“You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.” — Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and Pixar, in Macworld Magazine, February 2004

Few days back I went to pick up my friends little girl from the child care center. I was shocked watching those little young children in front of the television set, watching babies and toddlers educational TV shows. I wondered, if there’s any age limit for kids “media watching”. Are there any benefits of those satellite television shows aimed at little boys and girls? Are those “Cartoon TV Shows” or “Kids Comedy Shows” helping our kids to become “Smart kids”.Whether its a Cable TV or Satellite TV or free to air television, all of them are filled with television programming aimed at young babies to toddlers to teenagers. It does prove that there is a market for young children television and TV stations are making money. The question that still remains unresolved is “How is your child been affected by watching television?”. Consider these findings from a study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation:

For children under the age of 3:

More than seven in 10 (72%) of children under the age of 3 watch TV every day and nearly half of them watch videos or DVD’s every day. Most parents (95%) of these under 3 year olds who watch TV every day say they are in the same room with their child while they are watching TV either all or most of the time. 90% of all infants and toddlers have watched TV before the age of 3.

For children over the age of 3:

On average, toddlers and young children spend between 2 to 4 hours a day in front of the screen media. In most of the cases it is more than the time spent playing outside and other physical and mental activities. 99% know how to turn the Television on 85% turn on the TV by themselves 79% ask for their favorite videos and television shows Since the TV started ruling our lives there has been flood of research on how it affect us in many different aspects of our lives. In the last two decades there have been a great increase in studies on affects of watching TV on kids. In the last decade even the infants and the toddlers are getting their fair share of research, since the arrival of programming for infants and toddlers. Our busy lives make these programs our simple choice because it buys us the time to do things around the house or to have some “me time”.

Affects of TV watching for the children under the age of 3

Two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch TV an average of 2 hours a day. In 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that kids under 2 years old not watch any TV. Researchers at University of Washington in Seattle have carried out the study and found infants vocalize less and hear fewer words from nearby adults when the TV is on, which in turn affects their cognitive development. For the study, researchers equipped 329 infants, aged between 2 and 48 months, with lightweight recorders that captured every noise they heard in a 24-hour period. Then, a computer program determined whether each sound came from the infant, an adult or the television. The analysis showed that for every hour of television an infant is exposed to hear 770 fewer words from adults, on average a 7 per cent reduction. Infants watching TV also utter fewer “googoos” and “gagas” and interact less with adults than kids whose parents use the off switch more enthusiastically. The newborn brain is very much a work in progress. All that cognitive stimulation is critical to the underlying architecture that’s developing. Every word that babies hear, and every time they hear it, is extremely important. In fact, this finding is backed up by observations made by a team at the University of Massachusetts, which found that infants exposed to television hear 20 percent fewer words from their parents during each hour of programming they watch. Most of this infant programming and DVD’s, claiming to promote parent-child interaction, don’t really work. Best advise to all the new parents is to minimize exposure of TV during the first two years of your child. TV and other electronic media can get in the way of exploring, playing, and interacting with parents and others, which encourages learning and healthy physical and social development. Here is another two studies proving toddlers have difficulty translating the message from TV to the real life. First study is by G.L. Troseth and J.S. DeLoache. In these experiments, two-year-olds were shown videos of experimenters hiding objects in a room. Then the toddlers were allowed into the room and told to find the object. Accuracy ranged from 44 percent to 25 percent, despite the fact that there were only from four to six possible hiding places in the room. Their performance was no better than if they had simply searched the room at random, with no video to help them. Many toddlers did seem to look in the right spot after watching the first video, but if the task was repeated with a different hiding place, they simply returned to the original spot, ignoring the new video evidence. In a second experiment, the researcher hid a stuffed toy Snoopy in a separate room from the toddler, then either told the child where the toy was hidden in person, or on TV, before letting him or her into the room to search for the toy. Again, there were four possible hiding places. Once again, being told in person resulted in significantly better performance. As before, the TV-watchers got worse over time. Clearly the toddlers can understand the verbal descriptions of the objects, but somehow they don’t get the message on TV. these experiments show that toddlers don’t have true mental representations of scenes. Instead, they rely on direct experience. So while toddlers can understand what’s going on on TV, they don’t think about what they see on TV the same way older kids and adults do. They don’t connect it back to the real things they encounter in their world, so they can’t learn from TV. Whatever it is your toddler gets from watching TV, these researchers say, it’s not learning.

