Why Cognitive Skills Are Important For Children

The memory of a person has an ability to learn and process new information. This capacity to adapt and understand new things which could include a high level of perception to certain information or understanding written data, could vary from person to person. Such an ability to interpret and process certain notion is termed as Cognitive Skill. Every individual has his or her own level of capacity to cognitive functioning which usually develops during the childhood. At an early age children are more adaptive in learning new skills and functions. As compared to an adult, a child can absorb and analyze information to greater levels. And hence learning to improve cognitive skills for children is very important at an early age.

Six Important Cognitive Skills

- Memory.

- Attention.

- Processing.

- Perception.

- Mobility.

- Logic and Reasoning.

Need of Cognitive Skills for Children

In today's competitive world nothing is easy. Not even for children! The competition starts right at the school level and continues to rise every single level. Smart kids make their way through but certain children cannot always work up their way to the top. This is where the development of cognitive skills for children comes handy. The development of cognitive skills not only helps in a child's progress but it also improves other key areas pertaining to his or her academics such as  learning, attention span, memory  and perception. A child with improved cognitive skills can grasp and comprehend way better than other children. And this evaluation of information by a child works in a positive manner in his or her  overall development.

Teaching Cognitive Skills to Children

Every parent dreams about their child's excellent academic and social growth. They wish their child grow smarter and do well in his life. As every plant needs regular dose of water, sunlight and good care to grow, so does children. Certain cognitive skills such as perception, concentration, memory, logical thinking, and thought process needs proper learning as these skills need to be taught.  Every single parent out there should be aware of this fact that cognitive skills need to be 'taught' . For example, a child may pay attention in the class but still be unable to focus or concentrate on the words he is been taught. And concentration is one of the important cognitive skill a child needs to learn to perform well academically.

In the similar manner, no progress could be achieved from a child who has problem in recalling what he had learnt. If a child has a habit of forgetting what is been taught to him, then it is important to work in this area by teaching cognitive skills which would benefit  in improving his memory.  Not just teachers but even parents need to play an important role in this matter. At an early age children can learn these cognitive skills and absorb way better than adults. And hence it is important to empower a child to grow smarter by sharpening his cognitive skills.

Expansion of Idea - Life is Beautiful, Don't Be Sad Living It

"The flower that blooms in adversity is 

the rarest and most beautiful of all."

                -Walt Disney

Not everything goes the way you planned, but that doesn't mean you should quit planning. Giving up on planning means giving up on life.Giving up on life eventually means forgetting how to live. Abandoning your dreams and accepting the present even if it is painful and unacceptable, makes you a loser. Life is a beautiful wish. A wish that some pray to have. And this one unique thing we have and we are ungrateful about makes us a loser.

Not everyone will stand by you  the way they used too, but that doesn't mean you should abandon those who support and pray for you. We need to respect feelings of those who love us and support us. Very few people do that. They do it because they believe in us. I don't think there is anything valuable than someone's trust and we need to respect that.

And we should be thankful for everything that we had or will have in life. Our past, our present. Our friends our enemies. They make us what we are. They teach us and leave us with experience, which can play a vital role in our life and to shape our future. These life lessons are important and cannot be learned in any classroom.



Life is beautiful, Don't be sad living it.

Kintsugi - The Art of Healing

"When you come out of the storm, 

you won't be the same person 

who walked in. 

That's what the storm is all about."

- Haruki Murakami 

In Japan, broken objects which we usually throw away are repaired with gold. The damage or crack on the objects are never seen as flaws but as the object's history which is mended by filling the cracks with gold. The Japanese believe that when some object suffers a damage, it also seems to be the object's history and thus adds to it's existing beauty. This ancient Japanese practice is an art which is known as Kintsugi.

So what we learn from Kintsugi! Kintsugi teaches us that whatever struggles we had in life, or whatever damages we suffered in life or whatever flaws we have, we can learn to embrace them and repair ourselves with love. These flaws, struggles and damage that we witnessed are part of our history and they make us more beautiful. They teach us about life and make us strong. All beautiful things around us have their own flaws. Every beautiful object carries it's imperfections with it.

In the similar manner, our wounds and flaws add to our beauty. We are nothing different than Kintsugi. We too can be mended and healed. Mending is nothing but showing the honest parts of our past as a beautiful history. What we faced and what we fought defines us. It is what we are. Our true identity! Every beautiful thing is damaged. We all are that beauty. Lets mend ourselves and be beautiful like Kintsugi.

"We all are a little broken,

and that's okay."

How Does Constant Criticism Affect The Child

I have noticed few parents, who are never happy with their children. Whatever their child does, however good it is, it is never good enough for them. On the other hand, some parents are over-perfectionists and have such high standards that all they do is point out their children's mistakes. For instance, if their child scores 90 out of 100, they would nag him on why it couldn't have been 100 out of 100. Or if a child is presented with a certificate by school for any special talent he possess, then instead of words of encouragement all the parents have to say is, "Shouldn't you be focusing on your studies other than such useless competitions?"

Such statements are enough to destroy the enthusiasm a child had while showing his achievements to his parents. Though whatever is done by the parents is with a good intention of improving their child, yet this continuous nagging turns out nothing but constant criticism. Some parents also have the habit of labeling their child rather than criticizing him or her. Such labels would include their child 'being lazy', 'being pathetic', 'being irresponsible', 'being immature', 'being foolish', 'being fat', 'being rude', 'being mannerless', 'being short-tempered' and so on. These labels can have an adverse effect on a child if they are every now and then tagged by it.

What Constant Criticism Does To A Child?

