Parenting Troubled Teens

Hearing Loss can be the Result of Second-Hand Smoke

July 15, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

There are so many adverse side effects of second-hand smoke that everyone is well schooled in them. However, studies are still being done and new effects are being discovered all the time.

One newer studydone by Dr. Anil K. Lalwani, a professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at the NYU Langone Medical Center, says second-hand smoke exposure also causes irreversible hearing loss.

It’s not the only adverse side effect, just the latest one, and it agrees with previous studies done on the subject. Children raised in a home with second-hand smoke are more prone to get Otitis Media, a middle-ear infection that eventually clears up without leaving behind any permanent damage. Not so when Otitis Media is caused by second-hand smoke; the damage is irreversible.

Tender Ears are in Danger

Smoke being directly blown into the ear has been known to cause infections, but, unlike those infections, this loss of hearing is caused by the chemicals in the smoke that are breathed and then introduced into the blood stream. Then in normal blood flow, the chemicals are taken to the middle ear where irreversible damage is done.

More research needs to be done, but it’s been long known that breathing nicotine smoke is dangerous and causes cancer along with a myriad of other maladies. But, this is new and important information to be added to the list.

All parents in the civilized world should know by now that cigarette smoke is dangerous to children, teens, adults and even animals. It does damage that’s irreversible in so many ways that still it’s being studied and analyzed, decades after being started.

Filed Under: Drugs, Family Support, Parenting, Teen Development Tagged With: NYU Langone Medical Center, Otitis Media, Passive smoking

Best Cable Channels on TV & How to Get Them All

July 13, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Getting the best cable channels all in one place is easier than ever before. Whether you are looking for lighthearted programming for your family, serious news reports during turbulent political times, or your teen just wants to enjoy his/her favorite musical artists, direct.tv offers access to hundreds of channels on a large number of portable devices to meet your viewing needs. This is your guide to the best programs that the whole family can enjoy (yes…even your teen!).

HBO Family

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/HBO_Family_logo.png

When you’re searching for commercial-free television for your family, HBO Family is an ideal option. You can put your children in front of this channel and walk out of the room for a few minutes knowing they won’t be exposed to inappropriate images.

Your choices on HBO Family include programming for preschoolers, movies with ratings of G and PG for school-aged children and evening programming to be enjoyed by the whole family. After the children have gone to bed, HBO Family presents programming with mature content minus the objectionable language or images.

CNN

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/AndersonCooperJohnEdwardNewOrleans2007.jpg

For access to both national and international news, CNN is a premier channel. With a large number of reporters traveling the country and the globe, CNN is the channel to turn to during elections and other political events.

When natural disasters strike, CNN is one of the first networks to rush to the scene and get as close as possible to affected areas. For people with families living abroad, CNN is a necessary channel to stay on top of the latest occurrences related to political uprisings, health-related issues or calamitous events.

MTV

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Lady_GaGa_in_Zurich.jpg

For musical entertainment, MTV is one of the more popular channels. From Lady GaGa to Justin Timberlake to Shakira, MTV gives you access to the latest music videos and news about music celebrities. Whether you love America’s Best Dance Crew, Teen Mom, MADE or Jersey Shore, MTV is one of the most entertaining channels on television.

BET

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Alicia_Keys_Sing.jpg/448px-Alicia_Keys_Sing.jpg

When in search of a more soulful musical channel, go to BET. You’ll see some of the same musical artists as seen on MTV, but with more of an emphasis on rap and R&B. BET shows include 106 & Park, American Gangster and Changing Lanes.

One of the more popular shows on BET is the hilarious Everybody Hates Chris, based on the life of Chris Rock. In addition, with shows like Keeping It Rich, you’ll stay on top of financial advice from host Sakina Spurell and her financial advisors.

CMT

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Garth_Brooks_at_We_Are_One_%28edit%29.jpg

For country music lovers, CMT is a must-have channel, featuring news and videos of country music artists. Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Sara Evans are just a few of the popular country artists you’ll find on CMT.

On this country music television channel, you have access to shows like CMT Top 20 Countdown, CMT’s Next Superstar and CMT Crossroads.

