As children grow, they develop their way of thinking, habits and behaviours. Some children, not having a good parental assistance may show development trends that differ from those having good parental guidance. One of the things that parents could do to help their children in their everyday life is to enhance their mental capacities.
As such, parents can encourage their children to read books. Nowadays, there are a lot of books designed especially for children. These can be easily bought in the local book shop or over the Internet. There are also books that contain word searches or crosswords. These can be very essential to improve the capabilities of the children mind which is required to focus and think for the answer. Children who do such activities on a regular basis can achieve a better logical thinking than those who do not.
Moreover, another brain developing practice for children is memory exercises. Memory exercises are one of the easiest practices for children as they can be done anywhere. Since the young age, children are taught how to spell their names. They are also taught about their addresses and contact numbers. Numerous memory exercises exist. Children can work on remembering poems, songs and names of the different members in their families. Developing the memory can help children have a better focus, hence increasing their ability to remember information. Memorising is a very useful skill since many subjects such as Maths or Science require good memory for better learning.
Furthermore, an interesting brain developing activity for children is the use of the least active hand for writing or drawing. Drawing one half of a picture with the most active hand and afterwards completing the other half with the non dominant one can be a good learning option for children. Doing such an activity may encourage children to use both half of their brains to work together. Practicing brain activities are not only fun but they help children to gradually but effectively develop the most important part of their body.
Additionally, books are inarguably one of the best means to boost children development. Books not only are fun to read but they help children develop their language skills. Parents should encourage their children to read books on a regular basis as nowadays a normal education includes the knowledge of using a keyboard. This said, computers have become an integral part of the everyday life. They are used in schools, offices, hospitals, etc. Similarly, the Internet has turned into a huge encyclopedia. So, the reading of books has somehow been devalued but its importance remains a strong one, especially for children.
In fact, most of the times, we can see children seeking information from a computer rather than from the pages of a big reference book. However, children should remember that when computers did not exist, books made lawyers and doctors. The computer is definitely an immense facility for good education of children but the importance of reading books must not be ignored.
Ralph Ramah is the webmaster of Discount Web Design, one of the leading web design company in the UK offering quality web site design and SEO services
The sponsors of a medical cannabis initiative appearing on South Dakota’s ballot in November are suing the state Attorney General over his misleading summary of the initiative, apparently designed to encourage a negative reaction in voters. The AG must write a neutral summary of each state ballot initiative. In this case, his first act was to rename the measure.
”An act to provide safe access to medical marijuana for certain qualified persons,” became “An Initiative to authorize marijuana use for adults and children with specified medical conditions.”
August 2006
It’s curious that the greatest – or at least the loudest – love for children is proclaimed by those who display a general distrust of progress and freedom.
Groups seeking to control individual behaviour, undermine civil rights or impose a moral code on society will frequently broadcast their own sincere desire to protect young folk from real or imaginary threats, habitually invoking ‘the children’ to justify each new restriction.
If the safety of children is at stake, who could possibly object to laws that curtail privacy, individual choice and basic liberty?
The need to protect the young is biological, a basic principle of survival seen in most animals. In people, the instinct is more refined; it applies to our species in general and is not limited to our own children. Because it is a rational decision based on a powerful unconscious imperative, the protective urge can be irrational in its expression and has a long and unfortunate tradition of being used to manipulate people.
As cannabis becomes more tolerated, propaganda has shifted from its traditional attack on the plant to a coordinated attempt to defend prohibition. Naturally, ‘protecting the children’ is the central theme of efforts to justify the unjustifiable.
- Dope-smoking dads double risk of cot death
- Marijuana may cause pregnancies to fail
- Why teenagers should steer clear of cannabis
- Alarming rise in number of child cannabis victims
It’s tempting to see this as a tactic of last resort – a laughable ploy to demonise cannabis and “re-brand” it as specifically threatening to children. Perhaps the campaign to scare adults about their own use of cannabis has finally been abandoned, as it is clearly contradicted by reality?
Even so, the tactic of shifting the focus to ‘the children’ and playing on parents’ anxieties is abhorrent. It exploits children for propaganda and is effective in distracting attention from more significant threats to the health of young people.
One example is the disturbing push to control children’s mood and behaviour with powerful psychiatric drugs such as Prozac and other SSRIs, which are designed to alter levels of serotonin in the brain.
