MyChildHealth » Development

How to Prevent Teenage Suicide?

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:11:50 +0000

Suicide is a grave matter and now days we hear a lot about children committing suicide. They take this step when they feel hemmed in by circumstances and pressure both at home and at school. As a child enters teen age, he becomes aware of sexual feelings and is confused about how to handle them. He is expected to do well in school and to conform to how his parents and society expect him to behave. With all these rules to follow he feels anxious and lost.

Most teenage children get over these feelings of frustration by talking to their family members, friends, religious teacher or counsellor in school. They may play strenuous games to get rid of their nervous energy. However some children do not have a support group to fall back upon and are unable to handle the feeling of isolation. These are the children who contemplate suicide.

Warning signs in teenage kid’s behavior

Usually there are warning signs before such a step is taken. When a teen is stressed about the death of someone, divorce of parents, bad grade in school or quarrel or breakup with a person he is romantically involved with, he is more vulnerable and starts thinking of ending his life. The signs parents should look out for are:

When a child starts withdrawing from family and friends.
He loses interest in activities which he previously liked.
His eating, sleeping and daily routine habits undergo a change.
He talks about going away, death or suicide.
A feeling of guilt or hopelessness is apparent in him.
He is unable to think clearly or concentrate on anything.
His driving may become reckless or he may start taking drugs or alcohol.

Probable causes of teenage suicide

Children reach this increased risk state because of a number of factors:

If they are not able to communicate their feelings to their families and friends and feel alone and let down.
A child may be beaten for small mistakes at home or is not able to keep up with school work and fails again and again. He has low self esteem, feels beyond redemption and hopeless, leading to depression.
Those children who suffer from physical or sexual abuse.
Some children lean towards homosexuality and may face censure from family and friends.
Some psychological disorders like bipolar disorder, depression and alcohol and drug use which impact the brain.
Depression and suicide may run in some families.

Tips for Parents for prevention

Parents can play a major role in spotting signs of suicidal tendencies and proactively take steps o prevent it.

The most important thing is to watch for any change in behaviour. If your teenage child suddenly takes to being alone or seems depressed or his grades fall, it can be a sign of trouble. If your child is concerned about what may seem to you a small matter, take it seriously. The situation may seem insurmountable to him. Discuss the matter with him and express your concern support and love. He should not feel alone. A close relative or a counsellor can be roped in if the child is more comfortable in talking to a third person.

Although it is a difficult thing to do, if your child talks of suicide or hurting himself ask him directly. You can say that you are concerned about his feelings and want to help. If you have an inkling that your child is thinking about suicide, get help at once. You can ask your doctor to refer you to a psychologist who can evaluate your child’s mental state. If the situation calls for it, you can go to the emergency room of a hospital. They can refer you to the appropriate consultant.

Even if the child says he is feeling better and does not want to visit the doctor, make sure that you take him. If such thoughts enter his head again, he should be equipped to deal with them. In case the child is adamant about not going, you should go and discuss everything with the doctor. Together you can work out ways to decrease the risk of suicide.

Family atmosphere is of great importance. If your child and you cannot communicate properly, enlist the help of a health professional. The doctor should know if there are family problems or substance abuse in your home. He can then help you towards the constructive approach so that your child does not feel isolated or misunderstood.

If the child’s friend has committed suicide help him to cope with the loss. He may feel guilty for not being able to help his friend or angry that his friend has taken such a step. Explain to him that it is alright to feel what he is feeling and that there is no right or wrong reaction.

How to Prevent Teenage Suicide? is a post from: MyChildHealth

Preschool Child Development Activities

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:43:00 +0000

Kids, as they grow, need a lot of attention of the parents. It will not be wrong to say that parents are the first teachers of any child. When the child is young, he will look towards the parents to satisfy his desire to learn about any new thing he see or come across. Then comes the stage of school where the child starts the formal learning process. Even the school going child will look towards the parents to clarify any problem faced by him.

When the child reaches the age of three and is able to properly walk and run around, the age or time of exploration starts. This is the age when the learning process by way of investigation starts. This needs to be carried out under the guidance of the parents or older people. Between the ages of 3 and 5, generally the preschool age, the child is able to track new things and learn about them. He learns to play with the other kids of his age some specialized items like doctor set or an engineer’s set. He learns to sow seeds with a thought of having grown up fruit trees in his yard he also starts to build houses of snow. The girls may start to play with dolls and try to dress it up or even stitch new clothes for the doll.

