Transition from sleep patterns of a baby to sleep pattern of a toddler is definitely difficult for parents to cope up with. But as a parent of toddler you must understand his sleeping needs. Toddler sleeps less during the day, but need sleep of about 11 or more hours at night.

 Up to 20 percent of children might have sleep disorder. The most common problem is difficulty falling asleep.

 As per a study, children suffering from depression and anxiety disorders have more sleep problems. The study also suggests that for a small percentage of children, sleep problems might represent a pre-cursor or early symptom of a more serious emotional disorder, including anxiety and depression. So in childhood, considerable attention needs to be paid to the interrelation between sleep patterns and emotional disorders.

 What are the sleep problems toddlers faces?

Here are most of the sleep problems which need parents’ attention.

1. Bedtime resistance and refusal to go to bed
2. Childhood depression, anxiety or trauma
3. Intestinal worms
4. ‘Nocturnal Enuresis’ or bedwetting – It is a hereditary disorder.
5. Constant and abrupt night awakenings
6. ‘Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome’ i.e. snoring, difficulty in breathing or mouth breathing during sleep. It affects 1-3 percent of the children. The main causes of sleep apnea are obesity and neuromuscular disease.
7. ‘Narcolepsy’ or difficulty in waking up in the morning – This toddler sleep disorder have a great difficulty in getting up in the mornings. When awaken the child may appear to be mystified or may be destructive or even can be verbally abusive.
8. Excessive coughing and sweating at night.
9. Night terrors (accompanied by screams and shouts) occur for some time into sleep. The child suddenly sits upright and screams, and is devastated for up to 30 minutes and then falling back to sleep.
10. Sleep-walking and Sleep-talking at night – In this stage, a child sits up in bed with eyes open but is unseeing.

The best way to deal with toddler’s sleep problems for the very first time is to set consistent bedtime routine.

 A consistent bedtime routine set for infants and toddlers helps parents to get their kids sleep better. The practical benefit of this is for the mothers as well. The mothers who use a regular bedtime routine to help their infants and toddlers get to sleep are usually less depressed, and feel less fatigue and tension.

 A specific bedtime routine to follow can include a bath, the application of massage oil or skin lotion and other restful activities like listening to music, bed time story etc. Follow specific bedtimes and times for turning out the lights. Be consistent in doing so. . If you put your child to bed at 8:30 p.m. one night and 9:30 p.m. the next, chances are, the child won’t be tired when you want her to sleep next day.

 After consistently following the bedtime routine, children will start falling asleep more quickly, waking up less frequently, and fell back asleep more quickly in few days. Kids will also wake up in a better mood in the morning.

1. By following a nightly bedtime ritual, he knows about what is expected of him and what to expect at night.
2. Some children go to sleep more easily with white noise from a fan or sound machine. You can play some soothing music in a very low volume, to ease the atmosphere, before your child goes to sleep.
3. Massaging your toddler for 15 minutes before bed time makes your toddler to sleep.
4. Create calm, soothe, secure and pleasant sleep environment for toddler sleep. Maintain the room temperature between 60 and 65 F. See that the blinds and windows are closed and the fan/AC is properly adjusted.
5. Turn off the lights in your bedroom.
6. Offer your child a cup of warm milk before going to bed. This may help him get to sleep.
7. Provide a stuffed animal or a soft toy if your child sleeps alone. It will make him feel secure. Leave the door open for a toddler to feel secure.
8. If your child will go to bed only if you are around, then teach him how to soothe himself to sleep.
9. Don’t ridicule your child’s fears or tell her there’s nothing to be afraid of. Toddlers have vivid imaginations, and to them, their fears are very real. Just reassure him that nothing will hurt him and he is safe.
10. If your child gets out of his bed and leaves his room after he’s been put to bed, quietly take him back to his room and put him in his bed. Do not scold him. In fact, it’s best to say nothing at all. Talking to your child just encourages her to keep getting up. It may take many times of putting him back in his bed before he stays there, but your persistence will eventually pay off.
11. Never engage in games and activities that give a boost to your toddler’s activity level before bedtime.
12. Make sure that the dim lights are turned on. It is always better not to make your toddler sleep in total darkness.
13. Make sure your child winds down before bed; this will make the transition from lively toddler to sleeping child easier.

