Best Parenting World

When you hear the phrase, ‘guerrilla parenting techniques’, what images come to mind? I see a big, broad shouldered soldier, dressed in green fatigues, with brown paint on his face. His chest is crisscrossed with ammunition for the guns strapped on his legs. He’s quietly hidden under the cover of trees, waiting to snipe away at the enemy with maximum impact.

The word ‘guerilla’, was a term borrowed from Spanish used to describe small combat groups. Guerilla warfare operates with small, mobile and flexible combat groups without a front line. It seems appropriate to use this term when discussing new parenting techniques for parents. I’m going to describe what guerilla parenting techniques are; what they aren’t; give some examples and then explain why they are helpful to parents and children.

Just like in guerilla warfare, it’s always a great thing to respond to your children in ways totally different than what they expect. It catches them off guard and they start to watch you and listen better. Sometimes, you come in quietly, interact with them in new and unexpected ways, and then retreat quickly without a word. The less you say the better. You provide natural consequences instead of punishment; you make the consequence fit the crime. If a child is fighting with a sibling, perhaps that child has to do his sibling’s chores the next day to make up for his negative actions, instead of being sent to his room. Successful parents are fully armed with unexpected ways to handle frustrating behaviors.

When my son was 18 (and had finished school), he moved into a flat with two of his mates. They were boys we’d known throughout his high school years and the flat was only ten minutes from home, but I cried for two weeks!

It just seemed to me that a major part of my life was over. When your kids are little, you assume that they’re always going to be around, leaving trails of Lego blocks all through the house and dirty rings around the bath-tub from all the mud they’ve accumulated while building cubby houses down the back yard.

But they’re not. They grow up and want to spread their wings and live their own lives.

WHEN YOUR CHILDREN LEAVE HOME

My son told me that the reason he wanted to move out, wasn’t because he didn’t love us or want to be with us. It was because we’d done such a good job raising him to be independent and confident.

I eventually saw the logic in that and it made me realize that our kids do listen to us. We’d spent the past 18 years encouraging him to march to the beat of his own drum and not to slavishly follow others, and now he was going to do just that.

For troubled teens who are struggling with drug abuse, depression or other serious issues, residential treatment centers that offer therapy-based solutions might be the best option. Residential treatment centers usually have a complete psychiatric staff available to monitor each troubled teen closely and provide therapy in addition to a curriculum of academics, exercise and personal development. Programs, which provide 24-hour supervision, structure and treatment, usually last from three to six months, although teens can attend for a longer period of time if necessary. These programs also work with families to identify issues in the home and address them so that teens have a supportive, structured home to return to after treatment.

There are three main types of residential treatment centers: therapeutic treatment programs, residential drug treatment centers, and combination residential-treatment programs. Each is geared toward helping troubled teens address and conquer a specific problem or multiple problems. Therapeutic treatment programs assist teens with psychiatric issues or suicidal tendencies, residential drug treatment centers offer specific help for substance abuse or addiction, and combination residential treatment programs address both psychiatric and drug abuse issues.

One of the best gifts you can give your baby and yourself is a calm, clear mind and a relaxed body and nervous system. Why? Your unborn baby receives chemical messages through the bloodstream through that amazing organ we call the placenta. It’s really a neglected little miracle, that placenta; it provides nourishment for your developing baby for months on end. Make sure that the hormones you send to your little one are mainly loving and peaceful ones. This is not meant to give anyone a guilt trip! Au contraire, this brief article will clue you in on a few small steps you can take to help manage stress while expecting.

1. Physical Exercise. Getting regular exercise is a major stress buster. I know, many of us hate to work out at gyms or jog on sidewalks. Perhaps there’s even a dusty exercise contraption lurking in your garage or closet. One way to get around this is to enlist a friend to join you, to keep each other accountable. Find something you like to do—maybe it’s swimming or rollerskating (check with your health care provider before beginning any new exercise regime, just to be sure). You don’t have to take a prenatal yoga class to be fit; just be creative and have fun.

Parents looking for a quick fix usually choose troubled teen camps. There are two types of teen camps: boot camps and summer or wilderness camps. They usually last from one to six weeks, and while teens may shows signs of improvement for days or even weeks after coming home, they often revert back to old behaviors after the fear of authority disappears.

Boot camps are military-style facilities that use discipline, military exercises, rigorous physical training, and fear of authority to transform a troubled teen into a "good soldier" who follows rules. Unfortunately, most boot camps do not address underlying emotional or behavioral problems. Without therapy or behavior modification, long-term effectiveness is limited. If parents do chose to send their troubled teen to a boot camp, the best chance for long-term success is to follow it with a treatment program.