When a child is constantly criticized by his parents, all that happens to a child is, he or she takes one more step towards the constant reminder of  'You are not good enough'. A child gets the feeling that he will never be good enough for his parents, how hard he try. The labels a child carries throughout his childhood leave deep impression on a his mind. He may try hard to change his parent's perspective by making constant efforts at doing things right. But if he or she doesn't get their approval or appreciation; it gets difficult for him or her to understand where exactly they are going wrong.

The labels given to children by their parents put them in a slot where they get confused and lack self confidence. This could lead your child to depression and negative self image. They grow with negativity about their own self. It is in fact said that growing up with constant criticsim can damage a child's self worth. When it gets too late, nothing can be done to get things better. Their comes a time when your child just stops trying. That is when he or she gives up. And that is when you lose them. And most of the time, even if you realize your mistake at this point of time, nothing you do can bring them back.

Hence it is very important that parents realize how far they are going with this criticism. The negative effects of criticism are worse than one can imagine. There is a certain way where instead of criticizing, a parent can make their child understand about how good he or she can be. Instead of criticizing and constant nagging, what a parent can do is try to understand their children.

Words of encouragement have their special way of boosting a child's self confidence. If a child has a bad habit or if a parent wishes to teach their child about certain good habits, it is ideal to teach them such habits in an encouraging manner. When a child tries it out, appreciate their efforts and award them for trying.

Expansion of Idea - Life is a Wonderful Journey

We are meant to come into life and live it fully through exploration according to our own joy and satisfaction. We are not meant to come into life in order to fulfill our duty begrudgingly and to wait for our destiny whether we like it or not. It is all upon us to make the right choices and decisions to make this life worth living. And what if we do not make right choices… Though we cannot go back and undo them, yet we can still right the wrong by being positive and attentive to our own wants and desires. We do not always get second chances, but still it is in our hand to either keep feeling guilty about what is already done and waste our time crying  and repenting or to right it when we still have time. The decision is up to you my friend.

Remember what is done is done, you cannot undo it. But what you can do is try to make peace with your past. Otherwise memories of past haunt you till your last breath making your life a living hell. Grudges, repentance and jealousy are enemies. Keep them at bay! Don't let them rule over your thoughts. The mind games can be cruel and trust me, they would never let you rest in peace. So let the bygones be bygones. Meditate, relax and try to be happy. Think of happy moments that you had in life and enjoy your life to fullest. Happiness isn't a destination, it is a journey. Remember life does not always give you second chances! Life is a wonderful journey and all you have to do is explore, connect and reach your destination in meaningful and exhilarating way. Do enjoy and commence your journey now before it is too late. 

15 Spiritual Quotes to Lift Your Mood

There are times in your life when you wonder what is going on with your life. You try to seek answers but find none. This is when feeling connected to something bigger gives life new sense and new meaning. Spirituality makes you feel real. It helps you get rid of anxiety, depression and inner turmoil. Our thoughts make us vary. They give us sleepless nights and worries. But connecting to spiritual side helps us deal with these problems. Here are some spiritual quotes from great thinkers which will help you feel connected and pour wisdom in your life.

15 Spiritual Quotes to Lift Your Mood

1. “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”  Louis L'Amour




2.

3. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

4. 

5.  "Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know." - Pema Chödrön

6.   "You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks."                    - Winston S. Churchill 

7.                   

                       

8.                                         “Life is not easy for anyone. 

Sometimes you don't see the challenges on the outside, 

but every single one of us has both those 

and everything that goes on inside as well. 

Give it your all.

                             Dare to be all you can be.” – Hillary Clinton

9. 

10.   "Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience."

                - Jon Kabat-Zinn       

11.                                                "What you think you become.

What you feel you attract.

                What you imagine you create." - Buddha

12. 

13.   "You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." 

               -Buddha

14.      "A positive mind finds opportunity in everything. A negative mind finds fault in everything." 

             - Buddha

15.              

10 Funny Phobias One Cannot Believe Existed

Phobia is an extreme fear of something. One could get anxious or extremely upset or even fear persistently about any object or certain situations. Phobia is one such situation which an individual would go to lengths to avoid. But not all phobias may sound serious to us. There are certain phobia which we may at times find too weird or funny. Here are ten such funny phobias which one cannot believe existed.

1.  Ablutophobia

Ablutophobia is the fear of bathing. With this phobia an individual may persistently fear bathing or cleaning oneself. This kind of phobia is more common in children and females. Wonder whether it is this phobia that keeps dogs away from bathing!

2. Arachibutyrophobia

Peanut butter lovers would never imagine, someone would have a phobia related to it. Well not entirely about eating peanut butter but arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

3. Chrometophobia

Chrometophobia is one such phobia one may find funny, as it could affect one's life at a great extent. Chrometophobia is the phobia where a man fears money. Now money is used by us in our day to day life to buy commodities, and also to live and make a living. A phobia as such can affect an individual vastly. How can one survive like that, I wonder!

4. Chronophobia

Now even this phobia is weird! Chronophobia is a phobia where an individual suffering from it fears of time passing. Such person may fear watches and clocks. Existence of such phobia can really put an individual's life in great trouble, I must say!

5. Lachanophobia

Meat lovers won't mind this at all! Lachanophobia is one such phobia where an individual may have great fear of vegetables. A  person suffering from this phobia may suffer panic attacks at the sight of certain vegetables, for example say peas, potatoes, cereals. This phobia could relate to one or two such vegetables or many. Now, vegetables is one such thing that provides us with nutrition and good health, but some people may indeed be afraid of them.

6. Peladophobia

Now how can one survive with such a thing! Peladophobia is the fear of bald people or baldness. Being bald or having bald people around cannot be helped. But imagine some people actually getting anxious around bald people or fearing the thought of becoming bald themselves. 

