The Right Place For a Chemistry Set Lab in Your Home

Most of us parents are pretty excited when we've got our boy or girl the chemistry set they've been asking for, and are just chomping at the bit to get at it! Only, until we've got it all set up and ready to go, we suddenly realize it's a target for disaster!

The first time I got my girls a chemistry set brings back lots of memories and lots of laughs. If we had only known!

I think of Jim Carey in, "The Pet Detective", and if you've seen this movie, you'll remember there were animals of every size and type, free - grazing in his apartment! If you're like the pet detective, and have a dog, cats, fish, scorpions, birds and various reptiles free-grazing in your home, and want to give your children the experience of exploring chemistry in that same home, you've got challenges to face!

On the other hand, if you're like lots of families and have no other animals living in your home besides you, your mate and your offspring, then you only have simple human considerations to organize, I'll be going over these shortly, so that you and your children can arrange the most awesome lab chemistry set experience place in your home.

Meanwhile, just image that your pet iguana and three cats have discovered your carefully arranged lab for your children, and see it as a vast playground for fun and decide to go wild!

This is exactly what happened to us! It was mayhem! Everything got wrecked and it was hilarious. Until we had to clean up the mess! But we learned the hard way, and our new lab is growing more exciting every day.

So whether you've got other animals living in your house besides you or not, here are some practical strategies for setting up a home lab for chemistry sets, so that it becomes a refuge of excitement and discovery for you and your kids, and Charlie, your Horny Toed Lizard from Hell, never gets whiff of it!

Once you've decided on a place for your in-home chemistry set lab, control it. A door usually works. A door that locks, is even better, and can stop not only all of your animal friends, but even those precocious 2 to 5 year olds of yours, who just can't stop messing with things.

When setting up a lab for your on-going chemistry experiments, you must make sure you have all the common sense considerations dialed in for optimum enjoyment: think of it as providing a place for on-going cooking projects that can take a week to complete.

Set up a tiny corner of any room you can control and provide a work station like a table, counter, or old office desk where you can help your children set up their lab.

Make sure it provides all the working surface area to set up a lab that is clean, organized, and well-lit. Take measures to provide for adequate ventilation where steady air flow can be maximized with an open door, or window, or both when you are working in your lab. Finally, make sure any lab you set up in your home has easy access to a bathroom or a kitchen sink with hot and cold running water for the preparation, cleaning and sterilizing procedures you and children will have to work through to complete any given experiment you decide to undertake.

With pets or not, any home can use these simple, common sense strategies to arrange a productive lab area for the chemistry set of your choice, to produce the amazing and exciting results that you and your children were hoping for!

How Coloring Pages Can Open the Lines of Communication With a Child

The time to open the lines of communication with your child is when they are young. A two or three year old may not be able to have an hour long conversation and tell you everything that is running through their mind or that may be bothering them, but if you take the time to pull out some coloring pages and sit with them for some creative play you will find that they do have their own ways of communicating with you.

When children are allowed to fill in coloring sheets they will often display parts of their personality by favoring some colors over others or by coloring in a particular fashion. For example, one little girl may color her princess coloring pages with short, careful strokes so that she is certain not to go out of the lines while another little girl with the same princess coloring pages scribbles quickly in a hurry to get done first.

Both of these coloring styles are a way for children to communicate valuable information to a parent. You may learn that the first little girl is careful and clean about everything she does and you may recognize a competitive spark in the second child.

If you pay attention, there will be many other unspoken communications with a young child just by coloring with them!

As children grow older they will start opening up and talking more as you color with them. Parents who just hand out coloring pages for kids and go off to do other things are missing a valuable bonding opportunity. Most children will start to talk more openly once they are distracted with something to color.

Coloring is a great time to ask your children about their day or to bring up topics which may be bothering them but they are hesitant to talk about at other times.

Disciplining Your Kids

There is no shortage on books filled with so-called expert advice on how to discipline your kids. But, for how do you know which methods are best for your kids? Well, with all due respect to these experts, I would argue that the person who knows your children best is you.

It is great to consider the advice found in books and articles, but at the end of the day you should identify what will work with your individual child. Each family is different, and each child within the family is different and has unique needs.

