Help Kids Make Friends – What Can Parents Do to Guide the Social Development of Children?

January 30, 2009 by  
Filed under Family Relationships

family relationships
Making friends is a skill, just like playing the piano or riding a bike. Skills can be learned and behaviors can be changed. While it may require more effort for some people to be comfortable in groups, it can be learned, especially if the child is willing to put forth the effort and knows that she has your support.

Be sure to encourage a child’s positive efforts to get along with peers and to find a friend, even when it appears that such attempts are not meeting with success. Remind her of the fine qualities that she has that will add to the friendship when just the right person comes along.

Another reminder is that making just the right friend for her may take some claritin generic time and not to give up. Help her to see what she has to offer as a friend. For example, you might say: “I really appreciate it when my friends call me and invite me places. It makes me feel welcome and accepted. Even on the times when I am not able to go, I still feel good to know they thought of buy amoxil without prescription me. That is why I treat them with kindness and respect, because that is how I want to be treated.”

In my workshops I find it helpful to make a list of what people look for in a friend. You may want to make such a list with your child. After brainstorming it is easy to include such things as:

• Trustworthy

• Kind and Buy cheap Levitra Online Pharmacy compassionate

• Willing to share happy and sad times

• Loyal, will watch my back

• Sense of humor

• Positive attitude, upbeat

• Similar interests

• Fun to be with

• Not be too possessive or needy

• Cooperative

• Enjoys being with me

If you look at the list, almost never does it buy Remeron online include psychical attributes, they are all character traits and inner personal skills. If we don’t have those skills, we can work on obtaining them by practicing a little each day until it becomes automatic action. It is this attitude of openness and willingness to share that is communicated to those we would like to be our friends.

The irony is that people, young and old, tend to blame outward appearances for lack of friends, when it is the inward attitudes and character traits that are longed for in friendship. We are not searching for lovely nearly as much as loyalty in a companion and buddy.

When we realize that it is not our big ears, speech impediment or color of skin that stops others from befriending us, as much as it is how we treat others and feel about ourselves, we will have more to offer a friendship. As you encourage making a list of what the child is looking for in a friend, be sure to mention that appearances may be deceiving. She may very well know many in her class who are also looking for just the right person to hang around with.

Hopefully, your child will draw her own conclusions that she is a valuable person and has much to bring to a relationship. And likewise, there may very well be many people who meet the criteria of a friend that she has been overlooking.

It is more empowering for a child to list her own positive qualities that will make her a valuable friend than for you to do it for her. This is her work, but you are the support team. You cannot make your child happy, popular, cytotec tablets talented or attractive to other children. If you think you can, you will be setting both of you up for disappointment and a great deal of frustration.

What you can do is offer her suggestions, assistance, opportunities and options. Hopefully, she will recognize the clues of social interaction and ‘click’ with a good group of friends who will support her in her school years and become life long buddies.

How you manage social situations affects the way your children view social interaction. If you have meaningful relationships that add pleasure to your life, they will see that and want to have the same thing.

How to Make People Laugh – Online Dating Chat and Singles Tips

January 29, 2009 by  
Filed under Online Dating

online dating

Girls buy generic amoxil and guys love buy Baby Lotion online funny people. Ever met a person at a party who appears to always have people wanting to sit near them and to be in their company? claritin buy We all love a laugh and an easy going, laid back partner who doesn’t put others down is just great at the dinner table. But what about when online order cytotec online dating? Is it enough simply to be funny? Its certainly a start…

Laughing and making other people laugh is a big asset in life. Laughing produces good hormones in the body that help people feel more positive, healthier Order Generic Propecia Online without Prescription and even tolerant of others. Even though naturally funny people exist, making someone laugh is a skill that can be taught.

Real life stories are funnier than made up ones.

Great comedians draw heavily on their actual life experiences, so the joke is on themselves rather than on other people, drawing focus on little details that may have appeared insignificant and showing other people an insight regarding the workings of their mind. As we can relate to the actual aspects of the story, the entire joke appears believable and the humor in it comes across genuine. Comedians who are well known for this type of comedy include Billy Connolly, arguably the funniest scot alive.

