Parenting the French Way

I love this article about raising kids. I think the tips are great! I really think I sometimes give in to my kids' demands too soon because I don't have time or energy to deal with the discipline. It's not every time, but it certainly happens with me. How do you handle discipline?

FROM ABC:
Teaching kids patience and self-control through delayed gratification: French parents teach their children to wait for what they want from an early age - for a few minutes, usually – instead of immediately giving into tots’ demands.“I’m now convinced that the secret of why French kids rarely whine or collapse into tantrums – or at least do so less than American kids – is that they’ve developed the internal resources to cope with frustration,” Druckerman writes.

Sleep training often begins at birth: In France, babies are expected to be sleeping through the night by the time they’re four months old. Parents don’t ignore their babies’ cries but they do pause before responding to them.“French parents believe it’s their job to gently teach babies to sleep well,” she writes. “They don’t view being up half the night with an eight-month-old as a sign of parental commitment. They view it as a sign that the child has a sleep problem and that his family is wildly out of balance.

Just one snack: French children typically have what’s known as gouter – a 4 p.m. snack – and that’s it. As a result, Druckerman says, they eat well-rounded meals because they’re “actually hungry.”

They don’t give in to guilt over spending time away from their kids: French women, Druckerman writes, have a conviction that “it’s unhealthy for mothers and children to spend all their time together. … Children – even babies and toddlers – get to cultivate their inner lives without a mother’s constant interference.”As for moms going back to work after giving birth: “French women work not just for financial security but also for status,” Druckerman writes. “Stay-at-home moms don’t have much in Paris. … They openly question the quality of life if they looked after children all day.”The book will be published Tuesday, Feb. 7.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Skin Dimensions, SB products are manufactured with Pharmaceutical-Grade ingredients. Products are not just "Feel Good Products," as they contain unique and innovative ingredients in concentrations that can assist you in the achievement of your own personal skincare objectives. Our products contain higher percentages of Glycolic, Vitamin A, C, E, Co-Q10, green tea than what you can usually purchase over the counter.

How to talk to your kids:A kid's perspective

I just read this cool article from THE NEW YORK TIMES about a book written by teenagers on how parents should talk to their kids. The 17-year-old authors give examples on how to rephrase sentences so they won't be offensive to teenagers. I feel like my 8-year-old already has a tendency to roll his eyes when I ask him about his friends, school, feelings, etc. I cannot imagine how tough it will be to get him to express anything when he is an adolescent. I should really start trying harder now.

Here's part of the article:

Ms. Frankel and Ms. Fox, both 17, are the authors of "Breaking the Code" (NewAmerican Library), a new book that seeks to bridge the generational dividebetween parents and adolescents. It is being promoted by its publisher as thefirst self-help guide by teenagers for their parents, a kind of "Kids Are FromMars, Parents Are From Venus" that demystifies the language and actions ofteenagers.

Both girls are seniors at Fieldston, the private school in the Bronx. Theybegan writing more than a year ago after hearing a talk at their school by apsychologist who aimed to help parents make better sense of their children. Thegirls thought they could do even better. Encouraged by a teacher who put them intouch with a literary agent, they offered themselves as scouts showing the wayacross the forbidding terrain of the adolescent mind.Their intention, they tell parents in their introduction, is to provide a"guide to what teens really hear when you speak, and how you can make them hearwhat you are actually trying to say."

Their efforts to explain why an apparentlyinnocuous remark so often elicits a tantrum or worse might be meaningful, Ms.Fox suggested in the interview, if the result is "one less week of silenttreatment from your teenager."Writing on consecutive Saturdays from November to June between homeworkassignments and preparation for their SAT's, the girls tackled issues includingcurfews, money, school pressures, smoking and sibling rivalry.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Skin Dimensions, SB products are manufactured with Pharmaceutical Grade ingredients. Products are not just "Feel Good Products," as they contain unique and innovative ingredients in concentrations that can assist you in the achievement of your own personal skincare objectives. Our products contain higher percentages of Glycolic, Vitamin A, C, E, Co-Q10, green tea than what you can usually purchase over the counter.

Educational Games for Kids

If it's on-line, my keeps seem to keep a little more interest in the game. They love the math games on ixl.com. I am looking for something new. I saw this one on running your own Lemonade Stand. And there are a bunch of games that look on this Kids Fun website.

Share your favorite educational games for your kids by posting a comment.


-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Skin Dimensions, SB products are manufactured with Pharmaceutical-Grade ingredients. Products are not just "Feel Good Products," as they contain unique and innovative ingredients in concentrations that can assist you in the achievement of your own personal skincare objectives. Our products contain higher percentages of Glycolic, Vitamin A, C, E, Co-Q10, green tea than what you can usually purchase over the counter.

Do you purposely forget the booster seat?

Imagine your child being a little smaller than his friends. He still needs a booster seat, but he is tall enough to go without one. What happens when your son's friends want to carpool? Do you make him carry around a booster seat? A new study says most parents don't. I would guess it's out of convenience. If you are taking a bunch of kids to a sporting event, it's a little cumbersome to carry around a booster seat, but it is safer for your child. Is this a big deal? What do you think?