Take time outs, for example. This may work well on one child, but not at all well on another child. I have a friend whose child defies all of the rules she places on him. When he started biting, she asked me what she should do. I told her every method I know of, but as she tried each one, each one failed on her child. What she hadn't done was take the time to understand her own child and what might work best for him.

It's important to discipline children. Children must learn that there are rules, and that rules must be followed. This will help them throughout life. They may not take to it well at first, but instilling values like these will ensure well grounded kids who grow into responsible and mature adults, able to handle any issues and adversity that life throws their way. This usually leads to people who work hard, have thick skin, and aren't afraid to tackle a challenge whenever it presents itself.

Discipline should not, however, be harmful to the child under any circumstances. Harmful discipline will not teach a child the necessary rules about appropriate consequences. This will only hurt their feelings, creating fear anytime similar issues arise for the rest of your life. Therefore, it's important to be gentle and careful in your approach, despite the fact that you want to be firm.

Discipline should also be appropriate for the act committed. For example, if your child uses a marker all over your walls, have them clean up the mess. This will teach them the true consequence of the specific act committed. Smaller children may need more time, or even assistance with the clean up, but be sure they understand that this is not a game.

Understanding your unique child will help you to identify the disciplinary techniques that will best help them to grow into responsible adults.

Are We Locked in a Virtual World?

As we move from television watching to newer technologies, we enter the applications of The Virtual World. This includes gaming and even finding your "Second Life." It is fascinating, fun, and even addictive. It becomes time consuming, as we escape our anxieties and fears.

As I became a funky Avatar in my own second life mode, and noticed nearly 1 million on line at that same moment around the globe, I had a horrifying thought. It was late afternoon, central time. Many of the million had to be teenagers and young adults who were spending their time locked into imaginative fascination, rather than developing their own imaginative, creative mind.

How does one develop a creative mind? It is through participation in after school athletic and mind engaging activities (like debate, orchestra, chorus, school editorial journalism, theater, and scholarly clubs), studying, creative writing, and reading books. Instead, how many are texting and in their virtual world, escaping future responsibilities of preparing for their lifetime work professions?

What happens? They will live a mediocre lifestyle, bored to death.

How can this be changed? Parents will need to monitor and coach their own children's schoolwork and activities like many do industriously now. Yet, many do not. It is easy to avoid, as it requires hard work, self-discipline, and focus.

For example, a few years ago, I walked into a California library with my six year old grand- daughter to pick out some colorful picture books. We walked out carrying the allocated five loaned story books, walking next to another seven-year-old girl leaving with a stack of five thick novels, one of them, noticeably, "War and Peace," by Leo Tolstoy. The library was full of students studying after school in earnest. No one was texting.

What is going on here? I did have my own children reading recognized literature going into first grade. I do not remember exactly how I did it, except I read to them daily, and had them reading as well aloud, back to me. They recited poems. They engaged in creative writing, even poetry and playwriting.

What happened? When they entered first grade, they were ahead of the rest of the class and reprimanded to stay with the average, and to read at a much lower level. Parents were asked not to intrude. Differentiating students would require too much time.

Today, it is a different story; parents can and must take charge. It is easier to do now than years before, as we now have the internet with many exciting options for advanced learners and solutions for those who struggle. There are many programs for acceleration, as "remedial" is an unwanted, unnecessary, labeling term.

There will soon be new, virtual parent websites to follow your child's learning progress, and with recommended homework assignments that is well worth their time. Their assessments and measurements can be checked, monitored, and improved. They will reach mastery levels sooner. A child will not have to be raised haphazardly, or left without supervision. You can now follow your child more closely than having them live in a pretend, virtual second life.

Today many students are locked into a pretend, virtual world rather than developing their own creative minds through challenging academic and athletic after-school activities, requiring self-discipline. This article encourages parents how to monitor and develop their own child to new academic heights.

Parenting is Not a Pane of Glass

No matter how hard we try, sometimes we mess up as parents. Sometimes the blame needs to be put on our own words or actions, or even on our lack of action, but no matter how hard we try to avoid it, the fault will be ours from time to time. Right now, every reader is saying to themselves, "I hope so-and-so is reading this." I know you are. We want others to accept responsibility when they are wrong, but we are slow to do it ourselves, particularly when it involves how we parent our children.

