Parent Network

Essential Tips for Parents: How to Help Your Child in School

Here are several tips to implement if you are looking for ways to help your child in school. Creating a plan for your children’s education requires more than a fully funded 529 Plan to pay for college. There are 13 incremental steps (kindergarten to grade 12) that lead up to college, and how to help your child perform well in school each year takes planning and consideration that should start when children are babies. Parents should continue to revise and augment these plans, but some problems can be prevented if parents make some deliberate choices early on for their children. It’s much easier to start on the right track than to have to change routes in the middle of the journey. Parents should make important decisions about how to nurture their children physically and how to convey that they value education.

PHYSICAL WELL-BEING

The easiest way to help your child in school is by ensuring your child’s physical well-being. It is vital that students feel good as they try to learn, both at school and at home. For starters, making deliberate choices about what your children eat will certainly improve their health, but it also helps children to concentrate better in school. In her WebMD article, “Top 10 Brain Foods for Children,” Jeanie Lerche Davis describes ten super foods that will help children do their best thinking at school. Included in that list are salmon, eggs, peanut butter, whole grains, oatmeal, berries (e.g., strawberries, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.), beans, colorful vegetables (e.g., tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, spinach, etc.), milk and yogurt (recent research suggests a tremendous vitamin D deficiency among children.), and lean beef (or meat alternative). Note the lack of sugar and white carbs. Making a commitment to serve the best brain foods to children will help your child in school.  Read more... (2284 words, estimated 9:08 mins reading time)

Honestbaby Delivers Parenting News To Self-Proclaimed Imperfect Parents

After being bombarded with tips and advice, and admitting it was okay to not be a perfect parent, honestbaby founder Jill Besnoy created honestbaby.com. She provides parenting news to likeminded parents, who want to discuss the joys, and trials of parenthood, without the illusion of raising their kids free from trial and error.

Featured on Fox News, in Time Magazine, and Advertising Age, honestbaby is a parent’s, or rather imperfect parent’s, source for parenting news. This quirky, offbeat, community offers a variety of articles and discussions on common and not so common topics in parenting news. With features, a topic index, and daily parenting news, it is a place for parents to ask questions without borders. The sites unique stories from bloggers and the honestbaby community are honest, as well as hilarious. It delivers its parenting news with a refreshing, and down to earth quality that is rare in the mainstream media. The questions asked on this parenting news site are sometimes shockingly uninhibited, but perfectly valid. The usually serious topic of raising children is lightened up considerably on honestbaby, and it could very well be the parenting news resource of the future.

This parenting news site has fun extras that will keep you entertained on the site after your pressing questions have been addressed. Parents are encouraged to submit pictures of their “honest babies” on I Spy. Parents share hilarious “kids say the darndest things” types of stories in Storytime, and even vent about the unsolicited advice, and expectations of perfect motherhood, in the Mommy Police section.

With an extensive index of topics, honestbaby is a valuable parenting news source for parents who are tired of pretending that parenting is always a walk in park. Let’s face it; any parent would benefit from parenting news that doesn’t claim parenting is a simple matter.  Read more... (562 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

Permissive Parenting a Spirited Child – Does Your Child Rule the Roost?

There truly are many approaches to parenting. Most of us who are raising children now grew up with authoritative parents, you know “do what I say and not what I do” and “because I said so, that’s why” type of parenting.

As new parents we remember those years of frustration at what we deemed as parenting without reflection. As adults, we’ve read all the parenting books, we subscribe to the parenting magazines, we want to be the best parents we can possibly be. We’re organic, natural – living, flexible and easy going. What’s not to adore? We’re going to show the world (and our own parents) that parenting means peaceful, loving kindness and that we have all the answers, before we have kids that is.

Along comes a child, maybe even a few. If you have a calm tempered baby than he will easily fit into the normal parenting boxes that all the books talk about, and permissive parenting works pretty well. Positive Parenting books will give you wonderful examples to uphold and which work perfectly with docile kids.

But what about the spirited child? What about the rebel who seems adamant on making you pull out every hair in your head? The child makes you wonder ‘what did I do wrong’ because it’s so hard. You never thought parenting could be so difficult, and sometimes you feel like you want to run away and hide from it all. You may be in tears daily and you may ask God ‘why?’ You never signed up for this!
You cannot see any parenting errors. You’re being a wonderful parent, letting Johnny have his freedom and think independently as people should. You give explanations for everything you do, to live democratically; and yet you feel like your child’s energy could overtake you at any given moment. He drags you around stores and around play dates. You’re running ragged, you’re at your wits end and you want things to be different. But where are the real answers? How do things change?  Read more... (2180 words, estimated 8:43 mins reading time)

Government Grants For Single Parents in the USA

The number of single parents is rapidly increasing and growing not just in the United States, but also in other countries.

Raising a child or children alone and solely is never an easy and comfortable task. That is why single parenting is a very hard and ardent job and responsibility that only the strong willed, courageous  and responsible people chose or opt to take

If given the chance, according to one social poll, majority of the population in the United States would not resort to being a single parent. Single parenthood, therefore, is a choice, not a random destiny given to anyone.

Financial assistance for single parents

Financial support is given by the government to any single parent who obviously and direly need financial support. The law recognizes the hard and very imposing responsibility single parents have, that is why financial aids are given to single parents. In that way, the hardships and pressures experienced by single parents are somehow reduced and alleviated.

Government grants for single parents are accessible to the general public, especially the needy single parents.

To process an application if a single parent seeks financial or money support for single parenting, he or she must obtain a form from the local or nearest City Hall. The forms should be honestly and clearly filled out because the information will have to be verified and will form the basis for approving the financial aid application.

For single parents, be advised that while financial aids for single parents are available and open to every single parent in the land, qualifications and eligibilities do exist and are set to protect the funds from abusive and money greedy people.  Read more... (707 words, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)

Honest Parenting

Which road do I have to take to rear a good child?

The basic parenting equipment that we have is the way in which our very own parents brought us up. With postnatal preparations, you also have to prepare for the arrival of your baby.

The process of being a new parent.

You cannot go into any store to acquire your parenting skills nor can you download parenting skills on the internet. At the time conception, your gratifying job as a parent finally begins.

Here are the processes that you should know to become skilled in parenting.

- Know all there is to know about you own child – we are all different by nature, and we all have a unique character aspect that identifies us to be ourselves. It is a proven fact that most children copy their parents’ actions, their mannerisms and their desires to follow their parents footsteps, but there are also those children who do not want to become like their parents and most of the time defies them. The children that rebels against what you (as the parent) have been used to are the ones you will need to implement good parenting skills with because they will definitely upset you and also leave you feeling discouraged at times.

Parenting is a never-ending job.

Remember, parenting is never as easy as you would think it is going to be. If one day your child comes running to you and starts asking you like “mom/dad I need help”, will you say to them sorry, I am too busy now? I do not believe so, you will not tell your child that you are to busy to help them. Wouldn’t we all be the best parents if there was a parent guide? In case you do not know, parenting is the hardest job in the world. Parenting is the most underpaid job ever and you do not even earn anything from being a parent. Even after all of your children have grown up, they will still come to you for advice.  Read more... (846 words, estimated 3:23 mins reading time)