“There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.” ~Hodding Carter, Jr.

It is perfectly normal for toddlers to have fears. Abnormal fears are ones in which you cannot get your toddler to focus on anything else because he is consumed with his fear. Obviously a fear such as this needs to be addressed differently. But today we are addressing fears that are normal for toddlers and how to help ease a toddlers anxiety and help him face and overcome his toddler fears through gentle, loving and heroic parenting.

The most common toddlerhood fears is strangers, someone coming to close, darkness, loud noises and crowded places. Sitting on the potty is also a common toddler fear, as well as going to the doctor or the doctor himself, nurses and the first day of school. These are the most common but are not by any means the only ones.

Toddler Fears are Fears Nonetheless

What may seem silly to you as an adult is not silly to your toddler. They are afraid of the dark because they cannot understand that light will make it go away. They may be afraid of strangers because there is no familiarity to them at all. They can be afraid of places because they cannot understand variety and differences in sounds and structures, and cannot understand how things are made and constructed. They feel overwhelmed and insecure, which then sets of their fear.

Toddler fears should be handled constructively and taken seriously. You should not laugh or make fun of their fears, nor should you discount them and brush them under the rug figuring they will outgrow them. It is how they outgrow them that counts and to what degree of support they receive, that will have a huge baring on the length of time it takes for your toddler to overcome his fear, and the emotional impact it will have on him.

Observe and Pretend Play

Parents are aware of the importance a child’s imagination plays in their growth and childhood. Fueling their imagination by encourage pretend play is on the list of priorities. However, with a growing imagination can come new fears, insecurities, and worries for a toddler.

Often times a child will display his fears through his toys during pretend play. Parents can observe their child when playing – don’t disturb them in their imaginative world but watch and listen from a distance. If you see your child playing out his fears, watch him play it out and try and gain a sense of where the fear might be coming from. Talk to your child about it and offer a loving helping hand through understanding and advice. Another suggestion is to play along with your child, in pretend play, and destroy his fear. This is where mom and dad get to use their imagination to find a way for his toys to destroy his fear into thin air.

Bad Experience Fears

Toddlers will soon learn in some way or another that there are falls, scrapes, trips and embarrassing moments in their life. Riding a bike and falling off can put a fear in them about getting hurt and they don’t want to get back on the bike again. Or, they try ice skating and fall, and vow to never go ice skating again. It is fears like this that can hold your child back from some of the splendid things in life for him.

It is your duty as a loving parent to help your toddler face his fears and get back on the pony. This is something adults have to do many many times in their life, and learning from a young age, with support and understanding will foster a more resilient child in adulthood. Be your toddler’s hero and show him how to face his fears and that trying again has rewards of it’s own.

• Help your child feel more confident in new situations.
• Take his fears seriously, offer support and reassurance for each episode of fear.
• Always be upbeat and positive when you deal with your toddler fears. You have to be solid, strong and secure, yet show that you are taking their fear seriously.
• Take the bad memories and turn them into good ones. Remind your child of the fun he had when he was riding his bike and how great the pictures are of his first bike ride. Don’t pressure him, just remind him of the fun stuff.
• Be honest. If something is going to hurt don’t say it won’t . Reassure your child it will only last a second and give him something to look forward to after his ordeal.
• Avoid being overprotective.
• Don’t over react. Avoid over reacting to small childhood falls, spills, trips and mess ups. Over reacting will cause an even more vivid memory for your toddler and also scare them, which only adds to trauma. If he sees you cool it helps him to realize it isn’t such a big deal.
• Be aware of your child’s temperament to gage his fears, and how best to help him.
• Be Patient. In time child will move forward and will find strength from you, if you have been supportive, to take bolder steps.
• When discussing your child’s fears with another person, make sure your child cannot hear your discussion.

Bedtime Fears

It is natural for toddlers to not want to go to bed. After all, the things in his life that make him feel secure and safe, he has to say goodbye to at bedtime, including his toys, and mom and dad.

