Parenting Questions and Answers

You may have noticed how parents play with their children by pointing at a specific part of their body and then naming it. This is not just for the sake of playing with them. It is a form of teaching them the different body parts and then allowing them to recognize it. At 12 months old, your child can already identify different parts of your face. Usually, they recognize the parts of the face first because it is what they usually see from you. They will be able to recognize first before they can even say the name of the part. Hearing your voice while pointing at the specific part will help them recognize it. Also, describe the part while pointing at it. If you are pointing at your eye, then you might as well tell them that the eyes help us see. Also, give them a wide variety of examples. Point to your eye, have them look at the mirror and point at their eyes, or even get an illustration and point the eye. This way, they can identify the eye with a wide range of examples.

There will come a time that you will become anxious as to when your child will be taking his or her first steps. You may anticipate this at around 9 – 15 months old. It takes this long because the baby has to learn a lot of things first before being able to walk. These things include – pulling himself up, balance, standing and cruising.

Do not pressure your child to walk. Just give him or her space to practice. As much as possible, do not use walkers because he will not be able to develop their own walking skills. Also, keep them bare foot so that they would be able to develop balance.

If you noticed that your kid has been hanging out with a couple of kids who do not share your same interests, do not in any way try to forbid them from hanging out. This will only make things worse. They would probably choose to stay with them because the fact that you reprimanded them made their friends more appealing and that would make you the villain. They would no longer confide their problems with you when this happens. However, there is an exception to this. If you see your kid stealing or doing drugs already then you may have to break the bond. This may jolt him a little bit but it will benefit him in the long run. He will be able to understand this.

Before stepping into any conclusion, you have to get to know this kid first. You may find the kid not dangerous when you talk and observe. For example, your kid may want to hang out with athletes and adventurous people. When you observe them, you may notice that they are not as dangerous as you think they are. Try inviting your kid’s friends to your house and get to know them deeply.

Your child must be more than prepared already to play some organized team sports. You will notice this when she’s physically, mentally and emotionally ready. You can recognize that your child is prepared physically if he or she can catch a ball with two hands without losing balance. Mentally, your child can think fast and know what to do in case certain situations arise. You should also notice if your child can easily follow the rules. Your child should also be able to think and stick to a certain activity for almost an hour. Emotionally, you should notice that the child is ready and eager to meet other kids and become a team player. The passion of the game must be noticed at once.

Is your child ready for team sports? Don’t force them if they do not want to. You just have to wait until that time arrives.

Teaching your baby how to anticipate is fun and exciting. You’ll soon find out that they will be able to learn cause and effect at a very young age because of their past experience with it. They will come to know as well that their actions have specific consequences.

Anticipation happens whenever you try to play with your child. There games such as tickling them that make them laugh all the time. The trick here is to form your hands into claws every time you tickle them. You’ll be surprised to find out that when the time comes, your child will start laughing once you make the claws. He anticipates a good tickle afterwards. Same goes for the game peek-a-boo. He will anticipate that you will be coming out of your hands in a few moments. Enjoy the time with your kid. Make sure that having fun is simultaneous to learning and building a new personality and character.

Having your child eat healthy food can be stressful at times and the stress piles up when you try to include vegetables in the menu. I learned from a good friend of mine that children love to eat something that looks appealing, small or cute in size and sometimes a specific color scheme. And so I thought, why not mix healthy food with what my son loves to eat? After all, I’ve been doing this when I have to get him to drink his antibiotics.

First thing that came into my mind was burgers. My son loves to eat burgers especially those with much mustard in it. What I did was, while preparing the patties, I mixed pureed vegetable base along with it and I placed a lot of mustard and ketchup (which he loved). Next thing I know, everything was gone! He thanked me for a great meal and I thanked the mustard for such a good cover up job.

There will come a time that you would have to bring your child to the office for any particular reason. Your officemates may want to get to know him or simply because your wife has something important to attend to and nobody will be at home with your kid. If you decide to do this, then here are some things that you should do:

1. Let your co-workers know ahead of time that you will be bringing your child. Do not just surprise them since it may give them a negative impression about you.

2. Give your child something to do so that he would not play around with important documents or equipments.

3. Do not take him in for quite a long time because chances are, he might get into someone’s way.

You may notice that your child has several soft spots in his head. This is perfectly normal and besides, some professionals often say that this soft spots make your child smart! The skull is not yet hardened and it makes room for the growth of the brain.

The cradle cap scales can be removed. They are not as delicate as they look and it is perfectly fine to comb and shampoo their hair. The soft spots are also not stationary. You will be able to see that it gradually pumps up and down. This is because the blood is circulating and moving. It is perfectly normal. The soft spots are also indications of a serious illness. If it remains sunken for more than a few minutes and it is accompanied by diarrhea or vomiting then you may need to see a doctor immediately.

If you notice that your child is inclined to music then try to encourage him or her more. There are a lot of ways to motivate a child into playing musical instruments. At a young age, they become artistic and you have to be more supportive when that happens. Here are some of the motivational things that you can do for your child.

1. Sit nearby when they practice. This will eliminate distractions and you can even cheer them on as they practice.

2. Keep the instrument clean, handy and within sight. By doing this, he will be encouraged to practice every time he sees it.

3. Hold mini-concerts. This will keep him motivated to practice for a concert. Ask neighbors to come and visit and hold a small party with him as the performer.

The all time favorite game of babies is still blocks. Building blocks and eventually destroying them at the end of the day. A research by a doctor in Seattle stated that there is actually a good benefit from this game.

Children 1-2 years of age who play with blocks score 15 % higher in language development tests than those who are not. Also, they tend not to watch television shows compared to those who do not play blocks.

By simply spending 20 – 30 minutes with your baby to play blocks will make a total difference with the way they develop their intellectual capacity. There are great things you can do with blocks like arranging them by their colors, building houses for dolls and bridges for small cars and the all time favorite knock the tower game.