As parents, we painstakingly teach our children this lesson because their natural tendency is to blame someone else, retaliate, ignore the problem, lie about it, or pretend it never happened. We spend many, many hours of parental instruction on teaching children not to lie and to admit their responsibility in a problem situation, but often as parents we revert back to the retaliation-blame-game ourselves. No one likes to be at fault, so we fight back even if we have been in the wrong.

Doing this creates tension for everyone around and leads to a chasm in parent-child relationships. When a parent refuses to acknowledge their role in a problem situation, or their contributing part of the crisis, then the circumstances cannot be settled, leaving an elephant in the room at best, or an emotional end to the relationship at worst. Parents like to present an image of infallibility to their children, and certainly children want to know that their parents are wise and knowledgeable, but our kids will learn valuable lessons in life as well when parents are willing to say "I messed up here. Please forgive me."

It isn't easy, and it isn't always comfortable, but even as parents we need to remember the healing power of when a child admits their mistakes to us and we can then move on. The same is true for parents. We desire this kind of honesty from our children, so we should model it for them as parents. Depending upon the age of the child, this may take different forms or even degrees of sharing, but it is important for our children to see that even parents are willing to admit that on occasion, they have to seek forgiveness and restitution as well.

Perfection is a hard image to maintain. It takes incredible energy and illusion, and like a pane of glass, will eventually become chipped or cracked. Reality is not about perfection, and neither is parenting. Be honest with your children. Be teachers of the values that you want them to exhibit, by exhibiting these traits yourself and modeling them as parents.

How Can I Teach My Child Good Behaviors?

Many parents often wonder if there is a better way to teach their children good discipline. Some are not comfortable with the time-out method, behavioral plans or reward charts. What if you could teach your child discipline by just changing your way of teaching them? A viable alternative to these classic parenting styles begins with you. You, as the parent are tasked with changing your way of thinking. This may be a little difficult at first, but it can be done.

Instead of looking at your parenting job as you are the boss so therefore children must do as I say, transform into a leadership role. You are the leader, your actions and words are the model your children will be looking to as they grow socially and emotionally. As the leader, you are responsible for setting the rules and consequences of your house. This also puts you into the position to enforce those rules consistently. You can enforce these rules by simply restating them. A variety of different techniques can be implemented to redirect the child to the behaviors you are requiring without ever putting them in a time-out.

Your new leadership role also gives you the responsibility to lead your child into good behavior habits. Before you can lead them to these good habits, you need to define what those good behaviors look like. An effective strategy is to tell the child what they can do, instead of listing all the things they cannot do. This method may go against your parenting grain, but think of how much easier it is to remember a couple of things you can do versus fifty things you are not supposed to do.

Do you want to learn exactly how to eliminate your child's out-of-control and defiant behavior without using Punishments, Time-Outs, Behavioral Plans, or Rewards?

How To Stop Bed Wetting In Teenagers

BED WETTING

Bed wetting has two words combined in it: bed plus wetting. This means that there is an emphasis begging for attention. In ideal situation, bed serves the purpose of resting while observing siesta or sleeping when night comes. It is expected that infants would urinate on bed due to their inability to control the urinary valves. Two conditions might affect the urinary valves: it is either premature or weak.

Bed wetting is not a big deal with infants but called for a serious concern among teens. Infants would most of the time have their buttocks tied with napkins or pampers as they urinate very frequently. However, teens are expected not to urinate on bed when they sleep because of the growth of certain physiological features. Where teenagers bed wet, the issue has to be vehemently addressed. Why, if you may ask? It brings social insult to both the teen and the parent; increased expense on clothing; problems of association and stigma.

STEPS TO STOP BED WETTING

1. Regulate the volume of liquid-water tea, soft drinks in-take by the teens, most especially as night falls due. When water is taken in excess, it swells up the urinary bladder. The weight of this bladder automatically relaxes the urinary valve, thus leading to instant outpouring of water in form of urine

2. Regulate the time spent on exercise. Running, jumping etc increases metabolism where waste products are generated. Excess exercise brings about fatigue and deep sleep which makes teens unconscious of the environment. In fact, the teenagers while urinating will be viewing himself on the playing ground; he or she will realize this mess when the urine touches his or her body and when they wake up.

3. Do not allow your teenager to take coffee except where it is decaffeinated. Remember coffee tea is a drink to shed weight as it facilitates increased urination. Any teen taking coffee with caffeine is bound to bed wet profusely during sleep.