This trend endangers young people as much as it enriches drug manufacturers and its scope is unprecedented – the numbers of children being medicated, the absurdly young ages at which they’re diagnosed as depressed or mentally unbalanced and the potency of the psychotropic drugs they’re prescribed.
European doctors have received strong warnings against prescribing SSRIs to children, but the practice has not been banned. In the US, the country with most strident anti-cannabis propaganda and the loudest devotion to protecting ‘the children’, the practice of drugging the young in order to regulate their behaviour is both an industry and an epidemic.
Currently, 2% of US children aged 6-16 are taking SSRIs and up to 10% are on stimulants such as Ritalin. Despite the FDA ordering “black boxes ” for SSRI packaging – the most severe class of safety warnings – around 9 million prescriptions were written for US children in 2005, with under-fives the fastest-growing segment of children using antidepressants.
An estimated 17 million children worldwide are prescribed some form of behaviour-modifying drug. Worldwide sales of antidepressants to all age-groups reached more than .5 billion in 2002.
For one example of media misdirection regarding children, drugs and mental health, consider the following facts:
1. Cannabis is a powerful, effective, low-risk medicine that provides relief for an enormous range of conditions and improves quality of life for millions of people. It has an unparalleled safety record, having been used safely for thousands of years. Cannabis is effective in its natural form and can grow virtually anywhere with minimal effort, making it potentially free for anyone.
2. Conversely, the trend of medicating the young with powerful psychiatric drugs is highly profitable and unique in history. The idea of moderating children’s mood or behaviour with pharmaceuticals would have been unthinkable a generation ago, yet today it is presented as a normal solution by large sections of the media.
Rather than a hypothetical and unproven risk of altering brain chemistry in sensitive individuals, as is said of cannabis, SSRIs are specifically designed to change brain chemistry in order to modify mood and behaviour.
3. The sudden increase in prohibitionist propaganda associating cannabis with danger to children amounts to a co-ordinated media campaign. The obvious intention is to heighten fears that cannabis may cause schizophrenia, depression, suicidal thoughts or general unspecified mental illness in children, despite the usual lack of evidence. The fragile, developing chemical structure of young brains is frequently mentioned, as are false claims about massive increases in cannabis potency.
’Adolescents are at highest risk for marijuana addiction … marijuana use has been linked with depression and suicidal thoughts, in addition to schizophrenia…marijuana use among teens doubles the risk of developing depression and triples the incidence of suicidal thoughts’
- DEA Website -
4. SSRIs have repeatedly been found to pose significant risks to the mental and physical health of children.
2005 – The European Medicines Agency concluded SSRIs should not be used in children and adolescents … suicide-related behaviour (suicide attempt and suicidal thoughts), and hostility (aggression and anger) were more frequently observed in children and adolescents treated with SSRIs.
The FDA has admitted that children who use SSRIs are 180 percent more likely to have suicidal tendencies.
British Journal of Psychiatry reports that Prozac creates “the highest risk of deliberate self-harm.”
A century of attempting to prove the dangers of cannabis has yielded no results but vague hypotheses with no relation to the real world. Whatever alarming conclusions are suggested, cannabis is very widely used in most countries and causes few discernable health problems. Within a few years of their introduction, SSRIs have raised serious concerns all over the world.
Yet cannabis is relentlessly presented as a major threat to the mental health of children, while psychoactive drugs designed to change brain function are promoted as a solution.
Any sane person will agree that children should not take drugs, whether legal or illegal, but, in the mainstream media, the principle does not seem to apply to drugs made by certain powerful interests.
It is not surprising that prohibitionists exploit the need to protect children. What is unbelievable is that dire warnings about the effect of ‘drugs’ on developing brains can coexist in the media with the promotion of mind-altering pharmaceuticals for those same sacred children. This demonstrates either an enormous logical disconnect or an effective and coordinated campaign of diversion and misinformation.
The author is a Cannabis enthusiast who is committed to promote the environmental and social benefits of Cannabis in general and Medicinal Marijuana in particular. Please follow the link for more information on Cannabis and Hemp.
Aggression in young children is a common problem that is quite natural and normal, but most parents feel alone and embarrassed when dealing with it. There are lots of ideas and options for taking positive constructive action to improve the situation, but the results are not quickly obvious, since it involves young children who lack maturity and self-control skills.
WHAT TYPE OF PROBLEM IS IT? C/P.* Part of the problem belongs to the Child, because the child is angry, and part of the problem belongs to the Parent, because the child is expressing the anger aggressively, which is a safety issue. While the problem is mostly a Parent problem, the parent’s goal is for the child to eventually become mature enough to resolve similar emotions appropriately in the future.