This is the time when a lot of patience is required from the parents to explain to the child about his enquiries of whatever he has seen or come across. With your positive attitude you can encourage the child to explore and learn a lot of things. At this stage it is necessary for the parents to keep some basic things in mind to enhance child’s developmental activities:

Let the child be independent and do not give too many directions, instead it will be better that you encourage the child for what he has rightly done. It will always be better to use positive language. Even if the child tries to use his shoe as a hat, do not be rude to him. Instead try explaining the difference between a hat and a shoe.

If the child tends to indulge in unsafe activity, to begin with it will be better to distract the child. After the child leaves that activity take him in your lap and explain the consequences of what he was doing.

The child must be given time to be on his own for some time. Ensure that he does not have with him anything which could be dangerous and the child is confident that in case of need he can call you. This will greatly accelerate the learning process.

The child will definitely make mistakes during the learning process. If the child does something wrong or is unable to do something, it will result in development of frustration. This is the time for you to encourage the child and teach him what he is unable to do. This will be a great learning opportunity. The child will learn and will also develop the skill or reasoning of how to do a particular task.

Encourage the child to help you in your work. He may be asked to help lay the table or even dust furniture with you. This will help bonding between the families and increase child’s confidence.

The object should be to make the child do things which are to his liking and in a disciplined manner. The child could be encouraged to water the plants or weed out unwanted growth from the grass in your lawn, or wash the sitting space. You can give the child some household kitchen items like beans, rice, wheat or dried pasta. Let the child separate different items while ensuring that he does not eat anything. You can buy mechanical games suitable for his age and let him concentrate on them. If you have open space in your backyard where birds come and sit, let him watch them. Allow him to keep a bowl of water for them and even offer them some grains. This will help him getting attracted toward nature and natural creatures.

All this will be of great help to the child to be ready for school.

Preschool Child Development Activities is a post from: MyChildHealth

Why do Kids Cut Themselves?

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:19:49 +0000

For us as adults it is generally difficult under ordinary circumstances to think of cutting oneself. Causing injury to one’s own body is a difficult task. Despite this we hear on TV and read in newspapers reports regarding children and teenagers in particular cutting themselves. This is a horrifying experience for the families of such children and they need to understand as to why the child is indulging in inflicting injury to his or her body.

Why teenagers cut themselves?

Teenager kids who indulge in this type of activity of self injury use any sharp edged object to inflict injury. Some children use knife, thumbtack, pen or even finger nails as tools for injuring themselves. In most of the cases they will try to hide the marks of injury to make it difficult for the parents to find it. As such they are able to hide this tendency at least during the initial period. According to a child adolescent psychologist, no types of persons are immune to such tendency. Mostly people who inflict self injury are teen aged females from middle class families. The tendency of inflicting self injury can also start to occur in a child when in early middle school.

Generally those kids who inflict self injury are those with low self esteem. These children may be suffering from eating disorder or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or have tried theses intoxicants at some time. The children are generally impulsive and have the problem of being improperly brought up due to negligence of the parents who may be working or otherwise not having proper understanding or adjustment. Children who have had a traumatic experience or have suffered from sexual or physical abuse also develop such tendency. Children suffering from stress, depression and anxiety may also indulge in such activities.

Self injury is generally inflicted in a manner which the child is able to explain. This is done alone or in the company of friends. Legs, arms and chest are generally the places where the injury is inflicted. When the parents make intrusive questions from the children about the cause of the injury, they will generally not be in a position to give clear answers and may go on the defensive or become offensive. This should be a warning sign for the parents. Other signs for the parents can be that the child does not let the wound heal by continuously picking it. The child may make derogatory comments about herself and become more and more secretive and try to keep away from friends and family. If such a tendency is noticed, the parents should search the room of the child when she is away. It is likely that they will find some sharp edged object which may have been used for inflicting injury.

