Getting your child to sleep whether they are infants, toddlers or preschool aged can be really challenging. It’s enough to make you want to google “how do I send a child back”. And although you wouldn’t do it even though you feel like that and really wish that there was a way to do that and then pick them up after you’ve both had a good night sleep, we all know that’s just wistful thinking. I ‘d like to share with 3 things that will help you with this dilemna. Consistency, Persistence and Planning go along way in insuring you a good night sleep for you and your child.

Being consistent means that you are committed to make an attempt to follow through with your plan every single time. Every single time that you are consistent you come closer and closer to achieving your goal of a good night sleep. You take into consideration that there may be times when you really don’t want to do this but you remember why you are doing it and that it will be a little discomfort now but in the long run it is going to pay off and be beneficial for everyone. You also consider the alternative if you are not consistent and the resulting tiredness and irritability for both you and your child, not to mention how lack of sleep affects your reaction time and ability to make good decisions will fuel and feed your commitment.

Persistence is the foundation of consistency.It is how and where consistency gets its power and strength to be able to be consistent. Without persistence, the willingness to deal with and overcome obstacles as they arise and keep moving toward your goal, consistency will not happen and you will not get your results. Persistence requires an informed mind and is all about mindset. Once you know the pros and cons and what might happen and are prepared for what might happen, you are able to be persistent. It’s having a “ no matter” what mindset and attitude. Not in an insane way, but in a way that says I know that there’s an answer to this and a solution that will benefit all.

With out a plan consistency and persistence have nothing to stand on. Think of consistency, persistence and a plan like you would a stool which enables you to sit down. For you the top is your result, so all three items are needed. I will list a few tips that you can include in your plan and at the end some resources that you can use to insure your success. A large part of this plan is planning your day, the schedule of you and your child and preparing yourself mentally. This will enable you to carry out the other parts of the plan.

THE PLAN

1. Make taking care of yourself a priority. You are going to take care of yourself in bite size chunks of time. One minute up to 10 or as much as you can get all will work fine. During that time you are going to close your eyes for as long as you can even if that means holding your child, and just breath deeply. Delegate and get support, remember you will probably have to ask for it. Placing the palms of your hands in a cupped position is very soothing to your eyes. Stay hydrated, plan simple meals that stretch, sleep when the baby or child sleeps, if you work on your lunch break. It is okay for your house to be a wreak, unless that drives you crazy, even then divide and conquer by doing only a little for piece of mind.

2.For infants try laying down your child awake on their back. Have comforting items such as a pacifier in the bed. Infants still like to be wrapped up so wrap them up. Also realize that infants have to be 12 to 13 pounds in order to keep enough food in them to sleep through the night.

3. For toddlers and preschoolers the earlier that you create and stick to a bed time ritual the easier and better. Plan this out ahead of time but also be flexible. Have them go to the bathroom the last thing before bed after a 2 oz cup of water which they probably will ask for. Bedtime should be 8pm, start winding down around 7pm with reading or some quite activities no television. For my daughter and I reading her favorite angel book worked like a charm. She chose the stories 3-5 of them each story was a page. We would take our time and she would find the angel who would be hiding somewhere on the page. Then we snuggled and said the family prayers and lights were out. We had night lights in her room so it was not pitch black.

I started sleep training her when she was about 18 months she had the fit of life. It  was absolutely horrible. I felt like the worse mother on the planet. It is the most horrible thing to hear your baby cry and not do anything about it. It is especially hard when they scream to the top of their lungs, I felt so bad. What helped me get through it were several things I had researched and read up on how to do it. I was prepared because I knew there would be some crying and hollering. I prepared my husband so we could have a united front and he wouldn’t feel terrible and give in. I also had a clear conscience because I we had a really strong bond during non sleeping hours playing and talking, me caring for her and breast feeding her.

4. Bed and room jumpers that climb out of the bed and jump out of their rooms, roam the house and eat and play and do God knows what else in the middle of the night while every one else is a sleep. Put a bell on their door so that you know will know when they are up and about. Uneventfully take them back to bed and tell them good night that’s it. You may have to do this a lot in the beginning, it will become less and less as time goes on. Remember to be consistent and persistent as well as calm. Do not play, bargain, or threaten just take them back to bed. Your tone and face should convey I’m not playing with you and stand there and hold your ground if you have to. It is okay to give them the “I’m not playing ” look. Once they see you are serious they come around.

