Stop Your Child's Computer Addiction? Here you go........

While the computer is an incredibly useful tool and can help you get a lot done, wasting time on it seems to be all too easy. Lots of kids have problems with spending too much time on the computer, to the dismay of some parents. Computer addiction, especially to such features like games or instant messaging, has been described as being just as powerful as a drug addiction, and while your child may not be to that point, their excessive computer usage could lead to more serious problems down the road.

Steps / Ways

1. Talk with your child about his/her excessive computer usage. Find out if there are any specific reasons that he/she spends so much time on the computer – sometimes the computer functions as an escape from reality. If your child is facing problems that are causing a desire to “escape”, try and address those.

2. Move the computer to an open area if it’s not already in one – sometimes taking it out of the child’s bedroom is sufficient to reduce their computer usage, and it makes it easier to monitor their usage.

3. Set a password for the computer so that only you can log on to it. Your child will have to ask to be logged on to the computer in order to use it.





4. Find out how bad your child's addiction is, and what exactly your child is addicted to – does your child spend most of his/her computer time playing games, chatting online, or just browsing the Web?

5. * If he/she is addicted to learning information, as long as it is legal, safe and decent, then that should not be an issue. Using the Internet for education, rather than chatrooms/gaming, is a great use. Programming sites are a useful class of site, and provide a skill that is good to learn, plus they teach a skill which will be beneficial. If your child is addicted to learning information, then that is benign, and useful to his/her education. Praise them for that.

6. Some children go through phases where they like chat room sites, then decide it is no longer of interest, and move on to more educational-related sites, e.g. computer programming, history, cookery etc. These will not cause worry in most cases.

7. Set a time limit on the amount of time your child can spend on the computer each day. In reality, though, time limits seldom work due to the stress of modern life. As a child gets older, they work it out for themselves, in most cases.

8. Be aware of what your child is doing on the computer. Check the Internet browser's history to see what websites she's visiting.


9. Buy or download a program that restricts computer use. Parents often find it difficult to enforce time limits because their kids will put up a fight. If necessary, buy software that will enforce time limits or block use.

10. Replace the time that your child would normally spend on the computer with other activities – play board games with her, take her to the library, get her together with friends to play sports, etc.


Website: http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Your-Child%27s-Computer-Addiction

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Through this article, there are a lot of useful ways to stop the little child in your house from computer addiction. However, the issue of computer addiction not only happens among the children, but the teenage as well as us.

The popular and famous website where everyone is using is Facebook. Even some of the young children are using it as well. Teenage and children are using it because Facebook do have applications with variety of games, chatting rooms, commenting other people's post and others. We, as teenage do addicted to some of the games as well where the game require to cook, collect or harvest in the time they have set, and we will need to do it between the time given. Although we knew that it is wasting time, we will still do it because we found the games are fun to play, different challenges in each level and allows us to play with our friends. So, we need to control our duration on playing Facebook Games and do some other beneficial activities.

Therefore, it is important to stop addiction to computer by replace it to other activities either with families, neighborhoods, or friends just like the way suggested in the article.

Good Parent? Read this......

A big part of good parenting is establishing respect between parents and children. Your child needs to know what you expect of her, and you in turn must learn to listen and wait.

1.    Slow down. Babies and children live in a different time frame from adults' - usually a much slower one. Keep this in mind as you talk to your child, care for her and go about your day together.

2.    Observe your child. You'll be amazed at how well you'll get to know your child by sitting back and watching. This focused awareness will help you better understand moods, abilities and temperament. Listening is important, too.

3.    Stay optimistic. Optimism is contagious; so is negativity. Show your child through your behavior how to overcome minor setbacks. Children emulate their parents' attitudes and habits, so it will help if you have a positive outlook.

4.    Accept and acknowledge your child's feelings and desires. Let her know it's OK if she feels sad, scared or angry. You can say, 'It looks like you're sad because your friend went home' or 'It seems that you're mad because I put the ball away.'

5.    Tell your child your expectations. Children won't always comply right away, but they need to understand clearly what a parent expects: 'I want you to put on your sweater. We're going outside,' or 'I want your feet to stay off the couch.'

