How to Childproof Your Home
Parents do care about a fact that their children don’t get hurt but at the same time, they forget about those numerous hazards, which lies inside home itself & may harm a child’s life. However, the risk can be minimized if one ensures using child-safety equipments inside home. Are you also among the one who is keen about knowing what those devices are? Then here read on:
1. Safety Locks & Latches- These devices are being put on drawers & cabinets where sensitive items like medicines, cigarette lighters, sharp objects like knives, medicines & household cleaners are being kept.
2. Safety gates- Stairs are such part of a house which poses biggest threat to a child’s life. Ensure that the doors have safety gates installed on them so that a child doesn’t fall down from stairs.
3. Door locks & door knob covers – Invest in a good quality door locks & door knob covers & save your child from potential dangers.
4. Anti-Scald Devices- Make use of these devices to prevent burns which might take place due to hot water.
5. Smoke Alarms – A smoke alarm is a must for a house if small kids are there. These devices play crucial role in lending protection against fire injuries. One also needs to ensure checking of alarms in order to check whether they are working properly or no.
6. Window Guards & Safety Netting – There is no doubt that safety netting & window guards do play extremely important role in saving a child from falling off from balconies, windows, decks, etc.
7. Outlet covers & outlet plates - In order to avoid any kind of electrocution mishap, one should use these devices.
8. Edge bumpers - Majority of child injuries are caused by furniture therefore one should use edge bumpers so that a child can be saved from injuries caused by furniture’s sharp edges.
9. Carbon Monoxide Alarm – In order to ensure a protection to a child, one must install a CO alarm in his house & batteries also need to be changed once in a year.
10. Cordless Window Coverings – In order to ensure a protection to a child against strangulation deaths or injury, one must opt for cordless window coverings so that a child doesn't cover cords around necks. In case, if one is not able to invest in Cordless window coverings once can opt for the safer ones.
11. Anchors - A house is equipped with couple of things like TV stand, shelves, desks, bookcases, etc. which might pose threats to a child’s safety. In order to ensure protection to a child, use anchors.
12. Layers of protection around Pool - If a house has a pool inside then instead of relying on sliding glass doors featuring locks, one must ensure that a pool is surrounded by a barrier, featuring a self-latching & self-closing gate. Pool alarm is also a good device to immediately let you know about a potential risk.
Thus, one can make out that ensuring a child’s safety is not that difficult provided if one invests in good-quality childproofing devices.
There are various reasons which are responsible for increasing aggressiveness in small kids. The moment, small kids enter in unfamiliar ambience of pre-school, they begin to feel uneasy. On top of that, they are made to learn new things and due to the same, they start feeling nervous. Few kids start feeling extremely uncomfortable by being away from the cozy ambience of home and this leads up to additional frustration. There could be some extremely notorious kids in the class, due to which, other kids may feel disturbed. Sometimes, aggression comes out in small kids due to hunger and tiredness, as well. It is known to all that the environment, in which the child is brought up, like the family, the society and the culture, influences a child psychology to a great extent. Sometimes a disturbed mind of the mother during pregnancy may also cause aggression in a child.
However, there are numerous reasons due to which, small kids end up in developing aggressiveness but what matters is to seek solutions of dealing with aggression. One of the most effective ways to deal with aggressive behavior is to respond spontaneously to the kids aggressive behavior but without hitting, yelling and severely criticizing because by doing so you are surely going to damage the self-esteem of your kid, which will affect his behavior pattern in the long run. Another way is to strike a conversation with your kid when your kid is back to normal after exhibiting aggressive behavior. An idle mind is devil’s workshop so ensure developing a sense of responsibility in your kid so that he learns to channelize his energy towards constructive tasks.
Rewarding pleasant behavior is another effective strategy. Watching TV programs and cartoons having violence and other negative activities is the leading reason now days to cause feelings like enmity, bitterness and aversions against something or someone, which finally comes out in the form of anger and frustration so it is advisable to formulate a time-limit on TV time, in order to avoid everyday arguments over watching TV. Despite of persistent efforts regarding dealing with aggression of your kid, if you have come to realize that you can’t deal with that anymore, you must not hesitate in consulting a good child psychiatrist or child psychologist. Last but not the least, someone has truly quoted that, "the prodigy of the children is that, the parents are least aware of how they change and who actually they are".
How important is Preschool
Preschool is a place where the child starts gets an opportunity to learn and express his/her feeling by interacting with the child of his/her age group. It’s a place where all children form as one team, learn, understand, play, share and communicate with each other which is very necessary for the holistic development of the child. It is not possible for the child to communicate fully with their family members as somewhere they lack in understanding the child. Children can express their feeling more comfortably with their friends by playing with each other. Preschool helps children to get ready for the academics.