• Choose a soothing bedtime routine to perform on a nightly basis. Doing this will also help your child learn to sleep independently, lessening bedtime tantrums and waking up mom and dad in the middle of the night to help get him back to sleep. Baby Sleep Help
• For a 1 year old who wakes in the middle of night looking for reassurance, it is good to go your child’s bedside and soothe him if necessary. Try not to take your child out of bed and refrain from taking him to your bed, so as not to start bad habits toward bedtime problems in the near future.
• Helping your child to stay in bed at night will help him face his fears of the dark and develop confidence when he realizes there is nothing to be afraid of, and night will soon turn to day.
• Resist disturbing your child if you hear him playing in bed or talking to himself or his toys (venturing into pretend play). This is his way of dealing with his fears and helping to put himself back to sleep.
• Using pretend play and role playing can help with bedtime fears and fears of the dark as well, and are highly effective in soothing your child when mom or dad are involved.
• Keep an eye out for fears that could be phobias and will require professional attention. Phobias will disrupt your child’s development and regular activities, and won’t respond to repeated attempts of reassurance. The sooner you diagnose a phobia the sooner the treatment can take affect and help your child.

If mom and dad support, understand, sympathize, and work together with their toddler when his fears set in, your child will be assured of getting security and help when he needs it and this will help him take the initial step in facing and then conquering his toddler fears.

Author: M Jayne
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Mobile device news

The baby shower games played at a baby shower are usually one of the most memorable experiences during the pre-baby events. However, to ensure the games are successful there should be some thoughtful party planning. Before starting the games, it’s a good idea to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves and their relationship to the Mommy-to-Be.

Here are some of the more popular games you can play during the party:

Guess Mommy-to-Be’s Tummy Size: You will need some string / yarn and scissors for this game. Have each participant pull the yarn to the size they believe would fit perfectly around the Mommy-to-Be’s center of her pregnant tummy. After everyone cuts their string, compare the results to the Mommy-to-Be’s actual tummy. Give a prize to the guest who is the closest! This game is an ole favorite and will be enjoyed by all.

Say “Baby”: You will need baby safety pins or another type of baby object you can place on a string for each guests at the shower as well as string or yarn, enough for each woman to wear as a necklace. Have each guest place the necklace with the baby safety pins around her neck when she gets to the party. The rules for this game are given at the beginning of the baby shower. Whenever someone says the word “baby” during the shower, any woman who calls it out gets a pin from the other woman who stated the word. At the end of the shower, the woman with the most pins wins a prize.

Naming Baby Items: You will need a pad of paper and pen for each guest. Have each guest write down as many baby products as they can name, such as bottle, blanket, pacifier, etc during a five minute period. This sounds easy, and IS at first, but during last few minutes, the participants will start racking their brains for more baby items. The guest with the most baby products named will win and receive a prize.

Make The Mommy-to-Be’s Baby: You will need baby magazines, scissors, glue and paper. Divide the guests into teams with each team having three members, and give each team some baby magazines. Ask each team to cut out pieces of different baby qualities and put together a picture of what they think the Mommy-to-Be’s baby will look like. Ask the Mommy-to-Be pick the baby she likes the best. Prizes will go to the winning team. This is another of the most popular games.

Guess The Gerber’s: You will need Gerber’s infant food, pads of paper and pens. You will need to take the labels off of the baby food jars and have the guests at the baby shower guess the food, i.e. carrots, peas, sweet potato. This game usually has ten different jars or more of different baby food. The winner is the guest with the most correct guesses.

Guess the Number of Safety Pins: You will need a lot of safety pins and a jar. Pass a jar full of baby safety pins around so all the guests can view it. Each guess will then guess the number of safety pins they think are in the jar. The one who guesses the closest wins a baby shower prize. This another game favorite.

Place The Baby On The Mommy-to-Be: You will need cutouts of a baby, tape and blindfolds. This is a version of Pin The Tail on the Donkey, a game kids love to play. Blindfold each guests and give them a paper baby to place the baby as close to the Mommy-to-Be’s tummy as possible. The one who gets closest to placing the paper baby on the pregnant tummy wins.

