What do you do if your child calls you by your first name? Some parents ignore it, some get mad and some want respect. Most of the time, kids at an early age say their parents’ first name simply because it is a way for them to feel very powerful. Here are some of the ways to handle it.

You can just ignore it. If you act upset, he won. He got into your nerves. You can pull rank by telling him that if he calls you by your first name, you will not respond or answer back. But if he calls you Mom or Dad, then you will respond in a timely manner.

First name calling is usually a short lived phase. In a couple of weeks, your kid will get over it so don’t take it too hard on yourself.

As an adult, we make it a point that we watch every calorie intake for the day. But that is way too different in the case of children. Calories are very important for kids on the go. They need these to fuel them up for the rest of their day.

Children are very active and without calories, these energies will not be replaced. It is fine for them to have more calories since they can easily burn this by simply running around the house. You can add calories in every meal for the rest of the day.

When I was a kid, I had a lot of source for calories and true enough, it kept me energized to last a whole day of my active lifestyle.

At school, groups will always be present. The popular kids, the intelligent and geeky kids, the quiet and secluded ones and the bullies. When your child gets bullied you will notice his dislike to go to school. He would not prepare to go, he would not be excited to wake up everyday, and he would often look pale and sad every time he leaves the house.

Those are signs that your child is being bullied. It will cause a lot of trauma for your kid. Moving would not help because the pain is still there. Teach him how to defend himself by talking to those who bully him. Unless he learns how to stand up for himself, people will always step on him. This is a valuable lesson that most parents have to teach their kids. Also, try to talk to his teachers and to the parents of those who are always bullying him.

When you see a 1 year old sucking his thumb, he looks like a lovely angel. But for an 8 year old? That looks really nasty. The thumb suckers will always get picked on at school and they will end up being the laughing matter of everybody. I remember that I had the same problem before too but I stopped when I first had a crush on someone. It was my own decision to stop and it just made me realize that I am in control of myself.

I remember what my mother used to tell me back then. She told me that I need to gain control over myself and that I should not tend to suck if I get intimidated or scared. And I think that it is the key. A child should learn this all by himself so that he will be able to take control of his own actions.

You may have noticed sometimes that when your baby cries, only the mom can sotthe him up. When her dad picks him up, she would burst into more tears. It seems like she’s regarding her dad as a total stranger. Well, it is indeed heart breaking. But, this is a common scenario. Babies show their preference for one parent over the other at around 7 - 8 months. They would want to be with the person with whom they would feel secure, familiar and comforting. Basically, they would tend to be with the mother more since their dad is at work most of the day or vise-versa.

If this happens, the parent who is not so much preferred must understand that this is a normal reaction of a child. All he or she has to do is to make up for the time lost and try being close to the child whenever they have the time.

For work-at-home fathers such as myself, I am having a pretty hard time making my kid stop whenever I am working. There are times that he just would not stop making noises while I am on the phone or he kept on taking papers that are pretty important for me. While watching a kiddie TV show, I got an excellent idea.

I kept a box full of interesting materials so that my kid could play with it while I am working. I had one big box full of coloring materials, used papers with difference colors and sizes. kid-friendly scissors and glue.

For the past few weeks, I haven’t complained while working. It had worked wonders for me. Hopefully, it will help you deal with your kid too.

I felt bad when my son pointed at a guy and said that he looked really funny and ugly. I can attest that he was not that good looking but that definitely hurt the man’s feelings. I was ashamed and furious because of this. I had to go home without saying a word and when we got home, I told my child that he did something really bad today. He said eh was just saying the truth.

I told him that he has to hold those words from coming out of his mouth and for once, he has to think of the feelings of other people before saying those words because it hurts. I told him that there are many differences among other people but it is not the right way to say that. I told him to keep it in his mind until he is alone. I encouraged him to think before blurting it out. Hopefully, this will work.

Since my brother took my kid out hunting, he started shooting birds at our backyard with his slingshot. One time, I saw a number of birds lying dead. This is going bad because my child is not respecting life anymore. He feels powerful over the poor little birds and it makes me wonder how I should control him.

One day, while walking at the mall, I saw a couple of birds for sale. I bought 2 love birds and gave them to my child. I told him how to take care of it, feed it and play with it. After some time, he became caring and compassionate for those birds. He saw love coming out from them. I remember that when one of the birds died, he noticed how sad the other has become and he felt it too.

Sooner, there were no more dead birds around the backyard and he never touched his slingshot again. Where’s the slingshot? Its with me. I’m shooting down my old toys.

Your kids may be a huge cowabanga fan and loves pizza to. However, there are pizzas that have allergens that may trigger problems for your kids. But then, you can always create something that would make his pizza experience more fun and similar to how the same old pizza is prepared.

The recipe that I got from Parenting.Com is yeast and gluten free. Here is how they make those kinds of pizzas.

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 cups (75 grams) instant mashed potatoes
* 1 cup milk
* 1/4 cup butter, melted
* 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
* 1 teaspoon garlic salt
* 1/4 cup (40 grams) Parmesan
* 1/2 teaspoon sugar, optional
* Optional sauce and toppings

1. Combine all ingredients except for oil and optional sauce and toppings in a food processor, and blend until well incorporated. Let dough sit for 10 minutes.
2. Push desired amount of dough on the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. You may have thin or thick dough.
3. Brush oil over dough and place in a 425 degree F oven for about 30 minutes. Thinner dough might cook faster. If desired, turn the broiler on and crisp the top for an additional 5 minutes. Remove and prepare your sauce and toppings.

When I was a kid, my mom and I used to play scrabble a lot. It was something that I enjoyed playing because I get to know words that are pretty much new to my ears. The good thing about this is, my mom always finds the time to explain what a certain word means and she uses it in a sentence that I can fully understand.

Of course, before playing scrabble, she conditioned me. A couple of months before she bought the game board, we played the alphabet. I don’t really know if other kids call this a different game but what we played really increased my vocabulary.
Here are the steps:
1. Start from letter A.
2. Say a word that begins with the letter A.
3. The next person in line must say a word that begins with the letter in the end of the preceeding word.

Example scenario:

You: Apple
Mom: Elephant
You: Toy
Mom: Yacht
You: Tremble
Mom: Egg

Use the word in a sentence and if one does not know the meaning of a word, then consult the dictionary. It is fun if you  try to make it a tournament as well with certain prizes and awards.