Does Your Child Understand True Friendship?

"If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together…there is something you must remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart…I'll always be with you."
~ Winnie the Pooh

Friendship is that one special love relationship which is born out of choice, you are not born into it. We can choose our friends just as they choose us. It is a relationship that does not come with give-and-take, it is purely about love, faith, trust, companionship, understanding and mutual respect.

As children, we start understanding this relationship as something very valuable, apart from the relationship we share with our parents. When kids take the first faltering steps toward making friends, they realize the meaning of togetherness, companionship, playing and sharing, connecting and giving, trusting and believing in someone else rather than just their mom and dad.

Choosing friends

Friendship is a choice and hence you have the option to carefully pick and choose who you want to be friends with.  For children, this is all the more important as peer pressure is extremely influential in these formative years.

Parents often are just happy to let their children be with their friends and do not pay attention to what kind of children these “friends” are. This can be a serious mistake. An important parenting tip is to keep a watch on the kind of children your child is mixing with. Are they well-mannered and well brought up or are they self-centered and bullies? 

Check the background of “friends”

Find out what kind of families these children belong to. Are they from well-knit loving homes or do they come from disturbed, broken homes? Of course, there is no guarantee that all disturbed homes will have rowdy children or all loving parents have well brought up children, but one cannot ignore the fact that the atmosphere at home has a very big role to play in shaping the personality, character, nature and temperament of the child.

When your child insists on staying over at a friend’s place or invites her friends over to dinner, spend time with the children to assess how they react, talk, think and interact with your child and other children. 

Save your child from bullies

Children themselves may not always be able to choose the right kind of friends themselves. You may find that your soft-natured daughter is caught in a group of aggressive children, who bully her and pull her down but she is unable to get away from them as they are either her classmates or neighbors.  

Children who are introverted sometimes suffer quietly from bullies without being able to extricate themselves from the dominating bunch of children. And they also believe that these children actually are “friends” and thus suffer from low confidence levels from their inability to connect with such children at their level.

Step in before it’s too late

As parents, you must step in to guide your child out of a group of friends who do not add value to his life and simply make him feel badly about himself.  Step in before the wrong group of “friends” does incalculable damage to your child’s psyche and emotional development.

Help your child understand what real friendship is by showing him how to become friends with children who are caring, well-mannered,  and well behaved. Such children not only make other children feel good, they also pass on the values of love, tenderness, compassion and help their friends to perform better in school.

Be a friend to your child

Most importantly, be a friend to your child yourself. Parenting children does not mean directing your child with a list of “do’s” and “don’ts”. It also means raising children who trust you as their best friend. You will love it when your kids share everything with you and look to you for support, guidance and love till the time they are able to make their own decisions. This will also strengthen your parent child relationship. Even after that, having mom and dad as their closest pals is always the biggest support system for any child.

Help your child understand that it is wonderful to be with friends who cherish you. Just as you would like your friends to be there for you, make sure you are around when they need you. Friendship is all about loving, believing and giving.

Success Secret- Happiness Is A Choice

People search for keys to success. Some say it is all about hard work, some attribute success to patience and perseverance, some simply credit it all to destiny. Perspectives differ but everyone agrees that success doesn’t come easy.

But one misconception many people have about success is about its relation to happiness. That success leads to happiness is a common belief. And one can say it is a myth.

Success does not necessarily lead to happiness. You can have all the success, fame and riches you desire and still not be happy with what you have. Happiness does not come from abundance or opulence. Happiness is essentially a state of mind and rather than success being a cause for happiness, one can say, happiness is always a cause for success.

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen”

~ Elizabeth Kubler Ros

Happiness is a choice. You can be happy no matter what the circumstances are. The biggest struggles of life, the deepest pains, and toughest challenges do not have the power to tear you away from choosing to be happy despite everything. You may say this is impossible. How can one remain happy in the midst of pain?

You can if you approach pain with a positive attitude, as an obstacle or challenge which has been put in your path to test your resilience and stoicism, you will be able to face it square on rather than let it climb all over you and drown you in depression.

It is all a matter of your own thoughts

Happiness is not something that depends upon another person or situations either. You have the power to create things that make you happy.  Many difficult or sad situations arise every now and then. It is all up to you how you choose to feel on any given day.

