| |
| |
|
Parenting Information |
|
|
|
Teaching Your Child Safety
Q. What is the best way to teach safety awareness to young children? A. The best way is to follow your instincts. It is a natural process. You, your parents, your brothers and sisters, any other close members of your family, and your friends provide just the right input. You are your child's first and most important teacher. You, your family, and your friends form for your child his or her first and most important social group. Your parent-child relationship is the main model; and you, your relatives, and your friends make up your child's training ground for all future relationships. You as a parent work around the clock as you nurture, love, guide, support, teach, and protect your child. Safety looms high in your mind at all times. It underlies all other interactions. As a matter of fact, you, with your family and friends provide a safety net for your child. These relationships that you all build up over time are what protect him or her. It is you and all of these people who are nearest and dearest to you who teach your child who to associate with, what to accept from others, what to say, what not to say, and who is okay for getting to know. In addition, through books you read to and with your children about these basic safety precautions, you reinforce the concepts. While you might think you need a specific formula or some kind of child protection procedure list to follow, it turns out that a major part of the child protective process comes directly from you and your strong family and extended family bonds. You will find that you, your relatives, and your friends tend to do naturally all they can to teach your child to stay close by in busy and crowded places, caution him or her not to run in the street, show him or her how to hold on tight when in a parking lot, and much more. You all cultivate this protective relationship over time. Love is the secret ingredient that makes it all work. Prevention is always the goal when it comes to handling problems connected with children. As they say, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." However, as we all know, even with the very best of input from you, family and friends, accidents do happen. Where do you go from here? The first and foremost thing to do in a crisis is to return your child to safety in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Once again, you will know just what to do at just the right time. After that, go right to the attitudes section of the "15 Pillars of Parenting" explained in Constructive Parenting, pp. 15-18. Here is how those pillars apply. 1. Separate the Behavior from Your Child. You do not like that your child ran in the street? but you love your child. After you have protected your child from the harm that could have happened, and after the emotional impact of the event has worn off, begin teaching your child how not to repeat this behavior in the future. 2. Look for the Cause of the Mistaken Behavior. Explore the whole situation thoroughly. Try to figure out if it was caused by a lack of knowledge, a sudden distraction, or even by something that you yourself may have inadvertently said or done. Being able to eliminate the cause is the key to preventing it from happening again. 3. Listen and Communicate. If your child is old enough to give you information from his point of view, by all means listen to it. Even ask for it. Find out as much as you can about what went wrong. 4. Be Positive, Warm, and Supportive. The focus of all communication between you and your child should be on teaching. While you may have gotten excited over the danger and naturally raised your voice at the time, there is no need to chastise your child. You are your child's first and most important teacher. 5. Be a Person, Not a God. Remind yourself right away how many mistakes you make day in and day out. This time your child made one. Share some of your mistakes with your child. Then band together to wipe out this safety problem. Neither one of you wants to see this danger ever happen again. Spring brings with it the freshness of changes. It is a time of rebirth and a new beginning. Rest assured that you, your family, and your friends are all working naturally on your child's safety. In addition, you now know with confidence how to handle any dangerous situation that might arise. Enjoy the freshness of spring with a great feeling of security in your child's safety. Ask your questions to Dr. Sally at drsally@drsallyparenting.com., www.drsallyparenting.com, 561-715-9115. Sally Goldberg, Ph.D., professor of education and author, is an adjunct instructor at Nova Southeastern University and at the University of Phoenix Online. She is also a well-known national conference presenter who gives workshops, presentations, and keynote speeches. You will also see and hear Dr. Goldberg as a frequent specialist on TV and radio. She has a bachelor's and a master's degree from Cornell University. She also has a Ph.D. from the University of Miami. She is a regular writer for the Parent Guide, a Tampa Bay magazine, Today's Parent, a South Florida newspaper, Parents' Monthly, a Sacramento magazine, and Viewpointe, a Palm Beach County newspaper. She is also often quoted in major national magazines and newspapers.