Bottle Races: You will need several baby bottles with milk. Have each guest take a bottle filled with a milk (you may substitute milk for another liquid) and suck the bottle as a baby would. The woman who drinks the most during an allotted time wins the baby shower gift. This is always a laughter filled game.

Baby Bingo: You will need pens and bingo cards. Before opening the gifts, number each gift on the box starting with one. If you know that 35 people will be attending the shower, pre-print bingo cards with numbers 1 through 35 and randomly place them on 35 cards. When the Mommy-to-Be’s decides to open the presents, she grabs the present she wants to open and reads the number out loud. As soon as someone receives bingo, they win the game and the prize.

What’s the baby item: You will need various baby products and a blindfold. A bag of baby items are placed in front of the Mommy-to-Be for her to take one item out at a time blindfolded and tell the baby shower guests what item she has in her hands. This is really fun baby shower game when you choose some crazy baby toys or products.

Complete the Baby Rhyme: You will need a book containing baby rhymes. The host will read out loud to all the guest a part of the rhyme, which is to be completed by the other women.

How’s the Baby: Ask all guests to bring a baby picture of themselves before the shower. Have all the pictures in a collage and draw lines for people to fill in who they think the babies are out of the people at the shower. If most guests don’t know each other, just have the pictures of the mother, mother-in-law, sisters, and Mommy-to-Be. See how many people guess right. You can make copies of the baby picture collage to see how many can guess right.

Baby Scrambler: Another fun game is to choose 25 baby related items and scramble the spelling. For instance, pacifier can be changed to reiifpca. Ask the guests to unscramble the words. The one who gets the most right in five minutes receives a prize.

Name that Baby Song: You will need a pad of paper and pen for each guest. Have each guest write down all the songs that have baby in their titles, like baby love, Santa baby, one for my baby and so on. Allow five minutes for this game. This baby shower game can be made more difficult by asking who also wrote the songs.

Dirty Diaper Circle: You will need a diaper, chocolate and music player. Although one of our “dirtiest” games, it is one of the favorites. The host takes a diaper that has been “fixed” with warm chocolate in the right place and have the guests pass it to the person next to them is in a circle. When the host stops the music, whoever is holding the diaper is out of the game.

Pacifier in the baby’s mouth: You will need a blindfold, a baby picture and a pacifier drawing for each guest. Tape a picture or drawing of a baby on the wall and have the blindfolded women try to tape the pacifier as close to the mouth of the baby as possible. The one who gets the closest ones.

Blindfold Diapering: You will need a blindfold, baby doll (life size) and diapers. One of the funniest games. It calls for the guests to be divided into teams of up to five people. Each team has a doll, blindfold and diapers. The object is for each participant to place the blindfold on, take the current diaper off the doll and place the new one on while blindfolded. After the first person completes diapering, they run to the next teammate who places the blindfold on and has to do the same. The first team to finish diapering wins!

Baby Tic-Tac-Toe: You will need a large erasable board to use for the tic-tac-toe board, writing utensil, and baby facts. Baby shower guests are divided into teams and are ask to answer a question about a baby fact. If they get the answer right, they get to choose a space, like the classic tic-tac-toe game.

The baby shower games are a very important part of your baby shower. You want to do everything you can to ensure the baby shower games are enjoyed by all and are a huge success. Here’s some tips for ensuring your baby shower games are successful:

a. Be sure you have writing utensils for everyone
b. Wrap games prizes
c. Make sure to have extra prizes in case of tie games

Author: Sarah Porter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital TV, HDTV, Satellite TV

It’s no secret that children of today are less active than they have ever been. Childhood obesity is on the rise and so is juvenile diabetes. It’s important to have kids involved in activities that will keep them moving and active, rather than spending all of their time in front of the TV or playing video games. That means starting with healthy activities for toddlers that will become a normal part of their daily routine as they grow older. You can use your toddler’s natural interest in learning to create daily activities that will help them grow in every way.

Target fine motor skills: Toddlers have the energy and curiosity to make trying new more advanced activities fun. These are the years when learn hand to eye coordination, so seek out activities that help them practice fine motor skills. Activities like stacking blocks, finger painting, or working a simple puzzle will help your child expand her fine motor skills. While this type of play doesn’t look like much, your toddler is developing the muscles and coordination that will later help her to hold a pencil and eventually write her own name.

