Simple Ways To Be An Effective Parent

Does your teen hide away in his or her room and avoid conversations about touchy subjects? Does your young child throw tantrums every time he or she does not get what they want? Are you looking for methods to becoming a more effective parent? If the answer is yes, below are some parenting tips to help you today.

The most important thing to remember while disciplining your children is consistency. Parenting during the terrible-twos can be challenging, for both little one and adult. At this stage children like to push the limits of what is and is not allowed. Make sure that you set clear boundaries and are consistent with your time-outs so children know what is expected of them.

Do not try to introduce the bottle to a normally breastfeed baby who is hungry. A hungry baby will not understand what the bottle is for and will reject it immediately because he at this point only associates food with the breast. Get the baby used to the bottle when they are not hungry so that they can learn that it provides food as well.

Exercise

Exercise caution when diagnosing siblings who start to display symptoms of an illness shared by another brother or sister. Although families with multiple children often share germs, viruses, and illnesses, sharing medications or neglecting to take each child to the doctor increases the risk of health problems caused by unchecked or misdiagnosed ailments.

Reinforce solid habits in your children early. As a parent its your job to encourage good habits such as studying, exercise, and being of sound mind and body. The involvement in your childs life pays off immensely in the ultimate end. While children all differ from a basic level, parenting can either stimulate or restrict certain behaviors, and lessons learned early carry on to their adult lifestyle.

Limit your young childs TV time to no more than a few hours a week, if any. Studies have shown that a childs mind is really not active when they are watching TV, because TV watching is a passive activity. TV watching does not exercise the brain. Instead, engage them in constructive activities which requires them to interact.

Nutrition

Start focusing on nutrition very early in the childs life. If you are able to convince them that they like healthy foods you can help them to avoid many of the health traps that the majority of adults suffer. You dont need to deprive them of treats, but show them healthy tasty treats.

Toddlers love to dip their food into different tasty treats. Cut up fruits and veggies and offer them healthy dips. These can be yogurt, tofu dip, cream cheese, or perhaps cottage cheese. This will add more nutrition to your toddlers diet and they will be none the wiser because they are having fun!

Never feed your baby or toddler low-fat or skim milk as a primary source of nutrition. Infants and young children need a larger amount of fat in their diet in order for the brain to grow and develop properly. Early childhood is definitely not the time to diet!

Avoid giving your young child a snack less than an hour before dinner. If you give your child a snack too close to dinner time, he will not have any appetite to eat his meal. This will result in your feeling frustrated that he will not be getting his proper nutrition.

Communication is key. Learn to listen to your kids and speak to them in ways that make them feel comfortable and willing to open up to you about issues that concern them. The tips above are meant to be used as a guide so you and your child can have a relationship based on love, trust and communication!