It’s not unusual for babies to go through a period of being shy as they’re beginning to speak, between the ages of 18 months and 3 years. The problem occurs when they don’t out grow that stage. Helping your child overcome shyness is best started whenever you realize they need help, so it’s never too late.

Attachment to a parent is one cause for shyness in babies and toddlers. Older children may be teased or criticized which leads them to shy away from social situations. While being shy may be good in that those shy children misbehave less, being shy means your child will likely have fewer friends, avoid situations where they’d be in the public eye, and often feel lonely. Shy children can also develop anxiety problems as teens as well as gastrointestinal issues.

Since children learn most by what they experience and by copying those around them, it’s always good to set a good example. How you respond or act in social situations can often determine how your child will act.

Initiate conversations rather than waiting for someone else to do it. Talk to and be friendly with the people you see at the grocery store. Introduce yourself when you meet new people. Although it’s wise to teach your child to not talk to strangers, help them realize that if you’re with them it’s alright to do so. Be willing to help people and join in social events.

Try to prepare your child for social situations such as birthday parties, family reunions, or visits to the doctor. Explain how there will be people who will want to speak with them and that you expect them to respond. Give them the opportunity to talk about their feelings to help ease their anxiety.

Give your child positive reinforcement. Tell them how much you appreciate a certain trait, that you’re glad they are your child, and give praise when they’ve had a success. Keep the lines of communication open and really listen to what your child has to say. They may find talking to you or another caring adult will make overcoming shyness easier.

Try to role play with your child if they’re going to be experiencing a new social situation. Pretend to be a stranger and start talking to them. Encourage them to ‘play along’ so they’ll have a chance to practice.

Avoid the inclination to answer for your child when they’re spoken to. In fact, allowing your child to do things for themselves in social situations will bolster their confidence even if they do stutter or stammer. Don’t allow their ‘shyness’ to be used as an excuse for getting out of situations they don’t like or doing things they don’t want to do.

You may know about how shyness can affect your life if you were shy as a child. Teach your child to be able to speak up. You can use some of these ideas or seek professional help. They know how to help your child overcome shyness but if you’re diligent to encourage them, they may be able to overcome it on their own.

The easiest, and probably the best, babysitter is someone who you already know and trust to keep your child. This could be a parent or other family member. You may also want to ask a friend who you know and who has a good rapport with the child. However, sometimes it’s simply not possible to get a family member or friend to keep your child.

Talk to your family, friends and co-workers. They may have suggestions for child care. Whether or not they decide to share their favorite babysitter with you, they may have other ideas or know of other people who are good with children and available to sit for you.

Call your church or synagogue, if you attend, to see if there are people they can recommend. They may have a pool of people they call on should they need sitting services during church events. The benefit of going through a church or synagogue is that they’ve checked anyone they would allow to work with children.

Local colleges or high school counselors may also be a good source for potential babysitters. Many have departments or classes for people interested in caring for children. Education and child development majors are already learning to care for children – why not allow one to get to practice in their chosen field.

Obviously a newborn or infant is going to need different care than one who is a toddler, preschooler or older. For very young children you would probably want a sitter who is older and has more experience dealing with children that age. Children who are older may be fine with an older, responsible teen watching them.

Conduct an interview with the potential sitter. Discuss their experience, whether or not they’ve been trained in first aid and CPR, and what pay they expect to receive. You’ll also want to discuss any other things which concern you. Ask them which age children they prefer and why, what they would do in emergencies, and how they would enforce family rules.

Ask for and check references carefully. They should be happy to provide this information to you. If they become offended by your request and won’t provide references, you probably don’t want them to keep your children. Verify their training, if possible.

Set up a time before they sit for them to meet your children. Children are a great judge of character so watch how they react to the potential sitter. Pay attention to how they react with your children. Do they get down on the floor to play with dolls or sit on the couch and watch from a distance?