7. Photophobia

This phobia I wished never existed! Photophobia is a phobia where one is afraid of light. This fear resembles a condition known as light sensitivity where a person could get over-sensitive around light. He or she may feel that light is hurting their eyes and would prefer remaining in dark.

8. Pogonophobia

Pogonophobia is one such funny phobia where an individual may take extreme dislike for beards or even fear the presence of someone who has beards. Though we may find such a phobia silly, but for those who suffer from it it is not funny at all. Such people suffering with pogonophobia can get extremely upset around people with beards.

9. Syngenesophobia

Maybe I have this phobia! Syngenesophobia is a phobia where one individual may get extremely afraid or upset around relatives. This fear could be about being around relatives or even siblings. In such condition a person may really get anxious about meeting relatives - either all or some of them. For example this fear could be related to fear of aunts, fear of cousins, fear or uncles or anyone else in particular. Such person may get extremely anxious in such people's company.

10. Tonsurephobia

Tonsurephobia is a phobia where a person can be extremely upset or afraid  about getting haircuts. The existence of such phobia in an individual could really affect his or her physical well-being. But such phobia does exist, however weird it may sound.

Importance of Encouraging Curiosity in Children

Children often challenge their parents and teachers with ideas or thoughts that are beyond their understanding. We as parents are exhausted with the countless question attack such as," But, why mom?" or "But how does it grow?" or "What does it mean?" directed towards us by our children. There are times when we don't even know the answer or don't know how to answer some of their questions. Few children can be too curious and answering some of their questions may be too embarrassing for parents. But should that be a reason for a parent to stop attending to a child's curiosity?

Nowadays with the exposure of media and internet, kids know too much for their age and at times could come up with doubts and questions which may have nothing to do with their age. But they just want to know - why, what and how. These why, what and how could be little too much for their age and may be beyond their understanding. But still it is our job as a parent to answer them and nurture their curiosity.

Why is Curiosity Important

Curiosity in kids is often a good thing. Some can be naturally curious about a variety of things. It is said that throughout his life, Einstein wondered about relationships between gravity, space and electromagnetic radiation. The present curriculum most of the schools have today, leaves little scope of arousing curiosity in children. The syllabus and teaching methods implemented, calls for rote-learning. Hence very few kids try to go beyond textbooks and look out for more information on a topic. And hence that should be the reason why parents and teachers should nurture and encourage children's curiosity. The thing is when we encourage our child's curiosity we allow them to grow and become creative. The natural tendency to be curious allows a child be more creative and self-learner. Curiosity stimulates their brain and reasoning abilities.

10 Ways To Encourage Curiosity in Children

1. Parents and teachers can nurture a child's curiosity by supporting and encouraging it. Live experiments, nature walks, science exhibitions, open discussions and group studies help out children to diligently work towards dealing with false hypotheses and coming to their own conclusions.

2. The curriculum should be made such to arouse an intense curiosity among children. This can be done by fragmenting the topic and allowing a child retrace their steps around the topic collecting more data and coming to their own solutions which satiate their hunger.

3. Allow the child to live in their own thoughts to think it through. Do not answer in the first glance and satisfy their curiosity. Instead try and allow them to explain and explore their point of view and thoughts on the same.

4. Be supportive of their curiosity. If you consider your child's thoughts to go in a wrong directions, provide hints here and there, but do not reject his idea all at once.

5. At times, curiosity could lead your child to gain new knowledge or a whole new meaning. It would shape up his thoughts and allow him to learn something new.

6. Supporting your child's interest is the best way to deal with his or her curiosity. For example, if your child wishes to experiment on something, and even though you know that it is going to be messy; yet provide him with the opportunity to conduct the experiment, with a promise that help could be expected from him while cleaning.

7. Open discussions on certain subjects your child is curious about could turn out helpful.

8. At times you may not support an idea that your child finds curious about. But instead of making this point clear to him, if you allow him a chance to realize this on its own it would be a better learning experience for the kid and he would never forget it. This way a child does not feel rejected and at the same time is happy to find the reality of certain situations or things.

9. Engage your kids in activities that can stimulate their curiosity.

10. Curiosity plays an important role in your child's learning and hence never let it dull out. Keep asking questions to your child which allow them to think about a particular topic and come up with answers that encourage their curiosity. 

How to Help Your Overweight Child Lose Weight

A child being overweight or obese is one of the common causes of concern for parents these days. It starts all with a child being chubby in childhood which parent adore. Slowly and gradually the chubbiness starts turning into obesity which is initially ignored by parents. For them all that matters is that the child looks healthy. But before they realize that their healthy child is growing more towards the heavier side with huge bellies and double chins, it is quite too late. This realization dawns only after the child starts complaining about being tired, lethargic or even breathless with or without any physical activity. Ignoring the fact that a child may have weight issues is a mistake a parent usually does. It is only when the child starts to develop medical conditions due to their weight issues, the parent realizes that the child needs help. Parents run to doctors and friends with complains like, 'my daughter is overweight what can I do?' or 'My child is overweight but he eats healthy, so how?' or even questions like, 'Is my child overweight?' In the current scenario more and more kids are facing the issue of being overweight or obese.

One symptom of overweight children is  Belly fat 

Symptoms of Childhood Obesity

A child being overweight or obese could be kept under check, if a parent is aware of the symptoms of childhood obesity. How do you know whether your child is overweight or not, is all upon these symptoms. Just relate any or few of these symptoms with your child's condition and you have your answer. You could check just one box or more than one, it all tells you how overweight your child is! Once you know the symptoms of obesity your child relates to, you would be in a better position to explain the same to your doctor for further help and analysis. Here are few symptoms of childhood obesity -

1. Your child often complains of his clothes being too tight and demands for large sizes, even though they were bought recently.