4. Promoting good table manner to enable children spend some time in the living room before going to bed. The principle behind this practice is to enable children express out enough water in form of urine before they go to bed.

5. Waking up your teens after four (4) hours of sleeping. Digestion of solid food is completed after four hours; water, drugs, soft drinks are absorbed immediately by the intestinal walls. Water is required for assimilating the digested foods. It is expected that by the fourth hour, the bladder is filled with urine to be expressed out of the body. Waking up teenagers at this time will prevent wetting the bed with urine.

6. Use of alarms also helps to stop bed wetting. This is because alarm creates a learned behavior capable of being repeated at the sounding of alarm. The alarm will register in the sub-conscious of the teenager to wake up for urination.

7. Consult obstetricians where all of the above methods failed.

Uplifting Your Child's Self Esteem

Your child's self esteem is their psychological foundation. A self-assured child often displays a confident, secure, happy, and well-adjusted disposition. More often than not, children with high self esteem manage their problems better. And this all begins with the care and nourishment of their parents. In order to help build your child's self esteem, you must learn to accept them for who they are. In like manner, teach them to reciprocate this with others. Make your children are aware that nobody is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes.

Make sure they are able to learn and grow from their mistakes, just like you do. Children with high self-esteem are characterized by the ability to appreciate the lessons that come from experiencing the pitfalls in life.

Children with low self esteem often become frustrated, to the point of engaging in self-depreciating behavior. This can be as bad as calling themselves "worthless" or "stupid." Once children lose self-confidence, it may be harder for them to be open to new things in the future.

Help your children discover for themselves their unique talents and abilities. It would also help to assist them in finding a special outlet for their gifts. Once they do, make sure they work on developing in it. Praise them for their unique talents, but don't take for granted their innate traits as well.

Another important thing is to train them to make positive choices at an early age. Make sure to communicate with them and discuss the numerous possibilities life has in store for them. Studies have shown that children who are trained to make positive choices in life, at an early age, turn out better prepared for the tougher choices that they'll have to make once they get older.

Never pass up on spending quality time with your children. At least once a week, dedicate an entire day to them. It doesn't matter what you do together as long as you take the time to talk and stay in tune with each other's thoughts and emotions.

If you find it difficult to squeeze in quality time with your kids with your busy schedule, know that doing simple things together such as chatting during car rides or doing chores together can be just as good. There are plenty of ways to reach out to your child, what truly matters is that you realize the value of needing to do so.

You Don't Have Active Kids? All Kids Are Active!

"Boy, you've got some active kids,"

Sounds like a reasonable statement on the face of it. But the truth is all kids are essentially active. Unless a severe physical disability completely keeps a child from moving, kids' natural inclination is to move. Notice how they bounce off the walls, tear up the living room, and can't seem to just sit still. (Jeez, would you just sit still for a moment!!)

It's our culture that makes them inactive.

We plop them down in front of a TV or video game just to get a little respite. I certainly have turned to these "babysitters" plenty when I couldn't fathom managing two little whirlwinds and my household tasks.

On top of this we feed them nutrient-poor, sugar-laden food that just burns out their energy. And soon enough they learn from their peers that it's more "cool" to be cooling their heels standing around than chasing balls and clambering.

My husband observed this when he volunteered for our kids' school's field day - a half-day of fun athletic activities at the end of the year. On the first day he volunteered, it was all K-4 graders. He came home chuckling about all the little athletes churning up the turf.

But the second day he came home in shock. On the second day, when it was 4-8 graders, he reported how few of the kids seemed to want to move at all. Especially girls. He said that there were maybe two kids in each class who seemed to like running.

For him it was a dramatic demonstration of how all kids under a certain age, with few exceptions, enjoyed moving their bodies. But how within a few years, they stopped moving. Some of it was because they were getting more caught up in electronics. Some of it was because it was less cool to play tag or jump rope at recess.

But most of all it was because they had just stopped moving and had lost touch with that part of them that delighted in jumping, ducking, dodging and racing.

So when it comes down to it, kids don't really need much motivation to get moving. If you can keep this momentum they develop when they start to roll over, then wiggle, crawl and then walk, you've got a naturally active child.

But even for kids who have been well-trained by us to sit rather than move, you can break these bad habits and uncover that natural inclination to want to move. And this goes for us grown-up kids as well!