TLC

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Tlc_logo_discovery.jpg

On TLC you’ll find something for everyone in your family. Learn how to bargain shop by watching Extreme Couponing. Brides to be can benefit from watching Say Yes to the Dress, a program that helps women prepare for their weddings.

For fashion advice, TLC offers What Not to Wear in which style experts help women turn their fashion mistakes into a more appealing appearance. This funny show allows you to sit back and learn what not to do as others are criticized for their fashion felonies.

For more serious programming, check out the lives of six couples as they prepare for parenthood in A Conception Story. Addictions are also explored in television programming called My Strange Addiction.

HGTV

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HGTV is for anyone interested in household renovations, real estate explorations and arts and crafts projects. Carter Can tackles difficult home improvement projects. Colors Splash focuses on infusing dull rooms and homes with exciting and transformative colors.

Curb Appeal gives you ideas for how to revamp the look of your garden and landscape. In Selling New York, you get a feel for the cut throat and competitive real-estate environment of New York and how agents go about closing major deals.

Cinemax

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Cinemax_LA_logo.png

When you’re ready to dive into the world of movies, Cinemax is an ideal choice. Thrillers, dramas, comedies and more may be found on Cinemax. Whether you’re looking for an older and fanciful movie such as The Princess Bride or a newer and more serious film like Invictus, instant access to the movies lets you sit back and enjoy your afternoon or evening.

CONCLUSION

If you want a premium service that gives you access to all of these channels and hundreds more, DIRECTV does exactly this. From a variety of packages ranging from 150 to 285 plus channels, you will never be at a loss for something to watch.

What’s more you have access to the latest technology. Record favorite shows and switch from one room to another in the middle of the show. If you like to watch shows while riding on a bus or standing in long lines, you have that option on your iPad or cell phone. When you combine your favorite shows and channels with DIRECTV, there’s never a dull moment.

Filed Under: Parenting

Girls More at Risk for Behavioral Problems if Mom Doesn’t Work Outside the Home

July 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

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It’s an argument as old as dirt. Kids need two parents, with one of them staying home to take care of kids and the house. Healthier, more well-adjusted people come from homes where one parent takes care of the home and the kids. Well-behaved children come from homes where one parent raises themand the other works.

Wrong. Many studies have been conducted in the last several decades, and the information coming out is that the old school of thought is valueless.

The study was published in the 2010 Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Senior researcher at University College London, Anne McMunn, PhD, reports that there are no detrimental child’s behavior associated with the mother working outside the home.

Girls are More in Danger of Behavior Problems

In fact, the studies strongly suggest that children in homes with two working parentsseem to fare the best. However, the studies also suggest that for some reason, girls are twice as likely to have behavioral problems at age 5 if the mother stays home. No such effect has been discovered for boys.

McMunn said that working mothers should not feel guilty leaving their kids to work. Mothers worry about the emotional development of their children, when in actuality, they’re doing their kids a service by working outside the home, in regards to additional income for the family and positive effects on the children.

The latest study looked at information when the children were infants, when they were three and again at five years of age. It’s a UK study, but children are children, and the study results are likely in any country.

Filed Under: Family Support, Parenting Tagged With: Behavior, Parent, University College London

What Will my Child go Through in Treatment? What Should I Do?

July 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

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What’s it like in treatment? What will my son/daughter have to go through? Will I be welcome to visit my child? These are just a few of the questions that go through a parent’s mind when they find out their child needs treatment.

The first thing a teen’s parent needs to knowis that visiting is often not allowed at first. Addicts spend the first period of time getting used to their new surroundings and learning how to live without getting high or drunk. This no-contact period can take from a week to a month, depending on the treatment center’s policies.

Upon admission they’ll be assigned a treatment team that includes counselors and doctors. These people will be key in aiding the addict’s new walk in life, starting with treating withdrawal symptoms and cravings.

What‘s Next for my Child?

The teen will learn what triggers are and how to prevent relapse upon exposure to them, with the help of a counselor. Balance in life is taught, whether for food, drink or our thoughts; all aspects of life.

The treatment team will teach the teenager skills in reconnecting with important people in his/her life and they learn to focus on important things. Each stage of treatment requires the addict to rely on family and friends to help, create positive behaviors, identify high risk triggers and use coping mechanisms.

