Ways to Keep Your Kids Learning in the Summer

For children who have been struggling in school, summer can be their opportunity to catch up on key skills and feel more confident when they head back to class. For students who do well, it's an opportunity to reinforce enthusiasm for learning.

"Learning loss begins within 24 to 48 hours, unless the new information is reinforced or applied immediately," says Richard E. Bavaria, Ph.D., vice president of education for Sylvan Learning Center. "After a month without reinforcement, approximately 80 percent of what a student has recently learned can be lost. You cannot start too early or too late to help your child prepare for going back to school."

Parents play a key role in reinforcing learning on an ongoing basis. Sylvan Learning Center has prepared these tips for integrating continuous learning into fun, family activities all summer long:

* Read with your student. You can't start too early, and you can't read too much. Read together with your children and ask questions about the plot and characters.

* Use the Web to create a reading list. There are an abundance of sites that provide summer reading lists for children. At http://www.bookadventure.com/, children create personalized book lists from more than 7,000 recommended titles, take quizzes on the books they've read at school or home and earn prizes. The program is designed to motivate students to read more often, for longer periods of time and with greater understanding.

* Plan an educational field trip. Visit an interesting place close to home, such as a historic site, museum or the zoo.

* Find pen pals or keep a journal. Encourage your student to write letters to family and friends as a way of practicing writing. Regular entries in a journal will also keep writing skills alive.

* Visit the library. Libraries can recommend books appropriate for your child's reading level and interests, and many libraries offer free family programs.

* Participate in summer learning programs. There are a variety of programs available for children that reinforce learning. For example, Sylvan Learning Center provides math, writing and reading camps for students ranging from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.

Taking Dad’s Help For Things You Can’t Discuss With Your Mother

Well we all know there are things we can discuss with our mothers and not dads and visa versa. While things that you can share with your mom are easy to find, things that can share with your dad are limited for most children, teenagers or even grownups.

Teenagers often get confused when it comes to take their parent’s support and help. Children who are often shy in nature don’t speak to their parents and tell them the exact problem. One rule of parenting is the win the confidence of children so they can open up their mind and speak freely.

Mothers are more close to the children and they confide in her more than fathers but there are some specific situation which only fathers can handle or handle efficiently.

Dad’s are also more important person especially if you are taking advice on dating a guy or opting for an athlete event, dieting dangerously or even coping up the stress level at work, school or college. Remember your dad has also attend college and passed so he surely knows how to handle things which are looking daunting to you. Moreover, he can guide you how to manage your finances, pocket money in an efficient manner without missing fun, so its wise to confide with him.

1. If you are a teenager or child, you know that if you ended up ramming your car or bike and denting it, you can’t really tell your mom or she will be the first to get frantic. Why can you tell your dad? Well, dads usually stay calm about these kinds of situations as they are apt with dealing with insurance. Need him to be there and help you deal with any authorities? Don’t worry your mom but instead talk to your dad and ask for his co-operation and explain yourself and the situation. With your dad’s support and understanding the issue will not become big but get solved.
2. The thing about taking help from your dad and not your mom depends on what kind of relationship you share with both parents.
3. In case your dad works in a corporate organization, ask your dad to help you with a job or a job interview. There could be many reasons you may be facing a problem. Discuss so with your dad and seek his help and advice on the same. Another thing about asking your dad’s help is that they feel good if you seek their advice.
4. What to participate in sports but your mom wouldn’t listen any of it? Seek your dad’s word on it and discuss the matter. Dads are good at convincing moms and hence explain your case to justify the matter and stick with it.
5. If you are a girl and have some problem with the opposite sex in any scenario, seek your dad at the earliest and explain the matter. It’s not that mothers cannot deal with a situation like this but in a case like this support of a strong male family member adds perspective and help to a problem like this.
6. Finances can be a problem when growing up or when first starting with your job. Is your dad the sole earning member? In case of any financial dealings or requirement of finances, seek your dad’s advice or a loan. Asking for money can be a stick in the mud. Hence, keep it between your dad and you; he will surely not mind it.
7. For a happy occasion when you want to plan something for your mom, keep her in surprise and plan a party for her with your dad’s help. Make it a family effort with your dad and siblings involved and make sure you make him do something special for her.

