Real Mom Tips

When your children reach their teens, we as parents enter an unknown territory that we don’t know how to handle it, especially with our first child.

Watching your child changing from a polite, sweet child to having as stroppy attitude is a nightmare to every mum. Sometimes, parents forget what we were like when we were kids ourselves. It is only natural that part of growing up, the kids hormones would be all over the place. It would be a phase but you have to nip it in the bud before it gets worse, especially for those who have younger kids. You worry that younger kids will copy the older ones.

Talk to other parents and you’ll notice that you’re not alone. Give your kids seperate quality time. Try to find something to do together like walking your dog. If they speak to you show them you care, like for example if you’re doing the washing up and your child comes to tell you something, stop doing the task , turn to them and listen. By time you’ll notice a change and if the have a problem they will be more willing to open up with you.

Teens will be doing what is only natural for them and no different from any other teenager, they want to be treated as adults but they are really still kids.

All adults who have been extremely shy when they were kids do not want their children to be shy and miss at on childhood. Shy kids tend to stay next to the teacher during playtime and miss out all the fun and games.

If we wouldn’t help our children overcome shyness when they are young, it would be complex for them to integrate with others when they grow leading to a poor social life. Shy children tend to run around and play with their brothers and sisters but the minute they will be left alone with other children, they will be too shy to speak or play with them.

People will tell you that they grow out of it but worried parents will start thinking when will this be happening and what will happen if they don’t – would they struggle to make friends? would they miss out on school concerts and activities? Shy child will miss out so much fun.

To help them overcome shyness whenever they have a school concert coming let them practice at home. Be their audience, point the lamps to create spotlights, close the curtains so the room would be dark just as if they are doing their school concert. Pretend to be their audience and let them sing or practice their part. Clap for them and cheer when they are ready. Explain to them that only parents will be there and that no one will judge them or laugh. Tell them that you’re going to be there for them to see them and with a little bit of practice and encouragement they will do their part.

Encourage your child to take part in activities and to take participate in the class. They can only follow by practice and example and it will take time to overcome shyness but with your support your child will be happily making new friends to play with.

For every woman, giving birth is the most natural thing in the world, but for some of us that are experiencing it for the first time is seems like a nightmare.

Some women don’t enjoy pregnancy at all as they will spend everyday struggling with the thought of childbirth:- What if something goes wrong? What if something happens to the baby? What if I can’t take the pain? The pain….the blood….. it would be so terrifying, like a horror film!!! For some women the joy of pregnancy will be overshadowed by fear.

But the reality is totally different – Pregnancy should be full of excitement :- those sweets little talks with your belly, preparing the nursery, buying small baby things and best of all feeling your baby moving. The delight of touching your growing belly and the excitment of a living, growing baby in your tummy is fantastic.

If you feel terrified do not be afraid to speak to your practition, the feeling of sharing your problems is already part of the healing process. Train your brain to think positively – not negatively. Go to classes to learn breathing and relaxation techniques. Allow yourself to use the natural instincts that will help you to have a safer, easier and more comfortable natural birth. Remember that the more tension you’ll be during labour the more your muscles tense and it would be more painful. Labour should be the best experience in your life. If you change your outlook about childbirth you’ll be looking foward to it and the weeks will flew by with exictement.

Relaxation helps you have a more natural and less painful bith.

In today’s modern world it seems that children are swapping childhood to playing computer games and watching tv and to top it up all the while eating sweets.

To persuade your child not to turn into a couch potato can cause daily tanturms. Most children are well behaved, have lots of friends and do well in school, but during their holidays they prefer to spent it holed up in their bedroom playing computer games or watching tv. Mostly they do sneaky trips to the kitchen to grab some sweets, making every parent concerned about their child’s weight and eating habits.

Speak to the children’s teacher and ask her if there is any particular subject which they like and try to be creative. Most children enjoy doing crafts so enroll your child in an arts and crafts club, thus helping them to improve the social and creativity skills.

Also get your child to join different clubs and ask them which they enjoyed doing. Instead of telling them to go, ask them, this way you help them do their own decisions and let them grow in their own talents.

Lastly try to swap sweets and biscuits to apples and grapes as they are more healthy and gives them more energy.

Trying to battle laziness, you’ll be desperatly trying to find something to spark your child’s interest, but once you’ll find out what your child really likes to do you’ll notice that they have fewer tanturms and they start going outside playing with their friends

Having a child in the family means that every day is a new learning curve and a new milestone is just one more thing to worry about.

There is no exact age when you start potty training but a child can show key signs himself that he is preparing himself to be potty trainged – a dry nappy is one of them.
Remember not to get ahead of yourself. A dry nappy is one thing, but attempting to change your baby’s toilet routine is quite another.

You can try to check your child, if he follows simply instructions, as this shows that he’s becoming more aware of things – Ask them to bring a nappy and to take the bottoms off before bathtime. Let them sit on the potty with the nappy on and give them a book to read or their favoutire toy. This way it won’t make the potty a scary or strange place for the child to be and they will get used to it slowly before actually using it.

Also you can take you child to the bathroom and explain that the toilet is like their potty. Explain that the wee goes down and you can both wave ‘bye’ to it as it is flushes away. This way the whole process would be more fun, more relaxed and less regimented.

Also keep telling your child that he’s like mummy now. It would make them feel all grown-up.

Whenever you decide you’re going to starts the potty training stick to it and don’t put yourself under pressure. You don’t have to rush into things and as any other thing a stressted, frustrated mother won’t help the situation. Do not worry that other children are rushing ahead – this is no competition. Your child will do it when he’s ready.