In case of most of the children this is done to release emotions. This way they do not hurt someone else but inflict injury on themselves. The children are unable to express their feelings to parents, teachers or even to their peers. To release themselves from anxiety, insult, depression or anger they inflict injury on themselves. When the parents or the teachers at school find and talk about the injury, the child feels satisfied with the attention he gets.

What should parents do?

To help the child overcome this problem the parents need to play an important part. Lack of attention being the main cause of development of this type of behaviour, it is essential that despite differences between the parents, the child whom they have given birth to should be brought up properly. In case the parents suspect that the child is indulging in self cutting habit, they should express their concern to the child and it will be better to ask the child directly if she has inflicted injury and why. Love and affection shown by the mother to the daughter and proper explanation of her problems or misunderstandings about herself will go a long way in helping the child overcome this problem.

In extreme cases a visit to the psychiatrist will be necessary and the child may have to undergo mental health evaluation. It may be possible that the child may have inflicted injury to kill himself and has little understanding of the extent of injury necessary to kill. Such suicidal tendency needs to be properly addressed both medically and psychologically. Proper care and counselling by the parents will be of great help to the child to overcome this tendency.

Why do Kids Cut Themselves? is a post from: MyChildHealth

Strength Training for Kids

Breath Holding Spells in Children

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:56:13 +0000

Breath holding spells are reported in about 5% of babies between the ages of 6 and 18 months. However, in some cases the child may continue to hold his breath till the age of five years. After that this is very rare. A breath holding spell is often confused with seizure disorder. The most common cause as per the researchers is due to frustration because of disciplining by parents. Breath holding spells can broadly be classified into four types:

1. The most common of the spells is termed as simple breath holding spell. This is generally caused after frustration or injury. The child holds breath for some time and then starts breathing and is normal spontaneously.

2. The second type of breath holding by babies may also be result of frustration or anger and occurs after painful experience. The child cries and this leads to his color turning blue. This is associated with the loss of muscle tone and consciousness. The child usually recovers in a minute or two but some children sleep after the spell is over for one to two hours. The changes reported in the body of the child are mainly due to reduction of supply of oxygen to the brain due to non breathing and inhaling of oxygen. There is no long lasting effect on the child and he is normal till the next spell. Even if EEG is taken during this period it is normal. There is no co- relationship between this type of breath holding spells and subsequent development of seizure problem.

3. The third type of breath holding spell is known as pallid. This is a painful event for the child. The child turns pale instead of blue and loses consciousness. The child is alert within a minute after the spell is over. EEG is also normal and there is no post happening inconsistency. This type of breath holding spells may leave some effects during adulthood.

4. The fourth is complicated as compared to the other types of breath holding attacks reported in children. This type of spell is associated with seizure type of activity in the child and needs immediate medical attention.

Treatment

Medical evidence has shown that the anaemic children with iron deficiency are more prone to having breath holding spells. However, the diagnosis has to be done clinically. The doctor will ask the parents of the history of the child and sequence of events before the child went into the spell and events during the spell. Sometimes the doctor may ask the parents to record a video of the child during the period of spell.

There is no treatment generally prescribed or needed for the children who undergo breath holding spells. As the child grows in age he or she will be out of this phase. The family of the child needs to be reassured not to get panicky when the child undergoes the spell. Though difficult they need to maintain calm.

Doctors have found that anaemia could be a reason for exaggeration of the spells in the child. Iron therapy is recommended in anaemic children. However, in many cases Piracetuam, an over the counter available drug, is of help to the child. The doctors may also recommend electrocardiogram (ECG) recording of the heart of the child to ensure and eliminate the chances of some cardiac problem.

Preventions

The symptoms which occur before the child holds his breath are mostly identical and the parents who keenly observe the child can identify the events and happening of the breath holding by the child. Once the child holds the breath the parents should ensure that the mouth of the child is empty and he may be held in a sitting position with back and head tilted above the bed. This will make breathing easy. The parents should not get panicky and maintain cool.

Breath Holding Spells in Children is a post from: MyChildHealth

Teaching Tolerance to Children

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:50:34 +0000

Tolerance is usually talked about in terms of religion and ethnicity. In a wider sense it means having respect for others who are different from you, whether it is in intellect, gender or physical abilities. Your attitude should be such that you can embrace people who are not the same as you, hold different views or dress differently. Tolerance means discovering common ground so that you are able to respect cultural differences, valuing and learning from them. In this way new bonds will be created between diverse groups.

