It’s not easy to train a child to use the potty. But it will be harder if you do the common mistakes in potty training just like teaching your child even if he is not yet ready.

• Teaching your child to use the potty during very stressful time in his life (new baby in the family or you just moved to a new place)
• Pushing your child to learn when he is not really interested.
• Giving punishments or nagging to your child whenever he made an accident
• Using the same potty training methods to all your kids
• Expecting a fast improvement in your kid’s training
• Not realizing that bed wetting can still happen even after the kid learns how to use the potty

Your child will surely get over this soothing-technique during the night by the time he turned 4 or 5 years old. However, if you are still troubled with your child’s head banging is becoming more and more frequent, then here are some of the things that you can do to help them get over this habit.

Do not nag your child just because you feel frustrated whenever he bangs his head. This would not help at all but may even worsen his habit.

Have a different routine before your child sleeps such as reading stories, singing lullabyes, etc.

Give your child a different comfort-thing like stuff toys or little blankets.

The sleeping routines must be followed strictly and you should imply it consistently during your child’s nap time or sleeping time.

Head banging usually occurs in most toddlers during the night. Even though this can be very distressing for the parents, this practice is actually considered normal. It is considered as one of the sleeping disorders like night terrors or sleep walking.

Infants and toddlers bang their head during the night or when they wake up during the wee hours of the morning in order to help them sleep.  Sometimes, it is also compared to other soothing techniques before bedtime including thumb sucking or even pulling their hair.

More often than not, head banging stops by the time your child reaches four years old. But experts said that if a child does head banging day and night, it can be a sign of neurological disorder like autism.

When thinking about “ground rules”, parents think that it only becomes necessary when their children reach puberty. But because you think about the safety (and sometimes a form of guidance as well) of your infants and toddlers, you start to set limits at an early age.

If you want your toddlers to understand their limits, you must make the rule very clear. Talk to your tots like a grown up. Don’t just spank them if they would pull your hair or play with their milk. Instead, pull them away from you or simply put them down and tell that you would not play with them again unless they stop doing these acts.

You must also make sure that you stay very consistent with your rules or else they would grow up believing that they can break it anytime they want to.

Temperament varies from one child to another. Some kids are naturally perky and outgoing while others are just plain reserved. Most parents do have a hard time dealing with a friendly child. They are even proud that theirs is sociable and can actively participate with other kids of their age.

But what if your child is not like that? What should you do is yours is too shy that you may even reach a point where you would get frustrated?

First of all, you must understand that threatening and punishing your child for having this kind of temperament would not help at all. And since these type of kids are “cautious”, try to associate them with a small group of people (or kids their age) before you involve them in activities that require large groups. As a parent, it is also your role to build your child’s self-esteem by looking and praising your child on things that he/she is good at.

Who doesn’t want to have a son that is as tall as Kobe Bryant or Yao Ming so that he can be a great basketball player? And who wouldn’t love to have daughter who is as tall as Tyra Banks so that she can be a stunning model? Unfortunately, not all parents are blessed with the “dream height” which may result to short height of their children.

Some parents are now looking at the growth hormones as one of their options so that their kids can be taller. Growth hormones can be used by children who are affected by growth hormone deficiency. Moreover, it can also be used by kids who have chronic renal insufficiency, Turner syndrome, as well as premature infants who are very small for their gestational age.

However, these growth hormones are not recommended to be used by normal kids. For one, FDA doesn’t approve it. Next is that growth hormones can be quite expensive (parents may spend as much as $25,000 every year). And these hormone shots may continue for a long time (usually 5-7 years)

More often than not, infants up to preschoolers can’t seem to get enough of their milk during these ages. However, as they grow older, their craving for milk starts to dwindle.  Experts said that this is not because these kids are starting to hate the taste of milk. It is because they opt to drink other beverages instead such as fruit juice, fruit drinks, and of course soda.

As the parent, it is your job to make sure that your child would still drink milk even if they think they are already old enough to drink beer (is 16 the legal age?). Anyway, nobody is too old to drink milk!

Milk is the best source not only of calcium but protein and Vitamin D as well. These are all essential for the development of the child. Unless your child is allergic to milk, let them drink as much as 4 glasses everyday.  Try getting the carton that says “low-fat milk” so you too can enjoy the benefits of this healthy drink.

Summer is fast approaching! This means vacation, beach, and other fun-filled activities that your kids would surely enjoy. Do you already have plans? If you want your kids to have a memorable summer and discover more of their talent at the same time, why not take advantage of the summer workshops near you?

There are various summer workshops where you can enroll your child. But before doing so, make sure that you ask first your child about his interest. If you would put him in a workshop that he doesn’t like, it wouldn’t make the activities worthwhile. Some of the most common summer workshops include art, dance, music, theater and so much more!

Enrollment is probably on-going by this time since its just a few weeks before the summer.  Use the internet and look for the workshops for kids near you.

Even though spanking is considered illegal in more than 20 countries, there are still some parents (particularly in countries located in Asia) who thinks that spanking is the right way to discipline their child. By the time that you spank or hit your children, you may show them who’s the Boss and create fear. However, you would never gain respect in the long run.

There are also other disadvantages of spanking that is why this is not advisable if you want to separate what is right from what is wrong.

1. Children who grew on spanking becomes aggressive.
2. They usually suffer from anxiety.
3. It teaches them that violence and aggression is the only way to solve problems.
4. It affects your child’s performance at school.

Keep in mind that being positive parenting is more powerful than spanking. There are other ways to discipline your child without hurting them.

If you want your child to develop his/her vocabulary early, experts suggest that gestures would be a great help in doing so.

A child who shows more gestures at an early age will eventually have stronger vocabulary/language skills later on. Researchers said that most of the children who have strong language skills belong to the priviledged family. Those children who are less priviledge usually have limited words or vocabularies.

Why? Probably, one of the main reasons for this is that families who are well-off have more objects that the child can see including toys, furnitures, and alike. These things provide the parents bigger opportunities in showing gestures that their children would imitate.

However, whether you have a place filled with stuff or not (and whether you believe the said research or not), the child-parent communication is still the main influence in your child’s mental development.

Do you have other ways in improving your child’s vocabulary?