Every child has that inseperable toy and wherever he goes, along comes the toy. Whenever you try to take the favorite toy from your child, his screams exploded wherever you’ll be.

You may try the ‘big ‘child approach. You may even try to take your child to the shops and let him pick another toy, but over the next few days you will realise that he only swapped one ‘comfort’ toy to another. You won’t mind such behave until your child has to start pre-school and the toy has to stay at home.

Alternatively you can come up with the ‘Toy Fairy Story’ You can tell your child that the fairy visits every child before he goes to school and replaces the ‘comfort’ toy with a treat. You explain to your child that the fairy will send him a letter before she’s coming so your child can prepare the toy. You can write the letter yourself and sign it the ‘Toy Fairy’. Your child will excitedly let you clean up the toy and leave at the end of the bed.

You can replace the toy with his favourite sweets or treat. He will be all exicted that he’s got his favourite treat.

It should work perfectly and your child wouldn’t even think about his ‘comfort’ toy again. I highly recommed trying the storytelling tactic – hopefully the magic works for every child.

Letting go your child sleep at a different home makes you into a neurotic mother and your mind whirled with hundreds of potential predicaments and problems that could occur. Your mind starts racing with little thoughts:

What if he wakes up in the middle of the night and doesn’t know where he is? What if they don’t leave a light on and he gets scared of the drak? What if he gets cold and is too shy yo ask for an extra blanket?

It’s not that you don’t trust his friends parents – you know your child will be safe but on the other hand you know your child’s specific bedtime routine and little rituals that do to help him fall asleep. You’ll be worried that if something would be different your child would be shy to ask and ge’ll get upset and you wouldn’t be there to comfort him.

Don’t be afraid to call the other parents and specify what’s you child bedtime routine. Don’t feel that you’re an overprotective mother – remaber that you’ll be talking to a parent as well and theyt will definetly understand the situation. The other parent would be a little anxious and worried about the sleepover especially as if it would be the first time. Ask them if you can call to say goodnight and let them know that they can call you at anytime during the night if need to call your child.

When you collect your child the following morning and hear about the amazing time he had – and how much he missed you – it will be all worth it.

By now Matthew had been eating for the last week…well eating is not exactly the proper word cause he’s more playing with food. I have changed my mind and for the first meal I have given Matthew some baby ceral it was the first time trying to eat with his spoon. It was a wonderful experience, Matthew was exicted seeing the colourful spoon and bowl…he thought we were going to do a new game. Well he managed to get eat something.

For his second day i decided to give him some vegetables… The very first taste of our food …. I started with some marrows followed by carrots and now I am mixing some array of vegetables like sweet patatoes, marrows, carrots with some chicken.

With a little bit of fun play he is eating. I am trying to teach him how to eat and swallow and enjoy food. Before he started to eat he used to watch us with greedy eyes whenever we were eating and I used to feel guilty that I’m not giving him food. Next step I will try some meat with his meals….some beef and vegatables would be something different for Matthew. I want him to try as many differnt tastes and flavours as possible so he would love his food and hopefully he would eat properly when we’ll grow up.

I want him to enjoy the pleasure of eating and the joy of different tastes. I want him to appreciate his meals and hopefully he’ll continue he’s eating journey with good health meals.

Tomorrow is a big day for Matthew, as I will try to feed him for the very first time. I’m all exicted and expecting this day for long.

I have bought all the new heat sensitive spoons and small colourful bowls. What a new invention these heat sensitive spoons!! – I never have given it a thought if the sales person haven’t told me about them. Well actually I was a bit worried of how I’m going to check if the food is too warm or not, but now I don’t have to worry any more cause as soon as I put the spoon in something that is too warm from red they turn to bright yellow.

I have noticed that recently Matthew is all to interested in food, cause if I’m eating something and he’s sitting on my lap he just stares at me and looks at me questionly.

I just bought some fresh marrows to start with – hopefully he likes then, but since for the last 3 months he’s been drinking soya milk I’m hoping that he’s going to like vegtables. As every new mum preparing the first meal for her child, I’m just worried that I would cook it right.

Well tomorrow is one of the very first experiences that Matthew will go through in life – and I hope that as from tomorrow he would enjoy the pleasure of eating healthy food

Last Sunday we celebrated Mother’s Day It’s a special occasion for all of us, although we don’t need one day to remind us ouour durty, but maybe our husbands can prepare a little something extra special for us, so we can have a little bit of time for us to be pampered.

Well it was my very first one!! and it got me thinking and wondering, if I’m going to be a good mother, If I’ll be able to raise my son to be poilte and gentle – or if I would let my son break the rules for a little bit of extra fun. Since I’ve become a mother for my son my job description has become so long that it doesn’t even fit in one page. it’s a never ending range of roles: cooking, housekeeper, nurse, tutor, psychologist, marketing expert etc. I know my son is still young but we provide all the possible love we can give him and althoughsometimes I’ll be dead tired I wake up 3-4 times a night to check that he’s ok and when I’m taking a bath and hear him I run out of the bath all wet to check that he’s ok. In the near future I’ll be called to fix toys, tend to cuts and bruises and mend broken hearts – sometimes in a space of a couple of hours.

As hard as it is to imagine, my tiny baby will eventually grow into an adult with a family of his own and I hope that I’ll watch with pride the moment he’ll start his own family and tell me that he’ll give the family love we gave him.