However, you cannot close your eyes to unacceptable behaviour or strive to tolerate anything that goes against the basic human values or rules society has defined. Tolerance means accepting people in all their diversity, for who they are but you cannot vouch for their bad behaviour. Hurting others by being mean to them or lying or stealing cannot and should not be tolerated. ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you’ should be the golden rule.

Teaching tolerance to children is important

Every family has its own cultural heritage and traditions – be they religious or those of a particular ethnic group. The older family members passed these on to the younger ones as together they honour and celebrate them. Children see that the people who live in their community celebrate many different festivals. Colleagues and friends of their parents may be different from themselves. They observe that their parents respect these differences and they too learn to do so.

Even before the children learn to express themselves, they keenly observe and imitate their parents. This is the way nature has devised for infants to learn. As they are greatly attached to their parents, they make the parent’s values and attitudes their own. They will thus learn that they should honour their own traditions and respect those that others around them follow. Parents can reinforce this by setting an example.

Parents can teach the lessons of tolerance in other ways too. Talking about this topic will tell children the path you want them to follow. They should play with children of diverse cultures. As they interact with them, they will realise that those children are similar to them in many ways even though there may be some differences. They will realise that everybody contributes to the play group.

Tolerance Activities for Kids

As children grow parents can help their children by following routine activities:

Being aware that the way they talk about people who are not like them has a great effect on moulding a child’s attitude. Parents may not realise that the child is listening. If they make fun of someone, or talk about him in a derogatory manner, children are quick to pick it up.
Parents should show respect for people belonging to other cultural groups. They may have to correct their own ingrained attitudes which they may be harbouring from their own childhood.
In films or on TV if there are unfair stereotypes, point them out to the child.
Children should be allowed to experience diversity first hand. Choose a child care facility, school or camp where different children enrol.
Movies and TV have a long lasting impact on young impressionable minds. So do toys, books, music and art. Select these carefully.
Different interests and abilities in a family cannot be brushed under the carpet. Acknowledge these and demonstrate to the child that you value the uniqueness of each member of the family.
If the child asks questions, answer them correctly in a manner which reflects respect for the person spoken about. This sends out a message that it is alright to notice and discuss differences as long as it is done in a proper manner.
Familiarize your child with your family traditions. If any of his, or your, friends are curious, invite them to participate so that they can learn about you.
In the same way, you can encourage your child to learn about celebrations which are different from your family traditions.
Value and accept your child for what he is. If he feels good about himself, he will treat others well. Children who have self esteem and know that they are loved and respected treat others with respect.
Teach your children that tolerance does not mean tolerating unacceptable behaviour. Each person needs to respect others in order to be respected in turn.

Teaching Tolerance to Children is a post from: MyChildHealth

Importance of Hand Washing for Children

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:26:27 +0000

Washing hands frequently is the best way to prevent germs from entering the body of a child. Children make no distinction between clean and unclean things when they play. They play in the mud, touch animals and hold hands with a child who has a cold. Thereafter they touch their mouth, nose and eyes and get infected as millions of germs linger on their hands.

Importance of hand washing for children is more because they have low resistance against germs and diseases. Kids may not understand this concept so it has to be repeated again and again till washing hands frequently become a habit. It saves your little ones many days of being sick and missing school and play. Washing hands is the first line of defence against many diseases like influenza, hepatitis A, many types of infectious diarrhoea, meningitis, bronchiolits and common cold. Once the child catches an infection, the whole family may contract the disease as they live in close proximity with each other.

Why hands must be washed often by children?

Washing hands often is necessary for all members of the family. All of them can help each other to wash their hands especially after touching animals and pets. When children come inside after playing they should straight away wash their hands. Before and after cooking hands should be washed thoroughly to prevent transfer of germs to food. Other times hands must be washed are after gardening and after cleaning the house.

You may pick up germs when you take care or visit a sick person or may transfer your germs to him so wash your hands before and after you administer to him. After a person has coughed, sneezed or blown their nose, tiny droplets of fluid containing germs may land on the hands so they must be washed properly. It goes without saying that the toilet seat and other things in the bathroom have millions of germs so hands must be washed after every visit.