Plan a trial babysitting time. Have the sitter come to your house for an hour or so while you run to the store. While you’re supposed to be gone, pop back in and see how things are going. If you’re satisfied that they’re taking good care of your children, don’t feel bad about leaving again.

Using these tips to find the right babysitter can help tremendously. However, if you’re still not sure and your children are verbal, ask them what they think of the potential sitter. You may be surprised at their answer.

The best way to avoid having selfish children is to model selflessness. Be willing to serve others and do so both when and where your children will see you. Shovel snow for an elderly neighbor, serve meals at a homeless shelter, or deliver meals to the elderly or housebound. Encourage your children to join you as you reach out to others.

Encourage your little ones to take turns by giving them something. When they give it back to you, praise them or clap your hands to display your approval. This will reinforce their desire to please you and will prepare them to learn to share.

When a baby or toddler takes a toy from another child, your first inclination may be to take the toy away and give it back to the other child. Your reaction is correct – your child should not take things from others – but if you take the toy you’re doing the same thing. It may confuse your child even at an early age.

Allow your child to have several toys that are off limits to others. It’s important for your child to understand ownership and have some things that are ‘mine,’ but you also want them to learn to let others play with some of their other toys. Having some items which your child knows they won’t have to share may make it easier to let someone play with those toys which are to be shared.

Besides teaching your child to share, you also want them to learn to understand another’s feelings. You want your children to pay attention to others when they’re being spoken to, so your best choice is to stop what you’re doing and pay attention to them. Since children are little copycats, they’re likely to duplicate what they’re shown. Remember the poem “Children Learn What They Live;” modeling how you want your child to act is the best way to teach them empathy.

Do you want your child to be generous? Again, let your children see your generosity. Let them see you write out a check to a local charity. Encourage them to let go of some toys they no longer play with or clothing they no longer wear. This will be easier for them when they get new things. Allow them to take the items they’re giving away to a local women’s shelter or children’s charity.

Teach your child to acknowledge gifts they receive. Rather than simply telling someone thank you, help them write thank you notes for each gift. This may be difficult for very small children, but it should be easy for older children who can write. Not only will this activity teach your children to be considerate – it can also help their handwriting skills.

Thinking of ways of teaching kids how not to be selfish can be frustrating, but you know it’s the right thing to do. It’s not an easy job to be a parent but it can be a rewarding, particularly when your child shows selflessness rather than being selfish.

Before you take your child out to ride their bike, you may want to keep a few things in mind:

* Make learning to ride their bike fun. If it’s not fun, they’ll want to quit.

* Wait until your child tells you they’re ready. You may be excited to get them on the path to two-wheeled adventures, but they may not be so sure just yet. Let them set the pace.

* Be sure you have a safe, level place for them to learn. Take them where there’s no traffic and the area is large, flat and paved.

* Have the necessary safety equipment – helmet, knee and elbow pads – and ensure they’re worn properly.

Has your child mastered riding a tricycle or bike with training wheels? Have they asked you to remove the training wheels so they can ride like a big boy or girl? This will probably happen around the time your child turns five or six, but don’t push them.

Remove the training wheels and lower the seat until your child can sit comfortably with their legs straight and place their feet on the ground. This will enable them to put their feet on the ground if they start teetering or losing balance. Be sure the tires are properly inflated.

Have your child scoot with their bike, keeping their feet on the ground. When they become more comfortable, ask them to coast on their bike by picking their feet up. As they grow more confident in their coasting skills, they’ll soon be ready to begin turning.

While coasting, help your child turn the handlebars to make big, easy turns. Set a cracker 10 feet in front of them and ask them to run over it. This teaches them to scan ahead to avoid things in their path. Before long they’ll be ready to start pedaling.

Raise the seat a little and while holding onto the back of the bike, let your child start from a stopped position. Have them put one foot on the ground and one foot on the pedal. Tell them to press down on the pedal and put their foot on the other pedal. Continue to help them balance slightly, but let them do most of the balancing.