Preschool helps kids to develop their basic concepts which can help them in their school like playing with the blocks, joining them and counting them can help them in developing their maths concept taking them out like taking them for a picnic, zoo or birds park can add more fun in their learning they can share with their friends, teachers, family members, etc. This will help them in sharing with everyone and able to enhance their knowledge. Making crafts and doing coloring also helps children to express their thoughts through these things. These types of activities also increase their creativity part.
Preschool also helps kids to develop many others things like eating habits, how to talk with others, how to sit, how to walk etc. Preschool also provides an opportunity for parents by mixing up with children and provide them full report regarding child’s development. Preschool is like a fun area where all the children can spend quality of time with their friends, teachers, etc Preschool makes an easy path for the children before entering for their academics if the child enters the right preschool then it’s easy for them to pursue further.
Dealing with sibling rivalry by learning proper strategy
Sibling rivalry is very casual and habitual in a family having one or more kids. It takes its roots from very day of the birth of the second child. Sibling rivalry is something which may begin on a low keynote but may take an ugly turn, if parents don’t confront both the kids at the right time. Parents need to be watchful of the reactions of the older child from the day one of the birth of the second child. Many a times it may be possible that a child who is always pampered and loved all the time may not want to share the attention given to him/her with anybody else and this may create a feeling of jealousy. Parents find it very distressing and tedious to manage the rivalry between siblings especially between a pre-schooler and an older child. But they can overcome this situation by implementing certain strategies that will help enhance the relationship between siblings.
In majority of cases, a rivalry begins brewing up when parents adopt a judgmental attitude and due to which, most of the time; they begin scolding the older child without taking stock of the situation. Repeated scolding to older child may develop a feeling of bitterness in him/her. The same way, even a pre-schooler may develop animosity towards the older child, if the pre-schooler feels that he/she is restricted too much and that the older sibling is allowed to do whatever he/she wants to and enjoy the independence. Being a parent, you should ensure that you are not papering over the cracks in front of guests or others regarding sibling rivalry between your kids because that is not going to yield any concrete results and will rather lead to more grave situation. It is better to consult a good child counselor, who is expert in dealing with the emotions of both, the grown-up and preschooler in order to come out with an exact solution to the problem.
Know Your Parenting Style
Generally, it is believed that there are some fixed rules by which one can ensure raising an intelligent, well-mannered, healthy and adorable child, however, it is nothing but a mere misconception because in reality, there are no hard and fast rules of raising a child. There are basically four parenting styles which have been originated from a research based on parenting. These styles are Low love/ low limits, low love/high limits, high love, low limits and high love, high limits. The amount of love plays a crucial role in deciding about developing discipline in the child. However, rarely any parent can confine oneself within the boundaries of these four styles due to change in diverse factors like moods of parents and child, parental experiment, etc. A lot of parents are unable to understand that there is a thin line between developing discipline by ensuring providing proper love, and exhibiting strictness, in order to develop discipline.
In some cases, it has been observed that a lot of parents think that for raising a disciplined child, it is important to be strict because pampering or displaying love may spoil a child. Well, that is not true because expressing feelings of love and care towards a child is equally important as loving a child. On the contrary, in some cases, it has been observed that few parents forget the thin line between loving a child in a right manner and spoiling a child by showering excess of love. These parents tend to become overprotective towards their child and this becomes the reason to hinder their proper growth, especially during the later stages of life. If a child is being overprotected that creates a stumbling block in his growth process by not letting the qualities like confidence, independence, etc., to be developed.
Therefore, a parent requires possessing knowledge of diverse parenting styles, in order to assure whether a parenting style adopted, will assure a healthy growth of a child or not. For an instance, if a mother or a father shouts loudly on his child that too in front of others, it is surely going to have a negative impact on the self-esteem of a child. This kind of parenting style falls in low/love parenting category. If a mother or a father ensures taking out sufficient time to speak with a child and if parents ensure spending quality time with their child, this kind of parenting style will fall into the high love parenting style. Where at one side, only few restrictions are placed on a child in low-limit style, on another side; clearly defined restrictions are placed on a child in a high-limit style.
Discipline can be of three types- Passive discipline, aggressive discipline and assertive discipline. Parents refrain to act in passive discipline, while in assertive discipline, parent ensures a healthy growth of a child by formulating certain rules and regulations for him and a child is being taught regarding how to follow those rules. In simple words, a clear guideline is given to a child and he gives his consent regarding following a guideline. In aggressive discipline, techniques like beating with a wooden rod, smacking, etc., are being used. This style is being condemned and parents are not expected to use this technique.