The key to undoing these bad habits is:

1. Think small. Make it possible to break out of them by taking small steps at first. Don't set your sights too high at first if you've all been moving too little. Take a short walk as a family. Put on some music and dance for half an hour. Kick the soccer ball around for just 20 minutes.



2. Start giving yourselves the right exercise food. Sugar is like a tranquilizer dart. It makes it almost impossible to move. When you start to fuel up with the right nutrition for exercising, you'll find more energy to move.


3. Savor the experience. After you've moved around a bit, talk about it. Laugh at some funny moves. Take some pictures. Write a collective journal. And really revel in some of the good feeling you've gained after you've done a little moving around. Start to notice how it makes your body feel - tired but in a good way. How your mind feels - more relaxed. And how you feel a little closer having done something together. And encourage your kids to notice this too.



4. Be consistent. It took years to build up the habit of sitting in front of a screen without getting up and jumping. It will take time to unlearn this. Keep at it day by day. Week by week. A little bit at a time.

The wonderful thing is that while exercise may first seem like a chore, it will eventually feel like an absolute necessity for all of you. I guarantee it. You and your family will start to crave getting a little activity in.

Sure there will always be those days when it seems so hard to get going. We get those, too. But when we can refer back to how good we feel mentally and physically, we're able to get going.

And then we just do a little something - a game of badminton or a quick walk - to keep us moving. And the active kids inside all of us, dying to wiggle a little, just get stronger and stronger. As do we.

Learning to Save Money For Children

Children must first learn the function of money before learning to spend and save money. Children can understand the simple concept of how money works when they are as young as 3. More often than not, a child sees a mother pays money and get something in return at a shop.

This understanding can be enhanced by repeated incidents and role play at home. Try showing your child using some money to get something in return.

When a child can understand this simple concept, you may educate him / her about ways to use money - which is to spend or save. This is the time to instill right values and behavior. You may educate a child about 'How to Spend Wisely'. More often than not, a child will adopt the same spending habit as a parent if they are taught from young.

Children may thought there is a money dispensing machine whereby their parents simply key in few numbers and they can get as much money as they want!

Explain to your child where does money come from. Tell them daddy and mummy has to work to earn a certain amount of money each month. This portion of money needed to be shared for entire household and careful money management is needed before we run out of money.

Some reasons on educating why a child should save:

1. For daily lives (e.g. food and clothing)


2. For health care

3. For education

Educate your child that these are priorities which comes before toys and leisure.

In regards to how to save - you may want to start off with a coin box or piggy bank at home. Occasionally offer small amount for your child to drop into the coin box. Eventually, when the coin box is full, open a joint bank account with your child.

To reward you child for the good saving habit, you may get her balloon! This in turn would encourage her to continue saving money.

ADHD Resources - The Smart Parent's Guide to Getting Help For Your Child

If you're looking for ADHD resources, there are plenty of trusted information sources online. In this article, you'll learn about how to find information when you need it, so you can get your child the best help available.

Online ADHD Resources

There are many helpful websites that are dedicated to the topic of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Some of these web sites offer articles on different topics, others are non-profit organizations and others are forums where parents discuss the challenges and triumphs of raising a child with ADHD.

Parenting-child-development.com has an excellent forum and resources dedicated to ADHD. Cafemom.com also has an active forum. Treating-adhd-naturally.com is a site that looks at the benefits of natural remedies and a good diet to reduce the symptoms of ADHD without drugs. Drug companies host sites and forums that provide more information about their products. There are also sites hosted by the FDA and the CDC. The National Resource Center on ADHD is another excellent site. To find these sites, just type appropriate keywords into the search engines.

Education and Civil Rights

Since children with ADHD have a learning disability, access to special education services is a right. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees this. If you are a parent with an ADHD child in the public school system is important to read up on this act, so you know what resources are available for your child. To learn more, go to the Department of Education and download their resource guide. This is a must for parents of kids with learning disabilities and developmental disorders.

