Parenting and Family Education

On the eve of baby’s on the due date, I am unable to sleep. With baby moving in my womb, which occur spontaneously Braxton Hicks contractions and make you helpless, like a beetle on its back waving its legs, and the enormous pressure in pelvis that whisks you away to the house bathroom only to expel an unimpressive thimble full of pee every 15 minutes? Reflect on the following advice of parents and pregnancy resources.

Pregnancy Tip:
- Learn to love your belly: Strangers on the street said, Wow you are great! Every day has to be now when you were a mere four months of pregnancy. After months of experiencing a plague of panic every time you caught a glimpse of my reflection, you finally came to love your belly in a pregnancy photo shoot.

- Borrow maternity clothes: No matter how ugly and some of the huge maternity pieces seem, accept them all. You really do not know how you can get big and comfortable as the hideous panels might be later. Put aside your pre-pregnancy clothes once you grow out of them so why not constantly grieving the loss of old wardrobe.

- Let go of your due date: Did you know that only 4% of babies are born on their actual due date who knew! After I found out that it is perfectly normal for a baby to arrive any time between 37 and 42 weeks pregnant, be prepared? (At any time during the five weeks that the window).

- Learn to enjoy your deferential public: Yes, strangers will occasionally see your belly as public property and dish out a host of comments and advice.

- Find a health professional that you love: The ups and downs of your pregnancy require special support and pregnancy resources. Find someone who welcomes your questions puts your fears to rest and relies on having the best pregnancy and delivery is possible.

- Listen and learn to trust your body, and relinquishing cravings (turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and chocolate ice cream), the need for extra sleep.

- Also, reading parenting books for the humor and practicality, the fabulous hardcore midwifery books like Ina May’s Guide to Pregnancy helped you learn to trust your body more than ever. These books helped to dissolve many of your fears, as I learned things like no matter how big your baby, babies heads are mostly around the same size, and are designed for nature to make the journey through the birth canal.

- Find other pregnant women and hang out with them: Pre-natal is a real exercise class pregnancy resource blessing. Not only you getting fit, but you found a sense of belonging, where you could really let belly out with the best of them. When you began to regret (like nausea, especially in a day) and find another pregnant woman who was going through a tougher situation (like kidney stones or painful hemorrhoids!) Or Trouper in a real class would say something, which led to spirit. Plus, by finding other pregnant woman saved non-pregnant friends the hassle of listening to you all the shares play-by-play experience of pregnancy, probably saved some of your friends.

- Spend money only on things that the baby will make a real difference for you and buy or borrow the remaining second-hand: Babies do not? Do not worry about the paint chips and Color, just about being near the source of milk? You! The fact that they are going to grow quickly out of any and all clothes helped put my priorities in order. Then we splurged on things that mattered to me: the stroller (as I am a great walker), a safe car seat (for obvious reasons) and a rocker / glider (once I realized that could be powering up twelve hours a day during the first six weeks).

- Feel Morning sickness, can happen at any time: Morning sickness can happen at any time of day, every day or even nonexistent. Fortunately not often, it can even creep into the second or third quarter as it did to me.

- Everyone’s pregnancy experience is different, so take what is useful and ignore the rest: With so many experiences and so many people dishing out advice. What do I have observed is that pregnancy in most cases is the great equalizer? If you do something on one end you’ll likely find something on the other. Fortunately, whatever our pregnancy experience may be, most of us end up with a little bundle of joy that makes the trip worth all the effort. I’m off to bed now to join my husband and my five pillows to sleep refresh my bountiful belly, my breasts happy and weary head. How am I going to sleep outside, I’ll gratefully in my heart, knowing that soon we will have the new welcoming a beautiful addition to our little family. This is truly the greatest miracle of all parenting.

Parenting could take different styles. Parents surely prioritize home and family. That is why they could take different measures that are consistent with their own personal approach to dealing with children. There are four major parenting styles that have been identified by experts. Parents could be authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and uninvolved. Read on to know which type are you and which type you think would suit the personalities of yourself and your children.