Affects of TV watching for the children over the age of 3

Kids between the age of 3 and 6 watch an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day, primarily TV and videos or DVD’s. Kids and teens between the age of 8 to 18 years, spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a Television screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games. Don’t forget the time spend on watching television on the internet. As kids get older, too much screen time can interfere with activities such as being physically active, reading, doing homework, playing with friends, and spending time with family. Of course, television, in moderation, can be a good thing: Preschoolers can get help learning the alphabet on public television, grade schoolers can learn about wildlife on nature shows, and parents can keep up with current events on the evening news. No doubt that TV can be an excellent educator and entertainer. But despite its advantages, too much television can be detrimental:

Children who consistently spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV are more likely to be overweight or obese.

Kids who watch violent acts are more likely to show aggressive behavior but also fear that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them.

TV characters often show risky behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, and also reinforce gender-role and racial stereotypes.

That’s why it’s so important for you to monitor the content of TV programming and set viewing limits to ensure that your kids don’t spend too much time watching TV.

Teaching Good TV Habits

Here are some practical ways to make TV-viewing more productive in your home:

Limit the number of TV-watching hours:

Stock the room in which you have your TV with plenty of other non-screen entertainment (books, kids’ magazines, toys, puzzles, board games, etc.) to encourage kids to do something other than watch the tube.

Keep TVs out of bedrooms.

Turn the TV off during meals.

Don’t allow kids to watch TV while doing homework.

Television is a privilege:

Treat TV as a privilege. Watching TV has to be earned its not a right. Establish and enforce family TV viewing rules, such as TV is allowed only after chores and homework are completed.

Try a weekday ban:

Schoolwork, sports activities, and job responsibilities make it tough to find extra family time during the week. Record weekday shows or save TV time for weekends and you’ll have more family togetherness time to spend on meals, games, physical activity, and reading during the week.

Set a good example by limiting your own TV viewing:

Check the TV listings and program reviews ahead of time for programs your family can watch together (i.e., developmentally appropriate and nonviolent programs that reinforce your family’s values). Choose shows that foster interest and learning in hobbies and education (reading, science, etc.).

Preview programs before your kids watch them:

Come up with a family TV schedule that you all agree upon each week. Then, post the schedule in a visible area (e.g., on the refrigerator) so that everyone knows which programs are OK to watch and when. And make sure to turn off the TV when the “scheduled” program is over instead of channel surfing.

Watch TV together:

If you can’t sit through the whole program, at least watch the first few minutes to assess the tone and appropriateness, then check in throughout the show. Talk to kids about what they see on TV and share your own beliefs and values. If something you don’t approve of appears on the screen, you can turn off the TV, then use the opportunity to ask thought-provoking questions such as, “Do you think it was OK?”  Talk to other parents about their TV-watching policies and kid-friendly programs they’d recommend.

Offer fun alternatives to television:

If your kids want to watch TV but you want to turn off the tube, suggest that you all play a board game, start a game of hide and seek, play outside, read, work on crafts or hobbies, or listen and dance to music. The possibilities for fun without the tube are endless — so turn off the TV and enjoy the quality time together.

Some resources to check out:

Kaiser Family Foundation’s report on children watching tv
Cognitive Daily: Are toddlers incapable of learning from TV?

Have you ever watched “Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends” on Cartoon Network? It has more than 2000 imaginary characters and the show has taken the kids world by storm in its first year itself. Did it make you think how many imaginary friends live in your house? You may argue it depends on individual “Parenting Style”, or it does not occur for “Preschool Children”, or even that it appears only in “Kids Stories”. I have been digging into this mystery and it’s answers for a while now.