Lastly, kids do not have to be asleep when you put them into bed. Kids and people fall asleep they don’t get to sleep, it’s a gradual process. So take this into consideration, they might not actually fall asleep until later but you want them to learn to do this on their own. Also know that there will be some tears. As you can see being consistent, persistent and having a plan by doing some research and/or reading, will help you in accomplishing your goal of getting your child asleep.

RESOURCES:

Google Jodi Mindell, PhD she is a pediatric sleep expert and author of “Sleeping Throught the Night as well as Kim West “Sleep Lady Shuffle”, http://www.parenting.com and http://www.parents.com and the national sleep foundation has some great information for adults.

Your experiences, feedback and comments would be greatly appreciated so feel free to comment and share what worked for you. There is no one size fits all  remedy but try what works for you and explore the resources given above. Be willing to tweak it a little if needed.

Kids are so funny and can give you such a great laugh with the things that they do and say. I’d like to share some of those moments with you now.

My girlfriend has an adorable 3 year old boy. Her and her husband went out to dinner with him recently. After being seated they removed all of the knives from the table, as a safety measure. Well he was not having that and yelled to the top of his voice:”GIMME BACK MY WIFE!”

His father just recently got braces on his teeth. After admiring his father’s braces he said to his parents:” I want bracelets on my teeth too.”

His mom was driving and trying to figure out which way to go. As she was deciding he screams from the back seat: ” GO TO NEW YORK CITY AND MAKE A LEFT!”

My friend and I were having such a good laugh.  It felt so good to have a break  and laugh. I marvel at how wonderful her little boy is. In addition he is also very smart. They were in the grocery store and he says to his mom: “Mommy that’s just stupendous!” Shocked his mom looked at him and then he replies “You know Mommy stupendous like awesome.

Wow!!!! isn’t that amazing that not only did he correctly pronounce the word but he actually knew what it meant. That is a joy and a pleasure to hear.

Just wanted to share a chuckle with you to brighten up your day. If you have any funny things that your child or children have done or said please share them with us we’d love to hear them. Please post your comments below.

Can you imagine? Some one that conditions others to be stellar players collapses and dies. Wow that’s a lot right, but what does that have to do with my child you say. It relates to your child because a simple thing like dehydration was suspected as playing a major role in his death. And by the way dehydration is a very major thing that we do not think about too often.

Research indicates that the average adult releases about 2.5 liters of water per day. This release of water is through perspiration or sweating, breathing, water is also used in digestion and water is also released when there’s a bowel movement or urination. This water needs to be replaced for our bodies to function on an optimal level.

Children are much smaller so they get thirsty and have more frequent requirements for water. The frequency comes into play because they can only hold so much in their little bodies. Although they are smaller they have the same biological functions as adults as far as losing and needing water for bodily functions.

If your body is not sufficiently hydrated the cells will draw water from the blood stream. This will make your heart work harder. While your heart is working harder the kidneys are not able to purify the blood effectively due to lack of water. Because the kidneys are not able to effectively do their job it passes the work load over to the liver and other organs in the body. All of this causes the body to be severly stressed.

Dehydration is the cause of headaches and other minor health conditions such as constipation, dry and itchy skin, acne, nosebleeds, coughs, and sneezing, sinus pressure and urinary tract infections. Because these organs get irritated due to dryness and loss of liquids, coughing and sneezing result.

This can all be avoided by simply drinking water. And it is very important that it is water. Soda, tea, sports drinks, coffee, koolaid and juices do not count your child needs water first. Yes I do understand that many of these things are made with water but your body still has to work to process these items where as water comes in to assist and support the working of the body.

I do acknowledge that there is water in fruits and vegetables also and they are a very valuable part of the equation in developing a healthy, fit and smart child and avoiding childhood obesity. But please realize that they are only a part not the whole thing. To be a healthy, fit and smart child your child needs proper nutrition, water and proper rest and exercise.

Be encouraged and start where you are and where you can. This is a process not an event and will not happen overnight. It takes time, patience, a plan and persistence to succeed. Remember you can do it. I’d love to hear how you are doing. Please feel free to leave a comment of how you are doing.