FROM CNN:

Even though some parents put their little ones in booster seats while in the car, they don't always require them to use one when they are carpooling with other kids– that's according to a new survey published in this week's journal Pediatrics.

The research, conducted by the University of Michigan, found more than 30% of parents do not enforce the rule of booster seats when their kids are with another driver. Investigators also found 45% of parents do not require their little ones to use a booster when they're driving other children who don't have booster seats.

"The majority of parents reported that their children between the ages of four and eight use a safety seat when riding in the family car," says Dr. Michelle Macy, a clinical lecturer of emergency medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a pediatrician at U-M C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. "However, it's alarming to know that close to 70% of parents carpool, and when they do, they're often failing to use life-saving booster seats."

Researchers believe car overcrowding and lack of time to coordinate booster seat switch offs are to blame for the lack of safety for kids in carpooling situations. Some parents seem to look the other way. But it's against the law, and many don’t understand that.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Skin Dimensions, SB products are manufactured with Pharmaceutical-Grade ingredients. Products are not just "Feel Good Products," as they contain unique and innovative ingredients in concentrations that can assist you in the achievement of your own personal skincare objectives. Our products contain higher percentages of Glycolic, Vitamin A, C, E, Co-Q10, green tea than what you can usually purchase over the counter.

Yet another study that says SCREEN TIME BAD

Is it just me? I understand that too much screen time is bad-especially if the child is suffering from obesity. However, kids need to know how to use technology. Why isn't that ever mentioned in these studies? A kid who grows up without learning how to use ipads, computers, smart phones, etc. will be at a disadvantage. I am not condoning kids using technology constantly. It should be in moderation. But I am sick of seeing all these studies like "TV BAD, COMPUTERS BAD, SCREEN TIME BAD." So again I ask, "Is it just me who is getting annoyed by all these studies that don't take the future into account?"

Here's the latest from THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ longstanding recommendations to the contrary, children under 8 are spending more time than ever in front of screens, according to a study scheduled for release Tuesday.

The report also documents for the first time an emerging “app gap” in which affluent children are likely to use mobile educational games while those in low-income families are the most likely to have televisions in their bedrooms.

The study, by Common Sense Media, a San Francisco nonprofit group, is the first of its kind since apps became widespread, and the first to look at screen time from birth. It found that almost half the families with incomes above $75,000 had downloaded apps specifically for their young children, compared with one in eight of the families earning less than $30,000. More than a third of those low-income parents said they did not know what an “app” — short for application — was.

“The app gap is a big deal and a harbinger of the future,” said James Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, which had 1,384 parents surveyed this spring for the study. “It’s the beginning of an important shift, as parents increasingly are handing their iPhones to their 1 ½-year-old kid as a shut-up toy. And parents who check their e-mail three times on the way to the bus stop are constantly modeling that behavior, so it’s only natural the kids want to use mobile devices too.”

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Skin Dimensions, SB products are manufactured with Pharmaceutical-Grade ingredients. Products are not just "Feel Good Products," as they contain unique and innovative ingredients in concentrations that can assist you in the achievement of your own personal skincare objectives. Our products contain higher percentages of Glycolic, Vitamin A, C, E, Co-Q10, green tea than what you can usually purchase over the counter.

Mysterious Illness at high school

A mysterious illness in a small community in New York is scaring some parents. Symptoms of Conversion Disorder have been reported in 15 kids. They have started twitching, having convulsions and joint pain. According to THIS STORY from a local television station, doctors say the symptoms may go away within days or weeks. As a parent, this would really freak me out! I would not want my kid in that high school. It seems ridiculous that no one has determined the cause and set a course for prevention.

FROM WIVB:

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is now reportedly sending a team in for testing. Residents say they hope she can get to the bottom of it - because somebody has to.

And though previous media reports say otherwise, aside from doing research on Conversion Disorder, the National Institute of Health reports they have absolutely no involvement in LeRoy. Representatives tell News 4 they have not asked for increased testing and say, for now, there are no future testing events planned.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Skin Dimensions, SB products are manufactured with Pharmaceutical-Grade ingredients. Products are not just "Feel Good Products," as they contain unique and innovative ingredients in concentrations that can assist you in the achievement of your own personal skincare objectives. Our products contain higher percentages of Glycolic, Vitamin A, C, E, Co-Q10, green tea than what you can usually purchase over the counter.

Katherine Heigl on Adoption

Check out this clip from The View:
This clip is so cute. I didn't realize Katherine Heigl quit Grey's Anatomy because she adopted a little girl from Korea. Her little girl ran up and hugged her while she was on The View.


-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Skin Dimensions, SB products are manufactured with Pharmaceutical-Grade ingredients. Products are not just "Feel Good Products," as they contain unique and innovative ingredients in concentrations that can assist you in the achievement of your own personal skincare objectives. Our products contain higher percentages of Glycolic, Vitamin A, C, E, Co-Q10, green tea than what you can usually purchase over the counter.