A peek into one of the most intriguing childhood mysteries reveals that imaginary playmates are a staple of early development and persist well into the school years, later than researchers once thought. It is estimated up to 65 per cent of children will have an imaginary friend, generally from the age of three to nine years – and these kids tend to be more creative, or a first-born or only child.

There are lots of different types of imaginary friends, it can be an “invisible friend”, someone only the child can see, but it can also be a “personified object” like a toy figurine, a teddy bear or even an innocent doll, that have real and immense person-like attributes for the child. Sometimes the imaginary friend acts as a child’s alter-ego, taking the blame for the toys that didn’t get picked up or saying “bad words”, causing “behavior problems”. Sometimes the imaginary friend is just a wonderful playmate. Most kids, sooner or later, come to realize their make-believe buddies are not of this world and imaginary friends fade away but some studies have found that kids as old as 12 having imaginary friends.

This phenomenon is really misunderstood. It was always thought that its rare, child must be having problems, kid must be seeing invisible people like ghosts. Those days are gone when psychologists and parents started to worry about children’s well being after knowing about an imaginary friend. Pretend play is vital to children’s development. Imaginary friends are just an extension of pretend play, which is a normal, healthy and important part of a young child’s development. Pretend play gives children a chance to learn about roles, relationships, power, and control. Pretend play also gives children a chance to work through the multitude of feelings they experience daily. Although make-believe was long considered the realm of little girls, now it’s clear that both sexes engage in fantasy play, with some gender differences.

Main reason for having imaginary friends as believed by researchers is, loneliness, where the kid does not have access to friends. Not being able to interact with people and put his thoughts forward, makes the child to start talking to the toys and imaginary friends. The child has no fear or inhibitions talking to someone that’s so close to the reality. Children are testing and answering their curiosities when they interacted with an imaginary friend. They gain communication skills by having one side of the conversation but also inventing their imaginary friend’s side of the conversation. Children learn the complexities of spoken expression sooner with the help of an imaginary friend. They can act as a child’s trusted confidant when there’s no one else to tell their secrets to. Believe it or not even small children have issues that are too private to tell us, watch your child making up stories and try to analyze them. Dig into those stories with extra “Interest”.

As it is normal to have imaginary friends, it is also important for the parents to keep control over those imaginary friends. Use your parenting discipline powers, sometimes these imaginary friends can tell your kid to go for a walk without letting you know or may be, to throw things around. Here are some rules you can make for your child and the imaginary friend:

Don’t let the imaginary friend be your child’s only companion. Kids need to socialize with other children for their own development and learning. If your child does not have any friends and does not show any interest in having friends, talk to the teacher or the doctor and help him/her out.

Don’t let your child shift responsibility for every wrong thing they do to the imaginary friend.

Treat the imaginary friend with respect. This means remembering the name, greeting and wishing good on the occasions. Apologizing when don’t see the imaginary friend standing in your way.

Don’t use imaginary friend to manipulate your child, your child will start hating that confidant imaginary friend as well.

Have fun yourself and let the child have fun as well with the imaginary child.

Here’s the link to games and activities based on “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” on “Cartoon Network”

Forcing kids to study and do their homework is a very conflicting topic. Even though we know education is paramount for their survival in this modern world. Conflict arises with the questions, “How much homework and studies at home is not too much?”, “Are they getting enough time to relax and rejuvenate their bodies?”. There will be many of you who may have written on the blogs or in your personal diaries hidden somewhere down the earth in a little lunch box, how you felt when your parents forced you to study. How much you hated the school and how much you hated your parents?. This will be the story of most of the people who have been to the school. As kids we made lots of friends at school and than we wanted to do the best things that kids love to do, PLAY. Parents got angry at us for not doing our homework, not getting good grades at school and as a result parents forcing us to study hard to get better grades. The list goes on to show that anger, that we felt towards our parents or teachers for forcing us to study.

