How to teach your children to Read and Write.

 

Most parents, at one point or another, frets over the education and the development of their children. Many concerned parents research and seek information on the topic of teaching children to read and write. I for one, am glad to see so many parents wanting to get an early start for their children in reading and writing, because studies have shown that developing these abilities early on before entering school provides numerous benefits and advantages later on as the child progresses through school.

More worrisome should be the fact that over one third, 38% to be exact, of all grade 4 students cannot even achieve a basic level of reading ability according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). This is an alarming statistic. Will your child become one of the 38% who cannot reach basic reading achievement by grade 4? For most children, this poor ability to read can be easily prevented with early phonemic awareness teaching.

Reading must begin early in the life of a child, whether it is just an alphabet letter, a word, a sentence, a paragraph, or a story. Teaching children how to read must begin early on, and children should be exposed to books, stories, rhymes, and be read to on a daily basis. Children as young as 2 years old can learn to read if you teach them to read with the proper instructions. Please watch the video below of a 2 year 11 months old reading randomly constructed sentences.

As Lida Williams said, almost 100 years ago:

"Phonics is not a method of teaching reading, but it is a necessary part of every good, modern method. It is the key to word mastery, and word mastery is one of the first essentials in learning to read. A knowledge of the sounds of letters, and of the effect of the position of the letter upon its sound, is an essential means of mastering the mechanics of reading, and of enabling children to become independent readers".

100 years later, this still holds true. There has been a great debate on what method of teaching is best to teach children how to read: whether phonics or the whole language method is better. The whole language learning to read method is more of a "word memorization" plan, where a young child is supposed to memorize the "shape" of the word, and say it.

It is important to distinguish the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness.

Phonological  Awareness

Phonological awareness is very broad, and includes phonemic awareness as a sub category. 

Phonemic  Awareness

Phonemic awareness is very narrow, and it is only focused on the phonemes, which are the individual sounds of letters. 

There are no shortage of studies which have repeatedly found and concluded that teaching phonemic awareness to young children produces exceptional reading and spelling abilities. You can read more about research on phonemic awareness here.

The whole language method simply expects a child to "read" when presented reading material, and by memorizing sight words. 

The phonics method is a bottom up approach where you teach children to read in a logical and sequential order. 

You first teach children the alphabet letters and the sounds they represent; then you teach children to combine (or blend) various letter sounds together to form words; which is then followed by reading sentences and simple stories. 

This is a logical progression for children learning to read, where they develop accuracy in decoding words and pronouncing words. This method of teaching also helps the child to spell correctly.

There's no doubt that phonics and phonemic awareness instruction is the superior method to teach children how to read. We have successfully used phonemic awareness instructions to teach our children at age 2 to read words, sentences, paragraphs, and simple story books. 

How to get pregnant naturally

Infertility may be broadly defined as the inability to get pregnant after trying for at least one year without using any birth control. In Western countries, infertility affects an estimated 15% of the population. While a part of them are trying to conceive using alternative methods like IVF, others prefer to optimize the chances of getting pregnant naturally.

 Trying to get pregnant naturally may be very important, since many couples and individuals who are diagnosed with infertility may be able to get pregnant without treatment (and hence should be defined as "subfertile" rather than "infertile").

When trying to get pregnant naturally, the most important factor is to understand the menstrual cycle and the timing of ovulation, which leads to the optimum chances of getting impregnated.

 Usually, ovulation occurs around the fourteenth day, and hence, to get pregnant naturally, a couple should have as much sexual intercourse as possible between the twelfth and the fifteenth day. Different women have slightly varying menstrual cycles.Hence, to improve the chances of becoming pregnant, it is imperative to study one's periods, and calculate exactly when one ovulates.

Determining  The  Signs  Of  Ovulation

To check for the right timings of ovulation, a woman can do one, or many, of the following things:

•  Keep a calendar. Keeping a calendar to chart the days is an easy and effective method to determine the right time to have sexual intercourse.