The very best, most important help a family member or friend can offer a recovering addict is to be there for them. Listen to them, encourage healthy lifestyle changes and help them to rebuild their lives. Always be there when they need support.

Filed Under: Parenting, Teen Development Tagged With: Adolescence, Child support, Health

Online College Courses Can Be a Good Fit for Your High School Grad

June 19, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

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Taking college courses online could be the answer if you have a busy high school grad. Because so many older teens lead such full lives between their jobs, sports and other activities, and their social lives, having to attend traditional college classes can result in your teen skipping out of some of their activities or even the college classes themselves. By taking classes online, your teen will have the flexibility they need to enjoy all that their lives have to offer without compromising their education.

Many online classes allow you to complete the work at your own pace as long as you have it submitted by the deadline. This means that your new grad can fit in school around the other activities that they have going on. Organization is an important key to the sucess that your teen has with classes that are taken online. It is imperative to know when the deadlines are approaching so that work can be completed on an ongoing basis. This helps to reduce the likelihood that you will find your teen frantically working on assignments at the last minute.

One good way to stay on top of the assignments of an online class is to make the use of a planner. By using the planner to write down all of the due dates for each assignment, your teen can then begin to break each assignment down into smaller chunks. These smaller chunks can be completed a little each day in order to not leave assignments until the last minute.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Education, eLearning, High school

How to Make Sure Your Baby Equipment is Safe

June 12, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Image by Kiet Callies via Flickr

The days of borrowing baby equipment to save money or even to hand down treasured items from generation to generation is largely gone now. In days past, you could count on being able to borrow that antique crib that had been in your family for years. With the expansion of the safety features that you will find in almost every new crib sold in the United States today, your baby will be far safer in a newer model.

This does not mean that you must do without the antique crib of your dreams, however. You can find a number of companies that make models of cribs that closely resemble those that are antique in nature. You will find the same timeless good looks and clean and sweeping lines in these new cribs as well as the assurance that they have met the latest in safety testing that is required by law. In many cases, you can purchase an entire suite of nursery furniture in the antique design that you like.

Car seats are another item of baby equipment that you should not borrow unless you know the history of the seat very well. For example, you will need to be sure that the car seat has not been involved in any sort of accident. This can weaken the structure of the seat itself and make it unsafe. You will also want to make sure that the car seat has not expired. Car seat manufactuers can only ensure that the safety materials that make up their seats are viable for a certain amount of time.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Car seat, Infant bed, United States

Keep Math Skills Sharp Over the Summer

June 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

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Many parents are concerned that their children seem to lose some of the skills that they have learned during the school year while they enjoy their summer vacations. While some loss may be unavoidable, there are some things that parents can do to help their kid’s skills stay fresh during the long summer break. The tips that follow are just a few ideas to get you started. You will likely be able to use them as a jumping off point for more ideas of your own.

To keep reading skills sharp over the summer, make use of your local public library. While these buildings are a great place to find books of almost every type that will suit people of every age and interest, many also offer a variety of different reading programs for all ages. These reading programs typically reward kids for reading books during the summer. For each book that they read, kids are give a prize of some sort. If your child is too young to read alone, you can read to him for the summer reading program.

Math skills can be kept sharp by using a variety of different games. Card games can be used in order to practice a number of different math skills without kids even realizing that they are learning. Games such as War help a child to learn number recognition. You can also tailor the game so that your child practices her addition skills by having her choose two cards and adding them together. The player with the highest sum wins the round.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Academic term, Educational software, Summer Reading Program

How to keep your Children Busy during the summer

May 18, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

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It’s almost that time again. School will be a thing of the past, at least for the summer, and this year, you want the experience to be different. No more walking around the house saying, “I’m bored.” No more getting into trouble because there’s nothing else to do. No more whining, no more complaining.

Is such a thing possible?

Perhaps not completely, but there are some things you can do so soften the summer whines a bit.

Get your children involved in camp, a new sport, or a summer field trip. Often, churches provide these services at a cheaper rate than you’ll see from businesses providing the same luxury.
Make weekly trips to the library. Books are a great thing, especially in the summer when you can sit outside and take it all in.
Go to the park. Take along a picnic.
Purchase a new outdoor game such as badminton or crochet. Play it as a family or invite the neighbors.
Put together a summer craft basket. Make some wonderful creations to give out to those you love.
Limit television, electronic games; anything that keeps your children away from enjoying the beauties and freedom of summer.
Give each of your children a section of the garden to be in charge of. That means they weed, water, and pretty much take care of their area.
Volunteer.
Visit the grandparents. Help them do yard work. Have a pizza party afterwards.