Now all of you are educated and smart people, sitting in front of your PC or laptop and reading this article after doing a lot of digging on the internet on this topic. I am not saying that forcing kids to study is right, neither I am denying it. Only thing I want you all to ask yourselves is, no matter how much you hated your parents and schools and so on, Will you be what you are today, if they didn’t force you to study? Some of you may be feeling very angry with me right now because you may have been forced too much. Sincerely I feel sorry for you and I am sure as parents you will rectify those things that you didn’t like in your childhood. Many of you will agree that your parents gave you the right direction and helped you by forcing studies, because at that tender stage you didn’t know what was right for you.

Like I have said many times before, As parents we want to give everything that we didn’t get as kids, whether its education, toys, comfort or even time. Trust me that was exactly the same, what your parents were thinking at that time. They were not your enemies and you will not be enemies of your kids either but your kids will say the same things to you as well. Every new generation comes up with new ideas, new methods of doing everything in better and different ways and the best part is they do succeed in doing so. What we forget is underneath every strong building is a very strong foundation. That forcing of studies does finally pay off.

For us to be better parents and have smarter kids, the question is, How much should we force our kids to study. We have to set up the limits to not to stress the kids and not to hate us as parents. You don’t want to be in a situation when your child is sitting in front of the books all day and learning nothing. Kids are given enough homework at school. In almost every country the education departments, child welfare agencies, parents and teachers have had this discussion, how much homework should the child get and how much time should they spend after school in studies. The purpose of homework is to help children consolidate what was taught that day in the class. A pretty good argument, but is this homework so much that it doesn’t give your kids any time to play and relax and causing burn out. Same amount of homework for one child can be 20 minutes and may be an hour for another.

As parents we have to sit down with our kids and see how are they doing with their homework, if they can finish it within an acceptable period of time than don’t force them to study. If they are taking longer than may be they are not understanding the concept or they are simply not interested in it. This is when they need help and may be little bit of forcing. If you force your kids too much they will not learn anything. They will miss out on their playing time and as a protest they will choose not to learn anything knowingly because in their brain its their fun time that’s been spoiled by the homework. There is no textbook solution to this problem, every child is different and has different capacity of understanding the concept and grasping the knowledge. Forcing alone will not help the child, making the topic easy, interpreting it in a different way will help the child in understanding and keeping their interest. Soon your child will start thinking of these hard topics in a different way with your help. Key is spending time with them and helping them with studies. For the long term goal, it is more important that your child understands the concept in a practical way rather than just doing their homework for the sake of it. Practical way is the one that stays with us forever, books and subjects are forgotten with time.


Forcing studies becomes necessary only when your child does not have any interest in studies for whatever reason. Even in this case it is advisable to talk to the teachers or get some outside help, rather than forcing it is more important to know why your child is not showing interest in studies. Try reasoning with them to find out the problem. Its very simple if somebody force us to do something, we don’t like to do it either unless we know and understand the valid reason for it.

Little bit of force is necessary as kids brain is still developing and needs proper nurturing to go on the right path in the future. If you don’t help them and show them the right path, everything they do will be right for them which can be a dangerous situation. If you force them too much than they may rebel and hate school, hate studies and more important hate you. Make sure your kids are not overloaded with homework from school and have enough time to play and relax to rejuvenate their brain and body.

Have fun with your kids. Understand them and avoid forcing the studies. Being friends with them will help you understand their attitude. You can also try using some of the free online teaching tools for studies at home.

Do you want to search more on related articles?

Custom Search

Do you nag your kids for studies, cleaning the house, doing the dishes, behaving properly, putting their toys away and the nagging list goes on? Nag or not to nag kids is a big question doing rounds for a very long time. Every few years some study come up in the support of the other. Just last week a study of 3450 students from Sydney university, published in Teachers College Record, a US journal, came up with the conclusion that nagging does work. Every child gets influenced by two factors in life, first one is parents and teachers and the second one is their friends and role models. Influence of parents and teachers has a significant impact on a kids academic life while friends and peers has a big say in their social and emotional well being.

