Health & Wellbeing

Self-esteem is your child's passport to successful mental health and social happiness It's the base of a child's well-being. Research shows that at all ages, how you feel about yourself affects how you act.   Parents are their child’s mirror, they look in the mirror and like the person they perceive.

Your child looks to you as a mirror for his own feelings. If you are worried, you can't reflect good feelings. Children translate your unhappiness with yourself to mean unhappiness with them.   Much of a child's self-image comes how he/she thinks others perceive her.  When you give your child positive reflections, he learns to think well of himself.

• Take time to enjoy playing with your child.  Some parents can’t let go of their grown-up agenda. What may seem like a meaningless activity to you, means a lot to your child. The more interest you show in doing things with your child early on, the more interest your child will have in doing things with you when he's older.
• Set your child up to succeed. Set high yet achievable expectations for your child. Don't expect your child to excel in sports or music or academics just because you did. The one thing children can excel in is being themselves.  Children must know that parents’ love does not depend on the approval of their performance.
• Beware of comparisons. Be sure your child believes you value them because of who they are, not how they perform. Plenty of eye contact, touching, and focused attention will help the child understand this.  Every child is good at something. Discover it, encourage it, frame it, and display it.
• Give children responsibilities. Children need jobs. One of the main ways children develop self-confidence and internalize values is through helping maintain the family living area, inside and out. Giving children household duties helps them feel more valuable, besides channeling their energy into desirable behavior and teaching skills. This will help them learn a sense of responsibility for these things, and therefore a sense of responsibility to society will come naturally.
  

Things to avoid

• Criticism
• Questioning children all the time
• Praising them not the action
• Comparing them to other children
  

This may sound easy but it takes mindful and full attentiveness to what to say and how and when to say it.

Your children’s teeth are very important, they give them bright smiles and they assure healthy teeth as adults.  Habits that form now will stay with your children their whole life.  Here are some things you can do to ensure good oral health for your child:

• Encourage your children to eat regular nutritious meals and avoid frequent between-meal snacking. 
• Avoid sweets, candies, and cookies.
• Avoid sipping fruit juices for long periods of time.
• Starchy foods as crackers, and sticky food as candies raisins and gummy bears stay on the teeth longer and can cause tooth decay.
  
• Start brushing your child’s teeth as soon as they appear.
• Brush your child’s teeth twice a day.
• Use a small amount of toothpaste.
• Teach your child to spit out the toothpaste and to rinse well after brushing.
• Visit your Pediatric dentist for a check-up yearly to make sure that your child’s teeth and gums are healthy.
• Check for the teeth for early signs of tooth decay.  Cavities appear as white, yellow, or brown spots or lines on the teeth. 
  

Many parents think of discipline and punishment as one and the same.  They are not, however, quite different.  Discipline is a whole system of teaching based on a good relationship, praise, and instruction for the child on what acceptable behavior is.
Punishment is a negative consequence for doing something wrong.  Punishment should only be a minor part of discipline.

• Praise and encourage your children, positive reinforcement always works better in the long run.
• One of the keys to effective discipline is avoiding power struggles whenever possible.
• Tips include:  Offer choices when possible (would you like to eat, your salad 1st or after your sandwich?). 
• Make a game out of good behavior, (Let’s have a race to see who puts his clothes on 1st). 
  
• Plan ahead and discuss with your child what acceptable behavior in certain settings is.
• Praise good behavior (a lot of thank you’s, hugs, and compliments on anything done well).
• You can’t avoid trouble children test you all the time. 

Try the following techniques when they won’t listen:

• Let them see the natural consequences when feasible.  For example, if he/she breaks a toy, they can’t play with it, or if they drop their juice, they won’t have any to drink.
• Logical consequences, for example, if your child won’t pick up his toys, tell him that you’ll put them away and he won’t be able to play with them for the whole day, then follow through with it immediately.  Use a calm, matter-of-fact way.  Withholding privileges also works, make sure it is not something your child needs like a meal.
• Choose something your child values and can be tied into the misbehavior and follow through with your promise.
• Time-out should be your last resort.
• Choose a time-out spot, with no distractions.
• You can use one warning (unless it’s aggression), and if it happens again, send him/her to time-out immediately.   Your child needs 1 minute for every year of age.  Remember to use it as a last resort.