeschooling --- A Superior Education For Your Child
Home-schooling provides children with a superior education. Parents can quickly teach most kids the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic using excellent, creative, learn-to-read, or learn-math books, programs, or computer learning software. Once children become proficient readers, they can then study subjects they love in greater depth. If a child needs help on a special subject, parents can occasionally call in a tutor.
Want To Further Your Childrens Studies?
Being in a competitive world, the lowest qualification to secure a good job is a degree. However, a degree subject may be perceived as too general and the acquisition of a specialist skill through professional courses or a post graduate program may help improve employment prospects.
|