Repetition, saying the same thing several times can cause it to become humorous. Sounds unbelievable? Sometimes pushing a joke beyond the boundaries works.

Misdirection. A style many comedians apply is misdirection. This means they include a story that goes in a totally different direction to that that was expected. Groucho Marx would use this technique. The basis behind this is that when the listener knows what is going to occur then it won’t be funny however by catching them by surprise, their mind can see the funny side. Chevy Chase often uses this tactic with his joke telling.

Escalation is another different technique to be humorous. This means that the story begins in a sensible, predictable way and then escalates into the very funny. You add more and more funny dialogue until the listener begins cracking up in laughter.

Understatement is when you make an important topic seem really trivial.

Reversal means moving the story around so that it refers to the incorrect noun – like “residents dangerous to local dogs”

The error many of us make when trying to be humorous is to try to be funny non stop. They end up sounding idiotic and embarrass themselves. The answer to humor is to inject it into a story. It is sometimes someone who is usually fairly straight, that comes across really funny when they throw in several random lines to a conversation or who then tell a really clever tale of their lives.

The main difference online is that you need to count on the content or context to display humor – sarcasm, unless you know the person does not work very well online.

Free Online Dating Site and Chat Rooms for Singles Australian Internet Dating

True Friendships Are Special Gifts That Last Lifetimes

January 29, 2009 by  
Filed under Friendship

Cheap Propecia alt=”friendship” />
“Savor your friendships as you grow old; many are silver, but one is pure gold.”

This is sage advice for those who have been fortunate enough to find that one true friendship. Or perhaps you have maintained friendships from your days in elementary school. Whatever the case, friends are previous gifts we give to ourselves.

As children, friendships are vitally important, claritin 20 mg most notably as it relates to the socialization process. Meeting a new friend the first day of school is essential, especially if one is particularly shy. Perhaps another girl would sense the shyness and offer a hand in friendship. Forming friendships with others from different cultures enhances a child’s early experiences as well, and plants a seed that is healthy and which can be nurtured throughout life. But, preserving friendships are often difficult, even under the best of circumstances. Whether a friend moves away; or leaves school; or cytotec induction becomes ill, it is especially hard on a child. They are resilient, however, and somehow cope with the loss.

As the child becomes a teen, the word friendship takes on a different connotation. While some teens exhibit the closeness and bonding prevalent during their parents’ day; others are not so conducive to this type of friendship. Instead, they form gangs which they refer to as their family, and commit acts which were unheard of twenty or thirty years ago. It makes one wonder if this type of friendship is born out of a home where caring and nurturing is non-existent. Or has peer pressure to act and dress a certain way erased all that was taught in the early years of their childhood. Girls become vicious to each other; more so than boys, and it’s inconceivable that a meaningful true friendship exists in that environment.

Perhaps as we grow older, the child in us returns to the very first day we attended school.

We appreciate and value the friends we’ve made in our adult life because they ground us; keep us balanced; watch out for us; protect us; care and help us when needed. True friendships require no expectations; they are unconditional by nature, and bring out the very buy cheap amoxil best of who we are. We rely on each other for comfort; rant and rave knowing our friend will simply listen; discuss issues which we are passionate about, knowing we will be understood. Laugh together; cry together; then eat ice cream while laughing all the more. How rare is that kind of friendship? How blessed are we to have a true friend buy Yashtimadhu online who will allow us to be who we are, without judgment. Yes, very rare indeed.

As we reach our golden years, our friends may have passed on, but the memories are still intact. We take out the old scrapbook and reminisce as we thumb through familiar pictures. Suddenly, we laugh and look to one side saying, “Remember …” then stop. A single tear falls down our cheek. We look up and smile because the years have not taken away the recollections of our youthful days, nor has the light of true friendship been extinguished.