2. You notice your child's belly fat and an increasing weight gain around his waist.

3. You can notice large deposits of fats or  stretchmarks around your child's chin, neck, hips, abdomen, thigh and arms.

4. Body Mass Index of the child confirms being overweight and obesity.

5. Your child complains constantly of being tired.

6. Your child has difficulty walking and running.

7. Your child is lethargic and always complain of being sleepy or drowsy.

8. Your child is fat as compared to the kids of his class.

9. Your child constantly complains of have trouble breathing while sleeping.

10. Your child constantly complains or faces gastric problems or even constipation.

11. In overweight girls delayed menstruation could be an symptom you cannot ignore.

12. In overweight boys delayed puberty is one of the symptoms.

13. Your child complains of difficulty breathing while doing any physical activity.

14. Your child complains of lower backaches, dislocated hip or flat feet.

15. Weighing scale confirms constant weight gain in your child.

How does a doctor determine your child's obesity?

When you check the obesity symptoms with your child and few of those symptoms relate to him or her, you could take up your child's condition with your doctor. A doctor can help you confirm whether your child has overweight issues. Normally a  doctor keeps tab of the regular checkup of a child right from infancy to his growing years which helps him observe the child carefully for weight issues. In such cases a doctor warns parents immediately if he finds anything wrong with the weight chart of a child. But any sudden symptoms that were not observed before and are happening recently should be checked with a doctor. A doctor would determine whether your child is overweight or obese by carrying out a thorough examination. He would check your child's Body Mass Index (BMI). The family history of child would also be taken in concern, for any problems such as obesity in parents, diabetes, sleep apnea, heart conditions, blood pressure problems etc.

Should a Parent Be Concerned about their child being overweight or obese?

The answer is yes. A parent should definitely be concerned about their child's weight issues. The reason is with a child being overweight, he or she is more threatened with serious health issues which may have long term effects. An overweight child may develop serious medical problems in initial or even later part of their life as compared to the other children. Imagine this, currently if your child has issues such as breathlessness or lethargy - what would happen when they grow? These problems would grow with them! Today's breathlessness may turn to asthma! Apart from medical problems a child will have to face severe effects of childhood obesity in their life.

And hence we as parent should help our child to fight obesity or overweight issues. What we do today is going to help them in the near future. The efforts would count and the child would be really thankful to his parents for the same.

Learn more about overweight child diet plans

How to Help Your Overweight Child Lose Weight

Include Healthy Food in Your Child's Diet

If your child has a habit of eating junk, it needs to stop right away. No more candies, chocolates, chips, cold drink and all those junk. But you can't just put a stop to whole thing immediately. Start putting a stop slowly. Other than three to four servings that your child has of his favorite junk food daily, limit it to two servings. Include healthy food rich in fiber, protein, vitamin, minerals in the next two servings. This way a child is happy and the mother is happy too. Plus try different overweight child diet plans and include whichever is suitable to your child. 

Listen To Your Doctor

Do not put your child on any weight loss program without consulting your doctor. You can actually consult your doctor for any weight-loss program which is essential for your child and only if he suggests, you should carry on such weight loss schedule. Get your child treated for any sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea or other health problems due to obesity.

Be a Good Role Model

Children are known to be good learners. And parents have to remember that! Your healthy choices towards life can help your child to make healthy choices for his life. If you live a passive life, your child would follow the same. And hence it is important that parents be a good role model for overweight children by making healthy choices such as eating healthy food, being physically active and enjoying active pastimes.

Limiting Your Child's Screen Time

Set a limited screen time for your overweight child. Be it use of mobile phones, computer, online games, PlayStation or just watching TV. Set a time limit for daily usage of all these electronic appliances. Like you could allow them one hour of television time and one hour of computer usage every day.  Children spend most of the time in their room playing games or watching television. This passive hours promote sedentary and lethargic lifestyle. Hence curtail the time limit for screen time usage for your child.

Planning a Regular Workout Routine For Your Overweight Child

Starting slow, promote a regular work-time for your overweight child. Make the plans by taking into consideration your child's likes and dislikes. If your child enjoys swimming then plan a 30 minute to 1 hour swimming session at least twice or thrice a week. Plan a walking schedule or a jogging schedule with your overweight child. Do not force him to work out for long hours. Start slow and allow him to adjust according to the schedule and then slowly increase  schedule from twice a day to thrice a day. You could alternatively put two or three activities schedules for the whole week. For instance swimming twice a week, active past time such as table tennis or football once or twice a week or even daily walks.

Discussing Obesity with Your Child

A sudden change in daily routine may amuse children. Children are unaware of how bad a problem of being overweight could be. Hence parents can help them understand in easy words. A child's age needs to be taken into consideration while making him understand and discuss obesity. It may be a bit easier to discuss the problem of obesity with elder kids rather than younger. But with simple words and little understanding a parent can easily discuss this problem with children. It is essential that a child realizes how important it is to stay healthy and how too much of junk food is ruining their health.

Appreciate Your Child's Efforts

Appreciate the efforts your child puts into it. If your overweight child participates in any school event such as a dance competition or even a sport activity, there are possibilities that he may not fare well in the beginning. But still he has tried. Even if he fails or does poorly in any physical activity or school activity, praise him for his efforts and motivate him to carry on. You can reward him for his efforts by cooking him his favorite sweet or any other gift.

Top Ten Tips To Help Your Child Lose Weight

1. Ensure that your child gets enough sleep daily. Lack of sleep is directly associated with weight gain according to some research studies.

2. Helping your child lose weight by starving him is not the right approach. Instead minimize his portions and include wholesome food in his daily diet.