Wilderness camps are usually seen as an alternative to boot camps. Instead of the aggressive approach that boot camps tend to use, wilderness camps are more likely to be behavior modification programs with a component of the program held outdoors. They remove urban distractions so troubled teens can reconnect accept responsibility for their choices. Because these wilderness camps are generally held in summer, they may not include an academic component. There are a few that do, though, which is especially important for teens who have fallen behind during the school year.

Homework Help At Your Fingertips
 by: Katie Robbins

Here’s the situation. You are at home trying to answer questions for a history assignment and you are stumped. You have to write about “Custard’s last stand”. Custard was something you ate for dessert as far as you were concerned. You check through your history book, but there was only one short paragraph about Lt. Colonel Custard. What are you going to do? Hop on the Internet for homework help of course!

The Internet is the information superhighway and is not just a place for e-mail, instant messages, and games. There are numerous websites that provide homework help. Homework websites range from just providing information like an Encyclopedia to having your questions answered by a live tutor. Let’s take a look at some of the different homework websites available.

INFO PLEASE - THE HOMEWORK CENTER: http://www.infoplease.com/homework/

This website presents reference information from Almanacs, Atlases, Encyclopedias, and Biographies. You can type in a word such as “cotton gin” and the website will search for any information regarding the cotton gin in their reference resources. For example, the dictionary will provide a definition of the cotton gin while the Atlas and Encyclopedias will show you where and how the cotton gin was used. You can skip searching through the reference stacks at the library because the information will be found in a matter of seconds.

If you’re a parent with a young child then here’s a question that may make you yawn ? what were you doing this morning at 1am, 3am or 5am. Were you sleeping like a baby or were you in fact cuddling and rocking your little cherub in an attempt to get them back to sleep? After all that’s what being a parent is all about ? isn’t it?!

A lucky few will have been asleep in bed throughout the night, but a large percentage of the parenting population will have been up feeding or pacing the floor with the little bundles of joy.

Just as your newborn weaves magic through your heart, the effects of sleep deprivation can cast a spell on your body and mind. One child in three has real sleep issues before they reach school age, but these can be overcome in many cases - and it doesn’t have to involve leaving your baby to cry for hours on end.

So, Why Don’t Young Children Sleep?

Not all parents subscribe to the notion of "tough love," which is used so extensively in many troubled teen programs. Some parents want their children close by and want to avoid placing their troubled teen into an environment that may build even more resentment and anger. For these parents and troubled teens, behavior modification programs are a good starting point. In behavior modification programs, appropriate behavior is reinforced and rewarded and inappropriate behavior is confronted and redirected, with consequences given.

This may be as simple as drawing up a contract with a teen that outlines the rules for the household and identifies the consequences ahead of time if the rules are broken. The rules and consequences must be fair and consistently administered by both parents. A contract is a viable option for teens who are just beginning to misbehave due to a lack of structure in the home for routines, chores and expected behaviors.

For troubled teens who need assistance over and above what their parents can give, outpatient therapy programs may be a viable option, especially for teens who are already committed to recovery. These programs offer a variety of treatment options, including individual and/or group counseling, family counseling, or substance abuse programs. Although outpatient programs can be very beneficial, they are usually relatively short-term, and are not designed for teens with severe emotional or psychiatric problems.

It can be difficult on all family members to have a teen move to a boarding facility. As a result, many parents choose to take their troubled teen to an alternative school. In these day schools, the troubled teen stays in a highly structured school during the day and then returns home at night. This may be a viable alternative for teens who are just beginning to spiral, but alternative day schools are not appropriate for teens who have serious behavioral problems that are exacerbated by relationships with peers. Often, these teens will make progress during the day but slide back into negative behaviors when they visit with friends in the evenings.

Because of this, many parents find that specialty boarding schools are a better option. There are many types of specialty boarding schools available, including Christian, military, and therapeutic boarding schools.

Regardless of the type, all specialty boarding schools are highly structured facilities designed to help troubled teens who are struggling with serious issues and who need round-the-clock supervision. An average stay of three to six months, or even a year or more, is not uncommon to ensure a lasting change in behavior. Specialty boarding schools typically offer a variety of programs to help troubled teens, including academics, athletics, personal development courses, emotional growth sessions, and daily responsibilities and duties.

What parents of a teen haven’t wondered where their sweet child went and who the angry and rebellious child is that took his or her place. After all, adolescence is a time of change. While each child is different, there are some behaviors that all normal teens seem to exhibit. These include: acting moody and/or rude, complaining about parental interference, experimenting with sex and/or drugs, searching for a sense of identity, showing less affection to parents and/or siblings.

Unfortunately, some teens are more troubled than others and may spiral out of control. These teens are at higher risk of developing serious problems such as substance abuse and addiction, eating disorders, failure in school, legal problems, pregnancy, and in the worst-case scenario, attempted suicide. The difficulty for parents lies in trying to interrupt their teen’s downward spiral and replace it with positive steps to help him or her regain a healthy way of life.