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Thirsty Fish: Swimming in a Sea of Q and A.

Things I Amplify from the web

10 Principles of an Aware Parent

I just learned about Dr. Aletha Solter's book and principles of Aware Parenting. I don't know why it took so long to become acquainted with her work but her ideas are extremely close to my own thoughts on parenting. Her ideas are timely in this day of discovery about the healing aspects of mindfulness. Read through her 10 Principles and see where they resonate with your own parenting thoughts.

Amplify’d from www.awareparenting.com

1. Aware parents fill their children's needs for physical contact (holding, cuddling, etc.). They do not worry about "spoiling" their children.

2. Aware parents accept the entire range of emotions and listen non-judgmentally to children's expressions of feelings. They realize that they cannot prevent all sadness, anger, or frustration, and they do not attempt to stop children from releasing painful feelings through crying or raging.

3. Aware parents offer age-appropriate stimulation, and trust children to learn at their own rate and in their own way. They do not try to hurry children on to new stages of development.

4. Aware parents offer encouragement for learning new skills, but do not judge children's performance with either criticism or evaluative praise.

5. Aware parents spend time each day giving full attention to their children. During this special, quality time, they observe, listen, respond, and join in their children's play (if invited to do so), but they do not direct the children's activities.

6. Aware parents protect children from danger, but they do not attempt to prevent all of their children's mistakes, problems, or conflicts.

7. Aware parents encourage children to be autonomous problem-solvers and help only when needed. They do not solve their children's problems for them.

8. Aware parents set reasonable boundaries and limits, gently guide children towards acceptable behavior, and consider everyone's needs when solving conflicts. They do not control children with bribes, rewards, threats, or punishments of any kind.

9. Aware parents take care of themselves and are honest about their own needs and feelings. They do not sacrifice themselves to the point of becoming resentful.

10. Aware parents strive to be aware of the ways in which their own childhood pain interferes with their ability to be good parents, and they make conscious efforts to avoid passing on their own hurts to their children.

Aware Parenting is based on the work of Dr. Aletha Solter. For more information, please see Dr. Aletha Solter's books, The Aware Baby, Helping Young Children Flourish, Tears and Tantrums, and Raising Drug-Free Kids

Read more at www.awareparenting.com
 

Turn your vacation into a volunteer trip

Amplify’d from www.cnn.com

Finding volunteer trips that actually help

PEPY Tours participants learn about education projects in Cambodia and provide funds to support them.

(CNN) -- The idea of volunteering away from home seems like a win-win to many travelers: a way to experience and help another community at the same time. But without a solid, well-designed program and reasonable expectations, volunteer travel can do more harm than good.

Showing up in parts unknown, hoping to make a big difference in a small amount of time, is likely to leave travelers and hosts disappointed.

Teaching English and construction projects are the most common types of voluntourism projects Papi sees in her region. Travelers involved in a construction voluntourism project should ask the operator and organizations involved about the plans for the structure when the volunteers go home, she cautions. Who is going to take care of it, who will work in it, how will they be trained, and who will fund the training?

Cutchins says reputable organizations will be up-front about costs, what is included and where your money will be spent.

Travelers should be realistic about what would make for a positive experience and select opportunities that fit their skills and interests.

Read more at www.cnn.com
 

Depression and Parental Insightfulness

Amplify’d from onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Insightfulness is seen as the mental capacity that provides the context for a secure child–parent attachment. It involves the ability to see things from the child's perspective and is based on insight into the child's motives, a complex view of the child and openness to new information about the child. To test our hypothesis that maternal insightfulness is related to maternal depression, we utilized the Insightfulness Assessment (IA) developed by Oppenheim and Koren-Karie to conduct and analyse interviews in which mothers discussed their perceptions of video segments of their interactions with their children. We compared the results of a control group of 30 mothers without a diagnosis of depression with a sample of 23 mothers diagnosed with depression (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision). As expected, depression was negatively related to maternal insightfulness.