6.    Set appropriate limits. Even when you acknowledge a feeling or desire, you must make a child aware of appropriate behavior and rules: 'I can see you're mad at your friend because he took the toy from you, but I won't let you hit him. Hitting is not something we do in our family. What else can you do?'

7.    Wait. Let your child do as much as she can on her own - learn to walk, put on her socks, resolve conflicts with her friends. Anxiety or the desire to help often tempts parents to rush in and solve the problem for the child. A better response would be to wait and see what your child can manage on her own. She might surprise you.

8.    Behave genuinely. Just as you accept your child's moods, though not always his behavior, it's OK to have a sad or angry thought yourself and express it appropriately: 'I'm really tired right now but I'm listening to you.' A parent's genuineness prepares a child for life.

9.    Nurture yourself and your marriage. Make arrangements to have some guilt-free time to take care of your own needs. Plan a date with your partner and forget the kids for a while. You'll be a happier person and a better parent.

Website: http://www.ehow.com/how_4872_be-parent.html

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We found that this article is important for the parents to know about way on how to be a good parent while treating their child/children. It is because some parents might miss out some of the important points while with their little ones. For example, when a child does something wrong, then the parent will just blame on the child and scold the child without finding out what’s wrong to the child. Children are actually zero which mean do not know anything. They are born to be love by families, to learn from the adults, and enjoy their childhood.

Pick up the points that you agree with and which is important for you may help you to build a better and good relationship between you and your child/children. A parent with good attitude can let their child/children stay in a harmony and safe environment. Moreover, parent is important to be a good role model because children are always the first think that their parents are good enough to imitate in everything. So, from the way how parents behave, the children for sure will learn from it.

Therefore, we have decided to share some information to all the parents in order to let the parents to know what should be done on themselves. So, it is important for the parents to play an important role in front of the child/children. This may make a difference to their child/children. We will also keep this important article in our mind so that when we have our own child/children, then we are able to know how to be a good parent! 

Reducing Your Child's Risk of Computer Vision Syndrome and Ergonomics Problems

To reduce your youngster's risk of childhood computer vision syndrome and computer ergonomics problems, make sure he or she is seated comfortably and has a "neutral" posture when working at the computer. Characteristics of this posture include:

Too much unsupervised computer work may cause vision problems for kids.

• Head is balanced on neck, not tilted back or forward. Computer screen should be positioned approximately 15 degrees below eye level.
• Back is straight and shoulders back but relaxed. Avoid slumping forward over the keyboard.
• Upper arms are close to the body and relaxed, not angled away from his sides or tilted forward.
• Forearms are flat on the desk, with the elbows forming at least a 90-degree angle.
• Hands are nearly level with forearm, with little wrist bend.
• Feet are flat on the floor or a footrest, with knees forming at least a 90-degree angle. (The angle behind the knee should be open; don't tuck legs under the chair.)

Many experts also recommend getting away from the computer every 20 to 30 minutes to stand and stretch. This helps relieve muscle tension that can contribute to computer vision problems and computer ergonomics problems.

Website: http://www.allaboutvision.com/parents/children-computer-vision-syndrome.htm

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Ergonomics…… Ergonomics is a discipline that involves arranging the environment to fit the person in it. Ergonomics is very important because if neglecting ergonomics might cause long term health problems as repetitive-stress injuries and near-sightedness.

Nowadays, parents are very busy with their work. Parents will just leave their child/children to their grandparents or maid to take care. Moreover, Malaysia is getting updates faster compare to other country. So, the parents will allow their child/children play with computer. Parents might not care about their son / daughter because they are busy with working. Slowly the time pass, the children will get addicted to the games or even surfing the net. From that, the child will spend long time on facing the computer. At last, the child will get vision problems and computer ergonomics problem.

We, ourselves do not know about ergonomics until we attend the class, Technology for Young Children. On that day class, the explanations and the notes were really useful to us and bring out a new issue for us to care about which we never think about it before. Therefore, ergonomics is really important for adults as well because there are lots of adults ignoring about this issue. So, we are posting this article so that more people will know about it and apply to themselves.