Natural Alternative ADHD Resources

If you've read the concerns posted in many of the ADHD forums, you will see parents who are troubled about the side effects of giving their children ADHD drugs. Since all drugs have side effects, it doesn't seem to matter which drug their kids are taking. Natural remedies are a viable alternative to drugs and have been proven effective in clinical trials to reduce symptoms without side effects. These supplements are typically FDA approved and have a restorative effect on the brain, so eventually your child can stop taking them. Many parents consider a good diet and natural remedies the best ADHD resources available today because they actually restore proper brain function, rather than just suppress the symptoms.

ADHD Resources: Behavior Modification

Behavioral modification creates observable changes in behavior. Since ADHD is diagnosed based on behavior, it makes sense that teaching kids skills that show them how to focus even when faced with distractions is an important part of a comprehensive treatment plan. Rather than take your child to a therapist, you can get an at-home program, so you can teach your child these skills yourself in the comfort and privacy of your home. There are also behavioral programs specifically designed for kids who display more aggressive behaviors like chronic disrespect, acting out and defiance.

Top 3 Ways to Protect Your Children Online

Imagine the horror on my sister's face when she went to check up on her 8 year old daughter and stumbled in to see her watching a man and a woman having sex on the computer. The dangers of the internet are real and it is easy for children to be victims of the times we live in.

I have three tips for you today that can keep you and your family safe from the threats lurking on the internet. I strongly urge you to take action and implement these 3 tips today to protect your children and make their internet experience a safe one.

Tip #1

Move the family computer to a location in the house where it is easy to keep an eye on everyone. This is very important, especially for young kids. It is very unlikely that a young child or even a teenager will engage in inappropriate activities online if they know mom or dad are just around the corner and can see everything they are doing. Some good locations for the computer would be a desk near the kitchen or in the family room. I know many kids today have computers in their room or laptops they carry with them, but if that's the case then you should be popping in on occasion to check on them.

Tip #2

You need to install some type of monitoring software on all computers the kids use or some parental control software. Both Windows and Mac operating systems have parental controls built in and that's a good place to start, but I like to take it one step further and install some third party software.

My favorite piece of software to install for blocking adult materials is OpenDNS. OpenDNS allows you to filter what users on your network can see in their browsers. There are pre-defined filters to block pornography, illegal activity, or any adult related material. In addition to these pre-defined filters, you can custom build filters to block any type of material or any specific site that you wish. I like the moderate filter the best as it blocks pornography and illegal activity sites such as gambling and phishing sites. OpenDNS comes with a stat package letting you know the sites that were blocked along with stats letting you know how much time everyone is spending online.

One of my favorite features of OpenDNS is the ability to upload a custom image that is displayed when someone accesses a blocked site. Imagine the shock on little Donnie's face when he sees a picture of mom and dad with a message, "You know better than to try to go on this site. Turn off the computer and go to your room!".

OpenDNS is a powerful application and I encourage you to check it out. It is 100% free and works about as good as any other product I've used to block sites.

Tip #3

Sit down and have a talk with your kids. Your kids need to know the dangers of going online and especially meeting and chatting with people. With all the social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and the new chat roulette, there are many places for predators to hang out and prey on children. By communicating openly with your children, they will feel safe and feel they can come to you with anything that happens.

Conclusion

Follow these 3 suggestions that I've presented today and your kids will be much safer online than they are today. Get that computer out in the open, install some parental controls or filtering software, and sit down and talk to your kids. Not only will you get to know your kids better, but you'll feel secure knowing they are a little safer.

Child's Play - Are You Stifling Your Child's Creativity With Branded Toys?

Developing a child's creative thinking should be as important to parents as developing their academic skills. Actually, it should be more important. The academic skills naturally fall into place when other areas are developed.

What is creative play?

Basically, creative play is any play that let's your child be imaginative. It can be fostered through encouraging pretend play or make-believe activities. It does not have to be limited to arts and crafts and should be the main focus of all play activities.

How can branded toys effect your child's creative thinking?

A branded toy is not imaginative. If you want to see just how stifling a branded toy is to your child's imagination, just take them to a toy store. Chances are, if you hold up an Elmo doll and ask your toddler what it is and what it's name is, they will tell you it is Elmo and any activity they plan for this toy will be based on the brand. This toy will never be anything but Elmo to your child.

Now hold up a non-branded toy and ask them to give it a name and your child's imagination will kick in and he will give it an imaginative name and a make-believe story behind who this toy is. The next time you ask, you will likely get a whole new scenario. Because the toy is not branded, your child can picture or make-believe it is anything he wants it to be.

