Category: Step Parenting
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7 Tips for Being a Better Stepparent
By Jamell Andrews With the rate of failed marriages increasing, more and more people are becoming step-parents. Stepping into the role of parent for a child that already has a mother and father isn’t always easy. Even with the challenges you may face, being a stepparent can be rewarding and you can form a strong […]
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Helicopter Parenting – Are You Guilty of It?
By Jamell Andrews It’s hard to imagine that a parent could take too much interest or responsibility for their child or give them too much attention. Isn’t that a parent’s job and right as the person responsible for bringing them into this world and loves them more than anything? It turns out that you could […]
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Taking Short Breaks from Daily Parenting Duties Is Good
Taking Mini-Breaks from Daily Parenting Duties Is Good for You, Will Recharge You We know that you are a loving, dedicated mom (or dad!), and there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things you want to do for your family. But it is important to remember that taking a break from […]
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Parenting Tactics That Damage Your Child’s Self Esteem
Be aware that even though you feel you are doing your very best raising your child, sometimes your parenting strategies can be damaging to your child’s self-esteem and the parent-child relationship. Your child needs to grow up with a healthy level of self-esteem to be more resilient to the lessons learnt and the knocks taken […]
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Welcoming a Second Child: How to Handle the Change
By Lisa Pecos Having a first child is one of the most difficult things you will ever have to do. From the middle stages of pregnancy until those blessed later months of the first year when the baby gets less fussy and more predictable, you are put through a series of challenges that test every […]
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The Negative Effects of the Media on Teens
By Lisa Pecos Today’s kids plug into media at an earlier age than their predecessors, and the amount of media they consume is staggering compared to the habits of past generations. According to a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average child between the age of eight and 18 consumes media for seven […]
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Spread Your Wings and Fly…
In the early evening I would sit outside under the tree near our house and watch the birds. One day I saw a Blue Jay come and chase the other birds away if they got to close. I noticed that every time she did that, 2 little Blue Jays would fly up and eat the […]
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It’s OK to be Different
Our son Michael was potty trained at nine months and spoke in sentences at 12 months old. At age two, he would listen to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite over and over. When a friend gave my husband and I tickets to see the Nutcracker one holiday season, I cringed! Mike did stand up comedy at the […]
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10 Tasks New Parents Should Master
Even if you have read all the books and been to all the classes, you cannot know exactly what it is like to be a parent until it actually happens. Every new parent encounters surprises and unexpected challenges. And while most of these challenges are easily overcome, they are quite serious given the fact that […]
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A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Stress
We like to think that a child’s world is all lightness and fun, but there are dark sides to the childhood experience. Especially in this age of increased expectations, rigorous study, and intense competition for educational opportunities, kids are increasingly dealing with stress in addition to all the traditional sources of bad feelings in children. […]
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8 Tips for Teaching Your Kids Good Manners
After a generations-long decline in the emphasis on manners when raising children, many 21st-century parents are rediscovering the importance of instilling values of politeness and decorum in their kids. Children who have good manners are better behaved in general, but they also tend to go far in the world because they know how to ingratiate […]
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Are You a Helicopter Parent?
Over the past several years, the phrase “helicopter parenting” has emerged in the media as a term for parenting styles that involve excessive intervention, attention, and guidance on the part of parents toward their children. The term is metaphorical; the parent is a helicopter constantly hovering over the child. It is often used pejoratively, and […]
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What to Do With a Child Who Whines
Pre-verbal children use crying to get what they need. After learning to talk, many children have trouble breaking this habit. In fact, some develop a rather complex system of sounds and gestures that sometimes includes crying, sometimes pouting, sometimes tantrums, and sometimes a loud, whiny voice. For parents, as much as we love our children, […]
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Encouraging Your Toddlers Caring Side
You probably find that little toddlers can be very kind and sweet but this is not always the case. How do you encourage their sympathetic side?
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How To Cope With Sibling Jealousy
Sibling jealousy is incredibly common. To the older child it can be an overwhelming and confusing feeling when confronted with a young sibling and parents need to be patient and understanding.
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A Look at ADHD
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is thought to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. The parts affected control concentration, attention and impulsivity.
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Building Confidence in Children
Are you helping or hindering your child’s self-esteem and feeling of confidence? Say your child tries to carry their bowl of food and a beaker of juice across the room, then trips and spills everything. Do you say ‘I told you not to do that! Now see what you have done!’ It is tempting but […]
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7 Common Mistakes First-Time Parents Make
Parenting is one of the hardest jobs you will ever have, and no stage is more difficult than the first few months with your first child. It is easy to be led astray by misguided assumptions and poorly thought-out plans, and it is practically impossible to completely avoid making any mistakes. Parenting is after all […]
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The 6 Most Important Parent-Child Talks
No one said parenting was going to be easy. As children grow up, countless issues can arise, and as parents it is our job to try to guide our children through these times to the best of our abilities. An essential part of this job is to talk to our children about serious issues that […]
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Helping Children Deal with Divorce
By Jamell Andrews Divorce is a stressful event for everyone involved. Just because parents are the two individuals who are directly going through the process, it does not mean that the children involved are immune from the negative effects. For the most part, the various reactions that children have to news of divorce will depend […]
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The Complementary Parenting Styles of Mom and Dad
By Jamell Andrews It is believed that children develop into who they (ultimately) are based on the confidence their parents have as parents. In other words, if mom and dad are not comfortable being parents, or if they do not exude very much self-confidence in this role, their children are likely to pick up on […]
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Stepping Into a New Role: Balancing Love as a Stepmother
By Jessica Lawson With divorce rates in America at an all-time high, it is practically inevitable that our children will be affected by broken marriages either directly or through friends. Difficulties, both emotional and physical (due to moving back and forth between residences), can threaten a child’s sense of home and blur the roles of […]