3. Try to monitor your child's weight on a regular basis.

4. Encourage your child to participate in school activities such as sports, drama and dance.

5. Cut down on your child's daily dosage of aerated drinks and replace it with fresh fruit juices.

6. Teach your child to chew his food and eat slowly.

7. Once you limit your child's television hours, make sure that this rule applies to everybody in the household. This behavior motivates your child positively.

8. Encourage your child to carry out simple fun activity at home when he is alone. This could include playing with ball, shooting baskets, cycling, skipping.

9. Plan family active outings for weekend such as camping, hiking, bird watching, nature trails or a long walk.

10. Let your child know that you will always be there to support him. Your support will mean a lot to him and would inspire him to lose weight and be fit. 

Children Learn What They Live - Poem By Dorothy Law Nolte

'Children Learn What They Live' is a poem written by Dorothy Law Nolte. Dorothy Law Nolte was a famous American writer who had been a lifelong teacher and a family counselor. She believed in parenting by instilling values old fashioned way. In 1954 she wrote a wise poem which is not only inspirational but helps us look into parenting with a total new aspect. This poem always works as a guide for parents who find it difficult to take parenting decisions. If we try to understand what she wants to say with her poem, we would understand what true parenting is.

Here is this beautiful poem which helps us to understand more about children and parenting.

Children Learn What They Live

   

                 - by Dorothy Law Nolte

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.

If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.

If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.

If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.

If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.

If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.

If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.

If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Importance of Physical Development

Physical development implies to one's physical well-being which plays an important role in the overall development of one's personality. One of the most important factor of personality development is the physical development. The term physical well-being deals with one's ability to enhance one's physical fitness. This may include our food eating habits, our harmful habits, workout regime, rest, work hours and overall lifestyle. Though few factors such as heredity as well as environmental conditions do play a major role in our physical well-being and development, yet our own efforts to maintain a good physique counts. Physical development in children contributes to a child's overall physical growth rate in his growing years.




A good physical development is referred as sound physique. Characteristics that contribute to sound physique  includes:

- Good immunity

- Perfect coordination of sensory organs

- Our muscle power

- Body stamina

- Body flexibility

- Overall well-being

Factors of Physical Development

Balanced Diet

A balanced diet is the most important factor that contributes in maintaining good physical development. Regular intake of fresh fruits, seasonal fruits and vegetables helps our body to maintain good health. A balanced diet includes proper intake of carbohydrates, proteins, fat, calcium and minerals. Avoiding daily consumption of fast food and processed foods helps. Eating meals at fixed hours works in the benefit of good physical development.

Physical Exercise

To achieve adequate muscle strength and bone strength one needs to exercise daily. Daily exercising helps your body to maintain flexibility and agility. Sedentary lifestyle needs to be avoided. Exercise schedules need to be included in your daily life. Some activities that could help in maintaining good physical development include yoga, jogging, brisk walking, swimming, trekking, Suryanamaskar etc. Even indulging in sports such as football and volleyball could help you develop good physique.

Recreation

Our busy mind and brain needs something to look forward to which would help it relax and enjoy a bit. This is where pursuing a hobby plays its role. Hobbies helps your mind and brain to relax and also contribute to positive thinking. Any hobby including reading, stamp collection, music, gardening, playing musical instrument, writing, coking etc.could help you de-stress and thus contribute to good physical development.

Hygiene

We often hear, 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'! Personal cleanliness contributes to good physical development. Certain good habits which contributes towards hygiene and cleanliness help us stay healthy and fit. If we do not maintain good hygiene, we are more at risk of getting sick; and sickness will not help us maintain good physical health. Hence proper attention needs to be paid towards hygiene and body cleanliness. Personal hygiene can be maintained by:

- Taking bath daily.

- Trimming nails regularly.

- Trimming and washing hair.

- Washing hands and feet after coming back from outdoors.

- Brushing teeth twice a day.

- Washing hands after using a toilet.

- Wearing clean clothes everyday.

- Washing hands before your meals.

But only maintaining personal hygiene is not going to help in physical development. Apart from personal hygiene one also has to contribute towards cleanliness of surroundings. Cleanliness of surroundings can be maintained by:

- Not spitting on the road.

- Not dumping garbage on the road.

- Not defecating or urinating in open.

- Always using handkerchief while sneezing.

- Not accumulating water which would act as a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Impact of Parenting Behavior on Children's Development

Parenting is a process where a parent helps a child to grow and promote physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually. It could be referred as a complex set of behavioral skills adorn by parents to interact with their children daily to imbibe good practices and help them on all levels to grow into a successful individual. But on some level such parenting behavior may not work out for children, though every parent would really work hard on doing a good job of raising children. Parenting behavior has a tremendous impact on a child's growth. How a child turns out to be has something to do with parenting. A parent's anxiety, perception and influence has it's own implication on children's growth and success.

The role we play as parents can help a child to grow and be successful or could hamper his growth altogether. However competent we feel we are, sometimes we do a very bad job at parenting. And trying too hard to be competent can actually disable a child from recognizing his own capabilities and thus could curtail his growth. Our parenting behavior has a tremendous impact on a child's development, success and growth. Though nothing is intentional,  all we as parents wish to do is raise successful kids but parents can make mistakes too and this is definitely something that we should remember. Let us discuss the impact of parental behaviors on a children's development.

Impact of Parenting Behavior on Children's Development

Parent  Offering Too Much Assistance can Hamper Children's Development

We do everything in our power to make sure that our child is rescued from every other small problems. While doing so, we keep over-assisting them by trying to solve each and every problem the children face. We fight and solve those problems as if they are our own. But often we forget how we actually do not help them by helping them. Such problems could be dealing with bullies, helping with each and every activity provided by school, minor problems the child faces in everyday life etc. The way we keep assisting our children not only hampers their growth but also makes them depend too much on us. The children of such over-assistive parents develop a certain attitude where they stop dealing with such problems they face as they are sure that their parents can handle those. In doing so a child fails to develop the ability of solving problems on their own and may fail doing so on their own in future.