Now the question arises how much nagging is necessary? Lets go back a generation and ask how much nagging did your parents do? Did that nagging help you in what you are today? Some of you may not agree with their nagging. Just like the studies conducted in the different countries do not agree with each other on the topic. As parents all we want for our kids is to give them the best, give them everything that we didn’t get ourselves when we were kids. Therefore we have to set up a limit to nagging and strike a balance so that the child gets the best out of it and does not stress out.

Lets start with the reality, nagging does work and I completely agree with the study of Sydney university researcher Andrew Martin. “Parents and teachers who might feel powerless during adolescence have a bigger influence on academic motivation than they think – sometimes up to three times the impact of peers”, Martin said. But I have to add, it works only if done in a right way. For example take all those advertisements that are targeted towards our kids, during kids programming on the television. These companies have spent a lot of money on the research to get that one advertisement right. That advert goes straight to their head and they want to have that product, its the result of their continuous nagging and hitting the right spot with the kids. That’s right, if we want our kids to listen to us and do as we say we have to come up with the strategy that they learn, nothing comes for free. For example, if they finish their homework they can go out and play with their friends. You may have to nag few times but than they know unless they have finished their homework they can not do what they want. Same can apply to kids cleaning their room, helping you in the house and everything else. Remember kids have a lot of energy and lots of activities to do, so through nagging you can work around in a way that they get what they want within limits and you get what’s best for them. Magic rule “Do not make FALSE promises, STICK to whatever you have PROMISED”. These are innocent kids and if you play with their innocence they will never forget it and you will be in their bad books and soon they will stop listening to you.

Sometimes make the exceptions when they are really nice to you and they are rushing around to get everything done because something really important to them is happening or about to happen. They will really appreciate that and forget all the nagging you do. Take some time out to sit down with them and try to explain them why do you have to nag, try to explain to them what are the importance of things that they do. This way your nagging will work without stressing the child out. My personal experience tells me that nagging is very important in the early childhood, after that kids learn if they do this than they will get to do that. If they can create an interest in the studies in the early childhood that means less nagging from you when they are growing up.

Here’s a really cool game for all the parents. Get a calender. There are 365 days a year. Say every day has a value of 25 cents. Tell your kids you will mark the calender if they have been good or bad. The number of days they have been good will be equivalent to the amount of 25 cents that they have earned for their Christmas presents or their Birthday presents. Do not forget to total up at the end of each month, so the kids know how much they have earned. It will be a great motivation for them because the can see what they are earning for being good. Have fun.

I will soon post an article about the influence of friends on your child.

Need more help on this article.

Custom Search

Safety in the car becomes our first priority when kids are traveling in the car. Car manufacturers have come a long way about car safety and car safety ratings have improved. As parents its our responsibility too, to make sure that our kids are safe and secure once in the car. Most common cause of infant,toddler or young child death, is car accidents. Children in the car without the proper restraint can be seriously injured or die during the accident.

Child safety seats and seat belts are the major safety features for the kids. Children of all ages from new born to teenagers should be fastened properly in the car according to size and weight, when traveling. We have discussed the safety measures as per children age and weight because their safety requirements change. We are working on the assumption that the child has healthy weight. If the child is underweight or overweight please choose a suitable category.

Note: This is only a general guide applicable in most of the countries. For further details check the country specific child safety web sites at the bottom of the page.

Safety measures for new born to 9 months old’s/ children up to 9 Kg

Carry cot/ baby capsule is the preferred way to carry the infant child or toddler in the car at this stage. Baby capsule can be hired from the hospitals, maternity supplies, Red Cross and some local councils. You need infant seat or child seat basically for the first six months of babies life. Get it fitted before child’s birth because you will need it for that very first trip home from hospital. In some countries doctors and nurses will not allow baby to leave the hospital till car is fitted with a baby capsule or child seat.

Child should always be fastened in the child seat while in the car, whether traveling or stopped for a break. While stopped for relaxing taking infants out of the car is recommended. It will refresh them and relax their still developing muscles. A child should not be left in the child seat for more that 30 minutes in a day, it can damage their still developing muscles and cause back problems. If you travel long trips often, consider installing a carry cot/baby capsule will always be the preferred option than the child seat.