While dealing with waking too early, some caution must be taken as your child must be very sensitive to changes in his surroundings.

1. Use thick blinds or curtains to make children’s rooms darker so the morning light doesn’t wake them.
2. Provide safe toys for your child to play with in the mornings, so he can play quietly until he hears the rest of the family is awake.
3. If your child’s a natural early riser, you may just have to be patient
4. Once children start nursery or school, they tend to sleep for longer.

For the children waking in the night, you will need to take care of few things.

1. Be realistic and remember everyone’s sleep needs and patterns vary – some people need eight hours or more, others can manage on five or six and this creates a different picture of what ’sleeping through’ means, even in one family.
2. If you’ve always rocked, stroked or sung your child to sleep when he first goes to bed, he may find it difficult to get back to sleep on his own if he wakes in the night.
3. When you go in to comfort him, keep the lights low and use a soft voice – don’t encourage play (you’ll probably need to do this several times).

Sleep issues with your toddler can be very frustrating, but it’s a normal process that nearly every child goes through. With a little bit of time and patience, you can help your child conquer this problem!

 Try out these tips and provide a relaxing night-time atmosphere for your toddler. If you still continue to observe similar sleep pattern of the child, it is better to consult and seek guidance from a pediatrician.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some usually ill-defined misfortune. A relatively permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in a variety of mental disorders, usually accompanied by compulsive behavior or attacks of panic. An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness or concern about some uncertain event; an uneasy or distressing desire (for something); a state of restlessness and agitation, often accompanied by a distressing sense of oppression or tightness in the stomach.

Anxiety is a normal reaction. Anxiety is concern when it is under control. It may help a person to deal with a difficult situation. When anxiety becomes out of control i.e. excessive concern, it may turn into a disorder.

“If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.” – Dean Smith

Symptoms

Anxiety can cause heart palpitations, fatigue, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, stomach aches, or headaches. External signs of anxiety may include pale skin, sweating, trembling, and pupillary dilation. Someone suffering from anxiety might also experience it as a sense of dread or panic.

Although panic attacks are not experienced by every anxiety sufferer, they are common symptoms. Panic attack usually comes without warning and although the fear experienced is generally irrational, the perception of danger is very real. A person experiencing a panic attack will often feel as if he or she is about to die or pass out.

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work.” – John Lubbock

Anxiety does not only consist of physical symptoms. There are many emotional symptoms involved as well. Some of them include: “Feelings of apprehension or dread, trouble concentrating, feeling tense or jumpy, anticipating the worst, irritability, restlessness, watching (and waiting) for signs (and occurrences) or danger and feeling like your mind’s gone blank.”. There’s also, “nightmares/bad dreams, obsessions about sensations, déjà vu, a trapped in your mind feeling, and feeling like everything is scary.”

One of the most common symptoms of anxiety is fear, which includes the fear of dying. You feel an intense fear when you think of dying, or you may think of it more often than normal, or can’t get it out of your mind.”

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” – Leo Buscaglia

Steps to overcome anxiety:

Identify and note down your anxiety: First of all, take a deep breath and relax. Then identify your feelings. Write down your awful sad feelings and all concerns that bother you in points. Just let it all come out.

Recognize the cause of your anxiety: From the list take out the first points, now identify the cause and note it down. Then move on to the next point and so on. At the end you have successfully identified the all causes for you anxiety. As you have discovered the reasons for your tension, you have won half of the battle.

Categorize and decide a timeline: Now as you have successfully identified the reasons, its time to find solutions. Before gathering thoughts for finding out resolution, prioritize the reasons and decide a timeline for working on each one of them. Separate the reasons that you can resolve by yourself, from the ones for which you will need support from others. Prepare a well sort-out plan for the issues which can be resolved by you without taking help from others and start working on that plan.

