Posted in: Coping with Frightening Events

Helping Children Cope with Frightening Events…without Frightening Them

Age Appropriate Answers for Your Children
There is no easy way to talk to children about the nightmarish events and threatening stories they see in the media almost every day. Yet it is one of the most important things we can do as caring adults. It is key that the context of the discussion is sensitive to a child’s developmental level and the specific circumstances. Children of all ages will want to know: What does this mean to me? How will I be affected? Will my family and I be safe? Children will take their cues from their parents and the other important adults in their lives. If you convey calm and security, even in a very serious situation, they are far more likely to feel safe.

Don’t be afraid to talk to your children about scary topics. You are the best source of information for them and can fashion age appropriate responses. When children are frightened, they look to their parents for guidance. Speak to them. They will listen and be comforted by your thoughtful and caring answers to their questions.

Conversations about such serious topics should happen in a quiet place without distractions. There needs to be time to both talk and listen. Most adults have an easier time talking than they do listening.

For younger children (8 and under)

• The safety of the child and his or her loved ones will be a central concern. Try to keep the information as simple as possible. They are not interested in the details but in the safety of themselves and the people closest to them.
• Multiple, repetitive reassurances that the important people in the child’s life are doing everything possible to keep him or her safe are invaluable.
• Extra time and attention will be soothing. Maintaining dependable routines will help also.
• Limiting their exposure to the media (television, newspapers, etc.) and watching/reading with them will help insure that they don’t feel overwhelmed by the images that we all struggle with.

Visit the source fo this posting for the complete article: Children’s Hospital Boston is the primary pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School

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Posted in: What Parents Need to Know Now

Parents often don’t give children a chance to talk. In situations like this, kids feel helpless, which can lead to feeling very overwhelmed by the situation. Parents need to combat these feelings of helplessness by having conversations with their kids about the devastation in Haiti.

In general, you want to limit media exposure and set aside a quiet time to talk with your kids. Start the conversation with an open-ended question - “What have you heard or seen on television about the earthquake in Haiti?”

Most adults have an easier time talking than they do listening, but it is important to let you children talk and for you, as a parent, to listen to what they have to say. Your child will then listen to your thoughtful and caring answers to their questions and be comforted by them.

For children under 8-years old, try to keep the conversation as simple as possible. Don’t go into details of the earthquake, but rather focus on the safety of your family and the people closest to you. Assure them that everything possible is being done to keep your child safe.

For children 8- to 12-years old, you can discuss more details of the earthquake. These are valuable pieces of information for children this age that help them understand the scope of the events.

For adolescents, ask what they know about the earthquake and explain the pieces that are missing or that they have wrong. Expect discussions of future implications. Adolescents have the ability to discuss events on a more sophisticated level but still need emotional support and reassurance about their safety.

Suggesting a way your children can help in Haiti’s time of need can be a very valuable way of empowering them during this scary time. Your children can run a clothing drive, raise funds for the Red Cross and write letters of support. If your family is religious, say a prayer of support.

Source: Children’s Hospital Boston is the primary pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School

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Your life, and the lives of your children, will prosper to the degree you can openly structure self-directed learning and keep it pleasurable. This is the educational importance of the Internet - you can discover and test thousands of ways to learn, and find what suits you best.

As just one option: in computer based learning we can experience life in a more realistic format than common schools. Play a complex computer game, and you learn not by memorization and testing, but by trial and error - and then perhaps a bit of study to improve results.

People act differently as they disassociate reality from game play; they experiment, learn to sacrifice for victory, use personal patterns to plan development, consider trade-offs and negotiations. These types of skills are useful in real life if thought is used to realize the power of gaming decision trees (flexibly planned development) to our futures.

Education should open the mind. Effective learning involves creating and solving our own errors. Go ahead; over-step, stretch, get too enthusiastic. When you make those mistakes common to all high achievers, use them to learn. Then enthusiastically do it again.

The fundamental purpose of education is to create good human beings. Education is vital to the healthy growth and development of one’s personality. In making the ‘beings’ ‘human’ to produce ‘human beings’, lies the importance of education.

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During the first year of your child life there will be significant (and wonderful) development milestones.  The first year is a time for your baby to begin its cognitive development journey where the learning process of memory, language, thinking and reasoning all begin.

Your baby will become increasing familiar with the sound of your voice and her ability to focus on your will become enhanced as she is also learning to focus her vision from the periphery or the corner of her eyes to the center.

