Parenting Blog

Jealousy is a natural emotion among most kids, especially toddlers. Being so young, they tend to appreciate their own need for attention and dislike any sort of interference. You may have noticed your toddler getting overtly jealous when you are spending time with your hubby or paying attention to other kids of yours. While you may be irritated with the repeated displays of their toddlers’ jealousy, why not try the following guidelines for making things easier for both you and your kid(s).

• Foremost is tolerance. Continue to show love to the self-focused toddler and don’t lose your temper. Only your persistent love can make your jealous kid feel more secure and less self-centered. Your display of anger, on the contrary, serves to increase his/her ‘suspicions’ about your affection.
• Explain to your toddler, in simple and clear words, that you have bundles of love for both him/her and for other family members.
• Don’t bother about apologizing for having other interests and relationships. This will temp the coddler to get control of your attention. In the most loving way possible, let your toddler learn that other people also have a right to your attention.
• Tend to the child’s emotional needs. Some parents are only physically present with their kids, not quite showing the feelings that the child demands. Try to respond fully to the emotions of the kid while he/she is around.

After the age of 3 years, the jealousy of the kid naturally drops as he/she starts developing social relationships outside home. However, new jealousies and rivalries may develop, directed against his/her peer. What you need to do all along is help your child deal with the inequalities of life. The key to achieve this lies in showing appreciation for the talents and contributions of all people.

Humor is not only enjoyable but also essential for living a wholesome life. While many people get a good sense of humor from their social environment, few of them take care to hand over the same tickling nerve to their kids. It is mostly left to chance whether or not kids learn to enjoy life with a healthy sense of humor. This aspect of parenting needs attention and conscious effort on part of the parents.

Not only does humor let the child enjoy his/her life better, it also serves a vital social function: easing a tense situation that may otherwise lead to breaking up of a relationship, which may be that of a parent and child. Humor also boosts the child’s confidence to go ahead and take the risk of making a mistake since he/she knows that mom will create a light-hearted atmosphere with a good joke and guide to the right step. Angry responses, on the other hand, would nip your child’s confidence in its budding stage.

While it is good for parents to employ humor regularly in front of their kids, two main things must be kept in mind. First, not all humor is wholesome. Laughing at a situation in a way that sounds like, ‘things just happen. It’s no one’s fault!’ is different from laughing at someone and berate his/her person. Children tend to imitate their parent’s sense of humor and if you show disrespect to others in the mask of humor, your kid is likely to follow you. This brings sick attitude and disparaging behavior that may cause trouble for you, your child, and for others.

Secondly, always laugh with your child and not at him/her. Children are very sensitive to any encroachment on their self-respect and laughing at your child is likely to hurt him/her deeply. The child’s self-image may be battered in such a case and he/she would tend to harbor bitterness than the joy of humor. So be careful in the way you use humor!

When your child starts walking and exploring the house, you have reason to rejoice. At the same time, you must be conscious of the need for greater care for your young one. Children in their first couple of years of walking are particularly prone to domestic accidents including burning. Surveys show that approximately 45, 000 children under the age of 5 years are burnt in accidents in homes. Pediatricians have found the following two facts relating burning accidents among young children:

• Most accidents happen in kitchen and bathroom and the most serious injuries are caused by hot bath, boiling water, and cups of hot drinks.
• The most common burns are imparted by hot irons, cookers, oven doors, and heaters.

What You Do if Your Child Gets a Burn

If your child gets a minor burn or scald (affecting only a finger or a hand) by accident, follow the following steps before taking him to a physician:

• Plunge the burnt area into cool water or run cool water over it for 15 minutes.
• Don’t apply any cream or lotion to the burn.
• If a blister develops over the scald, don’t pop it. Blisters protect against infection.
• Cover with clingfilm or a clean plastic bag.
• Take your child to a doctor.

If the burn is Extensive or Severe, covering more area of the body, follow these guidelines:

• If the burn is the cause of an electric shock, immediately switch off the household current.
• Pour cool water on the burnt area for 15 minutes.
• Bare the area of any clothing but remember not to pull any fabric sticking to the skin; doing so may tear the skin. Cut around the sticking fabric and continue to cool with water.
• Do not apply any cream or lotion.
• Cover with a clean dressing.
• Check your child for signs of breathing difficulty and call the emergency service if any signs of shock or danger can be seen.

In case your child gets fire by accident, be quick in taking action. Stop his/her running around, drop her to the floor, and roll her in a coat or blankets. Remember not to remove her clothes. Seek immediate medical attention.

Caring moms are always concerned about their child’s safety and do a lot of useful things to ensure that their children stay out of danger inside and outside home. While it is important to provide safety in places like kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, stairs, and classrooms etc., clothing the child also has some points that ensure greater safety and minimum chances of accidents. Following are some guidelines for safety measures in your child’s clothing.

• Select flame-retardant fabrics that, if ignited by accident, don’t burn quickly. These fabrics provide greater time for rescuing the child in case of an accidental fire.
• See that the pants your child wears fit well and don’t interfere with his/her movement. Too loose, long, or tight pants may trip the child.
• Shoes with laces frequently cause the child to fall. Select shoes with non-slip soles and without laces.
• Garments with decorative trims and buttons are not advisable for children’s wearing because these items may be pulled off and swallowed by little kids.
• Don’t form large hoods that may block the child’s vision.
• Long and loose strings, skirts, and scarves are not safe for daily use of children. They can get caught on play equipment and hence are good only for some stage play in a school function or family party.

When a young child gets the ability to contrive lies, it is a sign of his budding independence and attempts of separation from the parent or guardian. However, it is extremely important to instill the habit of telling the truth so that he/she can distinguish between right and wrong, fact and fiction, and honesty and deceit. To be able to do this, you need to stop lying to your child for the following 4 important reasons.

• Stop making false promises to coax your child into doing or not doing something. Don’t say things like ‘I’ll get you a teddy bear next time we visit the toyshop’. If you don’t buy the kid that teddy bear, the child discovers your lie and learns that promises are not important to keep. You better make promises that you mean to keep, say things like ‘I’ll buy you your favorite orange juice when we go the shop’.
• If you are engaged in something that is likely to take long, don’t lie to your child that you’ll help him/her in a minute. The child’s wee mind concludes that elders don’t mean what they say. You can be honest in saying ‘Honey you have to wait till I finish my work’.
• You need to be sure of what you say about a coming experience or else the child will be led to believe that elders deceive kids. For example, if you tell your kid that he/she will be taken to a doctor who won’t give an injection and the doctor gives the child a shot, your lie is exposed.

The inferences about the ‘lying adult’ lurk in the child’s mind and they are likely to play the same role of the deceiving elder with their kids. To raise an honest child, you are burdened with the fair task of becoming a truthful model.