Child car seat should never be placed on the front passenger seat. Correct installation is critical, incorrect installation is an ineffective restraint. Make sure to get it fitted by trained and authorised technicians. It is recommended that the child seat for toddlers and infants should be placed facing backwards and in the center of the car, to minimize any injuries in case of an accident.

For the children placed in the carry cot/baby capsule, extra precaution must be taken because it does not provide same protection as the child seat.

Be careful if you are looking for a second hand child restraint. Make sure that the equipment is not been in the accident, does not have any cracks or broken parts, seat belt and 3 point safety belt fits properly. Before using it for the first time make sure to wash properly to get rid of any possible infection or germs.

Babies are not safe when being held by another person. The person’s arms will not be strong enough to hold the baby in an accident. In most of the countries it is against the child seat safety laws as well.

Safety measures for 9 months to 3 years old/ children weighing 9 to 18 Kg

At this age some kids may not like to stay in their safety seat. They continually undo the seat belt or other harness. There there are some devices available to prevent this happening but these are not recommended, in case of emergency they are hard to undo and can cause extra injuries. Only the parent, or another adult, should undo and fasten the child’s safety belt. Parents should not teach their child how to do this, as they can otherwise never be sure that the child is securely fastened. If they already know, best way to deal with this bad habit is to be very firm about children staying in their restraint. If the child undoes the seatbelt, stop the car and tell them firmly that the car will not move unless everybody has their seatbelts on. You have to be persistent till they learn you will not drive if anyone’s seat belt is undone.

In case of emergency if you have to place child seat on the front passenger seat, make sure to disable passenger airbag. Do not forget to turn it on after wards. If your car does not offer the option of disabling the airbag, move the seat as far back as possible. Airbags are made to protect adults weighing about 75kg. They are very powerful when, inflated. Child placed in front of an airbag may suffocate or be severely injured by the impact of a rapidly inflating airbag.

Safety measures for 3 to 7 years old/ children weighing 15 to 30 Kg

Keep using the child seat till they can fit in them. Once your child is too big to use the child seat you have to get a booster car seat, which is a raised seat using cars existing seat belt. Booster seat with back and wings provide better support and safety in case of an accident. In most of the countries, children at this age are legally allowed to travel without the child seat. As parents for their own safety seat them on the back seat and make sure that their seat belts are on at all times while traveling. Adjust the seat belts so that they are tight to fit your child, remember incorrect installation is an ineffective restraint. If you can not afford a booster seat at least get a child harness.

Safety measures for older children

Don’t rush to use the adult seat belt for children. Allow to use the child harness as long as possible. Make your kids sit on the back seats as long as possible. Once your child grows out of child harness than use adult seat belts and follow the basic safety principles like: make sure they are tight, always done while traveling. Try to avoid any confrontation in the car, as it can distract the driver causing an accident.

Have a safe trip.

Country specific child safety web sites

Australia

• www.officeofroadsafety.wa.gov.au/index.cfm

• www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.

Nsf

• www.atsb.gov.au/pdfs/child_restraints.pdf

Canada

• www.safety-council.org/info/child/childcar.htm

• www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/carseat/choose.shtml

Euro Zone

• www.etsc.be/documents/Fact_Sheet_Child_Safety_Restraints.pdf

• http://www.icadts.org/

New Zealand

• www.aa.co.nz/motoring/owning/safety/Pages/default.aspx

• www.childrestraints.co.nz

USA

• www.aap.org/healthtopics/carseatsafety.cfm

• www.nhtsa.dot.gov

• www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/childpas.htm

UK

• www.childcarseats.org.uk

• www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk

• www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Roadandtravelsafety

More links coming soon.

I’ve missed more than nine thousand shots in my career. I’ve lost almost three hundred games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. -Michael Jordan.

