Parenting Callin february 16, 2016

So, where did you learn to be a parent? By chance like I bet most of us do? Are there opportunities to get parenting education?

This week Joanne Jewel joined me to talk about how we can be better parents!

http://mindfulparentinguae.com/

Some of what we spoke about included,

•Learn more about themselves as parents and their parenting goals.

•Learn the meaning of mindful/positive parenting and how this will redefine their approach to parenting.

•Understand their children’s physical, emotional and cognitive development, and how this is related to behaviour.

•Understa...nd how a parenting approach can impact children in the long term.

•Learn the guiding principles and skills of Mindful Parenting.

•Learn to deal with the common issues such as tantrums, aggression e.g. hitting, biting, kicking, sibling rivalry, etc (with scenarios and role playing).

•Learn how to set boundaries and limits in a respectful and effective manner.

The Podcast Link.

Super Granny

www.babyangelsclasses.com
www.monsterstomunchkins.co.za

Else and Andalene join me to talk about parenting.




At Baby Angels mom and baby classes you will spend focused, quality time with your baby while learning how to stimulate their development.

You will learn how to lay important foundations for your baby’s sensory-motor skills necessary for future learning. This will involve various activities including tactile stimulation, creative/messy play, fine & gross motor stimulation as well as music & movement. Mom’s will also get the opportunity to socialize during tea time when the babies play together.

Every week you will get great ideas of fun and stimulating activities to enjoy with your baby at home. Dad’s are also very welcome to attend Baby Angels classes.
The class commences with the babies sitting in a tactile ‘pool’ with bare legs/tummy for tactile stimulation, expanding your baby’s sensory awareness

This is followed by warm-up exercises and parachute time. The movement activities achieve two main goals:

*
To strengthen muscles required for crawling, walking and balancing

*
To provide stimulation for your baby’s vestibular system. Movements like spinning, rocking, swinging and bouncing all integrate the brain, inner ear, eyes and various muscles to work towards gaining balance.

A series of fun activity stations are provided which will stimulate your baby while providing you with information regarding their physical and intellectual development.
This includes a creative tactile activity – using ‘messy play’ to introduce different textures and ‘touch’ experiences.
Tea time is an opportunity for mom’s to chat while the babies spend time discovering each other.








This class incorporates focused activities, music and movement, various tactile experiences and creative play which helps to lay the foundation for the development of further cognitive perceptual and motor skills. Baby gets mom’s full attention whilst developing their own attention span. Babies also get the opportunity for independent play at the Favourite Things play area and during Tea Time, where mom’s get to socialise too! The program is structured, aimed at improving your baby’s concentration and fine motor skills, giving mom’s ideas of things to do with their wobblers at home. It’s a great opportunity to spend quality time with mom in a social environment.

During Music Time – moms and babies learn songs and actions together that are chosen specifically to:

* enhance tactile input from mom
* help develop a good sense of rhythm
* sharpen baby’s interest in sound
* stimulate language development
* learn by ‘doing’
* be lots of fun!

The babies will also have an opportunity to ‘play’ various instruments and move to the rhythm by jumping, rocking and patting etc.
We conclude the class with every Wobblers favourite – STORY TIME!

Claire Fenner for Jan 20-27

Claire Fenner of www.easylivingdubai.com, joind me for a round-up of what is hot in the UAE this week!

June 8---parents creating a wimp society

This evening we spoke about the idea that maybe, we as parents, are doing too much for our children!

Activities
Educational toys
Guided direction

When do the children have a chance to actually learn by doing and learn by not doing so well?

Exactly!

Anu Nampilly of the Child Guidance Medical Centre in Sharjha 06 562-6900 joined us for a bit of a UAE perspective.

Kimberly Bezaire a doctoral student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in education joined us for a chat about what the research is telling us.

The short answer is there are no rules just be realistic and balance what you do!

http://www.whatisgoinon.com/podcast/2008/05/25/a-nation-of-wimps-by-hara-estroff-marano/

“A Nation of Wimps” by Hara Estroff Marano
Published
by
Wilson
on May 25, 2008
in Podcast
. Tags: college culture, depression, hara estroff marano, mental illness, nation of wimps, parenting, teenage suicide.

Noboby likes to be called a “wimp.” The Urban Dictionary defines “wimp” as: “A person who is scared or WEAK or cowardly.” I am not sure that definition encompasses all that Hara Estroff Marano envisions in her book “A Nation of Wimps.” Hara is an Editor-at-Large for Psychology Today and has an intense desire for parents to understand what it means for a child to grow up.

When I was a child, if you complained to your parents about how someone treated you, you might have gotten a spanking. Oh, there were some parents that were always going to the PTA meeting or to the principal to get something fixed, but even the kid thought their parent was a nut. As Hara emphasizes, those days are gone. The new phenonmenon: growing numbers of parents who are not only determined to fight their children’s battles, but whose goal is to make the road to adulthood and success paved and smooth for a bump-free ride.

Of course, that kind of parent could never be–me! Before you exclude yourself, I suggest you take a few minutes and read Hara’s article, A Nation of Wimps, which appeared in Psychology Today in 2004 and which led to the book. If you don’t see yourself, read it again! Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Parents need to abandon the idea of perfection and give up some of the invasive control they’ve maintained over their children. The goal of parenting, Portmann reminds, is to raise an independent human being. Sooner or later, he says, most kids will be forced to confront their own mediocrity. Parents may find it easier to give up some control if they recognize they have exaggerated many of the dangers of childhood — although they have steadfastly ignored others, namely the removal of recess from schools and the ubiquity of video games that encourage aggression.

Then, listen to the interview and hopefully, you will have a deeper appreciation for why kids binge drink, why teenage suicide is on the rise and why college kids experience depression and other aspects of mental illness at ever increasing rates.

For the most part, all of our kids that are wonderful, highly intelligent, and brillant are average and mediocre. That “B” in English is their fault, not the teacher’s. They don’t know what to do, because we have never let them decide what to do without telling them what to do. When they call to talk to mommy on the phone for an hour every day, feeling their pain is one thing, trying to eliminate it is another.

The bottom line: grow up, so your kid can, too!