Continue to hold the bike to stabilize them while they slowly pedal the bike. Teach them to brake by placing a foot on the ground or using a handle brake if their bike has it. Allow them to ride slowly until they are comfortable enough to pick up speed.

Once they’ve mastered riding without help, you may want to get the family together for a bike ride in the park. Take things slow and reinforce what your child has learned – making wide curves and watching in front of them – so they’ll be ready to ride on their own.

Teach your child the rules of the road when it comes to riding bikes. Wear brightly colored clothing, ride in order to keep control of the bike and be able to brake, ride a safe distance from other bikers, and look both ways before going into the sidewalk from the driveway.

Very young children seem to be a ball of perpetual motion. However, the older they get the less likely they are to stay active. Part of the reason children aren’t as active when they are growing up is that schools don’t stress physical education the way they once did. Parents also don’t feel allowing their child to play in the neighborhood is as safe as it once was.

One way to inspire kids to embrace exercise is to enjoy it yourself. If your children see you running, swimming, or doing some type of physical exercise, they’re going to understand how good it makes you feel. You can find an activity you can do as a family or as a parent and child. Here are some ideas:

* Riding bicycles
* Roller skating
* Swimming
* Jogging or running
* Rock climbing
* Hiking
* Gymnastics
* Martial arts

Plan to spend a minimum of one half hour per day, three days a week, getting the family involved physically. Explain the benefits of staying active including building strong bones and muscles, keeping weight under control, decreasing the possibility of developing type 2 Diabetes, or having a better outlook on life. Being physically active can also improve your quality of sleep, as well as give you the energy you need to be able to do the things you want to do. Physically active children also do better in school.

Find activities to match your child’s age. Obviously very young children will become bored with the sameness of running. They might, however, enjoy running if it is part of playing outdoor games such as Red Rover or Tag. Make exercise fun and children of any age are more likely to continue with it.

Encourage them to become involved in a sport. Determine what your child is most interested in and then find something they can do. Does your child love to dance? They may be willing to try dance classes or gymnastics. Does your child dribble a ball without stopping? Enroll them in a basketball camp or team with children their own age.

Once they do become involved in a sport or a physical activity, do everything you can to be there for them. No one likes to play a sport without having someone there to root them on. It’s no different for children. In fact, if you become involved as a sport parent, you may improve your relationship with your child.

Knowing how to inspire kids to embrace exercise can be confusing but it doesn’t have to be. More than anything, your children will model what they see you do. If you’re active and exercise regularly, your children will be more willing to follow in your footsteps.

Description: A very straightforward report on how to help your child make it through those high school years. This informative report gives you insight from helping your teenager figure out who they are to dealing with bullies and peer pressure.

Review: Being a parent can have it’s ups and downs. It is not easy and unfortunately they do not come with a manual. In my day, you either asked your own parents for help, a good friend, or just had to wing it and hope in the end you did the right thing.

For today’s parents there are many opportunities available to help with certain types of situations and most parents are willing to look for and find the information they need. If you’re looking for some guidance in helping your teenager make it through high school then you need to pick up a copy.

This guidance is some of the best I have read. The author, Aurelia Williams, gets right to point of the matter and leaves nothing to chance. With experience herself she knows and has used this information with her own children. It had to have worked because as honest as this report is I would never imagine her giving it to anyone else if it didn’t.

Dealing with a teenager can be very stressful. First off, they are a teenager and have no idea what is going on in their mind or with their bodies. If that’s not enough they also have to deal with other teenagers who are going through the same things. I didn’t have a clue how to help my children at this age. As I was reading this report I found myself saying things like, “Yes, that would have worked! Why didn’t I think of that?”

This Report deals with helping your teenager find out who they are. To me that’s probably the most important part of a teenager’s life. It’s not easy. How many of us still don’t have a clue who we are? With the information in this report you can help set your child on their way to figuring this out and being proud of who they are and what they stand for.

It also gives you some insight into how to help your teen deal with some pretty tough things. Things such as peer pressure and the bullies they might be facing in their school. It even goes into dealing with relationships and how to handle dates and the dating rules you set as a parent.