For instance, if you are handling too many responsibilities, your success in fulfilling each one of them will depend on how you balance the various responsibilities and approach each one as per its importance. If you let yourself become confused, hassled and disorganized, the problems that are actually opportunities in work clothes will seem all too difficult to handle. The opportunities will slip past you, and you will just be looking at the problems and not what’s behind them. It is not important how you look at things but what you see there.

Turn your mind towards positive thinking. Decide to finish the jobs according to priorities, spare a few moments to absorb the beauty that surrounds you, count your blessings, and read some inspirational messages. Create your own happiness.

Remember, the amazing thing about life is that, you choose what you allow into it. You choose how things affect you, you choose how you react. Happiness is a Choice. Make it. Keep smiling!

Inspirational Videos Can Transform Your Life

We all go through low times when we feel depressed, frustrated and unmotivated. Most of the times we don't realize that such a negative feeling can affect our career, our relationships with our spouse, children, and friends, and this depressions hampers our personal growth. Understandably, life has its lows. But the key to turning those lows into highs lies within YOU. It is up to you to make efforts to lift your spirits and be inspired.
I personally believe, a powerful inspiring message can do the trick, to make you look at life anew. More so if the inspirational quote is comes in the form of a powerful video. Let me explain why.

Why watch an inspirational video?

Watching motivational videos, messages or inspirational quotes can bring back that missing enthusiasm and energy. You must have heard of the saying, "A picture speaks a thousand words". Inspirational videos have the great ability to put images and music to powerful words, thereby making the inspirational message even more effective and motivating.

Even watching a short motivational video which lasts for only a couple of minutes can make a huge impact on the viewer. Moreover conveying an inspirational message with moving images and sound is more entertaining and engaging as compared to lectures given in seminars.

Many motivational videos share success stories of real life people. Inspirational videos can teach viewers about the importance of goodness, righteousness and perseverance. Especially the virtues of honesty, integrity, charity, cooperativeness, forgiveness, generosity, gratitude, loyalty, patience, sharing and trustworthiness which are difficult to convey otherwise, can get ac
The internet and especially YouTube has quite a significant number of inspirational videos. But I am aware of only one website which offers daily inspirational videos delivered to your inbox and that too in the three most important issues that concern our life and wellbeing - and those are relationships, children and success.

You can find motivational videos from a variety of topics ranging from love and relationships, career, personal growth, to videos dedicated to children and parents looking for tips on parenting children. Watching these videos can transform your life in many ways. Let us elaborate on these three topics in a little more detail:

Inspirational videos dedicated to relationships

Are you wondering how to bring back the lost romance in your marriage relationship? Do you want to improve communication in your marriage? Inspirational videos offer relationship advice and help you do all that and more. Such videos inspire people to overcome the barrier of communication, build trust, enhance mutual understanding and more. Watching such motivational videos daily is like listening to a relationship coach who helps you overcome misunderstandings and difficulties with your spouse or partner. In fact, watching a motivating video with your partner is a great experience in building communication and togetherness as it offers you a platform to converse on life's crucial issues.

Inspirational videos dedicated to personal development

Watching inspirational videos that give inspiring messages on success secrets hidden right within us, are a great way of getting yourself motivated. If you check out any YouTube video on inspirational messages, you will be amazed to find the astonishing number of views it may have received, running into hundreds of thousands. Quite obviously, there is a large number of people who would like to watch inspirational videos to get the enthusiasm, inspiration and motivation required to achieve your dreams.

Inspirational videos dedicated to children

All parents want to see their kids grow to be a happy and successful individuals. Motivating videos act as a perfect tool to teach your kids the good virtues of life and give them the life wisdom that will help them achieve their greatest dreams.

Moreover inspirational quotes and videos also help improve your approach towards parenting children and handle child's behavior problems effectively.

 For children especially, the audio-visual format of an inspirational video serves as a very interesting medium to learn life wisdom. Moreover, watching an inspirational video with your child is a great way of mentoring the young mind towards how to face life's challenges.

To find such beautiful and inspirational videos you have to search on the net. A large number of such videos are available but you will have to search for them with relevant keywords.
If you would like to receive daily inspirational videos in your inbox, without having to hunt for them, then take the membership of Wisie.com that sends you the videos daily. Watching a motivational video is a great way to begin your day and this practice will help you build more successful relationships, become a better parent and achieve your goals in professional life.