Keep it simple: Activities that keep your toddler healthy and engaged don’t need to be complex or elaborate. Most toddlers will play with just about anything! Most toddlers explore enough on their own to provide them with the exercise they need to stay healthy. All they need is the opportunity, and a safe place to play. Encourage your toddler to explore by offering a safe environment and a selection of interesting objects to explore. If you baby-proofed when your child was born, it is probably time to take a fresh look at your home-toddlers can get into more trouble, and reach more areas than infants can!

Play with others: Children who don’t have others to play with are less likely to be active. Consider joining a play group, or visiting a park or playground. The change of scenery will give your toddler lots of time to explore, and you may make a few new friends as well!

Play with your toddler: A bonus to taking on the position as your toddler’s fitness guide is that you can reap the benefits as well. Toddler love to play tag and you can enjoy a quick game of tag with your toddler every day. You don’t have to be able to run fast to play and your toddler will love the individual time that he or she gets with you.

Practice gross motor skills: Another way to keep toddlers on the move is to have a ready assortment of balls of all sizes. Provide age appropriate basketball goals, plastic bats, and any other sports equipment you can find. They will spend hours throwing, kicking, and hitting things across the back yard. The movements that your toddler will make will keep him fit-and help him develop the gross motor skills he will need as a “big kid”.

Work together: Avoid the temptation to put your toddler on the back of the bicycle or in the stroller and take off for your own exercise routine. Find healthy activities for your toddler’s benefit and yours as well. It may take a little longer to make it around the block, but if you let your toddler lead the way, a simple trot around the neighborhood will do you both a world of good.

Adopt healthy attitudes and habits yourself, and bring your toddler along for the ride. The healthy habits you instill in her today will stick with her, and foster a lifelong love of fitness and exercise.

Author: Denise Sanger
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Beading Necklace

The baby shower games played at a baby shower are usually one of the most memorable experiences during the pre-baby events. However, to ensure the games are successful there should be some thoughtful party planning. Before starting the games, it’s a good idea to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves and their relationship to the Mommy-to-Be.

Here are some of the more popular games you can play during the party:

Guess Mommy-to-Be’s Tummy Size: You will need some string / yarn and scissors for this game. Have each participant pull the yarn to the size they believe would fit perfectly around the Mommy-to-Be’s center of her pregnant tummy. After everyone cuts their string, compare the results to the Mommy-to-Be’s actual tummy. Give a prize to the guest who is the closest! This game is an ole favorite and will be enjoyed by all.

Say “Baby”: You will need baby safety pins or another type of baby object you can place on a string for each guests at the shower as well as string or yarn, enough for each woman to wear as a necklace. Have each guest place the necklace with the baby safety pins around her neck when she gets to the party. The rules for this game are given at the beginning of the baby shower. Whenever someone says the word “baby” during the shower, any woman who calls it out gets a pin from the other woman who stated the word. At the end of the shower, the woman with the most pins wins a prize.

Naming Baby Items: You will need a pad of paper and pen for each guest. Have each guest write down as many baby products as they can name, such as bottle, blanket, pacifier, etc during a five minute period. This sounds easy, and IS at first, but during last few minutes, the participants will start racking their brains for more baby items. The guest with the most baby products named will win and receive a prize.

Make The Mommy-to-Be’s Baby: You will need baby magazines, scissors, glue and paper. Divide the guests into teams with each team having three members, and give each team some baby magazines. Ask each team to cut out pieces of different baby qualities and put together a picture of what they think the Mommy-to-Be’s baby will look like. Ask the Mommy-to-Be pick the baby she likes the best. Prizes will go to the winning team. This is another of the most popular games.

Guess The Gerber’s: You will need Gerber’s infant food, pads of paper and pens. You will need to take the labels off of the baby food jars and have the guests at the baby shower guess the food, i.e. carrots, peas, sweet potato. This game usually has ten different jars or more of different baby food. The winner is the guest with the most correct guesses.