Parents Being Over-Protective Can Hamper Children's Development

We as parents want our child to be safe and we try everything in our capability to ensure that happens. In today's world where danger lurks all around, we make sure that our child is safe and sound. We as parents live in constant fear of losing our children and hence try our best to protect them. We worry when our child is late from school, playground, tuition or friend's home. We constantly worry and try everything to make sure that our child is safe. We warn them against strangers, we make sure that we follow them as much as we could and thus take all the necessary precautions to ensure their safety. But at times, while over-doing so we almost threaten their peace and violate their freedom. We do not allow them to play outside and make them stay indoors. We are always their to make certain our child does not experiences falls, heart breaks, insults, bullying etc. Our over-protective nature can have severe implications on a child's personality as we do not allow a child to experience certain risks which may help them to grow into successful individuals. Our constant hovering around them can threaten their privacy and also hamper their emotional stability.

Too Much Appreciation From Parents Can Hamper Children's Development

Every parent is always proud of their child's abilities, and in a way they should be. If we as parents do not appreciate our child's efforts then who will! But too much appreciation could also work wrong ways. As a parent we always wish to make our child feel special and blessed. But if such behavior from parents stretch too much a child would end up having wrong impression about himself. It totally depends on why and how much a child is raved and made feel special. Has this got anything to do with the child's real efforts? If yes, then the appreciation is always welcome. But if a parent gets into the behavior of appreciating a child too often, simply for nothing; then that could really hamper a child's development. Research has shown that too much appreciation can hamper a child's development as it would disconnect a child from reality. Once a child realizes that his every approach, behavior, doings and lies are appreciated, he or she would eventually feel that they are much better than anyone. In such cases a child would feel too special about himself and would never try to improve his capabilities. Such mentality in children has severe repercussions on their future, where they learn to exaggerate, cheat and sometimes do anything to get their own way. Hence such parenting behaviour needs to be avoided.

Parents Being Too Strict Can Hamper Children's Development

At time parents are too strict. Though being strict is good when it comes to imbibing good habits and discipline, yet being too strict could hamper a child's growth. Every parent is known to set certain boundaries for their kids, like setting time when a child should be home, decided hours for a child to watch television or studies. Such boundaries can work positively as long as there is not too much pressure for a child to handle. A little flexibility has to be allowed to a child when it comes to following rules. If such flexibility is not allowed a child can feel a bit caged and that would do major damage to his personality. Little reasoning, a little flexibility and certain amount of freedom is necessary for  children's mental and emotional development.

Making a Child feel Guilty All the Time Can Hamper Children's Development

Everyone is bound to make mistakes. And the truth is we always learn from our mistakes and hence mistakes are not such a bad thing. If we as adults can do mistakes, then kids are just kids. But there are cases where parents get too upset with the mistakes their children do and make them feel guilty about it. In such cases a child learns only about guilt and refuses to take action or play a certain role. This is because the child is too afraid to do anything as he knows that whatever he does is going to be wrong. All his parent has done throughout his childhood is taught him guilt and thus hampered his development. Such children lose self-esteem and are afraid to take on leadership roles. Such parenting behavior can have it's serious implications on a child's development. A child when raised in such condition could always be worried and have doubts about his own actions.

Parents Not Following their Own Rules Can Hamper Children's Development

We lay down certain rules for our children to follow. These rules include not watching television while having dinner, restricted mobile phone usage, restricted internet usage and so on. But when it comes to follow our own made rules we just ignore. But children are pretty watchful and they do observe their parents not following own made rules. Such parenting behavior confuses a child and sends mixed message. A child wonders why their parents do not follow the same rules if the rules are good enough for the child. A child also wonders why those set of rules are only laid down for the child himself while a parent could enjoy all the liberties.

Top Ten Parenting Behaviors for Children's Development

1. A parent has to remember that a child will at some time have to deal with his problems himself, and that could happen only if he starts solving his problems on his own at an early level. Though it does not mean that we should not assist our child, but minute problems can be left upon the child to handle which would help them to develop into a competent adult.

2. Allow the child to handle and learn from his experiences. If a child would not take a decision how would he know whether what he decide upon could be right or wrong for him. This way when a child learn's from his own mistake his decision taking skills improve.

3. Though every child should consider himself as a winner, yet there should be times when a parent should make there child aware about their capabilities and in-capabilities. As a child's good behavior or act needs to be awarded and raved at, his bad behavior needs to be disciplined.

4. A child should be made aware of the future consequences related to his mistakes such as telling lies or exaggerating or being a bully.

5. Help your child to bounce back from unhappy situations or failures. Encourage them to learn from their mistakes. Ask them to consider such situations as an opportunity and challenge to learn.

6. Be reasonable when it comes to setting boundaries for your children. Though a child should definitely follow rules set for him, yet their could be certain circumstances when a rule can be bended depending upon the situation. A child should follow the rules only because he agrees with them and believes in them. If a rule suffocates a child then parents and child need to have one on one discussion about the same and a parent should always be open to ideas and reasoning.

7. If a child commits a mistake do not make him feel guilty about it. Allow him to realize his mistake and if he comes to talk about it, listen to him and provide him with a positive feedback. Do not make him feel guilty in anyway, in fact make him aware of how he could do better the next time. Try to encourage his self esteem and thus all the child would gain is positivity and this can help him way much better to learn and develop from his mistakes.