Key Practitioner Message

  • Insightfulness is seen as the mental capacity that provides the context for a secure child–parent attachment.
  • Maternal depression was negatively related to maternal insightfulness.
Read more at onlinelibrary.wiley.com
 

Spring Break Ideas with Children

Amplify’d from childparenting.about.com

Here are some great ideas for family fun and activities during spring break

Spring vacation is a great time for families to recharge, get ready for the home stretch of the school year, and have some fun with spring break activities. Whether you’re planning to take it easy at home during spring break or take a fun family trip, here are some great ideas for spring break activities to do with your kids.

1. Have a Fun Family Picnic

2. Decorate Easter Eggs

3. Make Yummy Easter Cookies

4. Create a Beautiful Garden with Your Children

5. Take a Family Trip

See more at childparenting.about.com
 

Helping Others Helps Yourself

Amplify’d from www.heartmath.org
Do acts of kindness and generosity enhance our health, increase our longevity and make us happier? Can heart-directed altruism reduce stress? Research shows when we act in other people’s behalf, we feel better, more secure and experience less stress.
J. Andrew Armour, a leading neurocardiologist on IHM’s Scientific Advisory Board, found the heart contains cells that synthesize and release hormones such as epinephrine, also called adrenaline, and dopamine, among others. It was discovered that the heart also secretes oxytocin, commonly referred to as the "love" or "bonding" hormone. Concentrations of oxytocin produced in the heart are as high as those found in the brain.
Benefits of Altruism
  • Promotes emotional, physical, mental and spiritual health.
  • Boosts your self-esteem and confidence.
  • Increases resilience and longevity.
  • Helps you be more accepting of gifts and experiencing appreciation.
  • Provides a way to express your feelings about people or issues.
  • Builds connections and relationships with others.
  • Helps you increase knowledge about causes and issues for which you are altruistic.
  • Raises your consciousness about the world around you.
Read more at www.heartmath.org
 

Parenting Apps for the iPhone

I am in the process of creating my own parenting app and did a little research on what is currently available for smartphones. Here's a helpful article on the subject or get mine at http://parentingtoolbox.isites.us

Tell us what you use for parenting on your phone by leaving a comment link or tweet us @ronhuxley

Amplify’d from www.brighthub.com

Best iPhone Parenting Apps

Rearing kids is not an easy task. Fortunately, for some of the most trivial parenting chores that we parents face, there is an app to help us get through. Our parents must be envious of our generation since we have several of these iPhone parenting apps that we can use to help us get through the day and successfully take care of our kids. Read on to find out whether you can use any of these iPhone parenting apps to your advantage and make the otherwise daunting task of raising kids an easier one.

Positive Parenting Practices I

positive parenting practicesThe first app on our list of iPhone parenting apps is a pretty interesting one and based on the knowledge and teaching of Dr. Tom McIntyre, a former teacher of students with challenging behavior and learning disabilities at Hunter College of the City University New York. With that credential you can be pretty sure that all the helpful tips and information that this app gives you are accurate and applicable to children's behavior. With this iPhone parenting app you'll be able to understand the reasons behind your child's actions and master the effective use of proven behavior change strategies. (Price: $3.99)

Download Link.

KidsCheckup

Here's what is being touted as the perfect parenting tool which is quite expected from an app designed by pediatric experts. This app provides answers to questions about your child's health. Some questions answered by this app include - if your child's condition is really an emergency, or whether you need more information about your child's sickness. In other words, KidsCheckup tells you when your child, given their current condition merits a check up with your family doctor. The app explains symptoms and gives tips which are easy to understand. The app also has other features including maps to more than 50 Cook Children's locations, contact information and a visual tour of a medical facility. (Price: Free)

Download Link.