Helping Your Teen in High School is just full of great information on helping your child through their high school years. Even if you don’t have a teenager yet this report can help you. If you’re like me, your teenagers are grown and on their own but I needed it to be able to deal with my grandchildren and the things they will be going through as a teenager. I’m really glad I have this report and it will come in very handy when it’s Grandma’s time to help.

Iron is an important mineral and is a key part of hemoglobin, present in the red blood cells and used to carry oxygen around the body. Children with iron-deficient anemia can develop mental, motor, or behavioral problems. Symptoms include:

* Pale skin, lips, or under the eyelids
* Increased heart rate
* Difficulty catching their breath
* Dizziness
* Irritability
* Headache
* Lack or energy or becoming easily fatigued
* Sore or swollen tongue
* Slowed growth or development
* Slow healing wounds

Children of various ages require different levels of iron. Young children require approximately 7 to 10 milligrams of iron each day. Adolescent males need 12 milligrams and females need 15 milligrams of iron each day. By eating foods which provide this important mineral, you can expect them to have strong muscles and sufficient hemoglobin production.

Consider adding any of the following foods to your family’s diet to increase the amount of iron your child has access to each day: Meats including beef, eggs, veal, chicken liver, chicken, pork, and turkey as well as non-meat sources of iron like iron-fortified cereal, cooked lentils, grits, fortified oatmeal, legumes of any kind, spinach, whole wheat bread, peanut butter, and raisins.

Red meats are considered to be the best source of iron, but many people choose to avoid eating meat. While the amount of iron in legumes, soybeans, and green leafy vegetables isn’t as high as red meat, they can be used to get enough iron if you’re a vegetarian or vegan. Eating foods which contain Vitamin C while eating foods containing iron will help your body absorb more of the iron.

Since children need only 7 to 10 milligrams of iron each day, it is possible to ensure they receive their daily allowance by providing foods which are high in iron. Iron-fortified cereals may have an entire day’s worth of iron in one serving. Or you can break up their intake over the entire day, ensuring they have some iron-laden foods at each meal.

If you’re concerned about whether your child is deficient in iron, you can take them to their pediatrician and have them checked. The doctor will take a blood sample to test it. If they are anemic, the doctor may recommend diet changes or the addition of a vitamin and mineral supplement with iron. Please be sure to keep any iron supplements out of reach of children as too much iron can be dangerous for a child.

Parents want the best for their children. That means they want them to be happy and healthy. If you’re concerned that your child isn’t getting enough iron and wondering how to increase their iron intake, you can add some of the foods listed above or talk with your child’s doctor and follow their advice.

Clutter is like an avalanche. It starts out small and then begins to snowball. When your kids don’t put up their toys or paints or books at the end of playtime, the mess gets worse with each passing day. But, you can tame the playroom – with the kids’ help.

1. Come up with an organizational method. It doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate but something that the kids can get on board with. This can be a system of containers, drawers, bins or whatever else you like to use to hold all of their items. Depending on the size of their toys, buying a mix of small, medium and large will probably do the trick.

2. Move out what is not working. You certainly didn’t mean for the playroom to get out of control in the first place. There was probably a shelf or bench where they were supposed to keep their toys. The problem with lids, even ones that close slowly, is that kids may not be able to raise the lid or can even get their fingers caught. Remove the bench and replace it with your new organizational system.

3. Make it easy for them. If you use pictures on the front of the containers even your younger kids will know what toys go there. And, keep the organizational system at their level. Bins that are too tall can topple over on them. If the shelves are more your height than theirs, have them lowered.

4. Kids love colors. You can use colors to separate each child’s toys. It is a simple way to handle the things that they play with most. When they are done playing, they can toss Mr. Rabbit or Ms. Frog into their bin and clean-up is done.