WHY? Prior to the end of the transitional phase, around age four and five, children are still in the process learning to manage their bodily functions and impulses. Children who have high levels of testosterone (primarily but not exclusively boys and “tomboy” girls) often have difficulty managing their anger energy. Since they experience a strong chemical change when they are angry, they experience their anger not only as an emotion but as a source of energy they can’t bottle. The energy must come out somehow, so our job as parents is to help it come out in constructive ways, rather than destructive ways.
Ideally, we want children to learn how to manage their own anger and do so in a mature, responsible way. When children are young and inexperienced, it can be difficult to teach them how to manage their anger constructively. In this case, the situation is a PU Problem (Parent problem involving Unintentional misbehavior). If a child has learned anger management skills and intentionally chooses to not use them, the problem would be a PO Problem (Parent problem involving “On purpose” misbehavior). Whether the behavior is PU or PO, you can use the following suggestions:
POSSIBLE TOOLS TO USE
Prevention Toolbox:
Plan Ahead. Discuss the situation with your parenting partner, if applicable, so you can have a plan in mind the next time gets aggressive. Such a plan will help you both maintain your control when angry and respond to the problem consistently. Get agreements before you’re in potential problem situations. “You can play nicely or we will leave. If there is any hitting, I’ll know our visit is over.” “If you get tired of playing with him and want to leave, tell me in words. You can whisper in my ear.” “When we are at our house and you get angry, you can either hit the bop bag or go to your room and hit your pillow.” “When we are at his house, if you get angry, you can either run to another room and growl out your anger or come to me and I’ll hold you until you feel better.” (Substitute your own preferences for healthy alternatives.) Model Behavior. When child have anger problems, it gives us a chance to work on our own anger issues. Pay attention to how you handle your own anger. If your child’s angry outbursts turn into power struggles, you may be missing an opportunity to teach your child how to manage their own power, control, and anger issues. Learn how to manage anger constructively and respectfully. (See the “Keep Your Cool Toolset” in The Parent’s Toolshop.) Openly Model Behavior. Talk out loud the mental and physical process you go through that helps you maintain control. Don’t say this to the child, like a lecture. Children are like little sponges that soak in what you are saying if you just talk to yourself. Free child from roles or labels. When children lose their tempers, avoid labeling them a bully, a brat, or mean. Instead, express your faith in their ability to grow and mature by saying, “I know you can learn to be angry without hitting.” You can also remind them of times they worked through a problem without aggression or point out how far they went in the process before getting frustrated and resorting to hostility. If you think a child never tries to improve or change, start looking closer. Often having fewer outbursts is a sign that the child is improving. Use Descriptive Encouragement. Give children credit for every tiny effort they make in this area. It probably takes great effort despite how it appears to us. Pointing this out will help children see they are making progress. Be supportive of your children so you can help them, instead of frustrating them more with an ineffective or harsh response. If children think we can’t love them in spite of their anger, how can they love themselves or believe they are lovable? Don’t Say Don’t. Instead of “Don’t hit,” say, “Use words” or “People aren’t for hitting.” Create the picture of what you want children to do. They need a clear picture in mind to act on quickly in the heat of the moment. No “No’s”. If a “no” happens to slip out in a crisis, it probably qualifies as an emergency. Just be sure to back it up with limits and information such as, “Hitting hurts people” or “You can hit a pillow, but not people.” You may have to say this while you are rushing over to stop his hand in mid-air! Offer choices. Use choices to set limits and remind children of their options. “You can use words or walk away. Hitting is not one of your choices.” Choices within limits are part of most of the other tools available to you.
Child Problem Toolbox. When you are in the heat of the situation follow this formula:
Acknowledge feelings: State what you think the child is feeling, “I can understand why you are feeling (feeling) . . .” Set the limit or rule: “. . . but I expect (state the limit)” or “. . . but in this family we . . .”
Teach skills, offering specifics, “If you want (what the child wants), say (specific words).”
