Mi Choza De Nipa: 10/25/2009

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Young Couch Potatoes

By Dr Bill Maier

Is your child spending too much time in front of the television? Here are a few good ways to "uproot" your little couch potato!

Young kids often watch television simply because they're bored and can't think of anything else to do.

Why not have them list all the things they enjoy doing, like playing board games, kicking around a soccer ball, riding bikes, or drawing pictures. Then post that sheet on the fridge and give them a reward whenever they do something on their list other than watching TV. It could be as simple as a gold sticker or an after-dinner snack.

You might also promise a special celebration for kids who choose to go a whole week without TV. Throw a party to affirm them for spending their time in more productive ways.

Watching television can easily become a negative habit, and the best way to break it is through encouragement and rewards. And kids who learn to tune out at a young age are much less likely to grow into adult couch potatoes.

From TODAY, Voices – Monday, 05-Oct-2009

Security in Defined Limits

Image via Wikipedia

By Dr James Dobson

Children feel more secure and therefore tend to flourish when they know where the boundaries are.

Imagine you're driving a car over Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado. And as a first-time traveller, you're pretty tense as you drive across.

Now suppose there were no guard rails on the side of the bridge. Where would you steer the car? Right down the middle of the road. Even though you don't plan to hit those protective railings along the side, you just feel more secure knowing that they're there. It's the same way with children.

There is security in defined limits. They need to know precisely what the rules are and who's available to enforce them. When these clear boundaries exist at home, the child lives in utter safety. He never gets in trouble unless he deliberately asks for it.

And as long as he stays in those reasonable, well-marked guard rails, there's mirth and freedom and acceptance.

This is the ingredient for raising healthy children and it's been applied by wise parents for thousands of years.

From TODAY, Voices – Friday, 02-Oct-2009

Your Family as a Hot-Air Balloon

Image via Wikipedia

By Dr James Dobson

Is your family soaring above the clouds right now, or are you weighed down by activities, appointments, and acquisitions?

My friend tells the story of the first hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean. When the men piloting the magnificent balloon were just off the coast of Ireland, they became caught in a heavy cloud cover and ice began to form on the balloon's outer shell.

They lost altitude, dropping quickly. The crew did everything they could to save the balloon. Finally, at nine-hundred metres, they broke through into sunlight.

Something like this scenario is repeated in far too many homes today. Our altimeter says we're sinking because we continue to add activities and stretch ourselves to the limit. Instead of adding, there's a time to cut back, to spend more time at home.

Then we can soar above the clouds, unencumbered by the things that weigh us down.

From TODAY, Voices – Thursday, 01-Oct-2009

Communicating with Word Pictures

Image by billnwmsu via Flickr

By Dr James Dobson

You talk and talk, but your husband just doesn't seem to get the point. Have you ever felt that happening?

Maybe it's time to try a new way of explaining how you feel. One very effective way to communicate your feelings is to paint a word picture.

A good friend once told me how one such word picture actually changed the lives of a married couple he knows. The wife was feeling distressed because her husband would come home from work and clam up. She told her husband a story about a man who goes out to breakfast with some good friends. He eats a big breakfast and then gathers some of the crumbs and throws them into a bag. Then he goes to lunch with some other friends, eats a big steak, and again throws a couple of crumbs into a bag. Then when he comes home at night, he hands his wife the bag. His wife told him, "That's what it feels like you are doing. All day long the children and I wait to talk with you, but do you know what happens? You don't share yourself with us. You come home from being out all day, and you hand us a doggie bag of leftovers."

The husband said hearing it described this way was like being hit by a truck. He apologized and began to work on opening himself to his wife and family. Word pictures are far more effective than a tornado of hostile comments.

From TODAY, Voices – Wednesday, 30-Sep-2009

The Pain of Release

Image by Whiskeygonebad via Flickr

By Dr James Dobson

The average teenager chomps at the bit to get out from under parental rule and during those tumultuous teenage years, many parents are only too eager to show their child the door. But when the time comes, releasing a child is often painful, if not impossible for many parents.

Some parents want to hold on to their youngsters long after their duties as parents are over. The same commitment that leads parents to do well when the children are small may also cause them to hold on too tightly when they're all grown up. However, it's the responsibility of the parents to release their grip and set the fledgling adult free to make it on his own. And parents who refuse to let go often force their child to choose between two poor alternatives.

The first is to yield to parental domination which makes them dependent puppets. The second is to respond like a mountainous volcano that blows its top, pouring lava on everything in its path. To ease your child out of the house and into the world, first look at your own hands. If you are holding on too tightly, this might be the very best moment to release the grip.

From TODAY, Voices – Tuesday, 29-Sep-2009

Who’s At Fault for Bad Kids?

Image via Wikipedia

By Dr James Dobson

Whose fault is it when a child goes bad? Who gets the blame when adolescents skip school, or spray graffiti on a bridge, or begin to experiment with drugs?

In the opinion of some people, parents are inevitably responsible for the misbehaviour of their teenagers, and certainly, many deserve that criticism. Some of them are alcoholics, child abusers, or they otherwise damage their kids in some way. But I think it's time we admitted that the sons and daughters of some very loving, caring parents can go astray too. A hundred years ago, if a kid went bad, he was a bad kid. Now it's the fault of his dear old mum and dad who "mishandled his childhood". Well, maybe; and maybe not.

Teenagers are old enough to make some irresponsible choices of their own, and they must share the consequences of their mistakes and failures.

Am I trying to take bad parents off the hook and make them feel better for their shortcomings? No. But I do want to speak on behalf of those good-as-gold mums and dads who did the best they could. They deserve a pat on the back, not a slap in the face.

From TODAY, Voices – Monday, 28-Sep-2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Identifying, Treating Dyslexia

Image via Wikipedia

By Dr Bill Maier

More than one in five kids today are affected by dyslexia. The good news is, it can be treated once it’s identified.

Recent research shows that dyslexic kids can almost always overcome it by using a phonics based reading programme.

Many schools today use a reading curriculum called “whole language”, which basically depends on the child’s ability to memorise thousands of words and their sounds individually.

The problem is, dyslexic kids don’t respond to this type of learning. They need a programme that teaches them to decode each word one syllable at a time. Phonics breaks down the English language into 42 basic sounds, which is much more manageable.

There are a lot of good phonics programmes on the market. You can look on the Internet, and talk to your child’s teacher to see what you can do at home to help them through this problem.

From TODAY, Voices – Friday, 25-Sep-2009