5. Use a bowl for crayons and markers. You can buy low tables that kids can sit at to draw or color pictures. When they are done, have them toss their crayons into a large bowl. The bowl and their books can stay on the table. This keeps the books off of the floor. If you have an older child, they can stack the books on the table after everyone is finished.

Organizing a playroom is not as difficult as one might think when you take the users into account. Keep storage items low to the ground for easy access and use colors to separate personal toys.

Fixing baby food at home has its benefits:

* More nutritious
* No preservatives
* Access to the foods they want to eat readily
* More economical

There are a few basic food preparation do’s and don’ts to observe while you are getting the hang of things. After a while it will all become second nature.

* DO clean the area thoroughly before doing any food preparation (countertops, cutting boards, sinks).

* DO wash your hands in the beginning and between each food that you prepare.

* DO keep raw meats separate from vegetables and fruits.

* DO clean all utensils to be used before and between foods (knives, colanders, food processors, bowls, jars and etc.).

* DO wash all fruits and vegetables before cooking them. Even ones from the grocery store need to be free of all organic matter and as many bacteria as possible.

* DO remove seeds and skins from fruits and vegetables before cooking them.

* DON’T let meat thaw on the counter where juices can leak everywhere. Only thaw in the refrigerator.

* DON’T serve baby any meat that is not “well done.”

* DON’T leave cooked food out on the counter for more than two hours before refrigeration.

* DON’T store foods warm. Allow them to cool first so no condensation forms inside the container.

When baby is first learning to eat, keep it simple. Finger foods are going to be the main thing that they crave. You can begin with fruit pieces like bananas, apples, peaches and strawberries. For the apples and peaches, remove the skin first.

You can store cubed fruits in Ziploc bags in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Add a little bit of lemon juice to the apple pieces to keep them from turning brown and yucky. In actuality, most fruits can stay on the counter until you are ready to feed them to baby. It only takes a few minutes to cut them up.

Any vegetable that you give to baby needs to be cooked first. This is not a complete cooking process but just until they are soft. Once the food has cooled, use freezer bags to store extra vegetables for a later time. Date the outside of the bags so you know how long you have kept them. Try to use them up within a month.

When you prepare baby’s food at home, cleanliness is the first order of the day. To keep baby safe, following the information above is a great start. Now, let them enjoy some wholesome, healthy food!

They probably named these activities chores because they were things no one wanted to do but that had to be done. Now that you have children, it’s time to teach them the time-honored tradition of taking out the trash and washing the dishes. But, this time, you can make it fun because you know why chores are important.

Before you start thinking, the main reasons for doing chores are listed here. Some parents may be more likely to assign chores when they realize how they actually help their child.

1. Chores teach responsibility. Kids like to play like they are grown-ups. When you give them something to do that their parents can do, they feel more important. Kids are a part of the family too and they are never too young to pitch in. When they perform a task and do a good job, give them positive feedback.

2. Chores aid in their development of certain skills. Children learn hand/eye co-ordination, how to naturally solve problems and attention to detail. These are but a few of the skills that they can develop through chores.

3. Children learn to follow instructions. In school, this is important. They’ll get a lot of instructions throughout the day from how to perform a certain math problem to walking in a straight line to the cafeteria. You can give them a head start with their chores. Before turning them loose with the vacuum or the dish rag, demonstrate as well as verbalize what they need to do.

4. Chores are a team effort. Kids aren’t the only ones who have to do daily tasks. When they only see themselves being told what to do, they get discouraged. Perform your tasks at the same time so your children see that everyone pitches in together. For household chores (other than picking up their belongings at the end of the day), set aside Saturday mornings as chore time. Your older kids will be less likely to object when everyone is working.

5. Chores teach life skills. When your child goes to college one day, they will be on their own. You don’t want them living in squalor. They may surprise their classmates when they can wash, fold and iron their clothing and keep their side of the room clean.

Chores aren’t always the most pleasant thing to do but they are a necessary part of life. Kids learn how to care for themselves, be a responsible part of the family and to develop skills they will need throughout their lives.