A really fun way to prevent childhood obesity is by letting your child lead you in performing exercises. Notice the operative word here “perform”. There is a vast difference between doing exercises and performing exercises. Your child naturally knows this and you used to too before you became a grown up  and life became so serious. Performing is joy for a performer, its fun and makes them feel wonderful. As a dancer, I know this first hand which is why I have stuck with it for over 27 years as a technically trained dancer and more than that as a shake your groove thing, have a funky good time like James Brown says  dancer.

So you and your child are going to enjoy the performance aspect where you are not conscious of yourself or an audience, but are just moving and having fun. There will be a bit of structure because you will be exercising but more from a kid’s perspective where you have an “I CAN DO IT” attitude and you attack this task with gusto and enthusiasm. You are not going to look at it as something “I got to do” or “should do”, don’t even look at it as work. This is the difference between performing and doing exercises.

Even in preschools now children are exercising so just start out asking them to show you exercises they do in school. If they happen to go to a school where there is no structured exercise or dance program or other physical actiivity, you can start out doing some and then switch roles.

One thing I know for sure, is that these days even kids that do not have command over the English language yet don’t mind telling you what they want to do and how it’s suppose to be done. Words like Barney, Elmo, Dora, Diego, Yo Gabba, although only one words gives you a lot of information. Even if you know nothing about dance or exercise it doesn’t matter, but I’m sure you know more than you think. When children tell you what songs they want, you are guaranteed some form of movement will occur if you play thoses songs.

In case you’ve forgotten your gym classes or maybe you never had a gym or fitness class, because it was taken out of the school system, here are a few ideas. Reach up then down, don’t worry if you can’t touch your toes, just get the directions right. You can do this to music or not but it’s much more fun with music. You can make your own song out of it. Reach up then down. Reach up then down. Turn around. Turn around  amd around and around.  Then repeat the entire thing all over again.

This is great for kids because the singing and ryhming are building language skills and are pre-literacy skills. Depending on their age ask them can they think of any words that rhyme with “down”. I’m sure they will be able to come up with a few. Be open to changing the order, first go down then up. Ask your child what they think you both should do.

Kids love pretending, so pretend that they are the teacher or adult and lead the class. Ask them to pick out the music.  Some other moves you can do are jumping your feet apart then together, lifting your opposite knee to touch your elbow, crossing the midline of the body. As a matter of fact this is a great move because it crosses two midlines simultaneously.

Remember to have fun, it doesn’t have to be for very long 10 minutes would be great. Even if you just danced to a series of songs in a row that would still be great because you are moving. Try to do this as often as you can. If you make this a habit you will be more successful at doing it.  Start small and build from there you can do it. Good luck and please let me know how it turned out. For more tips on keeping your child healthydownload my free e-book at http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com.

Making sure that your child begins to drink water early is a great way to ensure that your child gets proper nutrition and creates a great habit to prevent obesity in their future. Even though water has no calories or nutritional value it is still very valuable to your toddler. A good amount to probably start with is 10-15 ozs.

According to pediatricians you should not give a baby younger than 6 months old water. First, there is enough water in their formula and breast milk( 94 percent water). Also, giving a baby younger than 6 months water can interefere with the body’s ability to absorb the nutrients that are in both formula and breast milk. And although small sips will not hurt the baby, it is much better to be safe than sorry, and to check with your pediatrician.

There is also a consideration of water intoxication. This happens when too much water dilutes the concentration of sodium that is in the body. This upsets the electrolyte balance and causes the tissues to swell. Water intoxication can also cause seizures and even coma.

It is a good idea to introduce the child to water before juices and other drinks with sugar in them, even 100 percent fruit juice. After milk make that a child’s second choice. So when they ask for something to drink give them water first. Another good idea is even with 100% fruit juice you can add water to dilute it slightly.

If your child absolutely does not like drinking water try giving them items that are made of predominately water like actual fruits, soup, milk, smoothies  etc. Also try making sure the water is cold as children don’t really care for room temperature water. Vegetables are also an excellent source of water, even though it’s not as direct.

You want to make sure that you don’t over do it. Giving a toddler too much water tends to make them feel full and could limit the amount of food intake that contributes to their growth. Remember toddlers have small tummies that can get full really fast. So you don’t want to diminish their appetite and jeopardize vital calories and nutrients that they need for growing.

