Homework and Parents

As parents, we only want the best for our children’s education.  But sometimes we can go a little too far in helping out with things like their homework, particularly with children who may have experienced some difficulties in the classroom.  So, instead of getting overly involved with school projects, Richard Selznick, author of The Shut Down Learner suggests another approach. “I think having a parent close by to help the child break some tasks down, such as working on a project together without overdoing it can be very helpful. Sometimes putting things into visual terms more such as showing the child how to map out some ideas and breaking the task down can be supportive. But if a parent overdoes it, this is where kids will get their back up and say ‘Mom, leave me alone.  I want to do it my way.  You’re being a little too in-my-face over this.’  So it’s a real delicate balance.”

The Parent Report’s guest expert is Richard Selznick, author of The Shut Down Learner.

Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.

Stress in High School

From peers difficulties, to academic pressure, the high school years can be a very stressful time in a teen’s life, especially at this time of year, with final exams right around the corner. It’s why Richard Guare, author of Smart But Scattered says parents really need to be on the looks out for certain signs that a teen is under stress. “Distressed crying, seeming emotional, getting upset over what seems to be little things are good examples.  I think parents have to be really sensitive to the level of demand and also to understanding how their own kids manage that kind of stress when they experience it.”If your teen is showing signs of stress, here’s what to do. “I think the first thing you have to do is have a conversation about that.  Also, it’s opening up and saying “this is what I’m seeing.  These are the kinds of things that I’ve seen you do.  These are the things that seem to be bothersome to you. Is there some way I can help you with this, is there some way we can talk in terms of managing this in some different way.”

The Parent Report’s guest expert is Richard Guare, author of Smart But Scattered

Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.

At greatest risk of PBDEs are pregnant women and children. In this most recent study, researchers measured the PBDE level in the blood of pregnant women and then followed their children over the next five years.  The results were showed that children who were exposed to higher levels of PBDEs in the womb had a four point lower score on IQ tests at age five and hyperactivity problems became evident as early as two years of age.
 
PBDEs can disrupt the production of thyroid hormone, which plays a key role in the neuro-development of fetuses. In the womb, babies rely of the mother’s thyroid hormone to regulate the growth of cells. If the hormone is disturbed through exposure to PBDEs than the baby’s neuro-development will be affected.

Two of the chemicals in PBDEs have been banned in Canada and another is being phased out. PBDEs have been banned in the European Union and in some states in the US.
Source: Globe & Mail, May 7, 2013

Troubles in Early School

So often, difficulties in school don’t reveal themselves until a child is in the primary grades at school.  But sometimes there can be signs your child may have trouble with formal education at preschool explains Richard Selznick, author of The Shut Down Learner. “Typically at preschool you see circle time, and the child may be flopping around or not quite paying attention.  Now often people are thinking about things like attention deficit disorder at that point, but for many of these children, their language processing skills are a bit weak.  So that’s one thing to be looking for.  Another would be that they often don’t do well with tasks like rhyming.  And they also aren’t great with letter recognition and letter awareness.” And Richard adds that deep inside most of us know when something isn’t quite right. “Trust yourself as a mom. If you think there’s something going on there usually is.  It very rare in my career that when a mom is concerned that there is nothing going on.”

The Parent Report’s guest expert is Richard Selznick, author of The Shut Down Learner.

Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.

Preparing Pre-Schoolers

Is your preschoolers planning to attend kindergarten in the fall? You might be thinking it’s time to learn the ABC’s and numbers.  But really, it’s the simple things that we can do with them everyday that makes children ready for the school experience, says Richard Guare, author of Smart But Scattered.  “Giving them choices, offering them chances to make different selections of foods they prefer, or showing them how to organize their environment a little bit by creating situations where we help them put their toys away helps prepare them. But we also create an organizational structure for them so that they begin to learn that things have a place to go in. For example, it would be things such as teaching that crayons go in this particular box, the trucks go in this box, dirty clothes go in the laundry hamper over here.  Give them opportunities to see that the environment that we live in has a certain organization and they can begin to use that organization for themselves.

The Parent Report’s guest expert is Richard Guare, author of Smart But Scattered.

Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.

Asthma Treatments

When it comes to treating asthma there are several types of medication available. One is a controller to reduce the inflammation of airways and the other is a reliever which, as the name suggests, immediately relieves symptoms like wheezing and coughing.  But as Dr. Gary Rachelefsky, author of Free Your Child From Asthma explains, medications are only a part of the picture. “The treatment for asthma involves medications either to treat or prevent asthma. It also includes trying to eliminate from the environment allergens and cigarette smoke and other irritants that cause asthma symptoms, and then for the child who has significant allergies, allergy injections could be very effective.” It’s vital that children take part in their asthma management. “Children themselves play a crucial role in managing their asthma.  They have to cooperate.  Many of the medicines that are given to them require using various devices or machines and if they don’t cooperate then the treatment doesn’t work.”