Causes of Marital Distress

January 27, 2009 by  
Filed under Marital Relationships

marital relationships
The current society is in a period of great stress upon the family.  The stress is attributable to three factors namely: the rural-urban migration due to the impact of industrialization; the sexual revolution which has altered the values and role concepts of couples, and the impact of  harsh economy in terms of high cost of living which has compelled the womenfolk to join the labour market.

Apart from the above, there are some other seemingly innocuous factors that also contribute to family stress.  These factors are so fundamental that they constitute remote causes of marital distress.  If the foundation is weak, the entire structure will be defective.  Failure to address these fundamental issues has been the bane of many marriages. Therefore, Buy Propecia the purpose of this article is to identify seven of these factors and proffer solutions so that those who are currently experiencing marital distress may find solutions, and others who are not may learn from the experience of others

Causes of Marital Stress

(i) Marriage relationships that were contracted when both partners were ungodly.

A family that has no time for God, or does not believe in godliness is laying a foundation for marital distress.  Such family will have no place to go spiritually during the storms of life since it has no prior relationship with God.

A couple that has no relationship with God cannot obey the will of God concerning their  lives, neither will they obey the biblical injunctions on marital issues. For instance, virtues like forgiveness, patience, kindness, endurance, love cannot have meaning to them.  So, to get married to an ungodly partner is an invitation to marital distress. The Bible states clearly that there is no fellowship between light and darkness (II Corinthians 6:14).  Therefore, consequences of leaving God out of the choice of a partner far outweigh the gains.

(ii)  Marriages based on accidental pregnancy.

Another cause of marital distress nowadays is accidental pregnancy. Many people are forced to marry because of accidental pregnancy.  A situation like this gives no room for the adequate preparations that characterize the establishment of an ideal home. These include introduction, courtship, engagement, and wedding.  These can be regarded as probationary periods during which the two partners would study themselves, find out areas of disagreement and carry out adjustments as may be necessary.

(iii)  Sex before marriage.

Premarital sex is another foundation for marital distress.  The Bible clearly commands that the marriage bed be undefiled (Hebrews 13:4).  Disobedience to this command is a sin of fornication, which attracts punishment one of which is marital distress.   So, if you violate God’s Word through the sin of fornication, you cannot expect God’s blessings in your marriage.

(iv) Marriages contracted after buy amoxil online demonic consultation.

Whenever some young fellows inform their parents about whom they intend to marry. The parents would collect the names of such would-be spouses for checkup with local witch doctors.  By this action the prospective couple is introduced to the devil unknowingly, and the young family becomes vulnerable to demonic manipulations, which will end up in marital distress.

(v) Marriages enforced by parents.

Some parents, anxious to see their children get married, force them into injurious marital relationships.  They do this by marrying off their girl-child to either some wealthy businessman, traditional ruler, or someone from a particular profession e.g. lawyer, medicine, accountancy. The girl-child, unable to make any decision in this process, will grow up sometimes in her husband’s houses.  Marriages contracted under such pressure cannot but end up in distress, because the basic ingredients of marriage, like love, are missing.

(vi) Marriage based on blood covenants.

Many young people blindly go into covenants to prove their loyalty to each other.  For instance, one such covenant is by cutting selves with razor blades and forming terrible blood covenants without knowing the implication of what they are doing.  Such covenants are foundations of marital distress, especially when they are unable to keep the covenant terms for one reason or the other by marrying other partner.

(vii)  Marriages based on physical attraction and material interest.

Physical attraction cannot sustain a marriage, buy Bactrim online because beauty fades with age, and appearance cannot give lasting satisfaction.  Similarly, a marriage based on material wealth only will not last.  It is good to live a comfortable life, but a home established only on physical attraction and materialism is a foundation for marital distress. When these are gone there will claritin 100 mg be nothing to sustain the marriage in the storms of life.

The Way Out

The success of a marriage is directly proportional to the strength of its foundation.  The fear of God is the beginning of a successful marriage.  The day you become a child of God, your life is taken away from a bad foundation and placed on Jesus the solid Rock, and with Him your marriage will never fail.