Guess the Number of Safety Pins: You will need a lot of safety pins and a jar. Pass a jar full of baby safety pins around so all the guests can view it. Each guess will then guess the number of safety pins they think are in the jar. The one who guesses the closest wins a baby shower prize. This another game favorite.

Place The Baby On The Mommy-to-Be: You will need cutouts of a baby, tape and blindfolds. This is a version of Pin The Tail on the Donkey, a game kids love to play. Blindfold each guests and give them a paper baby to place the baby as close to the Mommy-to-Be’s tummy as possible. The one who gets closest to placing the paper baby on the pregnant tummy wins.

Bottle Races: You will need several baby bottles with milk. Have each guest take a bottle filled with a milk (you may substitute milk for another liquid) and suck the bottle as a baby would. The woman who drinks the most during an allotted time wins the baby shower gift. This is always a laughter filled game.

Baby Bingo: You will need pens and bingo cards. Before opening the gifts, number each gift on the box starting with one. If you know that 35 people will be attending the shower, pre-print bingo cards with numbers 1 through 35 and randomly place them on 35 cards. When the Mommy-to-Be’s decides to open the presents, she grabs the present she wants to open and reads the number out loud. As soon as someone receives bingo, they win the game and the prize.

What’s the baby item: You will need various baby products and a blindfold. A bag of baby items are placed in front of the Mommy-to-Be for her to take one item out at a time blindfolded and tell the baby shower guests what item she has in her hands. This is really fun baby shower game when you choose some crazy baby toys or products.

Complete the Baby Rhyme: You will need a book containing baby rhymes. The host will read out loud to all the guest a part of the rhyme, which is to be completed by the other women.

How’s the Baby: Ask all guests to bring a baby picture of themselves before the shower. Have all the pictures in a collage and draw lines for people to fill in who they think the babies are out of the people at the shower. If most guests don’t know each other, just have the pictures of the mother, mother-in-law, sisters, and Mommy-to-Be. See how many people guess right. You can make copies of the baby picture collage to see how many can guess right.

Baby Scrambler: Another fun game is to choose 25 baby related items and scramble the spelling. For instance, pacifier can be changed to reiifpca. Ask the guests to unscramble the words. The one who gets the most right in five minutes receives a prize.

Name that Baby Song: You will need a pad of paper and pen for each guest. Have each guest write down all the songs that have baby in their titles, like baby love, Santa baby, one for my baby and so on. Allow five minutes for this game. This baby shower game can be made more difficult by asking who also wrote the songs.

Dirty Diaper Circle: You will need a diaper, chocolate and music player. Although one of our “dirtiest” games, it is one of the favorites. The host takes a diaper that has been “fixed” with warm chocolate in the right place and have the guests pass it to the person next to them is in a circle. When the host stops the music, whoever is holding the diaper is out of the game.

Pacifier in the baby’s mouth: You will need a blindfold, a baby picture and a pacifier drawing for each guest. Tape a picture or drawing of a baby on the wall and have the blindfolded women try to tape the pacifier as close to the mouth of the baby as possible. The one who gets the closest ones.

Blindfold Diapering: You will need a blindfold, baby doll (life size) and diapers. One of the funniest games. It calls for the guests to be divided into teams of up to five people. Each team has a doll, blindfold and diapers. The object is for each participant to place the blindfold on, take the current diaper off the doll and place the new one on while blindfolded. After the first person completes diapering, they run to the next teammate who places the blindfold on and has to do the same. The first team to finish diapering wins!

Baby Tic-Tac-Toe: You will need a large erasable board to use for the tic-tac-toe board, writing utensil, and baby facts. Baby shower guests are divided into teams and are ask to answer a question about a baby fact. If they get the answer right, they get to choose a space, like the classic tic-tac-toe game.

The baby shower games are a very important part of your baby shower. You want to do everything you can to ensure the baby shower games are enjoyed by all and are a huge success. Here’s some tips for ensuring your baby shower games are successful:

a. Be sure you have writing utensils for everyone
b. Wrap games prizes
c. Make sure to have extra prizes in case of tie games

Author: Sarah Porter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: US Dollar credit card