Teach your kids how to wash hands?

It is not sufficient to just tell children to wash their hands well. It will be better if you demonstrate how they should do it and wash hands along with your children so that they get used to what they ought to be doing. You need to:

Use soap and warm water. Any soap will do and antibacterial soap is not necessary.
Lather to the count of twenty.
Rub between fingers and under the nails as dirt and germs often get left there.
Wash the wrists as well.
Rinse and dry with a clean towel.

How germs are transmitted?

Hands are the vehicles by which germs are spread especially in kids. They touch people and various objects with their hands. Germs are transmitted when we touch any surface that has already been contaminated. A parson may not have clean hands and when we touch them and not wash our hands, we carry and get affected by the germs which that person may be carrying. Sometimes we share food and drink of an infected person and get sick ourselves. Other times eatables are infected by flies and dust and cause sickness. Changing dirty diapers or coming in contact with a sick person’s saliva, perspiration or other body fluids also causes spread of germs. Droplets, emanating from the nose or mouth during coughing or sneezing carry disease causing germs.

It is very clear that to minimise spreading germs we should wash hands frequently. This single habit will save us from many illnesses and keep us healthy.

Importance of Hand Washing for Children is a post from: MyChildHealth

What is Occupational Therapy for Children?

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:32:40 +0000

Many people feel that occupational therapy, or OT, as it is often called, is meant for adults and has no meaning for children. Once they are persuaded to let their child participate in it, they are amazed and happy to see the improvement it brings about in their lives. It not only deals with the physical well being but also takes care of social, psychological and environmental factors which a child faces in daily life. OT thus affects the way the child functions in different ways and becomes a major part of his total healthcare.

Why occupational therapy is needed?

OT helps children become independent in their lives. They no longer look to their parents and helpers to do tasks they routinely need to do like wearing their clothes. They feel happy and satisfied that they can achieve something on their own. People think OT means help for adults in their occupation but they forget that a child is meant to play and learn. Therapists evaluate how a particular child’s daily activities, school performance and skills needed for playing compare with what is considered appropriate for that age. For those not found up to the mark, OT helps to improve physical, mental and motor skills. It thus helps to improve their self esteem and they begin to feel better about themselves.

Which children need occupational therapy?

Parents can observe their children from birth and can spot if there are any developmental delays. They can compare their child with children of his age group. If a child has behavioural or mental health problems, then he is a candidate for OT. Children who have learning problems or sensory processing disorders benefit from OT. Therapists are also able to help autistic children.

Some physical conditions require OT so that a child can lead a normal life. Children with birth injuries or birth defects like spina bifida, those who have injuries to the brain or spinal cord, burn victims, those with fractures or other orthopaedic injuries need specialised therapy. OT helps to rehabilitate children who have severe hand injuries or amputations. In some chronic illnesses like juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis OT proves to be life saving. Those children who come face to face with cancer and some post surgical problems also need OT.

How OT help kids with activities?

Therapists help to make life easy and as close to as possible for children whose development is delayed to a great extent. They teach them basic tasks like brushing their teeth and bathing so that they are able to maintain hygiene. Everyday tasks like getting dressed, how to deal with buttons etc. and feeding themselves are practiced.

Children who have behavioural disorders are taught anger management techniques. They are taught positive ways to get rid of their anger like writing about their feelings, playing games or exercising instead of hitting someone, acting violent or throwing a tantrum.

Those who have a hand injury or some physical problem are helped to improve their hand writing and motor skills by grasping and releasing toys, marbles etc.

Therapists work with children who have short attention spans and sensory problems to improve their focus and social skills.

While playing and having fun OT is able to improve a child’s hand eye coordination. Games where a child has to hit a ball with a bat or a racket and hitting a predetermined target are used. The child also learns to copy correctly what he sees written on a blackboard.

Children with physical disabilities are taught to handle everyday tasks like eating and using gadgets like computers. Their speed of writing and letter formation are worked upon so that they do not lag behind in school.

A therapist can suggest if any specialised equipment is needed to improve the performance and well being of a child like wheel chairs, hearing aids and spectacles. Zippers and fastening tapes may be suggested instead of buttons and laces to help the child dress on his own. Likewise, special equipment may be needed in the bathroom.