 

Why Montessori school??? Because..... (Lovely Parents Pls read it)

The primary goal of a Montessori school is to create an environment so that each day a child enters is like an adventure. The early years are so important for nurturing the eagerness to learn and witnessing the joy of discovery. Mixed age classes present a wide range of curriculum which is available as the child is naturally drawn from one interest to another. Some of the benefits that children receive from their Montessori experience are the following:

1. Learning how to get along with others, how to communicate feelings and ideas, and how to work together as a team, which are some of the areas our students "practice" in their character development.
2. Self esteem or confidence emerges as students gain skills in specific tasks. In the Montessori classroom, students are given presentations in every new skill. Through repetition and encouragement, the child becomes more capable and there is a motivation to strive for excellence. Too often students are pushed into competition before gaining the skill to succeed, leading to discouragement and frustration.
3. Montessori students are taught how to do things themselves. Even the smallest children can dress and feed themselves and move things about to take care of their own needs. By observing the students working around them, they learn to ask for assistance from others when necessary and are eager to give assistance when asked. This independence and interdependence creates a harmonious community, which is always noticed by visitors to our classrooms.
4. Discovery is the key to "keeping" what has just been learned. If a child is given the opportunity to discover how a concept works, rather than simply being told it is so, we feel it is a lesson learned for life. So, our students discover how a new plant comes from a seed that dies. They discover what the "0" means in a number quantity and how there are 60 seconds in each minute. The Montessori guide allows for these discoveries rather than jumping in too soon giving the answers.
5. Physical coordination is a series of exercises in movement.. Montessori students practice coordination in the way they move about the classroom choosing exercises, carrying weighted materials around tables, rugs and other children. Trays of activities are carried to tables where the students explore them; then, the trays are returned to the shelves and another activity is chosen. This is called “work time” which improves the body as well as the mind.

Skills learned in the Montessori classrooms help students throughout their academic careers. Students learn the following skills:

• Problem-solving
• Effective communication
• Time management
• Creativity through art, music, and storytelling
• Self-driven aptitude
• Joy of learning
 

Website: http://www.acgmontessori.org/faq.htm


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Parents nowadays are getting influenced by the primary school education style. They feel that preschool that their child/children enter is just a preparation before entering into primary school. Based on our experiences, most of the parents do not like to send their child/children to Montessori center, but to an academic school. It is because academic school emphasize on text books and work sheets. Parents feel that work sheet may help their child/children getting prepare into primary school level because Malaysia's education is just slightly higher than others.

Parents have forgotten about their child/children childhood and keep asking their child to study, attend tuition classes, and other extra class. In our experiences, when we were in preschool, we attended academic preschool and everyday was busy doing homework after school. We do not have much play time during our childhood. Toys like Barbie dolls, ‘masak-masak’, and etc do not have in our house because parents do not buy many toys for us. So, we hope that the little ones we see are not struggling with home works in their preschool level.

So, we are here to showing to the parents some of the benefits when allowing their child/children entering a Montessori center rather than send their child/children to an academic school. Entering Montessori school able make differences to the young children whereby Montessori school also prepare their children to the primary school level where not emphasize on work sheets but on their hands-on experiences.

Of course, in the future, both of us will send our child/children to Montessori center rather than academic preschool. And if we have the ability to operate our own preschool, for sure we will choose to operate a Montessori center as well! ^_^

Children's nutrition: 10 tips for picky eaters

Children's nutrition doesn't have to be frustrating. Consider these strategies to avoid power struggles and help the picky eater in your family eat a balanced diet.

Has your preschooler refused to eat anything other than peanut butter sandwiches for the past two days? Or would your toddler rather play than eat anything at all?
If children's nutrition is a sore topic in your household, you're not alone. Many parents worry about what their children eat — and don't eat. However, most kids get plenty of variety and nutrition in their diets over the course of a week. Until your child's food preferences mature, consider these tips for preventing mealtime battles.