It is possible that your foundation was really bad; but you do not have to worry.  God can change your foundation if you cooperate with him.  The following six steps should be considered inorder to correct cheap cytotec your faulty marital foundation:

(i)  Identify your foundation.

You need to ask yourself some soul-searching questions concerning your marital background:

What kind of background do I have?

What are the problems that are capable of affecting my marriage negatively?

What are those things which my parents did deliberately or ignorantly to affect my marriage?

Am I under any covenant, curse or bondage?

Spend quality time on this.  It will help you to deal with all the roots of marital distress.

(ii) Confess and repent.

Confess your sins and repent wholeheartedly.  Repentance will earn you a transfer from the platform of bad foundation to the level of happiness in your marriage.  Failure to do so will embolden the devil to continue to use those sins as a legal weapon to strengthen your marital distress.

(iii) Embark on aggressive and well-targeted prayer.

Embark on aggressive prayers.  The devil will not readily allow you to enjoy happiness in your marriage, until you subject him to repeated prayer bombardments. Therefore, invite the Lord Jesus Christ into your life, and let him rebuild your marriage.  Break every curse, and release yourself from evil covenants.  Pray for deliverance from marital stress and the polluting influences of anti-marriage forces.

(iv)  Restitution

You need to do restitution, where necessary.  This would enable you to become free completely.  If you fail to do restitution, the devil will always have a case against you to maintain distress in your marriage.

Your willingness to consider the above will make you to experience all the goodness that God has programmed for your marriage.

Five Year Old-ages and Stages

January 26, 2009 by  
Filed under Family Relationships

family relationships

Characteristics of the 5 Year Old Child:

The five-year-old is surer of himself and is generally dependable. He has learned to do what is expected of him. You can usually reason with him, and he will understand why you want something done a certain way. A five-year-old may still have some difficulty using small muscles, but can usually print his name and a few other words.

He is much more reliable and independent than at age four and less apt to get distracted en route to the garbage can. He loves stories, learns best by repetition and loves group projects. A five-year-old is usually friendly, sympathetic, affectionate, and helpful, but when he doesn’t get his own way he can become quarrelsome. It is very motivating for him to receive new privileges, which show he is “bigger” and “older.”

Task Expectations

Make his bed (comforters work best)

Clean and trim his fingernails

Wipe up spills

Pick up trash in the yard

Spot clean the walls

Shake area rugs

Wipe off furniture, fingerprints from walls, claritin 10 mg etc

Feed and water the pets

Know his address and phone number

Dial 911 in an emergency

Service projects like helping pick up trash in the park

Physical Development

Moving, moving, all the time They are very good at physical activities, like running, climbing, siding, buy amoxicillin balancing

They have usually developed right or left hand preferences

They can bathe themselves, but may not get really clean or be able to do hair shampooing

The rate of growth is starting to slow down and they do not have the appetite they had when they were younger

Starting to lose their baby teeth

Hate to rest and yet tire easily. May have meltdowns and need time alone.

Mental Development

They talk …a lot! You may have a hard time getting a word in edgewise

Have a great memory and can say their full names, addresses, and birthday.

It is more apparent to them when something is really true or they just wish it were true

They can count by using their fingers

They enjoy matching size, color, shape and what goes with what

Nature is the greatest classroom for this age

May have bad dreams and nightmares or irrational fears

Social Development

They love to dress up and play in groups

They can get along with peers better than siblings

Enjoy doing art projects

Emotional buy Lantus online Development

They don’t have the temper Buy cheap Propecia Online tantrums, but may “dig their heels in”

Usually very close to their mother and want to please her

May be impulsive and take things that belong to others

When they are tense or stressed, they may pick their noses, buy cytotec generic bite their nails or blink their eyes

They may cry or scream when frustrated

Five year olds are starting to pull away and become their own person. If you want to get them to do something they don’t want to do, make it into a game. They love praise and encouragement, but then don’t we all?

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