This is the same reason why you do not want to give a toddler more than 4 ounces of 100 percent fruit juice. In addition to not wanting to spoil their appetite you also want your child to get the fiber from fruits and the additional nutrients in the actual fruit itself. 

Lastly, make sure you are a good example also by drinking water yourself. It is so  much more effective and impactful when you model the behavior you want your children to have.

It is easier than you think to prevent childhood obesity using specific movements designed to integrate the left and right hemispheres of the brain. These movements are particularly  fun when they are done with and to music. They can be dance movements, sports moves or moves that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of as something that would help to prevent obesity and get kids moving.

Really you say? Yes, really I say, this is because all movement helps to develop the brain. When children are moving they are learning. This is why it is so important for children to be active and move and for parents and caregivers to limit the amount of screen time that children are experiencing in today’s electronic and digitally ruled age. Exercising, walking, dancing, cooking, building, gardening all of these things are contributing to the building of the brain.  These are all movements, they get the body moving which is something you want to get your children doing whether they are conscious of it or not.

Let’s just look at one of these topics that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of as a physical activity, like cooking. Cooking involves stirring, chopping, peeling, pounding, and  kneeding just to name a few. Take an activity like baking bread where you have to kneed and pound the dough and stir and mix the ingredients. How about rolling out the dough if you are making yeast based dinner rolls. This is a lost art that not too many families are involved in , but that can help to develop a child’s brain., all because they involve movement. 

How is this so? How is the brain developed by an activity like stirring you ask. It is accomplished by crossing a midline in the body. When a midline is crossed in the body for example the left hand touching the right shoulder,  connections occur in the brain that make pathways so that the left and right sides of the brain are connected. There are 3 midlines, imagine them like an axis that you saw when you did graphs in your math classes. Yes I know you are going ugghh I hated math but this is easy I promise. So imagine your body or your kid’s body with 3 lines and the belly button is zero, where all of the lines meet and intersect. So there is a line that goes up and down and splits the body in half vertically, a horizontal line that splits the body in half horizontally, think separating the top from the bottom half of the body and lastly there is a line splits the body from front to back.

Sorry that that took a whole lot of words but I hope you can see  the picture in your mind. If not draw it on your own body in 3-D.To imagine the line from front to back , imagine you have a string that you would thread through your belly button and out your back.   So remember when you move up and down, side to side and forwards and backwards with your movements and you use opposite parts of your body you are crossing midlines and integrating the brain.

This is important because the more and greater the pathways, the better the brain processes information. Think of the analogy of a two lane highway  travelling in opposite directions as opposed to a super interstate highway with 8 lanes, 4 traveling in each direction. Just as more cars can travel on the super highway. More information can travel and be processed by the brain, creating a better brain and smarter children not to mention healthier children when you add movement.

The great thing about all of this is that with small children you can make up great activities that take advantage of these movements like “Patty Cake”, “Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes” song “Simon Says ” to music or just put on some music and tell the kids to follow you. The objective is to get your kids moving, and although it is recommended that a child gets 120 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, getting them to move for 10 minutes in a fun activity will help in accomplishing this goal. You can spread these activities throughout the day.

Please keep in mind though that this 120 minute recommendation is for children in preschool. Sixty of the 120 minutes are for unstructured play and fun  while moving moderately to vigorously physically, while the other 60 minutes are with an informed adult or teacher for the purposes of physical development. In the latter 60 minutes kids are working on developing skills physically.

I would love you feedback and observations please feel free to comment. For a free ebook on keeping your child healthy please visit http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com

Being a smart and savvy shopper when it comes to grocery shopping will carry you a long way in preventing childhood obesity. I know it seems so obvious, but when life is coming at you from 73 different directions and your head is spinning to try and keep up, planning and eating nutritous meals can fall by the way side. It is so easy and tempting to take the fast food route. With the rising costs of food today sometimes fast food isn’t even the culprit, it’s our neighborhood grocery store that can sometimes knock us for a loop.

I went to the grocery store today to get tuna fish. I was amazed that the cost of a 5 ounce can of Bumble Bee tuna was $1.89 at the local Stop and Shop. I was like WHAATTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!This is unbelievable!!!!!!!! I thought. I told my husband and he was like “Man!!!!! You can buy a whole real fish for that much!” Yeah I agreed, but this also got me to thinking.