Problem Solving. Even a three-year-old can do problem solving, in a condensed version. On a good day, when your child is not angry and it is not immediately after a problem, follow this formula:
State your feelings: “I don’t like losing my temper, yelling, or seeing your friends treated meanly.” or “I have a concern about children getting hurt when another child gets angry.” Make this a short one-sentence statement, not a lecture. Quickly move to the next step and come back to your feelings/concerns later. Listen to the child’s feelings, “How do you feel when you lose your temper?” “How do you feel when your friends get hurt?” Explore Alternatives: “When you are angry, what do you think you can do?” Don’t evaluate any ideas yet. Identify your child’s anger energy style (Verbal involves yelling/screaming and Physical involves hitting, kicking, pushing, etc.) and their recharge style (Internal needs to be alone and External needs to be around people or stimuli). Generate ideas that fit the child’s individual style combination (i.e., Internal/Verbal, External/Physical). With verbal anger energy, suggest ideas such as, “Use words,” offering specific examples. With physical anger energy, suggest actions that disperse anger energy, such as punching a bop bag or pillow, running, swinging, walking away, or drawing. Evaluate the ideas. “Well, yes, hitting is one of your options. What would happen if you hit him? How would you feel? How would he feel? How would the teacher feel?” If children don’t dismiss an inappropriate idea on their own, use a value statement like, “I don’t agree with hitting other people. What are some of your other ideas? Is there something else that might work better?” Devise a plan and practice a few hypothetical situations. Use a code word or signal to remind the child of the agreement when you sense things heating up.
PU Toolset (Unintentional). Use these tools when the aggressive behavior is the result of lack of skills. In addition to the skill training, problem-solving, choices, and communication tools already listed, you can also use distraction. Take one of the children, quickly remove the child, and get the child involved in an acceptable activity. Do not remove an angry child to a setting where there is an absence of activity unless he has an Internal recharger; otherwise the lack of physical outlets will only increase the anger energy. Replace the unacceptable behavior with options that will channel the energy appropriately.
Understand the purpose of PO (“On purpose” misbehavior).
If the purpose is attention, either remove the child from the situation or remove the attention from the situation. Interact as little as possible in the process of removing the child or the attention. If the purpose is power, be aware of who the child is trying to control. You can say, “If you want to do things your way, explain it to him nicely.” or “If you want him to share with you, ask him politely if you can have a turn.” Suggest the exact words if such a general statement would be to vague. If the child is trying to control your decisions by aggressively resisting, restate the choices within limits. Then point out that, “If you can’t decide without hurting, I’ll know you need to calm down before we discuss this further.” This can lead you into discipline. Remember, that the kind of control the child really wants is self-control or some control over the options.
If the purpose is revenge, acknowledge the child’s hurt feelings without condoning the child’s actions. Say, “I understand you are angry, but in this family we don’t hit.” or “You don’t like what he did. Tell him, ‘I don’t like that!’”
Discipline Toolset
As you can see, there is a lot parents can do to prevent and respond to aggressive behavior before or instead of discipline. If the problem is recurring, use problem solving to get agreements and build discipline into the plan. When you state what the discipline will be or need to follow through, be very careful to control your anger and follow through calmly and firmly. You are the grown-up, so control yourself until you have a chance to dis-engage and calm down. Possible disciplines are:
Logical consequence - Social outings with children are a special opportunity, so you must show that you can be responsible when you have a problem and get angry. “If you show me you are not ready to work out your problems without hurting people I’ll know you’ve decided to leave. I will give you one opportunity to change your behavior, then we WILL leave. Do you understand?”
If the aggression takes place at school or in a setting where he can’t leave, then the restriction can be on social activities at home, until the next day. Don’t make the time period any longer the first time, or if it only happens infrequently. Keep it reasonable. What your child needs is more practice, not punishment that increases his resentment even more.
Time-outs - “You can either calm down or we will leave the room, you decide.” “I see a boy who’s getting very angry!”, you say as you hurry toward him to stop the aggression. “Quick! Go cool off. Come back when you feel ready to play again.” Present the time-out as a choice so he learns that controlling his anger is his responsibility. Using choices will also prevent the time-out from turning into a power struggle.
If a tantrum starts by trying to get him to leave the situation, offer a choice once, like, “You can walk by yourself or I can carry you out.” Always present removal as a choice before you follow through. If you still get physical resistance, pick child up using ONLY as much firmness or strength as is necessary to protect you and others, but not enough to harm the child. You need to remain in control or he’ll get even more scared. Carry him with his flailing arms and feet facing out (I learned this one the hard way!). Keep your voice calm but firm and say in his ear, “I will not let you hurt yourself or others. When you calm down we can go back.” If you have already left once or it is getting to be time to go, change the last part to, “Next time we get together with your friends, you’ll have another chance to practice using words when you are angry.” Chances are your child will be crying, sad, angry, maybe even revengeful. Acknowledge feelings once or twice, then ignore the tantrum. Any further attention will reinforce the tantrum. If you think it is disrespectful for you to have to leave your friends because of your child’s behavior, think about your long-term goal. Remember, This too shall pass. When it does, you will be able to spend all your time visiting, instead of refereeing fights.
