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Children

Top Benefits of Homeschooling

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It’s safe to say that you always want what’s best for your children. Whether it’s their health or development, you’ll always prioritize their well-being to promote growth. When it comes to education, there is no difference! Education provides children with essential skills that they’ll build upon throughout their lives.

However, some students struggle in a classroom setting and can benefit from learning at home with a familiar adult. In this article, we’ll explore some of the top benefits of homeschooling that will give you something to keep in mind when changing your child’s learning environment.

Educational Freedom

As a parent, you know your child better than anyone! You’ve watched them grow, so you’re aware of their strengths and weaknesses. As the teacher, you’ll have a direct role in your child’s learning so you can structure the curriculum to meet their needs. By setting the schedule, learning approach, and pace, you’ll accommodate their learning style.

Schedule Flexibility

Gone are the early morning hours and the commute to school. Though doing so can help simulate the hours of a typical school day to promote a structured routine, you have the freedom to cater to your own schedule. For instance, when homeschooling teenagers, you can plan for a late start, given that peak focus hours for many are later in the day.

Stronger Relationships

While homeschooling can be stressful, it allows for more bonding time with your children. Children will have the opportunity to grow in a close family and build stronger connections. They’ll develop problem-solving skills that will aid them in conflict resolution throughout their lives.

Positive Environment

Children and teenagers thrive in environments that foster positivity and safety. Homeschooling provides a safe space that favors mental health and learning amongst those who care. Your child has role models from whom they can seek guidance. Those who are homeschooled have less exposure to bullying and negative settings that can discourage learning and reduce self-esteem.

Improved Academic Performance

There’s less homework assigned while homeschooling since learning is an all-day affair. However, homeschooled children tend to perform better on tests and stand out on college applications by simply having a different learning experience than most.

Homeschooled children and teenagers grow to become independent and self-motivated, both fantastic and valuable skills to possess while pursuing higher studies.

While homeschooling your children can mean less time for yourself and more time toward family, you can view it from the bright side. It requires dedication, but it’s time well spent for the betterment of your child. These top benefits of homeschooling are only an introduction, but you’ll come to learn how valuable direct involvement in your child’s life can be over time.

Tips and Tricks for Childproofing Your Home

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Covering up open outlets, placing corner guards on sharp points, and baby-gating stairs were probably the first steps you took to make your home safer for your young children. If you’re wondering what more you can do to make your home as safe as possible for your kids, check out these tips and tricks for childproofing your home.

Add Kitchen Locks

The kitchen is arguably the single most dangerous room in any home for a child. It’s full of sharp and hot things that could easily harm your child should they get their hands on these items. Knives, blenders, toasters, and ovens are just a few of these hazards. One step you can take to prevent injuries is to place safety locks on cabinets and drawers that contain potentially dangerous objects. To keep kids safe around the oven, you can use a stove guard, be sure to use only the back burners for cooking, and turn pot and pan handles toward the counter.

Secure Your Furniture

Large furniture can be especially dangerous if left standing on its own. A curious child climbing around can take down bookcases, cabinets, and shelves. To keep these from toppling over onto your child, get some fasteners and secure the furniture flush against the wall. Screws will be the best method of securing the furniture. Many parents often forget this aspect of childproofing, making this an essential tip for childproofing your home.

Check Your Attic

If your home has an attic, make sure you’ve taken the steps to make this area childproof as well. Check the ladder for any loose or protruding nails. These are super easy to remove, but they can do a lot of damage if your child is playing near the ladder or climbing on it. If your child is able to access the attic, check to see if you can address any other potential problem areas. Attic safety is widely disregarded, but the safer your kids can be, the better.

No matter what, your child’s safety should be your top priority. Much of what they’re experiencing is so new and fresh to them that they’re not always thinking about safety themselves. Locking up hazardous areas, making sure your furniture is secure, and checking every space of your home are the keys to making sure your children are as safe as they can be in your home.

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Give Your Child a Smartphone

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While the best age for a child to receive their first phone is a topic of wide debate, there are still some ages that most people consider too young. We’re not here to debate what those ages are, but we do want to give you some reasons why you shouldn’t give your child a smartphone. Unfortunately, telling them that you didn’t have a phone at their age isn’t going to cut it anymore.

Phones Are Too Expensive

Have you seen the prices of smartphones recently? A thousand dollars is starting to become the norm in the industry. Granted, we’re aware that most parents will buy their kids a cheaper one, but even on the bargain side of the market, they can easily go for $200 to $300. It’s hard to trust a small child with a “toy” that carries such a hefty price tag. Plus, phone plans themselves can be fairly expensive.

There are much better options for kids on the market, such as child-safe tablets and smartwatches. These watches, in particular, can give parents all the benefits of a smartphone for their child but at a fraction of the cost. On top of that, they’re attached to a wrist, which means they’re less susceptible to drops, spills, and broken screens.

They Could Abuse In-App Purchases

Even though parental features are common these days on smartphones, kids always seem to find a way around them. Then suddenly, before you even know what’s happening, they’ve spent$100 in a game. Since young kids don’t have a fundamental concept of money yet, you can’t even blame them for it. The best way to avoid the situation altogether is not to let them have a phone in the first place.