6 Essential Parental Tips On How To Instill Discipline In Children

One of the primary responsibilities of parents is to discipline a child. It involves teaching the child the difference between right and wrong, making him learn good habits and instilling the values of honesty, patience, tolerance, perseverance, respect and good behavior. However, ensuring healthy child development is easier said than done. Disciplining a child without making him rebellious or stubborn requires sensitive and careful efforts and most importantly, an in depth understanding of the child's behavior. Here are a few parenting tips for disciplining your child without damaging his personality development:

1. Stay calm

Maintain your cool whenever your child misbehaves. Screaming and yelling at your child won't help in any way. It will only worsen the situation and make your child even more stubborn and rebellious. And never resort to punishing your child physically for the sake of instilling discipline in the child.

Discipline is about teaching your children good values, it is not about punishing them. Even if your child has made a mistake, do not lose your cool. If you calmly explain to your child the bad effects of her misbehavior, you will find that your child will pay more attention to what you are saying. On the other hand, if you scream and yell, you may find that your child is unable to clearly understand the seriousness of her mistake or misbehavior. The discipline that you are trying to instill in your child would be lost amidst your ranting and raving.

If you do find yourself losing your calm, take a deep breath, regain your composure and talk to your child.

2. Do not criticize

Never criticize in front of others. Too much criticism will make them feel unloved. Appreciate your children, and whenever they make mistakes, tell them that you love them, but what you are not happy with is their behavior. Children are not any less intelligent than grown ups. Only their age is young and they are less experienced. If you explain to your child why you are unhappy with his behavior, your child will surely understand what he did was wrong.

3. Do not praise too much either

If criticism is harmful, too much praise too is equally bad. If you begin to appreciate your child too often, your comments will soon become ineffective. Your child will expect to be appreciated for every little thing and your appreciation will not create any sense of achievement or joy in her.

4. Stay away from bribing the child

Give rewards to your children for behaving well or doing good work. However, keep in mind that there is a fine-line difference between rewards and bribes. A bribe is something which you offer to your child in order to get things done. On the other hand, a reward is something which your child gets for doing something good. Make sure your child appreciates being rewarded and works harder to win it.

5. Be a role model

You must have heard of the saying, "Practice what you preach." In order to discipline your child you first have to set your own example. If you want your child to develop good habits and manners, you must do so yourself. Children quickly pick up habits from their parents and emulate them.

6.Watch a motivational video

It is not enough to simply teach, preach and discipline children. Most importantly, parents need to spend quality time with their children. In a parent-child relationship, the quality of parent-child interaction has a large role to play in how the child develops his dreams, goals and abilities to make the correct decisions. As a parent, you have a huge role in instilling life wisdom in your child.

For instance, you can read to your child some motivating stories, inspirational children quotes or tell your child about the lives of great people. Or better still, you can join your child in watching motivational videos that give inspirational messages of life wisdom. These videos provide an ideal platform for launching a conversation with your child on the values and virtues of life. These brief experiences and inspirational quotes are great tools for developing fulfilling, loving parent child relationships.

Motivational videos help children learn family values and skills, gain self esteem and learn to appreciate and value parental love. As far as parents are concerned, watching motivational videos help them improve their approach toward parenting children, and tackle behavior problems in children.

Know How To Prevent Your Child From Getting Addicted to Television

One of the major concerns of parents these days is that their children watch too much television. Television is no longer just a source of entertainment. It has become a way of life. There is nothing wrong in watching television per se, but if it becomes the over-riding pastime to the exclusion of constructive activities, the effects can be damaging.
Three to 10 year old children do not have the maturity or understanding or differentiate between good and bad programs making it essential for parents to strictly monitor what their children are watching. Good parenting essentials involves ensuring that your children have healthy choices. And at the same time, you have to ensure that the television viewing time of your children is not excessive.

Here are some useful tips for parents who are unable to control their children from watching too much television:

Be a role model

Before telling your child to cut down on television take a close look at your own TV viewing habits. If you spend 3 to 4 hours a day watching sitcoms and soaps, you can't expect your child to watch television in moderation. So practice what you preach and become a role model to your child.

Involve your child in constructive activities

Get your child involved in some constructive and interesting activity which appeals to him. You can get your child enrolled in dancing, music, swimming, painting, football or any other sport. You can coax your child to learn guitar or any other musical instrument, read a book or listen to some music. Encourage your child to play outside or take her to the park or the beach. Pursuing these activities is far better than sitting in front of the idiot box all day long and doing nothing. The point is to keep your child occupied so that he doesn't feel the need to watch television. Physical or mental activities not only discourage children from watching television but also prevent obesity.

