Discipline How To Blog

It is easier to prepare your child to handle peer pressure when they are still in Elementary School, then to wait until the Middle or High School Years.  I found a wonderful article by Judy Larson with her tips on how to Prepare for Peer Pressure.  Judy advocates following these four steps:

1. Asking a question or questions
2. Identifying the wrong
3. Evaluating consequences
4. Suggesting an alternative

Judy gives some real life examples in her article.  Here is a real life example from one of my children’s lifes so you can see how the process works.

My middle daughter was pressured by her friend, Jane, to not include another friend, Amy, in their recess play.  My daughter asked Jane, “Why don’t you want to include her?” (Step 1)  Jane answered, “I just don’t want to.”  My daughter knew this was not nice (Step 2) and thought that if she did not include Amy both she and Amy would feel sad (Step 3).  Instead, my daughter said to Jane, “Amy is so much fun and she knows a new clapping game she could teach us.”  (Step 4) Jane decided that it would be fun to include Amy and the girls played together throughout the school year.

Take time to sit down with your children and make up peer pressure situations.  Let them go through each step of the process.  This will prepare them to think about peer pressure situations when they arise.

Technorati Tags: peer pressure

Have you ever lost track of your child in a store or amusement park?  I have.  The owners of SafetyTat have come up with a brilliant idea.  One day, while at an amusement park, they decided to write their cell phone number on the arm of each of their three children and although their children did not get lost that day, it gave them piece of mind knowing that there would be a may to contact them if any of their children were lost.

Building on that idea, SafetyTat makes safety tattoos.  These funs, temporary tattoos that can be applied to the arm of your child.  There are different types of tattos including:

Original - These tattoos come with one line of customization.  Choose a design and add your phone number.  These tattoos require water to apply.

Write-On - These tattoos require no water to apply and are waterproof.  They will last up to two weks.  They are shipped blank and you can write in your phone number with a waterproof tattoo marking pen.

Allergy - Is your child allergic to peanuts?  You can buy these tattoos that will let everyone know, just in case!

Special Needs - Do you have a child with a special need?  SafetyTats has four different designs that could help your child if they were every lost or seperated from the group.

SafetyTat is also a great product for school trips, vacations and other outings.

Technorati Tags: child safety, independent children

I was often frustrated when trying to potty train my son. At first he was interested in trying to use the potty, but when he became an inconvience for him and interfered with his play time, he decided he wanted nothing to do with it. I finally came upon a reward solution that worked for him, however, what works for one child does not always work for another.

I recently heard about two new potty training methods that are getting great reviews. Here is my take on the two methods.

Potty Training Boot Camp

Potty Training Boot Camp was developed by Suzanne Riffel, a mom who, like many of us, spent hours trying to come up with the best potty training method for her children. After trying many different methods, Suzanne combined a few training ideas and tried it on her 20 month old daughter. The method worked! Suzanne has written a step-by-step method called The Potty Training Boot Camp.

This method involved four phases: Prep Work, Boot Camp, Reinforcement and Maintenance. The Potty Boot Camp works on children 18 months or older and completes 90% of training in just a couple of days. You can download The Potty Training ebook from Suzanne’s site and the price is very resonable - $5.95. Of course, if you want a real copy of the book, you can buy it at Amazon.com for $10.75.

Potty Training Made Easy with the Baby Signs Program

Dr. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn are the brains behind the Baby Signs programs. In 1982, they discovered that babies between 10 and 24 months could use simple signs to represent words they could not say. The Baby Signs Program was developed and showed parents how to teach their children simple signs to communicate.

After doing some research, Linda and Susan realized that in the 1950s, 92% of children were potty trained before the age of two. Now, most children are potty trained between two and three. Linda and Susan have developed a Potty Training program using Baby Signs that can be started before your child turns two.

The Baby Signs Potty Training Program shows you how to communicate with your child before she can talk. The kit comes with an All Aboard the Potty Train DVD, All Aboard Potty Train Lift-the-Flap Book, Job Well Done! Stickers and All Aboard the Potty Train Conductor’s Whistle.

If you are intersted in potty training your child early, this program may be the one for you.

Technorati Tags: baby signs, potty training, toddler discipline