The authoritarian parents are similar to army commanders. In this regard, they issue commands as well as orders to their kids. They expect their children to carryout and perform their commands without any question. Authoritarian parents do not welcome feedback and complaints from children. Thus, they tend to set defined rules within a structured environment. Children of authoritarian parents could cite unhappy nature in them. As a result, boys usually show hostile behavior when confronted by frustration and girls tend to easily give up during difficult situations. However, such boys and girls usually perform better in academics, perhaps due to their very disciplined upbringing.

The authoritative parents are demanding and responsive. While they expect their kids to behave in their desired manner, they do not usually impose authority and they welcome questioning and complaints. Such parents show a combination of ability to respond to feedback and assertiveness. The children of these parents are usually lively, happier, and more confident. Studies have shown that children of authoritative parents have better emotional control. They are also more adept when it comes to their social skills. These parents are usually more open-minded when it comes to outlook towards kids’ behavior.

For their part, indulgent parents are lenient. As such, they allow different behaviors to be exhibited and developed by their children. They usually let kids look after themselves. These parents avoid confrontation wit their children as much as possible. Indulgent parents are often described as democratic and non-directive. Democratic parents are more aware in showing commitment to engage with kids. Non-directive ones parent by default (they take no action when parenting their kids).

Lastly, uninvolved parenting makes parents uninvolved. They seem to be disinterested. They are neither responsive nor demanding. They could not be considered authoritarian, authoritative, or indulgent. This way, they do not require or like any feedback from their children. Being uninvolved as a parent could pose many problems. Such parents often neglect their own kids. They are also usually described by the society as irresponsible. It does not mean that they do not love or care for their children. It could only be that they are too occupied with their careers.

Which parent type are you? Do you want to be a specific parent type? You could be. You should assess your parenting style as a whole. If you think you are not being effective as one, do not hesitate to change approaches. It is very important that you adjust for your child or children’s personalities. You must learn from the lessons and the mistakes of your own parents, back when you were still a child.

Parenting is the most difficult, the most challenging, and the most important job we will ever have. So many of our children’s future successes and problems can stem from our success as parents. Yet fortunately we do not have to go it alone. We can learn from the successful parents around us, if we are fortunate including our own parents, and also learn from those less successful as well. In addition, we can learn many important lessons about parenting from our own children. If we only listen and pay attention they tell us so much about what they want and need from us as parents. While we can so often get caught up in the little details and daily grind of parenting, if we keep sight of three main goals then the rest will take care of itself. All our children really need from us are these three all-important gifts: our love, our care, and our time.

Love is the easiest and yet the most overlooked of the gifts we must give our children. We love our children. It is such an overwhelming emotion for us that we often forget that our children may not realize its depth and breadth. It is true for many of us that we did not realize how much our parents love us until we too became parents. Demonstrate through your actions and choices that you love your children. Show them and tell them how much you care. Do this with little gestures and big ones and do it every day. One certainty our children should possess as they grow and develop is that they are loved as this gives them a foundation and confidence that nothing else can.

Care is something we do all the time, so much so that it is often on autopilot. Folding clothes, picking up toys, packing lunches, and washing dishes. One of the ways to cope with these tasks is to put them in perspective. These boring, repetitive tasks are one of the ways we care for our children and by doing them we are showing our care. But do not neglect the emotional and cognitive care along with the physical care. It is easy while making sure our children are fed, clothed, and washed to overlook the emotional care and cognitive care children also need. Teach your child how to handle emotions like fear and jealousy by talking things through and modeling good emotional behavior. Make sure your child is challenged intellectually through conversation, games and books.

Time is the most precious of all gifts and yet so many parents short their children of their time. Time is spent at work and at various life activities from home maintenance to recreation, but simply giving your child the gift of your time and attention every day can reap tremendous rewards. Giving your child your time and attention is the surest way to demonstrate to your child that he or she is loved. You can multi-task while spending time with your child if the task is something that the child can be involved in or adjacent to — and the task is something mindless so you can focus on the child. For example, children can help with household chores or can talk or read to you while you fold laundry or wash dishes. Simply making a point of spending time with your child every day where your primary focus is on the child can reap tremendous rewards today and tomorrow.

There are no perfect parents, so striving for perfection is setting yourself up for failure. All you can do is try your best and give your child the gifts of love, care, and time. If you do then you will be a good parent. It really is that simple.