Plan a schedule for TV viewing

Never scream at your children to convey your point. And don't turn off the television abruptly while children are watching. This would only aggravate the behavior problems in children and make them rebellious. Instead discus with them calmly and plan a schedule to watch television such as watching television for an hour after homework is complete.

No television during dinner

Create a policy of 'No television' during dinner time. Spend that time sharing with your child about your work and listen to what they have to say about school, friends and so on. When there is no television to distract the child, she will get closer to you and even interacts with siblings more.

Subscribe to fewer channels

One of the practical things to do is to subscribe to fewer channels. This way you save money as well as discourage useless channel browsing.

Watch a motivational video

If you are finding it difficult to convey your message to your child, watch a beautifully made motivational video with your child which will help create a wonderful launching pad for a conversation where you can convey vital life-wisdom messages to your child. These wonderful inspirational quote messages offer tips on parenting children as well as assist in child development. Watch an inspirational video daily with your child which can convey the bad effects of watching too much television much more easily than you can imagine.

Watching television is not bad provided it is done in moderation. Seek help from these tips to prevent your child from becoming couch-potato.

How To Motivate Your Children To Do Schoolwork

Getting your children to do their schoolwork is one of the toughest tasks which parents face daily. At times things can get so frustrating that parents end up yelling at their children or punishing them. However aggressiveness or impatience only aggravates the situation rather than solving it. If your children are not taking interest in their schoolwork and studies, here are a few parenting tips which can help you get schoolwork done from your children without too much fuss:

Parenting tip 1
First of all, sit with your children and gently explain to them why studies and schoolwork are important. Don't lose your cool. Instead be calm and patient with your children. Also discuss with them what kind of work you do and share the books you read. Listen to what they have to say about their school, teachers, classmates, assignments and so on. Participate with them in their world and activities and they will feel closer to you.
Parenting tip 2
Set up a fixed schedule for schoolwork which should be followed as a daily routine. For instance, devote the time say from 4 to 5:30 for schoolwork and after that for play. Once they know that they have time for play after their schoolwork is finished, they will enjoy the excitement of finishing schoolwork quickly. That helps children realize that their entire day is not devoted to just studies.
Parenting tip 3
After scheduling a fixed time, set up a place in the house where children can do their schoolwork without any distractions. Make sure that the study room has ample light and is clean and quiet.
Parenting tip 4
Don't interfere too much while your children are doing their schoolwork. Offer your help when your child asks for it. Supervising your child too closely at every step can have two undesirable results - (a) your child will not learn to do his own tasks independently (b) your child may find your interference a bother. Instead give your child time to resolve her/her problems. Step in only when you find your child unable to handle the task on his own.

Parenting tip 5
Be a role model to your children. If children 3 to 10 years old watch their parents reading or writing, they too are likely to pick up these habits.
Parenting tip 6
Apart from all this, also make an effort to keep in touch with your children's teachers. This will keep you updated about how your children are progressing in school. It will also give you an opportunity to discuss with the teachers your child's performance in school.
Parenting tip 7
In order to encourage your children to understand the importance of doing schoolwork, watch a motivational video with them daily. Inspirational videos meant for children 3 to 10 years old are designed to beautifully convey the wisdom and the values of studying, learning, growing and achieving goals in life. Moreover, motivational video messages also offer great parenting tips which help parents in tackling behavior problems in children. Watching motivational videos will also bring you closer to your child and create a wonderful launching pad for a conversation where you can convey vital life-wisdom messages to your child.
Tips & Warnings:
· Don't ever resort to screaming or yelling at your child. Be calm and patient when dealing with children.
· Don't supervise too closely when children are doing schoolwork.
· Always be in touch with the teachers.
· Watch inspirational quotes and motivational videos which assist in child development.

How To Instill the Habit of Reading in Your Child

"One of the greatest gifts adults can give to their offspring and to their society is to read to children." - Carl Sagan.
Books are a man's best friends. Reading helps expand horizons and assists in overall child development. However, considering the amount of entertainment options we have these days- TV, cartoons, CDs/DVDs and video games, it becomes difficult for parents to get children to pick up the habit of reading. Here are a few useful parenting tips which will help you introduce your children to the world of books:

Surround children with books

The best way to get your children into the habit of reading is by making books and magazines easily visible and accessible in your home. As your child grows up among books and sees his/her parents as book lovers and avid readers, he will be curious and interested to check them out.
One great way of doing this is to populate the home with books kept in clear sight.
Keep magazines on the stack, put a children's book or two on the study table, put a few colorful and easily readable books among the toys, some in the car and few in the bed room. Dedicate a corner of the house to books and build your library there.