Occupational therapy plays an important role in making a child understand what to do and how to do it, making him a happy and well adjusted child.

What is Occupational Therapy for Children? is a post from: MyChildHealth

What is Nature Deficit Disorder in Kids?

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:34:06 +0000

Nature deficit disorder is a recent term and refers to the trend of modern day children to remain confined to the four walls of their homes. As a result of this non exposure to nature, they develop certain problems mostly related to behavior, which were not generally found in children of older times who used to play around in the fields, parks and at other places in the lap of nature. In some extreme cases this nature deficit results in mental disorder in the long term.

The main reasons for this problem are basically dwindling areas under nature and replacement of natural forests with concrete jungles. In metro areas the size of the houses are decreasing day by day. Due to high cost of land, homes are moving upwards in multi-storeyed buildings leaving almost negligible space for green belts. However in suburban areas of the metros, things are slightly better. Children born and brought up in these areas get negligible exposure to nature.

Even in suburban areas and the children living in small towns, there is a great pressure of studies. Parents demand that the child should excel in class resulting in pressure on the child. With entry of TV and computer in each home, the child gets glued to these modern day gadgets during the free time available and not being utilised in studies. As a result of this, even these children do not get exposed to nature to the extent required.

In some metros where the crime situation is not normal, out of fear, to keep the child safe and away from danger, parents try to keep the children indoors. The children then spend more time on the computer, surfing the net and watching TV. In case the child is unattended, the chances are that he will start watching undesirable contents available on the net.

The effect of this is multi fold on the children.

The child loses respect for nature as is desired from citizens. This has resulted in deterioration not only of the health of the humans but also of the health of earth. As per study, this could result in a shorter life span of the current unexposed generation as compared to the life span of parents.

The chances of the children developing attention disorder and depression may increase. Due to non availability of opportunities of relaxation in the natural manner, the child develops tension and consequent illness. As per study exposure to nature after school hours on weekends does result in reduction of anxiety and tension in the minds of any individual and reduces attention deficit symptoms in children.

If the child develops ADD or mood disorder, the child is not likely to concentrate fully on studies and will get lower grades. Schools which have outdoor activities as a part of their curriculum have brighter students with better results.

The increasing incidents of obesity in children can also be attributed to non exposure to nature and lack of exercise. Children do not get exercise and due to changing food habits they get more attracted to junk food, resulting in overweight children.

Thus it is necessary that the child should get exposed to nature to the extent possible. There are parks in each city or town. If not possible to take the child on a daily basis, the parents should ensure to spend the day out at least on weekends to enable the child to be exposed to nature. Schools also have a duty to ensure that the children should get exposed to nature on a regular basis. They should organise short school trips for this purpose.

What is Nature Deficit Disorder in Kids? is a post from: MyChildHealth

Motivation Activities for Children at Home

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:15:57 +0000

Motivation is the best method of teaching the child in the way you want her to do a particular act or behave in a particular manner. Parents are the first teachers of any child. As the child grows up and starts to understand, he looks towards the mother for instructions. At a very young age the chances are that the child will follow your instructions, but as he or she grows up, and even below the age where she can understand what she is doing, there are chances of development of rebellion in her mind and she may not follow your instructions as you would like her to do. This is the time when the parents need to adopt a balanced approach and motivation of the child comes in play.

Motivation of the child is not easy and there could be no ready answer or magic trick as to how to motivate the child to follow your instructions and act in a well behaved manner.

Motivation is a process of issuing instructions to the child to achieve the desired results. To make the child to do something which you want her to do, you will have to manipulate the child in a particular manner. To motivate your kid to do a particular thing in a desired manner, you need to know what the child wants to do or thinks about what you want from her. A clear communication in this regard will be of great help. The process of motivation should start at the age the child just starts to understand things. This will be the time when she will follow instructions without much argument. Once the habit is developed, things will be easier at a later date.

There is a general tendency in small kids to throw their toys here and there. They generally do not like to collect them and put them away in a tidy manner. It is here the first motivation process starts. You need to be firm and tell the child to collect all toys in a box so that the room is clean. To begin the motivation process you may need to participate with the child in collecting the toys. You may collect them near the box and ask the child to put them inside it. There after you could ask her to collect the remaining toys which are spread around.