Your baby language development is also well underway and she is listening.  During this stage she will begin to recognize your voice and begin to develop the bonds of love and trust with you. The way you cuddle, hold, and play with your baby will set the basis for how he will interact with you and others.

Practice this these basics to nurture your baby’s development and enhance your your mutual bond with each other:

• Talk to your baby. It is soothing to hear your voice.
• When your baby makes sounds, answer him by repeating and adding words. This will help him learn to use language.
• Read to your baby. This helps her develop and understand language and sounds.
• Sing to your baby and dance (properly support your baby and keep the motions gentle of course).  This will be fun for both of you.
• Play music. This helps your baby develop a love for music and math.
• Praise your baby and give him lots of loving attention.
• Spend time cuddling and holding your baby. This helps her feel cared for and secure.

The best time to play with your baby is when he’s alert and relaxed. Watch your baby closely for signs of being tired or fussy so that you can take a break. Parenting can be hard work! Take care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is easier to enjoy your new baby and be a positive, loving parent when you are feeling good yourself.

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Reading is the basic foundation on which academic skills of an individual are built. Although a priceless activity, the importance of reading has been deteriorating rapidly. One of the prominent causes for this is the technology boom, wherein you can get whatever information you need with just a click!  Taking the time to read with your child is becoming increasingly important.

The Benefits of Early Reading

It is observed that children and teenagers who love reading have comparatively higher IQs. They are more creative and do better in school and college. Reading is also said to significantly help in developing vocabulary, and reading aloud helps to build a strong emotional bond between parents and children. The children who start reading from an early age are observed to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better.

Reading Aids in Brain Development

Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes. Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations. The habit can become a healthy addiction and adds to the information available on various topics, issues and illicit critical thought.

Importance of Reading to Children

Reading skills and strategies enhance the child’s ability to comprehend various concepts with immense ease. Understanding the concepts and critical thinking are the two important qualities of a successful individuals. Other than this, reading also improves the person’s vocabulary, command on the language, and communication skills. Studies show that children who read are able to concentrate on their lessons more properly than those who don’t. More importantly, good reading skills are directly related to good writing skills.

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One of the primary aims of reading is comprehension, which allows intellectual and emotional responses. Effective readers are problem solvers. They have at their command an assortment of strategies for monitoring their understanding.

When reading with your children it is a good idea to turn the responsibility of comprehension over to your reader as soon as possible.  Over time your children will become very proficient readers who use a variety of strategies to help them make sense of the reading matter and get the most out of what they read.  Strategies may include prompts from you as they listen or response to the that we read to them.

These additional tools for parents will help you structure and and develop strong comprehension skills and abilities for your young reader.

Setting Reading Goals
Readers who have definite expectations about the story are more engaged in and notice more about a story. Information to be gathered from the selection should be determined ahead of time.

• Activate prior knowledge by discussing what is already known about the subject or experiences in reading similar material.
• Browse the story by looking at the title, author, and illustrations. Students may identify potential problems and tell what they think they might be learning as they listen to the story.
• Decide what to expect from the text and anticipate enjoying the story and its language.

Summarizing
It is important for readers to sum up to check their understanding of the story. The process of putting the information in one’s own words not only helps students remember what they have read, but also prompts them to evaluate how well they understand the information. Appropriate times to stop and summarize include the following:

• when a narrative text has covered a long period of time or a number of events
• when many facts have been presented
• when an especially critical scene has occurred
• when a complex process has been described
• anytime there is the potential for confusion about what has happened

Asking Questions
Learning to ask productive questions is not an easy task. Questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no are not typically useful for helping to remember or understand the story. The process of effective questioning begins with Who? What? When? Where? How? or Why? Advancing from literal questions, which can be answered with explicit information in the story, students can advance to inferential questions, which must be answered by interpreting story content.

Predicting
Predicting can be appropriate at the beginning of a selection and can be confirmed or revised throughout the story. Students need to determine what clues in the story or in the illustrations helped them predict in order to learn that predicting is not merely guessing.

Making Connections
Students should be guided to think of memories or people which might remind them of characters or events in a story. Sharing your connections will help students become aware of the dynamic nature of reading and show them another way of being intentional, active learners.

Visualizing
Students should form mental images about the setting, characters and action in a story. Visualizing helps students understand descriptions of complex activities or processes.

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