If a child hurts someone’s feelings or body, have the child make amends. Do NOT force the child to say “I’m sorry”. That can lead to a power struggle. You want your child to take responsibility for the consequences of what he did, not get an easy excuse or cancellation of his responsibility by saying those two words insincerely. Tell him, “If you hurt someone, I expect you to take care of their hurt.” If it’s feelings, have him ask if the other child is okay. He can say he’s sorry or hug him, if that is what he sincerely wants to do. But he has to at least check to make sure the other child is okay. If it is a body that’s hurt, the hurtful child needs to be involved in cleaning, getting ice, holding cloth, putting a bandage on, or helping with these things if he’s too young to do them by himself. If the child chooses not to fix the hurt, you know he’s decided to leave.
I want you to know, up front, that this is a problem that may not improve overnight. It sometimes takes months to years, from about age two until about age five, for children to be able to internalize and apply what they have learned. Seeing results will take longer than other problems, but be patient. You will have times when you feel discouraged and think you aren’t getting through. You will have embarrassing situations that test your patience. But soon you WILL see little glimpses of times when your child practices what you’ve taught him. And when your child matures, you will find his anger management and conflict management skills are sometimes even higher than the children who never seemed to lose their temper when they were younger. Pursuing long-term goals that teach skills versus short-term solutions that punish the behavior is the key to resolving this problem successfully.
Other resources that might help:
The Little Boy Book, by Sheila Moore Your Three Year Old (also Four year old), by Louise Bates Ames and Frances L. Ilg.
Jody Johnston Pawel is a Licensed Social Worker, Certified Family Life Educator, second-generation parent educator, founder of The Family Network, and President of Parents Toolshop Consulting. She is the author of 100+ parent education resources, including her award-winning book, The Parent’s Toolshop. For 25+ years, Jody has trained parents and family professionals through her dynamic workshops and interviews with the media worldwide, including Parents and Working Mother magazines, and the Ident-a-Kid television series. Jody currently serves as the online parenting expert for Cox Ohio Publishing’s mom-to-mom websites
Cool and Fun Kids Recipes, Classic Snack Recipes for Children
Making fun kids snacks is a great way to stave off boredom and keep the kids interested. Learning to cook is a great activity that kids of all ages can do. When the food is something fun that the kids are interested in, it can not only be a fun activity but a great learning experience as well. Be sure to prepare a large area so that the kids can help measure, pour, stir and shake lots of fun recipes. It’s a great idea to get out the aprons, tablecloths, and plan for a semi-messy kitchen while the kids have great fun making all kinds of fun and creative snacks for kids. If you love cooking, you should share that love with your children. Fun Kids recipes you can try at home are listed below. Be sure to visit our Ebook Library for more great recipe downloads, including Fun Recipes for Kids!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
2 c Sugar
2 c Corn syrup
18 oz Peanut butter
8 c Rice Krispies
6 oz Butterscotch morsels
6 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Bring sugar and syrup to a boil. Add peanut butter and cook, stirring until well blended. Remove from heat and pour hot mixture over cereal. Mix quickly and thoroughly. Spread in a greased 9x12x2 inch pan. Sprinkle butterscotch and chocolate morsels over top. Press morsels into bar mixture lightly with spoon. When cool, cut into bars and store at room temperature.
Kids Trail Mix
4 c Chex cereal
1/2 c Dried fruit bits
1/2 c Raisins
1/2 c Yogurt covered peanuts
1/2 c Reeces Pieces
Put into a large ziploc bag and shake to mix.
For More Great Kids Recipes, check out Fun Recipes for Kids
Angela Sullivan is a professional interior designer, decorator and author. Sign up for a free decorating newslettter, and download or purchase the book Designing On a Budget at http://www.designingonabudget.com The e-book features a great bonus package with worksheets and kitchen ideas. For great decorating information, articles and resources, visit http://www.houseinteriordecorating.com. Also visit Our Ebook Digital Store for great home, family and business self improvement e-books starting at just .
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