The motivation process will be accelerated to a great extent by following the reward process. It is not necessary that the reward should be in the form of some physical gift. The child can be rewarded by a gesture of affection by the parents.

Though motivation is a taxing process and will involve lot of time and energy when the child is small but it will be better than yelling at the child to clean the room. In such a case the child may obey you once but ultimately there will be sort of retaliation in her mind and she may refuse to follow your instructions at some point of time.

In case of older children, the motivation process could be both difficult and easy depending upon you and the nature of your child. You can ask the child to make a list in his own handwriting about the things she is expected to do and by what time that needs to be done. Once the child has written the list in her own hand she may be motivated to complete the task in time but the chances are also that the grown up child may just refuse to do something. This is the point of time you need to be careful. Be firm and balanced and be ready to give her a verbal lesson of the benefits of what you wanted her to do etc. Here your real motivation skill test will be done.

Different parents adopt different methods of motivation of children. Some use motivation behavior charts and stickers. Each time the child does something desired from her she receives a sticker which she can paste on the chart. Anyway these are reward methods which can be used by parents. Remember to be firm in issuing instructions to the children so that they understand that you mean what you say and may not take your instructions lightly.

Motivation Activities for Children at Home is a post from: MyChildHealth

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Ways to Prevent Bullying in Schools

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:18:27 +0000

Bullying is a big problem in school these days. Generally when a child enters school, the older children or seniors indulge in bullying. They might push, kick or call names or otherwise threaten the new comer. The kid feels hurt and scared and often tries to avoid school on one pretext or the other. The bully may grab things owned by your child or make fun of his dress or hair style. Sometimes the child is made to do acts which he will not like to do. As per a survey, about 75% of boys and 25% of girls get bullied at one point or the other. This results in development of stress in child and he also starts to develop violent behavior.

A study of the causes of this behavior of bullies reveals that this is due to a desire in their mind to be popular or demand attention. When they pick on someone, they get a feeling of being big and powerful. Alternatively, the bully may be from a family where there is anger in the household, especially amongst parents and the family members tend to shout at each other. Some bullies may have learnt this habit when they were bullied, not knowing or understanding the impact on the feelings of the person bullied. They tend to pick up a kid who gets upset easily and repeat the act whenever they get a chance. Getting a reaction on their behaviour make them feel proud.

To overcome this problem of bullying among kids, there could be two possible ways of avoiding the reoccurrence. Prevent a run in with the bully and face the bully when you come face to face. The following will be of help to you:

Don’t come face to face and try to avoid him. This does never mean that you skip your class but you may take a different route to reach the class so that you avoid his company.
When face to face with the bully stand tall, and brave. He may be older than you so do not indulge in a fight. Just try to show that you are confident and by word of mouth you can ask the bully not to mess with you.
Always feel good about yourself. If you are overweight, try increasing exercise time to look good. Dress up properly while going to school. Go to school refreshed and after proper breakfast. This will generate better feelings in you.
Make friends who will help you and you should also help friends when in need. Two are better than one. Try going to the place where the bully is generally found in the company of a few friends and just ignore him.
If need be, tell adults around of the behaviour of a boy in school. You can discuss the problem with your teacher, head boy of school or class, lunch room helper etc.
Do not try to retaliate the same way. If you say something to a bully similar to what he says to you, there will be chances of increased trouble from the naughty child. His intention is to pick trouble so avoid it.
Don’t show your anger at the sight of the bully, or make him think that you are upset. Try to distract yourself when you happen to see him.
Don’t give any bait to make the bully your friend. If you buy him something or share your pocket money with him because of his threatening behaviour, he will be encouraged to repeat it again and again. On your refusal to part with what belongs to you he may try his hand on some other child.
If you find that the bully is creating trouble for some other child also be his friend, two will be stronger than one.

Often bullies end up with very few friends. No one likes to be in their company, they are often not good at studies. Under a wrong notion of getting respect they act this way. Bullies are not always bad. Proper counselling can help overcome this problem.

Ways to Prevent Bullying in Schools is a post from: MyChildHealth