The life we have and many things that we do every day do not necessarily have clear cut instructions. Our search for the perfection never ends, we learn many new things every day. How do we learn them? For some things there are instruction manuals for the rest we do experiments with logic, with our intellect and with some common sense, to silence our curiosity. There are very few experiments in our life that work out on their first run. We do mistakes and than we learn from them to reach to that perfection that we have imagined as a result or the end product. If we are ready to learn from the failure than the road is endless, learning is endless. But if we start to give up from our failures than we become overcautious, we become scared of speaking up, we become scared of trying new things and in return it affects our personal and professional growth. As Marilyn Vos Savant said, “Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent”.


There is nothing pleasant about failure, at least not at the time when it happens, it embarrasses us. What we have to teach our kids is, parents and teachers can’t teach everything to them, they have to learn from their mistakes and failures and rise above them. easy said than done. If we give our kids the right perspective on failure, than it can be a spring board to success and not a hindrance.We will be able to prepare them to handle the real world, where nothing good comes easy. We have to devote some time to our kids everyday to check what they did all day. In the conversation almost everyday they will come up with the scenario’s where they have done the mistake or failed in something and as parents we have to help them to understand that there is nothing wrong with the failures and mistakes. We will be able to teach them to build realistic expectations that success does not come easy, that winning comes from losing and learning, that when we lose we must learn from them and not give up. Remember there are quick solutions and than there are solutions that take little bit long but the learning from them lasts forever.

However, failure can be a blessing in disguise. Through it we can learn what doesn’t work. Then we can find what does. Failure is a much better teacher than success. Success makes our heads swell. failure makes us stop, look and listen. If we can add “Learn” to this sequence than failure becomes the first step to success. Stop-Look-Listen-Learn; that’s the way to profit from failure.

Your grown child is now going to be a teenager, the bridge to adulthood.

This is the age when they start asking, fighting and arguing for more freedom, greater independence and test the limits of acceptable behaviour. They are looking for individuality, their own special acceptance in the society.Because of the raging hormonal changes inside their body, your child becomes moody, and their body, emotions and actions are affected. Their clothing, appearance, behaviour and thinking, all are changing very fast and more often than ever. This is also the most vulnerable age when they are getting more confused and more often they have to choose between the parents and the friends.

This is the time your child needs more support from you, more privacy and more time for themselves, so they can adjust to the occurring changes.

The school years are full of mental challenges for your kid. At this stage, their mind is bombarded by all kinds of information and knowledge. School, homework, play and physical activities are all parts of the world that influences your child’s further intellectual development.

At this age they are also influenced by the media around them – TV, radio, the internet, books and other reading materials.

If your child is not properly controlled at this stage of growing up, your parental influence on them can be diminished as the child is more influenced by his peers and friends. They also learns social skills and the different ways to interact with different kinds of people.

This is also the stage where your child’s interests can begin to show, and if they are gifted for any particular sport or studies, it becomes apparent.

In this pre-school period, you can easily see the difference among the learning performances of kids. Some kids learn fast, while some are slow to catch up.

The love and caring your kid gets from home, as well as the mental stimulation from his environment and the people around him affect his first grade performance.

It is at this stage that your child’s mind works so fast and his interest branches out in many different directions.

How fast he will go in any direction will depend on how much you, the parent, spend time on him, his individual pace of learning which is determined by his genes, and how much early stimulation he receives before age 3.

Attending a nursery school or a day care center that encourages early learning also helps.

During these years, your baby will turn into a toddler, a very young child.

She will gain enough control of her growing body to walk, climb, jump, run, and manipulate objects. She will learn to use language to communicate, ask questions, tell you what she needs, and tell stories.

Her learning style is becoming more evident. Her personality will be forming, as the genes she inherited interacts with the quality of her environment and your parenting.

Your toddler wants to be independent, but at the same time is scared of it all. She wants your help but at the same time, she doesn’t want it. This shift in emotions can give rise to tantrums. But this will ease as your child learns to talk better to express her feelings.

This is the stage where your kid grows so fast and change so much.