I feel this is actually a blessing in disguise because now because of the high cost of food we have to be more conscious and aware of our eating habits and what we spend our money on. So I strolled right by the candy aisle, no Snickers and Reese’s for me and my family, not when I can buy a whole 5 lb bag of potatoes.  We are also drinking more water with our meals as opposed to juices and iced tea, a favorite in our house. So this is something that can work in our favor and we can work it to our benefit.

How can we make this work in our favor? Really start to be more savvy when it comes to grocery shopping. Clipping coupons is a must, as well as creating a shopping list before you go. Check the sales circular online to compare stores with the best prices before you head out. Plan your menu around meals that last more than one day. Turkeys are not just for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The great thing about large meats like turkey is you can prepare it many different ways and not have the same thing. It also makes great sandwiches, salads, soups and casseroles that go a long way and can stretch a budget. Things like lasagna, baked ziti and all types of casseroles will last you much longer and will also save you time in the kitchen.

Beans are an excellent staple and is very versatile also. When mixed with rice, beans make a complete protein. The great thing about beans is that you can cook a whole pot of them and it will last you a while. You can use them in soup and chili, soups and other receipes. Another great menu stretcher are leafy greens, kale, mustards, collards and spinach can be cooked by the pot full.

So start to think of how you can stretch your shopping dollars before you make out your grocery list. Shopping in bulk can also be very helpful. Be open to  meals from other cultures and countries that will help you stretch your budget. If you run out of or don’t have any ideas you can always google receipes on the internet. There are also resources online for coupons you can utilize.

I would love to hear how you stretch your budget and what types of ideas you come up with to serve healthy and nutritous meals. Please feel free to leave a comment  about how you do this.

Preventing childhood obesity is very easy when you start early with a child. It is never too early to start either. You can start even when the child is in the womb by rocking and swaying to music. It doesn’t necessarily have to be musical instruments or a CD or live band. A mother’s voice is a beautiful instrument to a child. It is beautiful music to their ears even in utero. You can make up your own songs which is a lot of fun and will give you a chuckle or two or you can sing nursery ryhmes or songs that were sung to you when you a child. The whole point of this is to introduce your child to the joy of movement. Movement is a whole lot more fun when it’s done to music. You can introduce your baby to many different kinds of music, Classical, Jazz, Folk, Country, Easy Listening, experiment.

Once they are born you can still continue to enjoy movement and music by singing and acting out Children’s Songs. Involve as much as their body as possible, move thier arms, legs, fingers and toes. Touch different body parts and identify them for your child so that they will be familiar with them. Some of the games that we used to do are obsolete now but very important. Games like “Peeka Boo”, “Patty Cake”, ”Where Is Thumpkin and “Hokey Pokey” help children develope essential skills that they will need as they grow and mature.

In addition to giving children much needed physical activity,  the above mentioned games develop linguistic skills, brain integration and architecture, hand and eye coordination and bring joy and fun into both you and your child’s life. It is a great opportunity for you and your child to bond. You are your baby’s first teacher and you can build an amazing foundation for learning  and health by singing and dancing with your child. 

Don’t be intimidated by the words sing and dance. First and foremost your baby does not care if you are in tune or not or can carry a note. Just the sound of your voice is music to their ears. Secondly let’s define the word “dance”.  Webster’s New Dictionary and Thesarus defines dance as ’1 to move the body and feet in rhythm, ordinarily to music or rhythmic movement”.  Every culture has some type of movement to some type of music or singing or chanting. If you ever had the pleasure of watching a baby move to music they are not necessarily trying to keep time or be on the beat. They are just moving to how they interpret the music. The most important thing is that you want to have fun and express yourself and allow and encourage your baby to express themselves too.

So I encourage you to do the “Hokey Pokey” even with your infant lying on their back. Teach them body awareness with “Head, Shoulders,Knees and Toes” and “Where Is Thumpkin”. It was not until I became an Early Childhood Consultant and Trainer in Creative Movement and Dance and learned about how the brain is developed through movement and what skills are needed for children to grow and develop optimally that I realized the importance of all those games and songs of my childhood.

It is in my job as a consultant that I see 3 and 4 year olds that cannot do a simple game like ”Patty Cake”. What? you say , I was astonished too. But when you break it down ”Patty Cake” requires skills like cooperation, hand-eye coordination,spatial awareness as well as rhythm and timing, a lot for a little mind to try and do at one time . This doesnot include the listening skills required and to know when it’s time to “roll it up and put it in the pan”. Most parents and teachers assume that kids will just learn these skills over time , but not if it’s not taught to them or they are not exposed to them.