The Parent Report’s guest expert is Dr. Gary Rachelefsky, author of Free Your Child From Asthma.

Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.

Pets and Allergies

So you and your family are considering getting a pet, but because your child has allergies, you’re choosing very carefully.  Good call.  But what if you already have a pet and your child develops allergies?  Well, you may not have to find them another home.  Instead, Dr. Frank Adams, Author of The Asthma Source Book suggests starting with these precautions. “If the pet’s already there, then grooming and bathing is extremely important to clean off much of the animal dander and the materials that stick to the animals fur. This could be done weekly or every other week and there are materials that can be sprayed on the animal\s coat to reduce shedding into the air. You can also separate, as much as possible, the child from the animal at night, because at night in the bedroom there would be a continuous source of allergen inhaled and asthma can flare up at night, so some separation could make a difference.”

The Parent Report’s guest expert is Dr. Frank Adams, Author of The Asthma Source Book.

Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.

Food Allergies and Intolerances

Does your child have a food intolerance…or a food allergy?  Generally with food intolerance, a person doesn’t have a certain enzyme to break down certain foods.  In a food allergy a person is actually allergic to the food itself.  Dr. Lauren Donaldson-Bradley, co-author of The Baby’s Table elaborates on the difference between a food allergy and an intolerance. “Food allergies are actually quite rare.  I think the term food allergy is quite loosely used.  But a true food allergy is what we think of as those serious life-threatening reactions to do with the airway and the immune system that’s an immune response, which can lead to anaphylaxis, and even death. Those are the food allergies.  What people tend to get quite worried about are actually food intolerances.  Those are the common things like skin rash, or stomach upset, or itchy eyes.  Those sorts of things tend to be intolerances and those can be outgrown.”

The Parent Report’s guest expert is Dr. Lauren Donaldson-Bradley, co-author of The Baby’s Table.  Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.

Signs of Asthma

If your child is complaining of tightness or hurting in the chest, has dark circles under the eyes and feels weak and tired, asthma could be the culprit.  Of course coughing and wheezing are other symptoms, but there are some symptoms that are quite surprising says Dr. Frank Adams, author of The Asthma Source Book. “The child is having trouble playing sports or is maybe telling you “I don’t want to go out and play”, which would be a big change for that particular child and the child may be avoiding the exercise because the child may have experienced shortness of breath.” Asthma is one of the leading reasons for missing school, and no wonder. “The child is waking up is the middle of the night coughing, and the wheezing might be audible to many parents. And in school, the grades might be slipping and the teachers might be saying that your child is falling asleep in class and this would relate to the night time awakening where the child can’t get proper sleep.”

The Parent Report’s guest expert is Dr. Frank Adams, author of The Asthma Source Book.  Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.

When it comes to parenting, is there one style that is superior to others? Maybe so. According to Barbara Coloroso, parent educator and author of Kid’s Are Worth It, there are three types of families that reflect three ways of parenting children. One is what she likes to call t the “Jellyfish” family, where anything goes. The other is the “Brick Wall” family where there’s a rule for everything, and the third is the “Backbone” family.  The “Backbone” family works the best because it mixes flexibility with limit setting.

Coloroso explains “a Backbone family says to kids, mistakes are okay. Mistakes are for learning. A Backbone family also invites kids at a very young age to make responsible choices, and when they make unwise choices, they (the parents) stick with them and say, ‘kid you can fix this’. They say ‘kid you have a problem, I know you can handle it.’ And in the end the child knows how to think, not just what to think. And within himself, he’s developing a backbone for his own moral sense of what’s right, what’s wrong.”

If you find that you are unhappy with your own parenting style don’t be afraid to change. Coloroso says that when it comes to improving our parenting skills, you can always teach an old parent new tricks. “If you are still alive and kicking and your kid is still alive and kicking, it’s never too late to change what you’re doing in your parenting style.”

Fortunately there are many good books and courses available for parents, which is good because Coloroso says these are some of the best ways to discover new approaches to raising kids. “One of the beauties of taking the opportunity to either read, or to attend parenting sessions, or to talk to your neighbor, is to explore what you’ve done that you don’t feel good about and how you can do it differently. It’s more than just feeling bad about what you did, it’s asking what can I do differently next time?”

Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show. Any advice or information contained herein should never be a substitute for professional and/or medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. For more information please review Terms of Service.