1. Respect your child's appetite — or lack of one

Young children tend to eat only when they're hungry. If your child isn't hungry, don't force a meal or snack. Likewise, don't bribe or force your child to clean his or her plate. This may only ignite — or reinforce — a power struggle over food.

2. Stick to the routine

Serve meals and snacks at about the same times every day. Nix juice, milk and snacks for at least one hour before meals. If your child comes to the table hungry, he or she may be more motivated to eat.

3. Be patient with new foods

Young children often touch or smell new foods, and may even put tiny bits in their mouths and then take them back out again. Your child may need repeated exposure to a new food before he or she takes the first bite. Encourage your child by talking about a food's color, shape, aroma and texture — not whether it tastes good.

4. Make it fun

Serve broccoli and other veggies with a favorite dip or sauce. Cut foods into various shapes with cookie cutters. Offer breakfast foods for dinner.

5. Recruit your child's help

At the grocery store, ask your child to help you select fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods. Don't buy anything that you don't want your child to eat. At home, encourage your child to help you rinse veggies, stir batter or set the table.

6. Set a good example

If you eat a variety of healthy foods, your child is more likely to follow suit.

7. Be sneaky

Add chopped broccoli or green peppers to spaghetti sauce, top cereal with fruit slices, or mix grated zucchini and carrots into casseroles and soups.

8. Minimize distractions

Turn off the television during meals, and don't allow books or toys at the table.

9. Don't offer dessert as a reward

Withholding dessert sends the message that dessert is the best food, which may only increase your child's desire for sweets. You might select one or two nights a week as dessert nights, and skip dessert the rest of the week — or redefine dessert as fruit, yogurt or other healthy choices.

10. Don't be a short order cook

Preparing a separate meal for your child after he or she rejects the original meal may encourage your child's picky eating. Keep serving your child healthy choices until they become familiar and preferred.
If you're concerned that picky eating is compromising your child's growth and development or if certain foods make your child ill, consult your child's doctor. In the meantime, remember that your child's eating habits won't likely change overnight — but the small steps you take each day can help promote a lifetime of healthy eating.


Website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childrens-health/HQ01107

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Sher Li:

First of all, it is important that serving a good balancing nutritious food to the young ones. Recently, children are now mostly pampered by the parents and influenced by the environment. Based on my experiences, I have met one of my nieces who just like to eat selected food that she just likes. For example: when her mum brings her to a café/restaurant, her mum call a noodles that with vegetable and meat. She refuses to eat the vegetable and pick it out from the plate. This has showed that my niece have the habit with picky eater.  This has struggle her mum for some time. So, I feel that it is important for those parents who have the child/children with picky eater to know about some information against their child/children.

However, parents should now take action in preparing a suitable and interesting meal for their child/children after reading the article above. From that, their child/children may start to have healthy eating habits in order to live in a healthy lifestyle and environment.

                                                                                                                                    (Sher Li)

Ivy Yuen:

I do think that picky eater is the most headache parents facing when serving food to the little ones. Me, myself love some vegetables so much like broccoli, carrot, tomato, cabbage, long beans and others. Of course, I do have vegetables that I do not like as well. When I was young, I think my mum do not have problem with my eating habits. Haha! But now I look at to those little ones, their meals are all fast food which is not healthy to them. Their parents will just allow them to eat fast food whenever they want. This is bad to their health because they are young and need a balance diet in their growing. Previously, I saw a little girl that do not like vegetable, her mum will help her to pick the vegetable out from her meal and did not encourage her child to eat vegetable because of her child does not like. I very disagree to what the child’s mum did but I could not do anything because I worried that the child’s mum will think I am busybody.

Through this article, I hope that adults will encourage their little ones to eat more vegetable and not so much meat. Vegetable = Healthy. However, Meat = Fattening. Haha! Healthy balancing diet is very important to children; all the parents must keep this in mind.

                                                                                                                                    (Ivy Yuen)

Recipes of Crockpot Cheeseburger Sandwiches

Put in on in the morning for a yummy lunch! Great over baked potatoes too!