They Might Become Dependent on Them

While there are ongoing studies on this topic, it’s hard to argue that people don’t have some level of dependence on their devices. If you don’t think that’s the case, try going for a week without your phone and see how you feel afterward. If it didn’t have much of an effect on you, congratulations—you’re stronger than the majority of us.

Regardless of your view on the subject, developing a deep dependence on technology is a big reason why you shouldn’t give your child a smartphone at a young age. Kids’ brains are still developing and don’t need an all-powerful smart device to be at the center of that development.

It’s Good To Tell Them “No”

It can be challenging to keep denying your kid when they continuously ask you for a phone. However, contrary to what you might read on Facebook, saying “no” and setting boundaries with your children is a good thing for them. If they never hear the word “no,” they will go the rest of their life expecting everything to get everything they want when they want it.

Standing your ground and not letting them have a cellphone until you believe they’re ready is one of the best ways to instill a more realistic behavior in them. Plus, your kid will be even more grateful on the day they finally do get a phone than they would have been if you just broke down and gave them one when they asked.

Causes of Aggressive Behavior in Children

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Usually, aggression in kids comes and goes. Nearly all kids go through a phase of determining and then surpassing their social boundaries. While most children learn that these verbal and physical behaviors aren’t acceptable, some continue to break these rules, which can impair functioning and lead to trouble at home and in school. Consider the following causes of aggressive behavior in children.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Not all children on the autism spectrum demonstrate aggression. The autism community has an axiom speaking to the uniqueness and idiosyncrasies of the spectrum: “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” However, some children on the autism spectrum are more prone to aggressive behavior, and if you believe your child may be on the spectrum, you should seek a diagnosis to begin pursuing intervention strategies.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

An all-too-common diagnosis in young children, the impulsive behaviors and lack of self-control stemming from ADHD often manifest in acts of verbal and physical aggression, such as shouting at parents or teachers or unintentionally injuring peers. Insufficient sleep can exacerbate or increase the likelihood of aggression, and other issues outlined here can also have a combined effect on behavior.

Trouble at Home

Issues between parents often trickle down to their kids as causes of aggressive behavior in children. Children who struggle with their parents going through divorce often have no socially sanctioned outlet for their feelings, and in lieu of healthy sublimation avenues, they lash out verbally and physically. Domestic violence between spouses can also unintentionally model aggressive behaviors that kids take with them out of the house.

Difficulty at School

School, the place where kids spend most of their week, can cause tensions and frustrations that lead to aggressive behavior. Undiagnosed learning disorders can result in poor academic performance that catalyzes violent outbursts. Bullying—still an issue in some schools despite years of anti-bullying initiatives—could lead victims to become bullies themselves, taking their victimhood out on others.

Violence in Media

Objectionable content in media has been a cultural flashpoint in America for years. While some cultural critics ridicule the real-world influence of violent children’s programming, if you suspect that TV shows or YouTube videos are influencing your child’s behavior, it’s best to intercede and limit exposure to this content.

The Piercing Reality: A Strategy to Ease the Pain

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For those that have little girls, you can be confident that pierced ears will eventually become a reality.  Some will pull the trigger within the first year and some may wait until their girls can clean those dirty little things themselves.

Regardless of what you chose to do as a dad, be sure of this…you need to have a plan before the needle is pulled from the drawer.

Trust me; I am speaking from an ill-conceived point of view here.  My wife and I just recently decided that there was sufficient desire from our girls to warrant some piercings.  So, we loaded up the 2, 3 (almost 4), and 5-year-old and headed to Claire’s.

Now picture this….you’re walking up to the store of your choice to do the deed….what is your next step?

Choices Laden With Errors

Let’s focus for just a moment on what you shouldn’t do:

Mistake #1

You should not allow your daughter’s to watch another piercing without a complete vetting of the subject.  The last thing you need is a little girl that responds to her piercing with “Oh no, that hurts so bad!”  Depending on the personalities of your girls, that could be a deal breaker.

Mistake #2

Allowing the tension to build while waiting stagnantly is not the best plan.  Any parent can tell you that immobile waiting builds one of two things; hyperactivity or deep-seated fear.  Neither of which is something you long to experience.

Mistake #3

Allowing siblings to watch as their sister is tormented by a very nice lady that, apart from clothing, looks eerily similar to a nurse.  Strangely, most kids don’t really like the doctors when they are little…you know, with all of the shots and what not.

Easing The Anxiety

With covering what you shouldn’t do, surely there are some obvious remedies.

First, if you’re going to allow your kids to view something prior to them saddling up, make sure that it is going to work in your favor.  You can either have them watch an older girl, or a younger one that has nerves of steel.

Second, try a place that has other attractions that can distract your girls from the “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  A slight-of-hand maneuver is very effective, especially when you have multiple punctures waiting to happen.

Finally, do yourself a huge favor and use something that will help deaden the pain.  Although there are some Jewelers who use a prescription numbing agent to help, most places avoid the liability.  But, never fear!  I have found several places that recommend using an oral numbing product such as Orajel.  All that I have heard of that have used this method said it worked great by almost completely eliminating the pain.

Certainly there is still some chance that havoc can ensue, but a little planning will go a long way.

Happy piercing dads!

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