Keeping your children busy during the summer means more than static “electronic” zoning, it means keeping busy at learning and working and having fun.

Filed Under: Teen Development Tagged With: Recreation, Summer

Understanding the 4 Child Development Stages

May 15, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

The stages of child development can help you track your child’s progress in major areas. While these stages can vary depending on the age of your child, they may be placed into four major stages. Here is some information and advice on the stages:

Physical: This is highly dependent on the age of your child, and there may be differences individually. Ensure that your child eats a healthy diet, including fruits, vegetables, and other important food groups.
Motor Development: Fine and major motor skills are important. Use activities that will help promote these areas. Coloring, cutting, and writing are three important examples that can be found in this major development stage.
Language: Vocabulary and forming sentences will hopefully grow as your child ages. Work on building your child’s vocabulary and working on important aspects. For instance, many preschool and “older” (relatively) children have trouble with past/present tenses in speech.
Social and Emotional: This broad category will enable your child to interact with others, and encompasses emotional issues that appear in childhood. Do your best to understand difficulties to work on in this area.

Look for activities and toys to help your child. For instance, your child may be unwilling to share her favorite doll shoes and clothes with others. Items like this, such as sharing and emotional concepts, can be a common sight with children.

Stay in close contact with any applicable caretakers. With a positive and careful approach you can do your best for your child in these incredibly important areas.

Filed Under: Teen Development Tagged With: Child, Child development, Motor skill

An Understanding About Child Development Stages

May 12, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

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What child development stage is your child in? And what can you expect from that stage? Realistic expectations of your child in a particular stage will not only relieve your mind but will allow you to further develop your child within the specific area.

Here’s what to expect:

1. In the Sensorimotor Stage (0-24 months) expect that your child will only be thinking of him/herself. Your child is at the center of the universe and they will be interested in exploring objects and what they do. Think color, shape, and sound when you consider toys for your baby.

2. At the Preoperational Stage (2-7 years) you’re growing child will be surprised to learn that cars really don’t have brains and that they can’t think for themselves or feel bad if they get hurt. The way your child thinks is the way everyone else thinks; the way they play is the way everyone else plays, etc. Consider playing up imagination; give your child opportunities to draw and color. Give them opportunities to learn through variation in play.

3. Between (7-11 years) you’re pre-teen is at the Concrete Operational Stage. This means he/she is interested is shifting into adult thought and action. Interest from self is directed to others. Service is “key” during this stage. Helping someone out will be fun for your child.

4. At the Formal Operational Stage (11-15 years) reasoning increases; including the ability to reason without comparing his/her reasoning to something happening in the world. Questions asked can bring up fantastic, thought provoking answers. Make writing, reading and discussion important.

Filed Under: Teen Development Tagged With: Child, Child development, Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Hearing Loss can be the Result of Second-Hand Smoke

Best Cable Channels on TV & How to Get Them All

HBO Family

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/HBO_Family_logo.png

CNN

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/AndersonCooperJohnEdwardNewOrleans2007.jpg

MTV

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Lady_GaGa_in_Zurich.jpg

BET

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Alicia_Keys_Sing.jpg/448px-Alicia_Keys_Sing.jpg

CMT

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Garth_Brooks_at_We_Are_One_%28edit%29.jpg

TLC

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Tlc_logo_discovery.jpg

HGTV

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/HGTV_Logo.svg/500px-HGTV_Logo.svg.png

Cinemax

Image Credit: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Cinemax_LA_logo.png

CONCLUSION

Girls More at Risk for Behavioral Problems if Mom Doesn’t Work Outside the Home

What Will my Child go Through in Treatment? What Should I Do?

Online College Courses Can Be a Good Fit for Your High School Grad

How to Make Sure Your Baby Equipment is Safe

Keep Math Skills Sharp Over the Summer

How to keep your Children Busy during the summer

Understanding the 4 Child Development Stages

An Understanding About Child Development Stages

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