KidChart

Here's a pretty useful iPhone parenting app that gives you a most kid-friendly way of tracking and reviewing your children's behavior. What you'll appreciate about this app is the fact that it has an interface which will surely catch the attention of your kids even at a distance. The app also uses distinctive sounds that your kids will easily understand. The app gives you a list of your children's most recent and most frequent behaviors. It also lets you add or search for specific behaviors and lets you track that behavior as exhibited by your children. You can then use this list for reinforcing a good behavior or making them rethink their bad behavior. (Price: $0.99)

Download Link.

hAPPy family

The best feature about this app is the fact that it was created by a mom and former elementary school counselor. So you can rest assured that the information and the tips you'll get from the app are reliable and based on the developer's first hand experience of dealing with children's behavior. This is an engaging, unique and fun iPhone parenting app based on a simple reward idea. Your child selects from five collecting themes - marbles, bugs, ocean, animals, candy or treasures. You then assign the number of images that your child needs to collect before you give them a reward. (Price: $0.99)

Download Link.

iGrounded

Here's a simple app that allows parents to set limits and enforce appropriate consequences to undesirable behavior. So that when your kids break the rules, you'll give them the agreed logical consequences. The app features a grounded wheel of consequences, a mystery doors consequence game and more. (Price: $0.99)

Download Link.

Read more at www.brighthub.com
 

How is your child affected during the first 9 months during pregancy?

Amplify’d from www.parentsconnect.com
What are some Valentine's traditions I can start with my family?

The earlier you start traditions, the more likely they will continue to be practiced and cherished. For young ones, you might want to try putting red food coloring in their milk, make heart-shaped pancakes with red heart smiley faces or stick valentines and chocolate kisses in their lunch boxes. Do something uniquely meaningful for each of your children, to show them that they are each your special valentine. (And as they grow older, the specific "something" may change, but the tradition will remain.) Perhaps dinner can consist of everyone's favorite food—which might mean that you end up with several dessert items on the table!

You can also spread the tradition of love to include other people, or things. Teach random acts of kindness, and encourage your kids to find three ways that they can be loving and caring on February 14. Or do family acts of kindness. For instance, take cookies to a nursing home, bring food to the local animal shelter, send homemade cards to kids in the hospital or make a contribution to your favorite charity.

Answered by Dr. Vicki Panaccione
Read more at www.parentsconnect.com
 

How is your child affected during the first 9 months during pregancy?

Amplify’d from committedparent.wordpress.com

Like it or not, parents and teachers are in the brain change business!

“No matter what business you’re involved in, first and foremost you’re in the brain change business.” So asserts Houston neuro-psychiatrist, Bruce Perry. In line with that premise, it makes great sense to know at least a few of the basics about how your own and other people’s brains grow and change in ways that could possibly help make them work like Einstein’s, Michelangelo’s and Mother Teresa’s all rolled into one!

The brain is perhaps best thought of as a collection of interconnected endocrine glands – roughly 52 indiv- idual parts controlling different actions. They all must work together to “process energy and infor- mation.” Thinking about the brain in such terms – as a network of organs that must optimally process the energy and information of our daily lives – turns out to be a very useful template to help us understand our own and others’ reactions to the world, and to make good decisions in response to them. Ideally, we only want ourselves and our family and friends involved in activities that their brains are developmentally suited to handle, and perhaps a little bit more. It’s the “little bit more” that can become tricky, which is how we build resilience in ourselves and our kids. I’ll be discussing resilience often in these columns.

Associations Make it Happen

Another important way to think about our brain is as an associating organ. By that, I simply mean that it learns a lot by putting things together. Things like words and pictures, up and down, hot and cold, thoughts and feelings. By pairing things that make the brain feel good with things that we want ourselves or our children to learn, the neurons in the brain become richly connected. A variation of this is sometimes known as “Grandmother’s Rule: You may do what you want to do – when you’ve done what you need to do.” By pairing preferred actions with less exciting necessary duties, like brushing teeth and going to bed at a set, regular time, reinforced learning takes place

Plastic is as Plastic Does

Finally, one last thing to realize and remember about the brain and the business of trying to change it, is that the brain is exquisitely “plastic.
Read more at committedparent.wordpress.com
 

How is your child affected during the first 9 months during pregancy?