8. When you expect a child to follow certain rules, make sure you follow them too. When rules such as not watching television while having food is made for a child and a parent is caught watching television while having his own food; a child is confused why he is the only one who has to follow the rules.

9. To develop leadership qualities and problem solving abilities in children provide them with some space, where the children have the freedom of coming up on their own on certain solutions for the problems and challenges they face. Do not try to over-ride on those decisions even if you think they are not the right solution. Let the child try and experience certain failures, at least he has the satisfaction of using his own thinking skills at the end of the day. This is how he would fail and yet learn and come up with better solutions in future.

10. A child should be provided with all the freedom he needs to overcome challenges and problems. He should be able to trust his own decision making abilities. Though a parent should not interfere in a child's decision, yet at the end of the day a parent should be their to support the child and help him take certain decision if a child feels the need to consult his parent. An advice and guidance whenever required should be provided to a child, as the child should always feel that right or wrong his parents would always be there for him.

Importance of Ethics for Kids

Apart from good education and knowledge, ethics helps us to make choices that shape out our beliefs and allows us to supervise the decisions that we take throughout our life. Importance of ethics in life of kids need to be understood well. Ethics help us to have conscience and shouts us the reality loud and clear that we are mere human with heart and soul. Ethics similar to that of education, never leave us. It helps to govern us in every sphere of our life. Ethics also help us to create a ray of hope when depression or disillusionment tries to seep in. Ethics help us to rise above all odds even in the realm of hopelessness. Your behavior and personality is demonstrated by the way you perceive ethics.

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We usually try to differentiate ethics from moral and value; wondering what is different about them. Values are the standard rules that we set to make for our decisions. It help us to understand what is right and what is wrong. Values help us to decide what is more valuable for us and what is not. This helps us indirectly to make the right choices. Morals help us to judge a person or his character. On a broad spectrum, moral has wide influence on us than values. Ethics on the other hand is a combination of both moral and values which helps us to make set of rules, embraced by group of people. A person with lack of ethics or moral values could classify him as a living being without heart and soul.

Our thought process usually is defined by it's ability to make certain decisions based on the questionnaire which include -

- How not to be prejudiced against people.

- To have a sportsman spirit.

- To be truthful.

- To have compassion not just for humans but every living being around us.

- To avoid bad language.

Our ability to answer these questions helps shaping our thought process and make us who we are. So does the lessons of the value education which we learn in classrooms. Overall these things help us to sculpt our own identity.

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Ethics and Value Education

Children often skip their value education classes or substitute them with other pursuits such as hobby classes or sports practice or even prefer spending time learning academics. But what they tend to forget by doing so is how they are actually missing on the most important lessons of life, which could help them carve their own self. The importance of values education needs to be understood by children as well as their parents. Value education helps a child to construct a solid base of ethics which can provide him an insight of being right about his decisions. Value education helps a child to judge rationally in every stage of life including even smaller decisions of right or wrong such as -

- Whether it is right to bully someone?

- Whether it is right to cheat in exams?

- Whether it is right to lie to parents and teachers?

 Whether it is okay to gain success by unfair practices?

When a child is about to answer all these questions fairly, then the lessons of value education has reaped it's benefits.

Ethics and Moral Values

A child is a good child when he is capable to illustrate all the moral values inculcated in him. These moral values could include values of -

- Respect

- Responsibility

- Integrity

- Compassion

- Determination

All these above mentioned values help a child to make ethical and righteous decisions in life. Thus moral values play an important role imbibing ethics in a child's life. Whenever a child is in a position of making a decision, how big or small, he would ask himself first - 'Is this the right thing to do?' When a child makes decisions based on this simple question, always remember that not one person will have the power to influence him. The decision of this child would be completely based on his moral conscience.

Lack of Ethics

Thus we understand that ethics help to carve a child's identity and allows to shape his own beliefs. But wonder what happens with lack of ethics in kids! Lack of ethics happen when value education and moral values are neglected. Thus lack of ethics may inculcate negative impact on a child's conscience. The capability of making right decisions is completely depleted, which further influences the criminal tendencies. Thus lack of ethics in kids could result in major unrest and downfall of the society.

Ethics - Role of Parents and Teachers

And hence to get things right, it is imperative to introduce moral values and value education in a child's life, right from the beginning. It is important to teach ethics in primary school by introducing value education and moral values. And introducing them as part of the current education system is not enough; but parents too can play an important role in inculcating ethics in children. A parent too can start early helping a child understand the importance of ethics and moral values. An authoritative figure such as a father, mother or teacher are been looked upon as role models by the kids. And hence their perception of right or wrong can heavily measure upon a child. Thus unknowingly actions and decisions of parents could leave a remarkable impression on a pre-conventional level in a child's life. If you as a parent show compassion toward animals, a child learns it too. If you respect others, a child grasps that value too. If you spread love, a child is bound to do the same. 

Importance of Reading Aloud

My 15 year old son still wants me to read a story for him before he goes to sleep. And if I am tired and exactly not into the mood to read anything in particular for him, then he makes it a point to read aloud to me, anything maybe a funny article which would bring some smile back to my face and help me forget the stress I faced throughout the day. Though nowadays we don't very often get to enjoy this reading aloud activity much, yet we try to at least once or twice a week, depending on the amount of time we can manage to steal from our busy schedules. He needs this time as much as I do to unwind himself, as we have over the years found out that the reading aloud sessions can be much engaging. Once we start to read aloud, we make it a point to discuss about new word and theories that we come across. And over the years, I have never been ashamed to confess over to him, if I wasn't aware of the meaning of certain words or theories. It is just not necessary that a parent has to know everything, we are parents not super robots! Once we come upon some word that we don't know of, we just grab dictionary and search for the word or if it is a theory we google it. Over the years, we have discovered that the read aloud sessions we engage in also help us to forget about stressful day we faced and end up with something new in our heads which can really be de-stressing.

