Travel Games
October 26, 2006
Travel Games
by: Wendy Legendre
If you’ve ever spent a long time in a vehicle with children then you’ve probably had to come up with some quick, creative ideas on how to keep them occupied. I have spent countless hours playing travel games with children. Here are a few of the travel games that I have found perfect for passing the time.
Travel Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of things you might see as you’re travelling (this will vary depending on your location). Some good examples would be… an airplane flying overhead, a lamb, a cyclist, an ambulance, a yield sign, litter, a train, etc. Make a list for everyone or play the game as a group. If children are playing individually, the first person to call out an item gets to check it off their list. If the item appears another time at a different location on your route another child may call it and check it off of their list. Whoever gets all of their items first or whoever has the most items when you reach your destination wins.
Travel Bingo
Single Parents: Give Yourselves Credit
October 26, 2006
Single parents are not often thought of as good parents.
I became acutely aware of this fact when my children were young and I was dealing with the challenges of being a single mom. An “expert” told me that the increase in the number of dysfunctional families was directly related to the increasing number of single-parent families. The statistics proved it.
I was taken aback. I had never related dysfunction to the number of adults in a family. In fact, I was aware of many families that functioned better when one of the parents was no longer present.
His comment did make me stop and think, however. Were single parents really the cause of many of society’s ills? Or was that a misconception? I felt that I needed to answer that question - not for society as a whole, but for my family.
To begin, I took a long, hard look at myself. Was I still a good parent? Were we functioning in a healthy, balanced way? Or were my children suffering from the “unnatural” situation of living with only one parent?
As I tried to see it all objectively, some things became clear to me.
Whine Oh Whine Am I The Only One?
October 26, 2006
I thought I was the only one in the world with a whiny 5-year-old. All the other 5-year-olds that I know of are either well-behaved or are total monsters! My elder child is a cross between the two ? most times he’s well-behaved and sometimes a total monster. And when he’s a monster, mommy turns into an uglier one (blushing in embarrassment).
I don’t want this to sound like a "Dear Thelma" article with me doing my whining online and venting it angrily out at readers, about how unfair this world is and how horrid my child is whenever he whines?when in actual fact, I think the problem lies with me. I have a problem with giving him the attention he needs, therefore, he resorts to whining to get my attention.
Does my younger son whine? Not as often as my elder child. My younger son is wiser, he uses a more effective method to get my attention. He would yank my sleeve or part of my clothing up (or any other embarrassing parts of my clothing that reveals undesirable parts of my body) and place hot and wet kisses there! Boy oh boy, you have to give it to the boy for knowing how to get my attention.
Don?t Make Fast and Furious Food Changes
October 26, 2006
OK, moms and dads out there, we hear you when you say, my children won’t eat healthy foods. If we even say the word, they tune out and already decide they don’t like it. Well, my first response to this is "who is running the house, you or the kids". If you say the kids, you have more problems than I can help you with. Put your foot down, you and your husband, spouse, significant other, (fill in the blank) are the ones making the living and doing the providing. I fully realize that children don’t like the concept of healthy foods. However, most children don’t realize that many of the foods they do like are healthy for them. Most kids I know love peanut butter, well that is a good food for them. So try some peanut butter on that apple or celery they refuse to eat. Or try some low fat or fat free cheese sauce on the cauliflower or broccoli they turn their nose up at.
Is Your Discipline Damaging the Spirit of the Child?
October 25, 2006
If your parenting methods include abuse of any kind; physical, sexual, emotional or verbal, please get help to stop as soon as possible. Adults are supposed to safeguard and protect the young among us. You may be repeating patterns learned in your family of origin or not know any other methods of parenting.
I have included a number of different approaches to discipline that won’t damage the spirit of your precious children, but none will work if you haven’t acknowledged that what you were doing in the past was harmful and that your family deserved a more nurturing environment. I am not a psychologist or a counselor, but I know there are good ones out there who can assist you in shifting your paradigm of discipline to a more loving and respectful relationship. You owe it to your children and yourself to break the bonds and cycle of abuse and get help. Change is possible; I see it every day in families I work with. You are a good, kind and loving person or you wouldn’t be reading this book and attending these classes, so I encourage you to take the steps that will change the lives of your children and their children.
Infant Circumcision
October 25, 2006
If circumcision were a choice I had to have made, I would have run frantically from the hospital with my newborn son to protect him from the procedure. His father would have chased me down, insisting his son "look like he did." All I can say is I’m terribly relieved I didn’t have to live through that. Nor did I have to make the agonizing choice of protecting my baby from pain or disrespecting my husband. It would have been a huge battle of conscience. I was spared and given daughters.
