Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Building Self-confidence in child- Conclusion


- Parents should ensure a certain time limit for watching television and playing computer games. These things tend to diminish social communication and conversation. Excess of these also make child aloof.

- Asking your kids to help in household chores and other works will make him feel wanted and important. He will also feel competent. Apart, a sense of partnership and responsibility also starts developing in child.

- Another crucial step is preparing a list of things your child is good at. Also create a list of the things he or she likes to do. Encourage the kid to create a list on his own. Afterwards, match the two lists and find if the kid has missed anything. If he has, make him aware that he is also good at other missed things as well. In hindsight, if parents have missed anything, they would be more aware in future.

- Whenever a child is starting a new thing, parents must encourage him or her. Support them, assure them of their capabilities, show them your confidence in them and you will be surprised with what they manage to achieve.

- Parents must push kids for extra-curricular activities like team sports, music lessons or art lessons. One of them may find his true calling or at least realize that he has got talent for certain activity. Apart, in the process he will meet new people and new kids and will learn new skill as well.

- At the same time parents should never doubt on their kids’ ability. Interfering in his work according to your way might not be such a good idea. Last but not the least a child should never be compared with other kids.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Building Self-confidence in child- Beginning


Self-confidence! A very essential element in life of any human being. It not only determines our movements in life but also every step taken by us during the course of life. Career, success, inter-personal relationships, value system and thousand other things which are determined by the level of our self-confidence. It all begins in childhood. It’s extremely imperative for parents to instill that small dosage of self-confidence in child. But remember, this is not a one time process. Confidence level of any kid is determined and developed by several solid steps taken by parents.

Sp often we have seen, a child who is all chatterbox and involved in several activities like dancing, mimicking, acting, singing but he does it only at his home in the comfort of his parents. But once, he is in school, he is all quiet and does not participate in any activity. That’s a sign of lacking self-confidence. He performs at home where he does not care about opinion of his parents but when in school he starts doubting his own capabilities and competence and that in turn robs him of his self-confidence.

There are several steps which need to be taken by parents.
- Creating a set routine for child. It develops discipline and child starts enjoying that.


- A very critical step is exposing him to the world. This needs to be done with proper care and in a slow way. Once parents start playing with their kids, they should encourage them to play with their family members, friends and other children. Similarly, he can be asked to act, dance or recite some rhyme in front of others. Once he starts getting appreciation then, his social skills and confidence will automatically develop.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Enhancing child’s IQ- Tools

Other methods of enhancing child’s IQ are;

Cutting salt intake; Experts recommend reduced salt intake for kids in order to them having better recall power. Sodium overdose is not at all recommended for growing kids. All they require is just one teaspoon of salt every day. Parents should always keep a check on how much salt is being taken by their offspring. The fact that, less salt everyday will become a habit for child and tatse for overdose of salt will not be acquired by kids. Later on, while they grow adult, this habit will prove very useful to them.

Revision; parents should ensure that child is revising whatever he or she has learnt at school. Once kids return from school and after their evening play time, they must be habituated to revise their course. This helps immensely in having better recall power compared to last minute study.

Yoga; yoga has become a world wide phenomenon and one of the most fascinating exports from India. Teaching yoga to child will make a terrific difference in the kid. Most recommended yoga exercises are breathing and strengthening exercises. This helps in enhancing child’s mental and physical well being.

Safe Drinking Water; a child must be provided pure drinking water. It always pays to have water filtered and boiled. Aluminum present in water can adversely affect a child’s memory power. Having a tap or filter attached to the tab will help in keeping elements of aluminum away.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Enhancing child’s IQ- Tools

Enhancing child’s intelligence quotient (IQ) should be parents’ top most priority. The competition is getting tough in today’s brutally competitive world and all parents must think of the way a child’s IQ should be focused upon right from the beginning. IQ plays a major role in future prospects of any person. There are several friendly and exciting ways to boost the IQ level of a kid. Few of them are;

Sleep cycle of a child is quite important factor in child’s proper development. It is recommended that a kid must get minimum of eight hours of sleep a day. Proper sleep ensures that child’s day time learning remains integrated in his brain cells. Improper sleep cycle adversely affects a child’s recall power.

Games; experts recommend chess for growing kids. It helps in activating brain cells and different moves and strategies used in the game gives children an idea about how to look at a particular problem from different perspectives. Chess being a strategy based game helps in making brain more flexible and pushes for more thinking using logical reasoning as well. Other benefits include, improved problem solving abilities, and critical reasoning abilities. Other recommended games are, solving puzzles and general knowledge, memory games etc. all these games improve memory of the kid apart from forces him to think quickly and ultimately helps in betterment of mental skills. Strategy games are also considered more suitable for kids because throw sudden moves whereas other normal skill games have a fixed pattern.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Another Step in Parenting: Sex Education

Imagine a child who has no awareness about his/her own development, and finds out one day that he/she has hit puberty.  Now that they have no one close to confess their situation, all they are left with, is to dread their natural sexual development. Perhaps this concern may not be an issue in the west, but in eastern countries, where apparently every dad and mom is so uptight about sex and sexual maturity, imagine a child who is forced into sex before he/she got any awareness.

                Sex education has turned out to be one of the most important steps in the life of any parent or child. Before your children make decision for themselves, you should keep providing your two cents for their better upbringing. Starting from sexual maturity to love, sex, relationships, to even issues about being gay or lesbian, a parent should always have an open mind for discussion. Always be honest in your opinion, and take it slowly. Every culture, caste and religion may have different values and customs for their children, but these issues need to be communicated in a calm manner for your child to understand them. Invite discussions, and give importance to your child’s point of views. Obviously the right amount of facts and information is very important, but being a parent, you have to convey feelings about this step, and make sure that child takes full responsibility of his/her acts.