Instilling the love of reading into a child is one of the greatest lifetime gifts any parent can give his child.  People who read are more engaging, make better money, and live fuller lives. (There are countless studies that back up those facts.)  But getting a child something that is engaging for them to read is a tough challenge.  It is with this in mind that we asked the question over on our sister site, Idea Offer, “What do you think is the best chapter books for a child who likes to read?” (more…)

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“Wah, Wah, Wah!” are the sounds flooding the baby monitor as we jump from the bed at 1 am.  I rush into the bedroom to find her fast asleep but crying frantically.  I pick her up and rock her, check her diaper and nothing gives.  Finally, I give her a pacifier and she is off to dreamland once again.

After a couple of nights of doing this, my wife and I decided enough is enough.  Our daughter has become a pacifier junkie.  We had gotten her so used to taking naps with it, that she would wake up in the night wondering where it went. (more…)

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There are times when we feel that our children are out to undermine our authority; they seem to do things intentionally that are obviously not allowed just to see how parents react. Are children naturally manipulative? I think that the answer is NO. When children do things that can stretch their parents’ patience to the limit, they are not being manipulative, we just interpret that kind of behavior as such. We feel that we are being challenged by the little person in front of us every time that little person does something that is off-limits, and our natural reaction is retaliation. We attack in return without consciously knowing it. We punish, we show strong disapproval, we make our child feel the consequences of challenging us, of trying to manipulate us. But what if we have read our children’s behavior incorrectly? (more…)

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I’m not a big fan of video games. In general, they are counter to socialization and imagination. They’re borderline addictive. I’ve seen kids get so wrapped up in Halo that they lost all sense of time and what was going on around them.

And so I was less than enthusiastic when my sister gave her favorite nephews a Wii for Christmas.  As far as video games go, this thing is fantastic.  This is not like other game systems that involve only staring at a screen while flailing one’s thumbs at super-sonic speed. (more…)

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Every child has the need to be loved, this is something that every parent should know. Every parent should be a nurturing parent. But how do we make our children know that we love them? Things as complex as love easily can get lost in translation in the equation of human relationships. That is why becoming a nurturing parent is not really easy to achieve. It takes many different interactions over the course of time to develop a healthy and nurturing relationship with your child. There is no fixed rule in parenting because every family is unique, so parents need to have a “feel” for how it’s done. But some general tips could help parents navigate through the difficult years of nurturing a child, here they are: (more…)

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