We know that a mother who abuses drugs or smokes can cause damages to the physical and mental state of their children. What about one's general mental health and style of personality? Does playing Mozart really help the fetus? Can reading to a child in the womb make them a better reader? Author Annie Murphy Paul researches this very ideas in her new book. Take a look at the clipping form the Scientific American magazine on her book below. Share your thoughts on this interesting concept about the first 9 months!

Amplify’d from www.scientificamerican.com

Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives
by Annie Murphy Paul. Free Press, 2010

Does your birth month have an impact on your mental health? The startling answer seems to be yes. “Schizophrenics are about 10 percent more likely than the rest of the population to have been born in late winter and early spring,” says journalist Annie Murphy Paul in Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives. The reason for that could be that mothers are more likely to catch a viral infection during that time of the year.

Origins provides a journey through the burgeoning field of fetal origins. Paul explores the extent to which a mother’s experience influences the fetus’s physical and mental development.

Contrary to prevailing notions, the placenta is not an insulating capsule that completely protects the fetus from the outside world. Paul describes the womb as a mailbox that constantly accepts “biological postcards from the world outside.” The food a mother eats and the emotions she feels during pregnancy send important signals to the fetus that become “part of its flesh and blood.”

Read more at www.scientificamerican.com
 

What are the 11 Big Trends for 2011?

What's your take on these "crucial consumer trends?"

Amplify’d from trendwatching.com
11 CRUCIAL CONSUMER TRENDS FOR 2011

December 2010 | Another new year, another roller coaster of threats and opportunities. We tend to focus on the latter as, amidst currency wars and defaulting nations, there are more opportunities than ever for creative brands and entrepreneurs to deliver on changing consumer needs. From Brazil to Belgium. No rest for the wicked in 2011!

Before we get started…

1. RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

In 2011, there will be no excuses left not to be kind as a brand. Here's why... Read more »

2. URBANOMICS

Are you ready for hundreds of millions of more daring, more experienced consumers? And that's just one side effect of rapid global urbanization... Read more »

3. PRICING PANDEMONIUM

Flash sales, group buying, GPS-driven deals: in 2011 pricing will never be the same... Read more »

4. MADE FOR CHINA (IF NOT BRIC)

In 2011, expect an increasing number of 'Western' brands to launch new products or even new brands dedicated (if not paying proper respect) to consumers in emerging markets... Read more »

5. ONLINE STATUS SYMBOLS

In 2011, you can’t go wrong supplying your (online-loving) customers with any kind of symbol, virtual or 'real world', that helps them display to peers their online contributions, creations or popularity... Read more »

6. WELLTHY

As good health is now as important to some consumers as having the biggest, newest or shiniest status symbols, growing numbers of consumers will expect health products and services in 2011 to prevent misery (if not improve their quality of life), rather than merely treating illnesses and ailments... Read more »

7. SOCIAL-LITES AND TWINSUMERS

SOCIAL-LITES are all about discovery, as consumers become curators; actively broadcasting, remixing, compiling, commenting, sharing and recommending content, products, purchases, experiences to both their friends and wider audiences... Read more »

8. EMERGING GENEROSITY

In 2011, brands and wealthy individuals from emerging markets (yes, especially China) will increasingly be expected to give, donate, care and sympathize versus just sell and take. And not just in their home countries, but on a global scale... Read more »

9. PLANNED SPONTANEITY

With lifestyles having become fragmented, with dense urban environments offering consumers any number of instantly available options, and with cell/smartphones having created a generation who have little experience of making (or sticking to) rigid plans, 2011 will see full-on PLANNED SPONTANEITY... Read more »

10. ECO SUPERIOR

When it comes to 'green consumption' in 2011, expect a rise in ECO-SUPERIOR products: products that are not only eco-friendly, but superior to polluting incumbents in every possible way... Read more »

11. OWNER-LESS

2011 could be the year when sharing and renting really tips into mainstream consumer consciousness... Read more »

Read more at trendwatching.com
 
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