Share your problems: At certain times you may require help from someone. What you may need to do is discuss your problem with a friend. This would not just unburden you but involve your friend in checking the way out. So don’t be shy when it’s comes to asking for help.

Exercise: Include some sort of exercise in your daily routine. Daily going for a morning walk or jogging or any other sport that you like can help. Light exercise in morning relaxes you senses, removes the tension from your mind and body. Meditation and yoga helps you to calm your nerves and chalks out all the stress. As a child, we were fit, active and ready to take on the world. But as we grew old, we became so concerned about our future that we have forgotten we live in present. Remember if you are fit today you can enjoy your tomorrow. But if you will not take care of yourself today, then you may not live to see tomorrow.

Divert yourself: Whenever you start to experience a state of anxiety, get off from chair and do some activity to divert your thoughts from anxiety. Check out some latest movies or listen to your favorite music. Being involved in them could take your mind away from tensions and provide you time to compose yourself. Even your favorite T.V. show can click. You never know. Even some T.V show can spell out the perfect answers to all your questions.

Accept the worst: Remember you can change what is in your control. You can not drive the things that are not under your control, in the way you want. Whenever you are in a state of anxiety, accept the worst that you may have to face. When you accept the worst, the fear of the worst reduces and you feel more relaxed so as to find a solution for your anxiety.

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” – Walter Anderson

Any relationship strengthens as you go on spending more and more time together by listening and understanding each other and by sharing your thoughts. The bond between parent and child is no exception to it. As you go on spending more time with your kid by giving him dedicated and focused attention, your bond with child goes on strengthening.

 

 Research has shown that both the quality and quantity of time parents spend with their children are important. But more than quantity, quality matters. Even working parents can share more quality time with kids as compared to parents staying at home. The obvious reason is that, parents staying at home think that they are compensating for quality by quantity. Being at home while you are doing household work and the child is playing or watching TV then you are not giving dedicated attention to your kid. Quality time is when you actually start talking to your kid, you come to know about his heart felt emotions, his excitements, his sorrows, etc. and it can be pleasant for both of you.

 

 So in a broader aspect, if you think about both working and stay-home parents, all of them face the same problem in spending dedicated time with their kids. To avoid this, both working and stay-home parents need to give some thought for planning out this time. If you really want to share the quality time and a careful planning is done for the activities with kids then this purpose can surely be served.  Your love for your child along with some creative imagination can help you achieve this goal. By spending a good time with your child will definitely teach your child the fundamental lesson of being able to create happiness in any situation and this lesson will surely help him enjoy every moment throughout his life.

  

“The work will wait while you show your child the rainbow, but the rainbow won’t wait while you do the work.” -Patricia Clafford

 

I remember a day when I was returning home from work, it was raining. I saw a beautiful shining rainbow between the hills and over the clouds. It was mesmerizing.  I just wanted my son to see the rainbow. After reaching home, immediately I called him. I closed his eyes with my hands and took him outside. We stood facing the rainbow and slowly I took my hands off. He was very astonished. I still remember the look on his face, it was beautiful. Such a nice experience to see a smile on kid’s face!

 

 Now let me tell you the activities that can really turn the scattered moments you spend with your child to the sparkling crackers in the dark sky of your busy day. Here we go….

 

After bedtime: In morning or after a nap, when kids come out of bed, they are in different state of mind. Every time the state may differ. Sometimes they might be happy, sometimes sad, sometimes frightened. But the part that is common is they need your attention at that time. Just a hug for some time or a loving touch can turn them ON. Mornings can be the toughest time for working parents, but just take out 5 minutes and share some moments with your kid. It will really count!

 

Driving to daycare/school: This is the best opportunity to make a bond with your kid. You are through with the tough time in the morning to get ready and help your child getting ready. Now while you drive your kid to school or day care, there are few things, which can help you to have really good time together.  There are so many things around – at the roadside, in the sky, on the trees. Just make a game out of it. I just mark few landmarks with my child and everyday we talk about the changes or similarity in situation at that place. For example, we always see same kind of birds at the similar places. Everyday we just go on counting the birds as I drive for my kid to school.

