| Parenting Report

Haunted by white carnations

0

The weird obsession of the founder of Mother's Day

Mother’s Day seems to be a pretty well-respected holiday. It’s commercial to some extent, but kids’ hard earn dollars (and pennies, of course) are used to pamper mom for her special day in the year. In any case, it seems a little bit less corporate than made-for-greeting-cards-holidays like Valentine’s Day.

Still, even an innocuous holiday like Valentine’s Day can rile some folks up. Eventually, it even riled up Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother’s Day herself.

A recent article called “The Founder of Mother’s Day Later Fought to Have It Abolished” posted on mental_floss online by Jonathan Mulinix explains Jarvis’ extreme change of heart.

Anna Jarvis was close to her own mother, and after her mother’s death in 1905, Jarvis wanted to memorialize her mother. Through Jarvis’ successful campaigning, the first Mother’s Day celebrations were held in Jarvis’ mother’s church and in a department store in Philadelphia. On that first day, sons and daughters wore white carnations to honor their mothers.

Praise the Children!

0

Breaking this habit is so much harder than it seems.

I’ve been studying the principles of humane living and mindful, unconditional parenting for a couple of years now, and I agree with the idea that children should not be heaped with empty praise all of the time. Studies and common sense show that as kids get more and more praise, they depend on this praise in order to justify what they do.

Instead of, say, doing a project or reading a book for their own pleasure and joy—or to become better at what they want to be good at—they rely on parental (or other sources of) praise to determine whether or not the project has any worth—and if they don’t receive the praise, they may be less likely to want to do the activity. And even if they do, the motivation isn’t self-oriented as it should be, but externally motivated by another source. How can kids really be true to themselves and learn who they are when they are constantly wanting praise from others?

Rate of Autism in the U.S. Rising

0

According to recent data from the CDC, 1 in 88 children in the U.S. are autistic.

Autism remains one of the most baffling (and common) cognitive disorders to professionals in psychiatry. Although noe one is exactly sure what causes autism, there have been a number of things attributed to it; watching television too young, childhood vaccinations, video games and rock or rap music (depending on who you ask), synthetic hormone in the food supply, increased solar activity, comets…with a field of study as broad as this it’s safe to say we haven’t actually nailed it yet. Still, studies continue to show a growing number of cases of autism and in younger and younger children.

The most recent numbers to come from the Center for Disease Controll and prevention (CDC) are that 1 in 88 children in the U.S. is afflicted with autism, and that number has grown since only a few years ago. According to data reported by Discovery News, the CDC estimated that 1 in 150 kids were autistic in 2002, increasing to 1 in 110 in 2006. The demographics to see the largest increases in autistic behavior have been blacks and Hispanics, and boys are almost five times more likely to be diagnosed as autistic as girls. In addition, areas of the country seemed to effected differently, with 1 in 47 children being diagnosed as autistic in Utah, while only 1 in 210 are diagnosed in Alabama. All data in the study, the “CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report”, was compiled from of 8-year olds in 14 different areas around the U.S.

Mama

0

Or Nghha Nghha

This morning, our baby daughter said “Mama.” Or it might have been “nga nga” or possibly even “ngla ngla.” I can't really say, except that it was definitely some kind of gargly consonant sound followed by a vowel of some kind. So it's just as likely to have been “Mama” as anything else, but it could just as easily have been “braa braa” or maybe “gghhou gghhou.”

Read more about Mama

Using Your Tax Refund with Your Children in Mind

0

According to Yahoo! Finance, the average tax refund equates to $3,000. Many families who live paycheck to paycheck must use this refund to stay on top of their bills. If, however, your tax refund is just considered extra money, you may want to consider using it with your children in mind.

I’m one of those parents that puts my children first. You only have them for 18 years, so I think it is important to spend money on encouraging their interests and preparing for their future. I’m not suggesting that any parent use a $3,000 tax refund on purchasing hair extensions, manicures, or a $150 purse.

Make Yourself Paranoid

0

Watch "Intervention"

Are you feeling a little too calm right now? Not anxious or paranoid enough? Well, if you're the parent of any child young enough to still be a sweetly innocent little bundle of cuteness, just watch “Intervention,” and you'll be consumed by grim fears of the future before you can say “crack cocaine.”

Preparing for 8th Grade

0

I can’t believe that my daughter will be starting 8th grade at the end of this summer. She is now working on her 4th marking period of the 7th grade curriculum, so I thought it was time to begin preparing for the next grade. The beauty of home schooling is the ability to complete an entire month of school work during the summer to get ahead. I do this for two reasons. First, I feel less pressure as a teacher knowing that we are ahead of schedule verses how I would feel if we were behind schedule. Second, I have a special needs child that is sick quite frequently. Starting out the year ahead will cover any days I cannot teach due to my youngest daughter’s medical needs.

Staircase Miracle

0

Near-Disaster Averted

We use to live in a basement apartment at the bottom of a very steep staircase with slippery stairs. I don't know exactly what made them so slippery, but there it is. At least one a week, and sometimes twice, someone in the household would put a foot wrong, and go tumbling down the staircase head over heels.

Read more about Staircase Miracle

Teach Your Teens to Have a Good Work Ethic

0

I appreciate the fact that my parents taught me to work hard for everything I have. I definitely noticed a difference when I went away to college. Those of us who had to work hard to pay for our own education didn’t take it for granted. I had several friends whose parents paid for their entire college education, and while that isn’t entirely wrong, they didn’t seem to be trying as hard. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.

In general I have adopted the same philosophy with my daughter. She is only 12 now, but she knows full well to take any opportunity to earn money that arises. She babysat my niece one summer for $10 a day. I was there the entire day, but it was my daughter’s job to keep her entertained and help with the potty training. My daughter knows she needs to save up for her first car, and for college expenses.

The Deviancy Amplification Spiral

0

Mechanism of Mass Hysteria

If you've never heard of the “deviancy amplification spiral” you really should, especially if you are or are about to be the parent of a teenager. The deviancy amplification spiral is a process by which the media wants to find some bizarre and extreme-sounding story in order to attract viewers or readers, so they report on some unusual behavior that is either rare or non-existent or misunderstood.