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
• 1/2 tsp. garlic-pepper blend (see note)
• 1 (8-oz.) pkg. pasteurized process cheese spread
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 sandwich buns, split

Directions:

1. In large skillet, brown ground beef and garlic-pepper blend until thoroughly cooked. Drain.
2. In 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker, combine cooked ground beef and all remaining ingredients except buns; mix well.
3. Cover, cook on Low for 6-7 hours. To serve, spoon mixture into sandwich buns.

Note: Garlic-pepper blend is a mixture of garlic powder and cracked black pepper. Check the spice shelves in your local grocery.
                                                                                                                                       
Website: http://www.childrensrecipes.com/Crockpot_cheeseburgers.htm

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First of all, we know that parents nowadays are all busy with work. They have no time to stay or prepare a good nutritious food to their child/children. In order to let their child/children to feel that their parents is love them, the parents had no choice and bring their child/children to have fast food. The example of fast food like Mc Donald, KFC or Burger King. In order to save up their time, parents will just bring their child/children to the fast food restaurant that their  child/children want.

So, we think that we should at least post a simple recipe for parents to prepare their meal with child/children. Prepare meals with child/children allow parents to build better relationship as well when they work together, and interacting. This recipe may let the parents to spend some time in preparing a healthy and nutritious hamburger to/with their child/children, and child/children surely will love it very much!
There will be more recipes posting up soon.

Parents and children, Let's ENJOY!!!

J

Why Teach Kids Cooking Activities?

10 reasons why you should do cooking activities with your children.

1. Learning to cook helps kids to learn about nutrition and healthy eating. They are growing up with fast food and junk food at their fingertips, which is part of the reason why child obesity is on the rise! Teaching kids to cook will help instill skills to last them a lifetime.
2. Boost their self esteem. If your child needs a boost of self confidence, (and who doesn't!) cooking in the kitchen will do just that. They are accomplishing a task, learning something important and contributing to the family.
3. Create family time and bonding. Take time to cook with your kids and they will have memories that they, in turn, can pass on to their families. It may take a longer time to get the meal or snack done but the moments with your children will be priceless. (Just remember to have patience. Don't worry about flour on the floor or spilled milk).
4. Kids will be more apt to eat what they make. Perhaps, it is the enthusiasm of creating something themselves, but they will be more likely to eat whatever they had a hand in making.
5. Kids learn real lessons in science, language, math and creativity. Cooking will help reinforce all these subjects! Visit What do Kids Learn While Cooking page for more information.
6. What a great way to learn life skills. This can be especially helpful when kids are on their own and won't have to rely on fast food and junk food to sustain them.
   
   
7. They can help contribute to the family and they can feel the importance of helping.
8. They are working together as a team, whether it is with a parent or with a sibling to get the job done.
9. Cooking teaches them planning and making choices.
10. Practice creativity and imagination. Kids cooking activities are a great way to express themselves and enjoy their creations.

Website: http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/

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We feel that teaching children through cooking activities may help children to know what ingredient that contains in the recipes. Based on our opinion, we feel that it is important to teach children on cooking activities because the child/children need to know what food they should take more (vegetables, fruits) and what food should take less (meat, sugar, oily food). For example: while the child wants to make a cake and he/she will know need to put less sugar in order to reduce the risk of getting diabetics. Besides, we also feel that teaching through cooking activities may also help the child/children to build up their confidence. This is because that he/she may know that he/she is putting the correct ingredient into the recipes when making choices. They will also learn to read when referring to the recipe. Children will slowly gain the everyday learning experiences by themselves like pouring, scooping, transferring, and others. Moreover, this may also help the child/children to grow up in a healthy lifestyle when they prepare their healthy meals together with their parents.

We strongly agree to have the little ones to prepare their meals together with their parents. These also encourage the little ones to eat the food that prepare by themselves. They will learn to be independence as well. It is very important for all the parents to always tell the little ones not to play with the equipments and materials in the kitchen because it might cause injuries to the little ones for example, play with fire, knife and electricity. Explaining and showing to the children what they can and cannot use is very important. So, when parents having cooking activities with their little ones must very careful with this.