 

After coming back from work: Take out some initial time for your child after coming home from work. Dedicate at least 5 minutes to your kid immediately after you reach home. It is really be difficult to be with your child immediately after you are back. But just a hug or a loving touch conveys a lot of things than words.

 

While preparing meals: Take help from kids while you prepare meal. Let the kids help you out in getting things out from fridge, getting necessary utensils for you and whatever things you can ask for them to do. As long as you make them feel important or even helpful, you are giving your child quality time.

For toddlers you can give some utensils with water and soap solution. This was the usual tactics I used to use when my son was a toddler. He used to try to imitate me the way I cook.

 

Let household work be a happy time: You can also take help from children when you do cleaning, gardening or any other household work. Let them feel being helpful and also take suggestions from them wherever possible. This exercise might just take some extra time to complete the task, but it is worth to share happy moments with your kid.

 

Before Bedtime: Give some time to listen to your kid. This is the time when your bond with your child can strengthen. During this time, let your kid explain about his day. Let him narrate it at his own pace. Having an interactive audience is such an encouraging moment for the child! Don’t laugh or put down the child for doing anything stupid. Encourage him for good things he did and help him come to a point to decide how he could have handled difficult situations in better manner. Have patience doing this.

 

Make Grocery shopping a cheerful task: Going for grocery shopping with children is always a difficult task altogether. But if you can give a little more time to it, you can make this work a cheerful one. Just ask your kid to help you out choosing appropriate things you need. When your child will feel being important and useful, he is certainly going to enjoy the time with you doing the shopping.

 

Plan your weekend to have some child-centered activities:  Everyday kids need some good time with their parents. It’s difficult for the working parents to give much time to their children on weekdays. Then why not utilize weekends in better way?

Plan you weekend in a better manner that will provide some dedicated time solely for your kid. This can be done by doing an indoor activity or by taking your kid for an outing.

 

Remember that it’s your imagination which can make your daily tedious jobs to cheerful and playful events and you also can spend some quality time with your kid. When you grow trying to be a good parent, you grow as a human being too.

 

 

Have you ever thought of finding answer to all the above questions? I know you must have thought of the answer. So where did you land up in quest of your answer? There are a lot of them. Isn’t it? Let me cut this long story short. I am giving you the secrets that will lead you to success that you have waited for a very long time.

Self confidence is the key behind success of every successful person. Successful people believe in their dreams. They are always focused about their dreams. They fight to achieve those and fight really hard. To achieve success you must have dreams. Note down your dreams that you want to fulfill in piece of paper. Are you thinking of why you need to do that? Yes, you are. Aren’t you? Well, everyday our brain receives hundreds of different information. It’s natural that you forget some of the information as time passes by. Our brain has limit to store a certain amount of data and when amount of information starts to cross that limit we start to forget. To avoid this, note down your dreams in piece of paper. Everyday have look at it to remind yourself what you want to achieve and never lose focus on those.

2. Today is the tomorrow we thought about yesterday. Remember neither we can change the past nor we can control the future. What we have in our hand in the present and your have all the freedom to make choices that you want. Write down 10 positive things about yourself. Go through your list and look at all the positive things about yourself. These are the reasons you should love yourself and have high self-esteem and self-confidence in yourself. Give yourself credit for everything positive you have written about yourself. Remember, you are somebody very special.

3. You were born original; don’t die as a copy. Accept yourself and learn to love yourself for whom you are. Everyone has his or her own unique qualities and characteristics. We are all born different for a reason. Do not compare yourself to others.

4. Begin changing what you do not like about yourself. Confidence comes from within. You need to concentrate on the positive things about yourself.

5. Learn how to give and take. Confidence is being able to find a balance between extending help to people and accepting when we need help.

6. Don’t care what other people think. I know you may think “How am I supposed to do that?” Well, the fact is that you can’t change what others think. People care more about themselves than they care about you. So inevitably don’t care what other people think of you. You are not put on this planet to please all. It’s OK to fail, it’s OK to be different, it’s OK to do what you feel is right for you!