By creating an environment where your child can let their imagination run wild, you are allowing them to develop skills that will carry them through life as a more tolerant individual with great problem solving skills, negotiating skills and the ability to be adaptive in any situation.

Creative play is very educational and encourages free-thinking. It is the free-thinkers of the world that create change, innovate new ideas and technology and become the leaders of the world. If you stifle their creativity with branded toys you will limit their imagination.

Teenagers and Peer Pressure

Parents of teenagers soon realize that they can feel desperately outmatched by the power that peers seem to gain over a child. Children feel peer pressure and other influence at early ages. By middle school, peer influence may overcome attempts by parents to teach responsibility and respect. Parents may become anxious and feel helpless and scared at the apparent loss of a teenager to the whims of a weird and possibly unsafe adolescent culture.

Some parenting experts claim peers have more influence than parents over the habits of teenagers, others maintain parents are still more influential. The bottom line for parents of teenagers is that you need to stay connected, because research strongly indicates parents have a much greater impact on the development of teenage character and values than do his or her peers. This can be extremely challenging for many parents, who struggle for knowledge and focus to deal with the myriad of teenage issues, including school, sleep-overs, dating, driving, Internet safety, drinking, sex, drugs, and of course, tattoos and piercings.

The first measure of peer power over your teenager is time. How many hours a week do you get to sit and have conversations with your teenager? Anxiety can set-in when a parent realizes that a teenager's friends have hours and hours per day or per week to exert influence, while parents may hardly even be able to break the ice. But peer pressure is potent for only a short period of time, with the worst of it usually during early teenage years in middle school. As teens get older, they begin to become less and less influenced by peers.

Unfortunately, peer influence shows itself in such glaring, in-your-face ways, including issues surrounding personal hygiene, clothing, language, sleep patterns, religion, fads, dating, and so much more. The good news is that peer pressure research indicates there are some very hopeful insights among some scary myths. For instance, peer pressure can't ruin good kids and strong values. Research indicates that teenagers will seek long term relationships with those who share similar values to themselves, even though they may seem rebellious and oppositional for a short time. The nature of children suggests even responsible kids with high self esteem can also be impulsive or egocentric at times. Often other underlying issues may be causing a change in behavior in teens.

So instilling responsible and respectful values at an early age is a parent's best defense against negative peer pressure during the teenage years. Realize your influence over your child doesn't have to diminish in the teenage years, but rather changes in focus. A child's core values, ethics and morals all come as a result of that child's primary relationships over the long haul, not temporary ones while in middle school and high school. But this is provided that a parent has earned a child's respect. Maintaining a close and trustworthy relationship with your teen, will help you navigate the inevitably choppy waters ahead. It may seem like your teenager has put his or her values in cold storage for a bit, but they are still there and they will reappear in time. Self discovery and experimentation is part of growing up and how a teenager becomes his or her own person.

Watching Over Your Sick Kid

As parents, we've all had days when we had to stay home from work, all because we need to watch over our kids who are too sick to go to school. We willingly adjust our schedule to theirs, but of course we can't help but wonder where they have caught that bug.

The first thing that comes to mind is school. Then again, how many times do we send our kids to school with a slight cold or cough? If you think about it, it really is a double-edged sword.

To help you out in such instances, here are a few guidelines that may make you a better judge when it comes to deciding whether your kids should stay home or not.

Evaluate how your child is feeling. If they are tired and a bit feverish, make them stay home. Having a fever is a distinct sign that your child may be contagious to others.

Be considerate to the other children and their families, keep your child home. Not only will your child thank you for it, so will the mothers of the other children in your child's school.

But if your child is feeling quite well, and is just suffering from a slight cold or cough, giving them some flu medicine will do. Teaching them some basic hygiene tips will go a long way too. For example, when they blow their nose, train them to discard the tissue properly. Then, have them wash their hands. It might even help to pack a small bottle of hand sanitizer in their bag just in case they don't have access to soap and water.

Whenever they sneeze, train them to either cover their mouth or use their upper arm to help prevent the spreading of germs.

Proper hygiene can definitely prevent your child from catching various diseases such as colds and cough. Remind them to always wash their hands after using the restroom, and especially before having meals. We can't always protect our kids from harm, but we can train them to protect themselves as best as they can.