The decision to circumcise an infant boy or not is, in the USA and I’m assuming, most of the world, still a parent’s sole responsibility. More and more doctors and pediatricians are recommending against routine circumcision. The controversy is beginning to reach epidemic proportions and will soon be a major issue facing new parents. I feel very sorry for those parents. They will be bombarded with opinions at every turn and surely go though hell with it, unless they have settled this issue between them before the baby’s birth. Hopefully, they will agree. The problem I foresee is the parents not agreeing on circumcision, creating a stressful situation where there should be only joy.
Discipline Without Damage
October 25, 2006
If your parenting methods include abuse of any kind; physical, sexual, emotional or verbal, please get help to stop as soon as possible. Adults are supposed to safeguard and protect the young among us. You may be repeating patterns learned in your family of origin or not know any other methods of parenting.
I have included a number of different approaches to discipline that won’t damage the spirit of your precious children, but none will work if you haven’t acknowledged that what you were doing in the past was harmful and that your family deserved a more nurturing environment. I am not a psychologist or a counselor, but I know there are good ones out there who can assist you in shifting your paradigm of discipline to a more loving and respectful relationship.
You owe it to your children and yourself to break the bonds and cycle of abuse and get help. Change is possible; I see it every day in families I work with. You are a good, kind and loving person or you wouldn’t be reading this book and attending these classes, so I encourage you to take the steps that will change the lives of your children and their children.
Spending Time With Your Child
October 25, 2006
Why Is Spending Time with Your Child So Important?
For children to get any sense that they are loved and wanted, you have to be prepared to spend some time with them. I know you are all thinking, so tell me something I don’t know. My point in all of this is how important this really is. The term "spending time with your child" gets tossed out there fairly casually. We hear it so often that after awhile we may not take it as seriously as we should. I found myself, with all of the time I have to spend with my diabetic daughter and daily diabetes care, considering that as part of my quota of time spent with my child. In a sense it is, but it’s not the kind of time that makes the relationship with your child so special. This is a difficult article for me to write because I can see some areas I need to improve in. I hope this isn’t too difficult to read. There’s no getting away from this simple truth. If you do not give them very much of your time, talking, laughing, playing, and sharing things or just generally being around listening to and enjoying them, how can they possibly get any other message than that they are not worthy of your love, time, and attention? How can they then progress to love themselves if they perceive that you always put yourself and others first, before them, and that they are apparently incidental to your life, even that they are a nuisance? Please note that I said "they perceive". What a child perceives is not always accurate. But to a child perception is reality. If they think this is how you feel, then to them, this is how you feel. This is why I think the time you spend with your child is so important. I know how much you love your child. You know how much you love you child. What’s so critical is does your child know how much you love your child? Our children need us to be interested in them and to demonstrate our love for them by spending time with them right through adolescence.
Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) for Teen Drivers
October 24, 2006
Drivers 16 years of age have little driving experience, putting them at high risk for traffic accidents. A series of five research papers published in a September 2002 supplement of Injury Prevention addresses reducing this risk. The papers introduce and make a case for graduated driver licensing (GDL), the system of laws and practices that gradually introduce young drivers into the driving population.
Graduated Driver License programs can be found in 31 states around the country. The GDL program permits young drivers to safely gain driving experience before obtaining full driving privileges and are generally targeted towards 14 ? 17 year old teen drivers.
Most states require an adult with a valid driver’s license be present when the teen is driving. Additionally, the teen driver is required to enroll in a certified Drivers Ed course and must hold a learner’s permit for at least 3 ? 6 months before taking an "operator’s driving license" test.
It is during these 3 ? 6 months when teen drivers with learner’s permits mostly drive the family vehicle with their parents. While GDL programs allow the teen driver to gain experience in a family vehicle with a parent, other drivers are not aware who is behind the wheel of this vehicle.
After the Driving School
October 24, 2006
If you visit search engines you can find several resources to assist you on this subject. Try searching on the phrase "parents with teen drivers". Alternatively we have tried to make this easy for you if you visit our news page on this very topic.
A few resources on the web for parents are:
Parent-Teen Contract
You might also consider using a driving safety contract between you and your teen. This is an agreement that your child signs, in which he agrees to be a safe driver by following all restrictions you have imposed or risk losing his driving privileges. An example of this can be found at: http://www.ipromiseprogram.com/
Talk It Out
Work with your teen driver to talk through their thought process while driving. Let’s not over-do this to the point that they cannot concentrate on driving. More specifics can be found in the book for parents at: http://www.safeyoungdrivers.com/
Helpful thoughts for parents in brief are:
* Drive by example
* Watch your emotional response while your teen is driving
* Work with your teen on various driving conditions, not just dry sunny days.