Reading plays an vital role in developing a child's vocabulary and personality.  Importance of Reading could only to made aware to children by their parents. But sometimes  a child can have problem with reading and understanding words. And this is where reading aloud can really be helpful. Reading is known to improve learning skills of a child but reading aloud can help a child to build confidence and beat the problem of understanding words. With regular practice of reading aloud a child can gain confidence and be fluent in language. One of the most important parenting tip for every parent is to encourage their children to read aloud. And this has to be started right from the young age, when a child practices to read. It is said that a good habit developed at very young age sticks by for a long time and can really prove to be helpful.  Thus making a child read aloud is one of the foundation stone a parent lays as child's first step towards success.

Importance of Reading Aloud

Reading aloud helps a child in lot ways than one could imagine.And the benefits of reading aloud helps your child in long run and it has an important contribution in shaping up his personality as it enhances his language skills, listening skills and learning skills.

Reading Aloud Improves Pronunciation

A regular dose of reading aloud not only improves learning but it also helps to improve pronunciation. If reading aloud is practiced daily by a child, he easily gets hang of the words which he had problem with pronunciation at an early stage. Improvement in pronunciation in turn helps in the development of speech and also improves writing skill.

Reading Aloud Improves Listening Skills

When a child reads aloud, he gets to hear his own voice which helps him to improve his listening skills and also helps him to understand what he is reading. I a parent is reading aloud for a child, a child focuses his attention on the parent and thus his mind learns to focus well without being distracted.

Reading Aloud Improves Writing Skills

The development and improvement of a spelling totally depends upon a child's perception towards a phonic sound and this is where the habit of reading aloud comes into the picture. Reading aloud helps a child to listen to the phonic sound a word makes, to detect the phonic syllables and to visually connect the letters together to form a word. Thus the spelling awareness is boosted. This whole process in turn, helps to improve your child's writing skills.

Reading Aloud Helps to Connect with Books

Reading aloud helps a child to build a positive connection with the books. The basic things which connect a child to a book like how to choose a book, how to hold them while reading, bookmarking, connecting the pictures with the words  and taking care of books are understood by the children. This connection helps a child to explore the path which helps him or her to discover new words, new writing skills and a whole new adventure.

Reading Aloud Helps in Strong Vocabulary Building

With constant reading aloud practice, a child is exposed to new letters, words, sentences, grammatical adaptation and phonic syllables, which helps in building strong vocabulary. Introduction of new words, their meanings and synonyms adds up to his mental database or library of words. This can definitely help a child in language skills and to achieve good grades in theoretical writing.

Reading Aloud Helps a Child to Explore New Ideas

When a child gets into the habit of reading aloud a story, his brain tries to be perceptive by understanding the way a story is about to develop. A child's brain thus works it's way on how the story may end using it's imagination. This helps the child to explore new ideas, to fetch his curiosity and help the brain development by allowing it to work to fullest potential.

Reading Aloud Promotes Fluent Reading

If a child is encouraged by his parents and teachers to read aloud right from his early age, then this habit can help a child with language development and thus build a strong foundation in overall language skills. Early speech problems such as stuttering or stammering can also be resolved by the habit of reading aloud. Even if a child may start slow with the reading aloud process, constant practice would definitely help him to be a fluent reader. This fluency in reading would be developed only by regular practice and a child would achieve great results.

Reading Aloud Helps a Child to Cope with Stress

A small read aloud session before going to bed can help a child to cope up with stress and anxiety, as it completely works as a distraction from the stressful scenario and helps a child to engage in something which can make him relax and get a good sleep.

Reading Aloud - Wonderful Way of Engaging in Quality Time with Children

In today's fast paced world, parents hardly get to spend quality time with children. Hence some reading aloud session not only guarantees quality time with children but also ensures that the time spent with them is engaging and constructive. Parents also get to understand their child's weaknesses and improvement pertaining to  the language and help them develop vocabulary building. A child surely is encouraged in a positive way, if his parents actively participate and engage in the reading aloud sessions.

Top Ten Reading Aloud Tips

Here are few reading aloud tips and strategies that can help you with parenting and to get started with your child in terms of development of skills and language.

1. It is advisable to start the reading aloud sessions for a child from an early age. Start with picture books and phonic sounds. Make the child read the word and study the picture, this way he learns to develop connection with words.

2. Story telling sessions by parents for younger kids work as a foundation stone for reading aloud sessions.

3. Reading aloud practice starts with you reading aloud to your child.

4. In the early stage of reading aloud session, start with you reading a sentence aloud first and making your child repeat it after you.

5. Making use of phonic sound and phonic syllables can be really helpful for better understanding of words for a child.

6. If your child finds it difficult to read out a sentence, then reading in chorus can help him improve.

7. Once a child gets better with the reading aloud technique, challenge him with new books, which are little more complex than the previous ones.

8. Make it a point to read the story in a grammatical way, like pausing and continuing if there is a comma or a full stop. Try and show excitement on exclamations and include a sigh at sad parts of the story.

9. Reading aloud sessions should be followed by the idea of speaking aloud your ideas and opinion about the passage. It is where you discuss out on the certain idea of the passage where a child can learn in-depth new words, concepts and new theories.

10. A parent or a teacher needs to be patient with a child during a read aloud session. Sometimes a child may have doubts of his own surrounding to a particular idea or an ending of a story. He may have several questions regarding it. A parent can encourage a child to come up with his or her own version of ending. His or her efforts should be appreciated and the doubts surrounding a particular idea should be resolved.