Mother’s are said to be the daughter’s best friend but there are times when your dad can help in an efficient way than your mothers. I would love to hear your experiences of taking your dad’s help for some specific situations. Please leave me a comment and let me know.

Why Some Parents Hate Parenting

The stories are a little disturbing, even if you don’t have kids at home: Moms who confess that they love one child more than another. People who decide they don’t want to be a full-time parent. Study after study showing that non-parents are happier than parents.

Is the latest parenting trend “parents who hate parenting”?

“Parents of young children report far more depression, emotional distress, and other negative emotions than non-parents, and parents of grown children have no better well-being than adults who never had children,” points out Robin Simon, a sociologist at Wake Forest University.

New studies by Richard Eibach and Steven Mock, psychologists at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, confirmed that people idealize parenthood in order to justify the costs, which are mind boggling—more than $200,000 to raise a child born in 2007 to age 18, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

“Although raising children has largely negative effects on parents’ emotional well-being, parenthood is often idealized as a uniquely emotionally rewarding role,” wrote Eibach in the abstract for his studies, which were published in the February 2011 issue of “Psychological Science.” Or, as Time Magazine explained it: “Having kids is an economic and emotional drain. It should make those who have kids feel worse. Instead, parents glorify their lives. They believe that the financial and emotional benefits of having children are significantly higher than they really are.”

The financial benefits of parenthood were very different just a few generations ago. And our expectations were, too. Back when children were thought of as commodities, rather than tiny treasures, it was the norm for a young woman to go from her parents home to her husband’s, and to start having kids soon after. Now, more men and women are having children later in life, and that may lead to dissatisfaction with parenthood simply because, after having established their careers and their finances and themselves before having kids, they know exactly what they’re giving up when Junior arrives. And they miss it.

In a New York Magazine article titled “All Joy and No Fun,” writer Jennifer Senior points out that there’s a difference between feeling happy and feeling rewarded, that having a strong support system leads parents to feel happier, and that when it comes to parenthood, the gulf between our fantasies and reality is huge. Like marriage, parenthood is often portrayed as being full of wonderment and joy, and it is, but let’s face it: They don’t call them “The Terrible Twos” for nothing. And the teenage years are no picnic, either. There’s also a big difference between “like” and “love”; we’re not likable all the time, why do we expect our kids to be?

But when it comes to happiness and parenting, I’d argue two things: First, the fact that we can focus so intensely on personal happiness means that we’ve got it better than most people in the world. And second, sure, when you look at the cost analysis, having kids isn’t strictly rational—but then again, neither are many other things we do. Focusing on how much you hate parenthood isn’t helpful when it’s still one of the most important jobs we have.

Susan Callahan, co-author with Anne Nolen and Katrin Schumann of “Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too,” points out that the intense focus on our children can lead many moms to resent motherhood. “We believe that parents, and women in particular, run into a couple stumbling blocks when parenting,” Callahan says. “The three big themes tend to be perfectionism, multitasking, and stress.”

After interviewing more than 500 women while researching their book, Callahan says that she and her colleagues found that “perfectionism is the number one issue keeping modern mothers from enjoying the moment.”

“We are all so busy trying to be everything to everyone—and doing a stellar job while we’re at it—that we don’t have a spare second to plug into our own needs or desires,” she points out. She offers these 10 tips to help moms give themselves permission to take care of themselves and, in doing so, find more joy in parenting:

1. Give yourself a break—you don’t need to be so hard on yourself.
2. Just say no! What are your real priorities?
3. Take time to write it down. Journaling will bring clarity to your life.
4. Slow down and savor living in the moment.
5. Plug into your kids so you can really connect with them.
6. Don’t forget about your husband—intimacy is life-affirming!
7. Reach out beyond your family. It will enrich everyone.
8. Make your physical and mental health a priority.
9. Is more always better? Simplify everything.
10. Be a little selfish—you deserve it, and it will make you a better mother.

So, what do you think about this issue, please leave me a comment and let me know.