7. Have really strong beliefs. First you must get your beliefs in order; otherwise you will always have a doubt in your mind somewhere. People are experts at destroying their own beliefs by having negative thoughts. STOP negative thoughts now.

8. Be a winner. You are a winner because you know that if you set your mind to do something you will obtain this goal. You have done it before, every single time. You just don’t know it.

9. Keep Patience. Always remember when you want to give up the most; you know you are closest!

 

Childhood is an amazingly beautiful time in life. Childhood is such a time, which never comes back, but after growing up everybody wishes to go back to the early days. But everybody’s early days are difficult days for his or her parents to manage. Isn’t it?

In early days of a child, parents have to make sure that they give a sound foundation to child’s character and good ethics. As child is born, he is just like a clean paper. Whatever you write on it, child will have that as foundation for his further life.

Discipline is an integral part of an effort to shape up child’s life. But discipline is usually misunderstood as a method of correction or punishment. Discipline cannot be a negative reaction rather should be positive, motivating action.

 Dictionary defines discipline as a ‘training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement’. Discipline is an ongoing training activity. This training should give children a guideline to help them in reacting to situations in day-to-day activities. Discipline helps in developing an organised life pattern in children.

But how to induce discipline in your child’s life?

Here we will discuss how to design this training for your child. These are the guidelines for parents and how parents can effectively induce discipline in child.

 The formula for training is ECLIPSE. The way sun comes out glowing after the eclipse, parents can take up this formula and can get marvellous results in setting up the discipline.

Establish clear limits and boundaries for children. When we decide on clear rules then kids come to know the boundary and then are more likely to abide to the limits. But the rules need to be very clear and very specific. If kids have been just told the general expectations, they can’t figure out what they are expected to do. But if a specific limit has been set then children can know exactly what are they supposed to do. For example, when you want the child to be back at home early after evening play, then tell him, ‘Be back by 6.30 pm’. Just an instruction such as ‘Be back early in evening’ won’t be easy for children to adhere to.

 Cue kids once while giving directions. Make it sure that the kid is listening to your instructions; otherwise chances are there that you will be overlooked by the child. Taking into account child’s opinion also can be a way to make sure that the child is in sync with you. When you want cooperation, first gain children’s attention, state what you want and give them some time to carry out your instructions. 

 Look into child’s eye while talking to the child and giving any directions. Be firm on your instructions. Let the child know very clearly that his behavior is not acceptable and stay firm while telling this. Stay away from yelling or putting down by words; just speak firmly and very directly.

 Immediate action should be taken when kids break rules or refuse to cooperate. Nagging or constantly reminding children to do the right thing doesn’t help much in making children understand the rules, rather implement a consequence that is related to the misbehavior. The consequence need not be a physical punishment. The best methods to be used as punishment are time-out and rewarding good behavior.

 Pinpoint the purpose why child might be misbehaving.  There are reasons for child’s misbehavior that might not be very difficult to identify if you look keenly. Identify what child gain from behaving in certain ways. Unusual or out of character misbehavior should be cautiously observed and can be a sign that child is experiencing difficulties in some area. To identify which type of behavior your child is exhibiting and how to handle it, check out 4 different behavior patterns to understand your child better

 Self-control is essential for parents to get discipline in their child’s life. Children usually follow whatever they see and their role models are their parents. So while handling kids’ misbehavior, they to understand the purpose of the misbehavior. Take out some time to think about the possible reasons for the misbehavior and possible ways you can react to child’s action. This way you can train yourself to respond appropriately to your child’s misbehavior at first instance and you can stop further misbehavior. Train yourself to stop, think and go against your natural instinct when children misbehave and look for more positive or creative approaches.

 Encourage kids at every possible opportunity. Corrective discipline needs to be balanced by liberal amounts of encouragement. The persistent encouragement helps in developing self-confidence in children and raising their self-worth.

 Children need their parents to induce constant rules and be firm about them. Consistency rather than severity is the key to effective discipline. While no parent enjoys restricting their child by discipline, it is a necessity of raising children.  Inducing discipline is the way by which parents can lay a solid foundation for children.