When your child is surrounded by so many books and reading material, she will naturally feel inclined toward picking up the books and flipping through them. Especially pre-learners and kids love listening to stories. A few good books in their hands can get them interested to know more about them. And teach children to handle books with care.

Get colorful
Children love colors. Dull books with no pictures don't appeal to them. So get them books which contain lots of colorful images that will help children to develop their curiosity and interest in reading.
Thanks to technology, books have undergone a huge transformation with a large variety of books now being made available. From audio books to books that allow you to record in your voice - the options are many. The idea is to surround children with books that evoke their interest.

Bedtime stories

No matter how busy your schedule has been, a great way of parenting children is to make it a habit to read stories to your children at bedtime. Most children love story telling sessions and look forward to bedtime stories. If you have two children, ask the elder one to narrate a story to the younger sibling.

Read yourself

Good parenting requires parents to be role models to their children. Children sub-consciously pick up a lot of habits from their parents. If you have the habit of reading books, your child is likely to grow up to be a book-lover. If you watch less TV and spend more time reading, your child may pick up the same habits.

Let children choose their books

  Get your child acquainted with books from an early age. Right from the time she is around 3 years old and has begun to understand the magic of the printed word, take your child to the nearest library or bookstore regularly and let her select the books.

Help your child find the right kind of books, flip through the pages together, explain to him what the book is about and whether it is of interest or not. You will find the experience turning out to be one of joyful discovery for the two of you. As your child sifts through books, turning the pages excitedly and even demanding to buy everything that catches his fancy, you will find that this early fascination will slowly grow into a healthy habit.

Watch videos that inspire children

One of the sure ways to make children pick the habit of reading is by watching a good motivational video. Select inspirational videos which contain beautiful images with profound messages which are likely to have much more impact than mother poems. Or subscribe to a website which delivers inspirational videos especially made for children as they serve as a great launching pad to start a wonderful conversation with your child. You can watch these motivational videos daily with your child and read the inspirational message to him/her aloud. The golden nuggets of wisdom that inspirational quotes deliver will make your child want to know more and read about them.

Moreover these inspirational quotes offer practical guidance on parenting children and helpful parenting tips. In terms of parenting help, reading motivational children quotes are a great way of inspiring your child.

Tips To Improve Parent Child Bonding

Parenting children is a challenging task. To build and strengthen a parent child relationship, parents need to put in serious efforts. Gone are the days when parents used strict methods in order to discipline their children. Children in general were either in awe of their parents or feared them... especially their fathers.
Nowadays the approach has changed and more focus is being put on how to bridge the generation gap, improve parent children communication and enhance bonding between parents and their children. Here are some easy tips that will help you improve the parent child relationship with your child:

Make your child feel special and loved
You must have heard and read everywhere the magical powers of saying "I love you" to your partner and how it can positively improve your relationship with your spouse. The same holds true for your parent child relationship also.
Even if you are angry with your child over something or have had an argument, say "I love you" to your child daily. Children need to feel loved, and as parents you can make them feel special and also boost their confidence.
Communicate
Share your thoughts or the kind of work you do with your child. Try to have as much conversation as possible with your child. Each of us are busy in our work, but in order to improve your family life, you will have to invest your time into it.
Follow a bedtime ritual
Make it a habit to read fairy tales and other bedtime stories to your child before putting him/her to bed. Building a bedtime ritual can go a long way in strengthening the bonding between parent and children. This practice not only improves parent child communication but also helps instill the habit of reading in the child apart from boosting his/her powers of imagination and visualization. Once you start narrating stories to your child, your child will develop the habit of visualizing the story as it unfolds and will look forward to this ritual. One thing your children will never forget even when they are older is the time they spent with you hearing bedtime stories.

Indulge in fun activities with your child
Apart from reading, also make an effort to indulge in fun activities with your children. No matter how busy you are, once you are home from work spend some quality time with your children. Play board games with your son, or play with dolls if you have a daughter, sing songs together, play the piano and so on. In short, become a kid yourself and try to enjoy things that your child loves.
Respect and value your children' choices and opinions
Value your child's opinion. Ask your child which shoes look better with the dress you are wearing and so on. These small things go a long way in improving communication and strengthening the parent child relationship. And at times, let your children make the decisions themselves. If your son wants to wear red pants with a purple sweater let him wear it. Don't force your opinion on your child all the time.
Encourage your child to assist you
Also let your children assist you in things which they can do. For instance, helping you clear the table, putting dishes in the sink, and so on. And don't feel bad that your child is assisting you in your chores. Doing these little things will instill the feeling of responsibility in your child and of course make your relationship stronger. But when children help you, do not expect too much from them or it might get frustrating.

Motivational videos
Apart from reading and playing with your child, you can watch a motivational video which can a go long way in enriching parent-child quality time. Besides these inspirational quotes, videos work as a great launching pad to start a healthy conversation with your child and support child development and offer great parenting tips. Spending a few moments watching these educational motivational videos will help you pass on important life-lessons about responsibility, honesty, self-confidence, kindness and more.

How To Help Your Kids Become Creative and Imaginative

"Dad, please, I don't want to miss my favorite show," cried Evans as Bill tried to switch the TV off to make his 8-year-old son spend his time in something more constructive.
"Does the TV run only your favorite shows through the day?" asked Bill in exasperation, struggling with his son to keep the remote in his hand. Evans ended up spilling the packet of chips on to the carpet. Bill walked off in a huff, mumbling something about throwing the TV out the window and the TV continued to blare.
This is not only about Evans and Bob. It is a typical problem for any parent who is wondering how to dissuade his/her child from toxic TV and engage the growing young one into something more useful and creative. Particularly, during vacations, the problem gets even more acute with children having more leisure time on their hands with nothing much to do.
Parent childrencommunication is essential
You may hear parents grumbling about kids getting addicted to TV or video games. But is it really the kid's fault? As parents, it is our responsibility to take the initiative to instill creativity and imagination in children and engage them in constructive activities in which they realize the joy of creation.
The fact is our thoughts give us the power to create anything we want to. Of course, explaining this wisdom to children is a herculean task. Wisdom, awareness, powers of imagination are not available in capsules which you can pop into their mouth. They need to be instilled in children with great care and with sensitive communication between the parent and children. It is imperative for parents to help children become aware of their hidden potential, of the creative powers they have and the abilities they possess right from an early age.
That is why, as parents, you need to have healthy communication with children and talk about the power of imagination. You must have heard of the phrase - 'Mind over matter.' Our mind has unfathomable power that can help us realize our dreams. After all you bring about what you think about. And being imaginative helps you to have good, positive thoughts. So here are a few tips for parents which will help you instill creativity and imagination in children:

Bring toys/games/activities that spur imagination in kids
Don't force your ideas on children when they are playing. Let them come up with their own ideas. And buy toys/games/activities which ignite imagination in children. For instance, play dough, fun painting sets, jigsaw puzzles, word making games, creative things to make with plaster of paris and other such educational toys are a great way of motivating children to create something from their own imagination.
Expose kids to new things
One of the ways to promote curiosity and ignite imagination in kids is by exposing them to new things that allow them to think in a new way. On weekends, take children to cultural or scientific museum and exhibitions. Encourage them to mingle with the children of different cultures and communities. It is a great way of exposing your child to the diversity of culture, art and heritage the world has to offer.
Be open and patient
Don't push children to arrive at a solution. Be patient if your child is having difficulty in solving a riddle. Give him/her time to arrive at a solution and appreciate his/her effort. This will encourage children to come up with their own ideas. Remember the effort and thought process of finding solutions is more important than arriving at a solution.
Let your child help you in daily chores
Engage your children in day to day activities. While cooking you can ask children which fruits or vegetables grow on trees or under ground. Discuss with them what is unique about the Leaning Tower of Pisa, how tall buildings are able to stand, what makes airplanes fly and so on. The idea is to engage them with their own thought process rather than forcing your ideas on them.
Surround kids with books
Books are one of the best ways to ignite imagination in children. Fill your child's room with a variety of books from mythology, history and so on. Preferably get them children's books with beautiful, colorful pictures as children get more attracted to images.
As we all know that both children and adults register images better in their mind than words, so you can have children watch some really great inspirational quotes or motivational videos. In fact, best is that you watch these meaningful videos with your children together. Such motivational videos are laden with life's wisdom along with captivating images that provide useful parenting tips. These motivational videos have proven to be a great help for parenting children and helps kids understand the importance of the power of thoughts and imagination. Besides, inspirational videos especially designed for children instill the important lessons of responsibility, honesty, perseverance, kindness, self-confidence and more in the young minds.
So get set to create a wonderful environment at home for your children where they are allowed to be creative and imaginative. After all, the mind is like a window through which you can see your future.

Parenting Tips On How To Motivate Your Child

How many times do you acknowledge your child and say thank you? A child especially needs encouragement to feel loved and self-motivated. As a parent, it is your responsibility that your child grows up to be a motivated and confident person. As parents, you can help your children develop confidence about their own selves by acknowledging and appreciating their efforts and endeavors.

Learn to take failures in stride

It is not necessary that your child succeeds every time in everything he/she does. Failures are also a part of growing up.If your child does not perform well in something and if you keep nagging him/her, your child will feel disheartened and will lose confidence to try again to do better.
Encouragement goes a long way in shaping a child's beliefs. Especially in today's times when children face immense peer pressure and there is so much competition and frustration; it becomes all the more important for parents to encourage their children and support them.
Here are a few simple parenting tips that can help you encourage your child:

Praise your child

Usually parents don't miss an opportunity to scold their children when they do something wrong, but most often parents tend to forget to acknowledge their children when they do something right. Take some time and try to think how often have you forgotten to praise your children when you asked them to do some chores be it cleaning the table, putting dishes in the sink and so on. No matter how small a task is, praising your child, whenever he/she does a good job is very important.

Praise him/her by saying a few words of appreciation such as "good job, well done,", "you are on the right track," "that is a real improvement," "I'm proud of the way you did this," "Amazing - How did you do that," "you are learning fast" and so on. Once you start showing your appreciation when your child does the right things, you will notice that he/she will make extra efforts to do things better.

Say 'thank you' 

Thank your children whenever they do a good job. Many parents feel that saying 'thank you' to children is not important. On the contrary saying a simple 'thank you' gives that extra push to the child to try harder. Just like adults, children also need appreciation and when their parents thank them, children feel proud of their work and it gives a boost to their confidence.

Be a good listener

The best way to enhance your parent child relationship is by maintaining good communication and listening to your child. Listen to your children about how they spent their day at school, what they say about their friends, the problems they faced and the fun they had. Usually when children don't get listened to by parents, they either turn to their friends and peers or stop communicating. Their feelings, doubts, questions and emotions get bottled up. Be gentle and understanding with your children and listen to them patiently.

Don't reward children with money

When your children do some good work, praise them but don't reward them with money. Getting paid for every little thing they do can make children give over importance to money from a very tender age. For instance, if you reward your child with extra money for doing household chores, he/she will start expecting money for things that are part of his responsibilities of being a family member.

If you keep offering money for doing chores, this will generate a feeling of selfishness and the child will do work only if she is given money. There are other, much fruitful ways of rewarding your child or showing your appreciation. Take out your little one for an outing or a movie, let him invite his friends over for some fun time or surprise your child by getting her something - say, a box of chocolates or a couple of books.

Watch a motivational video

Another good way to encourage a child is by showing them good, motivational videos. There are some great sites which offer amazing inspirational quotes videos which you can watch along with your child. These motivational videos are designed to inspire children, enhancechild development and convey the important life lessons of kindness, self-confidence, honesty, self-motivation and creative spirit. These motivational videos also are a great source of tips and information on parenting children effectively.

Compassionate Living: An Essential Element of Child Development

It is difficult in today's violent society, to teach our children to empathize with people and to understand how others feel. For parents, teaching kids to be compassionate takes time, skills and an enormous amount of patience and efforts. Just like you teach your child to ride a cycle or tie shoelaces, you need to teach your children to be compassionate, kind and caring while they are growing up. Here are a few parenting tips that will help you instill the value of compassion in your children:

Parenting advice: Encourage children to give and donate

Involve your children in the charitable work you do. Encourage children to donate their toys they have outgrown and clothes which they no longer wear to the kids who cannot afford these things. On occasions such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, ask your children to give away some of their toys, dolls etc to the kids who are less fortunate.

In fact, actually take your children to a charitable organization where they can themselves hand over the items to the kids. Seeing other kids feel happy upon receiving those toys will make your child understand the joy and value of being compassionate.

Importantly, you must make your children understand that donation or giving away does not mean disposing of waste items. In fact, to realize the pleasure of giving, give away items which are in good condition and you find them of value. After all, a shirt which is torn or a toy train which is broken is of no use to anyone. So encourage your child to donate those items which he/she may have outgrown but are in good shape.

Ways of being compassionate 

Being compassionate does not mean only donating. It also means spending time with elderly people, helping a blind man cross the road, helping the elderly find their way in a crowded area, comforting someone in distress, being friendly to the new child in the class, being polite to the waiters, helping your neighbors and other such pleasant gestures.

Compassion also means being kind and caring to animals, not only your own pets. Once you teach your child to love animals and consider their feelings, you will find your child taking the lead in protecting even stray animals from getting bullied by the neighborhood children. Compassion builds the foundation for trust and respect. Only when you experience compassionate living, do you truly learn to love and respect others. Also, when you help your children learn to be compassionate, you are also safeguarding them against behavior problems.

As a parent the best way to instill these values in your children is to practice them yourself. When your children notice how you love and take care of your own parents, your children will learn to follow in your footsteps. Encourage your child to spend time with his/her grandparents, go out with them for walks and be with them when they are in need.

Have conversations with your children

Parenting children does not only amount to providing for their daily needs. It is vitally important for every parent to develop and nurture a healthy parent child relationship where you can freely discuss with your children about life wisdom such as the joys of giving to others, the pleasure in being compassionate, the fulfillment of spreading love.

If your child is not being friendly to a new student in class, tell him/her to imagine how would he/she feel if he/she was in that person's place? How would your child want to be treated by others? The point is to make child understand that everyone has feelings and we should not hurt anybody's emotions. Once your child learns to view the world from the other person's point of view, he/she will develop a loving, considerate and compassionate nature. This is an essential need of healthy child development. If you don't instill these values from a tender age in your children, it might be too late to learn when they are grown up.

All living creatures have feelings and being kind to them will only make you feel good. Help your children to know that they can create a better world by being gentle and compassionate toward other

Let Your Children Learn the Importance Of Achievement

"My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others. That is nice but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success." -Helen Hayes

Are you wondering how to motivate your son who is feeling low as he lost a race? Are you thinking how to console your crying daughter who is upset because she came in second in her class? As a parent, it is important that you teach your children right from the early years the meaning of achievement.

"Build momentum by accumulating small successes." -Unknown

Achievement is about moving toward your goal and fulfilling one target at a time. You would have heard of the popular phrase - "Rome was not built in a day." It holds true for personal accomplishments as well. A mountain is climbed one step at a time, a book is completed one page at a time, and a building is constructed one brick at a time. The focus should be on what you are doing and on giving your best.
"A successful individual typically sets his next goal somewhat but not too much above his last achievement. In this way he steadily raises his level of aspiration." Kurt Lewin

All big accomplishments take time. And you need to teach children to take joy in the little things they achieve. This will help children feel motivated and prevent them from procrastinating. You need to encourage your child and appreciate her whenever hehe makes efforts and is able to do something. It can be as little as tying shoelaces, learning to ride a bicycle, or ride skates.

For instance, if your child is learning to play Casio, don't force him to learn a song fast. Rather appreciate him when he plays one tune right. When you appreciate your children for achieving these small things, they will feel confident and believe that the goal is achievable.

"A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement." -Bo Bennett

You also need to teach children that taking some action towards your goal is much more important than doing nothing at all. Setting a goal is the first step but it should be followed by a step-by-step action plan. For instance, if your son is fond of music, get him a guitar, help him to listen to some great songs and discuss various singers with him. If your daughter loves writing, then first get her some good books which she can read or you can also read with her. Similarly if your child is fond of animals, show her programs on NatGeo, or Animal Planet and encourage her to go through National Geographic magazines.

"All personal achievement starts in the mind of the individual. Your personal achievement starts in your mind. The first step is to know exactly what your problem, goal or desire is." - W. Clement Stone

Having positive thoughts is very important in achieving your dreams. Encourage your child to visualize what he aspires to be. Tell your child that our thoughts are windows to our future. So it is essential to eliminate negative thoughts and think positive. You can recite good positive stories from inspirational books to your child, or show them motivating videos that conveys the life's wisdom and importance of taking one step at a time for achievement and the powerful impact of positive thinking. Besides, watching such wonderful daily inspiration quotes also provide tips on parenting children and strengthens the parent child relationship.

"I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs that had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work." - Harry S. Truman

Hard work, sincerity and dedication can make turn impossible situations into the most welcome opportunities for learning and growth. Help your children imbibe these values from a tender age to achieve success in their lives.