•  Keep a check on vaginal fluids. Mucus discharge from the vagina usually becomes heavier, thinner, clearer and stretchy during ovulation when compared to the usual times.

•  Feel the inside of the vagina. During ovulation, the cervix is softer and slightly more open than usual.

•  Keep tabs on any sharp pain in the abdomen. Sharp pains in the abdomen, or some slight spotting, may be indicative of ovulation. 

•  Other physical conditions. Headaches, bloating, breast tenderness and pain may be signs of ovulation.

Having checked for ovulation, there are some other things that an individual can do to increase the chances of getting pregnant naturally.

• These include lying still for a while after having sexual intercourse.

•  Avoiding the bathroom for about thirty minutes after having sexual intercourse.

•  And most importantly, figuring out how many times one should have sexual intercourse.

Men often neglect their own part to play in this whole scenario. The sperms need to be of the correct constitution, correct shape and correct motility too, or else, however fertile the women may be, impregnation does not occur naturally. A way of ensuring that the sperms are undamaged is by wearing boxers instead of briefs. Boxers help in keeping the testicles from overheating and damaging sperms.

For both women and men, the anatomical and hormonal factors are not the only ones to be monitored and corrected. In most cases, failure to conceive may result from Natural pregnancy, and even environmental factors such as proximity to harmful doses of pesticides. Abstinence from such factors goes a long way in ensuring a pregnancy.

One should always keep in mind that the holistic approach to solving a problem is the optimal way to tackle infertility. 

Getting regular health checkups, taking supplements to combat existing problem, exercising and stress reduction techniques are only part of the holistic solution to infertility which considers the problem as part of a whole unlike the conventional approach which tackles a specific body organ in its attempt to heal. The holistic approach is not only a surefire way to increase your chances of conception it also guarantees a safe and healthy pregnancy.

How to start potty training a baby

When can I start potty training for my baby ?

How can I start potty training for my baby?

Is my baby ready for potty training?

These are some such queries that are mostly searched on Google now a days.

A mother experiences a lot of fulfilling and happy moments in her mission of raising her children. Potty training is not one of those moments. As I struggled with it with my daughter, my mother gave me some advice. She told me to relax because potty training will come naturally to her. 

Nevertheless, potty training can really try your patience. No matter what I tried my daughter seemed to have no interest in potty training. For her the bathroom is a place where she can enjoy a bath with her toys.

Diapers have been fattening my grocery bills for two years. I was getting quite desperate. A friend suggested to me that using potty treats to reward my daughter might work. To bribe my toddler I placed a small container of candies in the bathroom. The first few days were encouraging. She responded quickly to the candies and I thought that I finally found the answer.

I would give her treats when she entered the bathroom and more if she sat on the potty. After a few weeks however her interest for candies began to diminish and so did her visits to the bathroom. Another seemingly effective potty training tactic failed. My daughter made it clear that she has the last say when it comes to potty training

My suffering finally ended one day when my best friend's daughter at daycare started using the potty. At that point my daughter suddenly and miraculously decided that using the potty was a good idea and she would star using it too. 

After about week of practice my potty training were finally over. My mother was right. It came naturally to her.

I can hardly believe it. Countless hours of planning potty training strategies had produced nothing. After al that sacrifice and hard work all it took to convince was her friends decision to use the potty. Needless to say my enjoyment on raising my daughter was rekindled after that special day at the daycare. I am now proud of accomplishing my mission of potty training my two year old daughter.

WHEN  SHOULD  I  START  POTTY  TRAINING?

• 18-24 months. Most young children are ready to begin potty training sometime between 18-24 months. After 24 months, many children enter a phase in which they are developing their independence. It can be trickier to begin potty training then.   

• Vacation. Both family and child need to be ready for potty training. Choose a week when you parents are on hand. Holidays are a great time to start potty training.

• Signs. To know whether your child is ready, look for these signs that your child is ready to stop using nappies.  

