It's time to take a short break! I will be away for a week :)

10 minutes a day!

Obviously there are many many gifts that parent can give to their children. Yet your attention always is the one to stand out! Children crave for and thrive with their parents' undivided attention.

So please try to squeeze at least 10 minutes a day for each of your children in your daily agenda. That 10 minutes will be their time! A total union of a parent and child for at least 10 minutes a day will help you solve many crises before they occur.

Try to listen to your child during those ten minutes without giving your opinion... just listen! Or watch whatever they're watching, listen to whichever song they're listening. Try to suppress the urge of telling them how your childhood was, the kinds of music you used to listen to... Or play with them. Simply go down on your knees and elbow to join their game of Lego, Barbies, puzzles etc....

I know it's harder than it sounds when you put it into action. Yet this is the most effective way to stay connected with your children. Once you're connected, everything comes smoother... Even the high waves of teenage years :)

Have fun,

Sedef

"I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy. "

George Bernard Shaw

I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

Albert Einstein

Can you remember the best parenting advice you got (from anyone) ?

"quality time" vs "high quality time"

OK spending "quality time" with your kids is a winner... BUT spending "high quality time" with your kids is the CHAMP!

What's the difference?

Taking your kids to the playground and watching them running around is "quality time"

Taking them to the playground and playing tag with them and running around together is the "high quality time"........

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

Pablo Picasso

Involving kids in daily chores...

"Tell me, I forget. Teach me, I remember. Involve me, I understand"

This is a Chinese Proverb!

So the question is: how much do you involve your kids in daily tasks?

There are two things children love the most!!!!

1. to be together with you
2. to be able to do the things adults do

So, asking them to help you with age appropriate house chores will not only help building self-worth, self-esteem. They will learn to take responsibility, feel that they belong to a certain group... they will learn and understand how to be a member of a social group.

The key is to share the experience with them... So don't just give them a job and leave them on their own! But do it together!!!

Have fun!

Sedef

"If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves." C.G. Jung, Integration of the Personality, 1939

"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you." Robert Fulghum

Halloween is coming!

When you're helping your kids prep-trick&treat, please try to remember your own experiences as a kids for reference...

"Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good affections grow." Thomas Bray