Even adults can still experience a small dose of stage fright now and then when they are invited to perform onstage. So you can probably imagine how your child may feel when his music teacher plans a show that requires all of the students to perform. While this may seem like a good way to showcase the student’s musical talent, it may not be a walk in the park for your child. Is it really necessary for children to perform at such a young age? Is this type of exposure helpful for them in the future?
When your child was little, you couldn’t wait for him or her to be “old” enough to play games with you. Little did you realize that playing games now opened up a whole new world of winners and losers…and sore losers. Surely, you never thought that your kid would turn out to be “that” child” – the sore loser. Of course, it’s good to be competitive and want to win. It’s quite another thing for your child to get upset and lash out at others if he or she doesn’t end up winning. What can you do to foster a healthier response from your child in these types of situations? And no, not allowing him or her to play games any longer is not the answer!
America is the great melting pot, where many immigrants made their way to Ellis Island to escape poverty, religious persecution or political oppression to create their own opportunities. Over the years, many different cultures and ethnicities have mixed to give rise to multicultural and/or multi-ethnic offspring. As these children begin to develop, parents are sometimes confused about which language or languages their child should actually speak. At one point in time, many immigrants refused to teach their children their native language so that they could better assimilate in the United States. Although this is no longer the case, some parents continue to wonder whether they should the parents focus on English so that child will have mastery of the language by the time they get to kindergarten, or should they instead focus on the second language so that the child will have a good sense of their culture?
Many of us have experienced that horribly embarrassing moment when our toddler appears to be playing calmly with a friend when all of a sudden she takes a bite and all mayhem breaks loose. Children are crying, tempers are flaring, and you know the right thing to do is to discipline your child. Although you firmly remind your toddler that it is not nice to bite, you wonder whether this will be enough to prevent your child from biting in the future. You also wonder if she even understands why it is not okay to bite since reasoning with a toddler (especially a cranky one!) is not always easy! This is generally a delicate developmental stage for your toddler who could still be at the tail-end of teething or simply experimenting with her emotions. To help prevent your child from biting, here are a few tips: