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parents
Encourage Social Skills in Children: Danny the Dragon Author Offers Tips
One of the ways parents can increase involvement is by supporting their child’s education and helping him achieve academic success. An important part of this, which parents don’t often think about, is teaching your kids the social skills they’ll need to succeed in school. Here are some tips for parents on how they can send their child to school with the social skills they need to successfully interact with teachers and other students. First, it’s important to teach your child to ask for what he needs. How can he get help unless he’s able to admit he doesn’t …
Getting Involved in Your Child’s Education
First, make sure your child is well-rested and well-fed. A well-balanced diet, with nutritious meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and healthy snacks after school, has been shown to improve academic performance in children. Kids also need to be well-rested in order to focus during the day. Next, take advantage of every opportunity to meet your child’s teachers, such as parent-teacher or open-school nights. Not only will you make sure you’re not missing vital information, such as what the teacher expects of your child’s homework assignments, but you’ll show your child and his teachers that you care about …
Is Your Child Struggling with His Homework? Tips on How to Help
If your child is clearly upset or unable to figure things out, or if his teacher isn’t giving him the help he needs during the school day, you should step in and work out the child’s misunderstandings. The idea is to keep your child winning. Academic confusions can build up over time so that kids may eventually take a loss on studies. You will help to create independent learners by making sure they understand the basics of arithmetic, reading, grammar, etc. so that as they progress in school, they’ll be able to grasp new lessons and apply what they …
Getting the Kids to Listen
First of all, maintain eye contact, looking at your child when you talk to him, Tina says. Talking over his shoulder while he watches TV or calling to him from another room is not conducive to communicating effectively. Turn off the TV for a minute and kneel down to your child’s level so that you’re facing each other, Tina advises, and then go ahead and talk to him. Be realistic in what you’re asking him to do. Sometimes I see parents who ask their children to do age-inappropriate things that they’re just not yet capable of, and it …
Packing the Kids a Healthy Lunch
What exactly should you look for in a healthy, well-balanced lunch? You should make sure to include whole grains, fruits and vegetables, calcium, and lean protein. The USDA has daily recommendations for children for each of these food groups, and you should aim to provide as much as possible in each category when preparing your child’s lunch. Collect recipes just as you would for dinners which can deliver to your child the nutrition he needs in a variety of creative ways. You can make lunch for the whole family in large servings—for Mom, Dad, and all the kids. …
Homework Help Advice to Parents
First of all, consistency is key. Except for when extracurricular activities interfere, your child should aim to do his homework at the same time every day as part of his daily afterschool routine. You can test to see when the best time is for homework. Make sure your child has eaten a healthy, high-protein snack before he begins his homework, and studies have shown that many children perform work better after physical exercise, which can increase a child’s concentration. Another part of the routine is where your child will study. It’s important to create a regular study space. …
Probiotics Can Prevent Children’s Flu
A recent study shows that preschoolers who were given probiotic supplements twice a day were less likely to experience fevers, coughs, and runny noses than preschoolers who weren’t taking any during flu season. Probiotics are “good germs,” which promote a healthy balance between good and bad bacteria and between good bacteria and yeast in the digestive system. As a result, immunity is boosted. Breast milk naturally has probiotics and there are also probiotic-fortified formulas out there for non-breastfed babies. There’s also a type of fiber called prebiotics which promotes the growth of probiotics. You can pick up powdered or liquid …
Homeschooling Your Child—Some Reasons to Consider It
It used to be that homeschooling had a certain stigma to it. When people heard the word, they pictured a child isolated at home from children his age and indoctrinated into his parents’ extremist views. However, homeschooling has steadily grown in popularity over the years, and it’s widely acknowledged now that homeschooling provides many benefits. First, it helps to foster a closer, more loving relationship between you and your child. Related to this is the homeschooling benefit of having the opportunity to teach your child the values that are important to you and your family. When you homeschool your …
January Parent’s and Kid’s Contest
KID’S January 2010 CONTEST details: Describe of a new good friend for Danny the Dragon and his traveling companion Skipper. The lucky winner will receive a free Danny The Dragon gift basket full of great stuff! Just go to the bottom of this page and enter your ideas. PARENT’S January 2010 CONTEST details: Submit your comments sharing what you like best about this Danny website and why. I’d really like to know actually. One lucky winner a month and this month is an autographed book. Who will the lucky winners be? I hope it’s YOU! Tina
Vitamin D Can Prevent Children’s Flu
Many studies have recently come out singing the benefits of the super-nutrient, vitamin D, which helps to activate immune cells. It’s recommended that children get 400 IU daily of vitamin D. What’s unique about this nutrient is that you can get it just by enjoying some sun; sunlight triggers production of it in your skin. Unfortunately, a lot of kids aren’t exposed to enough sunlight, so they’re not getting enough of this important nutrient. It’s important that you provide vitamin-D rich foods such as fortified milk and juices, cheese, eggs, and salmon in your child’s diet. A glass of …