So start now and your little one will be ahead of the pack. They will also learn words easier and quicker and begin to speak sooner. You will be making a valuable and important contribution to your child in helping them be fit, smart and happy children.

Your comments are greatly appreciated and help me to know what is important to you. I would love to hear from you. Also for more information and keeping your kids fit pick up a free report at http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com.

Empowering your child is a great tool to help in preventing childhood obesity. Children use food as comfort too, not just adults. Many people think of this as just a problem that adults have and never link it to children at all. You  can help prevent childhood obesity that may be caused by stress eating by helping children to feel good about themselves.

Helping children to feel good about themselves can be achieved in the following ways: teaching them something where they will gain independence and helping them to develop new skills. Children develop self esteem by what they can do not by what they know. So it is good to provide your child with a variety of hands on activities to accomplish this. 

A perfect example of this is when I teach my 3 and 4 year olds how to operate a boom box. Most teachers cringe at the sight of their students operating electrical equipment without them. Once it is plugged in and shown to the student how it works it then becomes a funfilled and safe learning experience. 

This is exactly what occured after showing Carmine how to get to the number 9 selection on a cd we were dancing to. He initially wanted to put the cd into the player . This would have caused a problem for him because of his small hands. With five year old hands it would have been very difficult to place the cd in the player without smudging it or possibly scratching it.

Instead I put it in the slot and explained that he would get us to the track that we wanted. I explained that he would be pressing several buttons. I then showed him where these buttons were and allowed him to press them. This experience also reinforced an earlier lesson in which we learned about the number 9.

During this lesson with the boom box I also showed him the on/off switch, play and pause buttons and the fast forward button. I wished you could have seen his face , he was so proud as he beamed with pride. He was so excited when he pressed the play button and the song he was looking for began to play.

The following week (I teach at his school once a week), he remembered the number of the track for the song as well as how to operate the boom box. From this incident his confidence and self esteem soared because he experienced for himself what he could do by himself. He didnot need food to feel good. He had a healthy experience in which he accomplished a goal that provided good feelings for him.

As you can see from this example there are simple things that you can do in addition to exercise and eating healthy to prevent childhood obesity. Get more great ideas and a free report on raising healthy kids at http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com

Getting children to behave is a universal challenge that every parent and teacher faces, but it doesn’t have to be. There are things that you can do if done consistently, that will help your child to behave. The key words here are “done” and “consistently”. I’m sure that you are all aware that in order to see results in anything you are going to have to actually do the things that you know you are suppose to do and do them consistently.

There are many different opinions and techniques that you can use to help your child behave but today we are only going to concentrate on three of them. They are setting clear guidelines and boundaries that your child understands, making sure you child understands the results of not following these guidelines and making sure that you as the parent or teacher follows through on what will happen if these guidelines are not followed.

Setting clear guidelines and boundaries for your child takes more than just saying to them you need to do x, y and z. You must also take into account several other things. Since you main objective is to get cooperation from your child and keep your sanity and peace, you want to give guidelines and boundaries that your child can follow. Expecting a 2 year old to remain still and in one place for long periods of time is a recipe for disaster and sets you both up to fail. So you want to take into account what is the child able to do at this particular stage of development. What motivates your child praise and rewards or taking privileges away or their freedom as in having to sit and be still .

The results of not following the guidelines should have components that have built in success and should also fit the act. This means that minor offenses should not be treated so severely but should be addressed nontheless so that a child learns what you want. Disciplining should be more about correcting and teaching than pain and suffering on any level, emotional, physically or spiritually. Building in successs means giving a child an opportunity to have another chance at doing it right. This is how children learn.

Lastly, the hardest thing seems to be being consistent and following through with whatever was established as a consequence of their actions. In the beginning it is easier but as time goes on it gets more and more difficult. To ensure success in this area, think about what you are willing and are able to do ahead of time. If you are not a popper then spanking your child is not an option so you have to think of other things  that you will be able to follow through with.

These 3 things work for children of all ages and can be very helping in showing that you care and love your child and want the absolute best for them. Children want to know that you love them and care about them and getting them to behave is one way of showing them this. You are also ensuring their future success in life.