MORE RESOURCES:
Parenting - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Lead with Love:How Mothers Can Use Their Greatest Strength to Manage Around Their Technical Weakness My wife and I have been working on a video scrapbook for our son now for about a year. The project originally started out as a movie of all of our video clips but it was immediately apparent that this scope was far too great. Selecting and Hiring Childcare Employees In today's fast-paced society, many families depend on some form of childcare arrangements to help meet the demands of family and work. The majority of parents in America work outside the home, creating a need for dependable childcare. The Metamorphosis of The Brain: Raising Your child to be a Brainiac The human brain never actually stops developing. Beginning formation in early prenatal life (just 3 weeks after conception), the brain's development is a lifelong endevour, endlessly under construction, constantly reshaping and redefining itself based on everyday life and the types of stimulation that we provide for it. Advocating for Your Child with LD Advocate: you've probably heard the term before. But what does it mean to you? Advocating happens when you speak on behalf of someone else. Intro to Medications for ADD ADHD The most common medications used in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are stimulant medications. Anti-depressant medications, and even anti-convulsant medications, are sometimes used as well, though this is less common. Back to School Success: The Parents Job and the Students Job Q. With another school year starting, we are not sure how to handle things with our teen-ager. Toilet Terrors And Other Potty Training Fears Potty training fears, often called toilet terrors, are common among toddlers and small children. Look at things from your child's perspective. Organizing a Car Wash Fundraiser The key to a successful car wash fundraiser event is to eliminate chaos before it starts. Having done more than 100 car wash fundraisers myself, I can safely say that there is a right way and a wrong way to do a car wash fundraiser. I WONT DO IT! Tips for Working with the Oppositional Child "I WON'T DO IT!" "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"Whether parent or teacher, we have all "been there" and "done that" with a child exhibiting refusal behaviors. Before "losing your cool" and your power as well, interventions and strategies are provided for use to help deescalate this classic power struggle. Parenting Your Teenager: Ask Questions Many parents seem to be more than a little confused about what they have a right to know about their teens.The question I often get goes something like this:"We want to know where our 16-year-old son is going to be, and who he is with. Teach Children The Skills Of Optimism Optimists do better academically, socially and enjoy better health than pessimists.Helping your child look on the bright side is a significant life skill to develop. Boundaries - Why Theyre Needed Imagine a child who lacks ownership of his own life, has noself-control, and lacks respect for others. If these were the qualities ofyour son, how would you feel for his future wives? Yes, wives is plural, this is one major reason we need to set boundariesfor our children their future. Minimizing Homework Hassles John Bishop's Goal Setting for Students.comParents - Minimize Homework Hassles?It's 6:30 at night and you just got home from a long day at work, but the day's not over yet. Family Meetings 101 Family meetings provide opportunities for feelings to be aired and validated. They also allow younger children to feel they are an important part of the decision-making process when it comes to family vacations and other major and minor family functions. How Public Schools Lie to Parents and Betray Our Children Under the "No Child Left Behind Act," public schools whose students consistently fail standardized tests can now be shut down. To protect their jobs, teachers and principals are now under intense pressure to cheat - to fudge test scores and report cards to fool parents and school administrators. Maximizing Your ADHD Childs Performance in School. As a parent there are lots of things that you can do to help your child with ADHD succeed in school, with friends, and in life. Here are some tips for you that just may help you in your ongoing efforts to help your child. Car Wash Fundraiser Preparation Are you considering a car wash fundraiser for your group? We all no it is getting harder and harder to raise the funds for non-profit groups these days. Especially kids groups such as youth groups, sports teams, high school bands and scouts. Spelling Games The following spelling games can be used by parents to reinforce spelling in children:SPELLING GAME 1: USE BOARD GAMES, SUCH AS MONOPOLYPlay any game that is normally played with dice with the child -- Monopoly, for example. The parent can continue to move her token forward in the normal way by throwing the dice, but the child must orally spell a word to move forward. One Definition of Success As parents, we want our children and teens to grow up and "be successful." But what "being successful" means depends on our definition of "success" in the first place. Top 25 Children Quotations "You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