  

WHERE  SHOULD  I  POTTY  TRAIN ?

• Favorite spot. The toilet doesn’t have to be the only place to potty train your child. If there’s any other place in your house where your child likes to spend time, it might be a good idea to have a potty there.
  

• Always nearby. Putting the potty in a room where your child usually plays can help them to get used to the potty and prepare for potty training.
  

• Home and away. Take the potty with you if you’re away from home.

How can I trainned my baby to sleep whole night ?

How can I trainned my baby to sleep whole night ? - a wonderful training programme.

For an adult, sleep may seem a simple thing. You’re tired, you sleep. A baby, however  needs to learn how to do that. As surprising as it may sound, sleep is a skill that needs to be learned.
Sleep training a child is undoubtedly one of the most challenging – and frustrating – things for all parents. You may be tired or exhausted for helping him to get some, but your child won’t understand that as he or she is too young. 

First, let’s answer the question: “Is it hard to train my child to sleep”?

The short answer is no. Training is synonymous with learning and babies love to learn – even when it comes to sleeping. They suck in new information as if it were warm milk.

However, some parents think of it as hard because of the word ‘training’. This is due to the fact that they don’t agree with the term, arguing that training is for animals and not for children.

But think about it.

Even as an adult you train in something in order to learn it. When you get a new job, you receive training. Someone already skilled patiently guides you through your new duties.

And when you make a mistake, does someone gets angry at you?

Of course not.

The same thing happens with sleep training. The skill needs to be learned. After all, your baby’s job during the night is sleeping, not crying.

So, What should we do ?

We should go with the one and only 

Sleep Struggles – Why Do Children Cry As They Learn How To Sleep

Why do toddlers cry before sleeping? 

Why does my child cry every night before bed?

My child moves a lot while sleeping?

These are some such queries that are mostly searched on Google nowadays.

 Seeing your baby cry is perhaps the most heartbreaking moment of all. You don’t want him to cry. You want him happy. And of course, you want him healthy. But for all that to happen, he needs to sleep properly.

It would be nice if your child could learn how to sleep without any crying or frustration whatsoever. Every parent would sign up for that. Unfortunately, the truth is that all children, regardless of the method you use to help them sleep, inevitably do shed some tears in the process. Let’s see why ?

First and foremost, children cry when learning to sleep because they are protesting – they don’t like change. In fact, they hate change. Just think about it.

1. Do you remember what your favorite book was as a kid? 

1. Do you remember wanting to read that book over and over again, even though you knew every word of it?

We all resist change, children and adults alike. It’s normal to do so, and it’s normal for your child to express his resistance by crying. After all, crying comes before words – not the other way around.

Second, as children begin to learn how to sleep but haven’t yet figured out how to do so, they are understandably frustrated. They no longer have Mom and Dad on their side to help them get to sleep, and they don’t yet know what to do differently. They will eventually.
What’s really interesting about falling asleep is that although each of us is born with the inherent ability to do so, it is considered a learned behavior. And yet you can’t teach anyone else how to do it – you can’t simply say to your child to close his eyes and sleep. Instead, each of us has to learn for ourselves what to do to settle into sleep.

Of course, there are children who seem to learn how to sleep almost magically, with very little effort on the parent’s part. However, children are different. Everyone is unique.Your child, along with many others, hasn’t learned this essential skill yet, which is why he needs you to take a step back, so he has the opportunity to achieve that on his own. How will he do it? He might kick his legs around a bit, he might gently rock his head from side to side, or he might grab his lovey. Or maybe he’ll suck on his thumb. If he’s a bit older, maybe he’ll play with his hair. The truth is, each of us has different things we do to soothe ourselves into sleep, and your child will surely find a way that’s perfect for him. But he won’t discover those things nearly as easily with you standing right next to him or picking him up – he won’t have the motivation to do so.

Simply put, if you “help” him, he will cry even harder because the touching feels like a tease that serves to reinforce the crying.