How To be An Encouraging Parent

Do you know how to be a positive parent?

Have you ever taken a class to learn how to encourage your child?

It is doubly important that you learn encouragement techniques for yourself and your child; then you will be able to share and live them everyday. Competition for positive input into your child’s mind is at an all-time high but the sensitive parent will work intentionally to combat this battle day by day, sometimes hour by hour.

Many children go to bed hungry for food in the world, but perhaps many more are hungry for encouraging affirming words. By practicing some of these phrases, you can make a positive difference in any child’s life now and in his future.

Here are some great examples:

- "I’m proud of you."
- "You are on your way."
- "Good for you."
- "Look at you go."
- "That’s the best ever."
- "You’re really working hard today."
- "You’re getting better every day"

If you can practice these words, include them when you are talking to your child, you will begin to see remarkable differences in your relationship with your children.

[from Howtoencourage by Kay the Encourager]

How To Keep Girls From Going Wild

[By Dave Parks -- Birmingham News]

Good parenting skills can keep early-maturing girls from going wild with their behavior, according to a study led by a UAB psychologist and released today.

The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, focused on problems often encountered when puberty arrives early for young girls. Experts have long known that early female maturation is linked to problems such as delinquency, violence, drug abuse and eating disorders.

Much of the trouble occurs when overly mature young girls are attracted to older boys, and vice versa. What experts haven't known for sure is whether anything can done about the problem.

The study concluded that it is important that parents, especially a mother, stay connected to a girl by knowing her friends and activities, being supportive and affectionate and having frank discussions about tough topics like sex and fighting. And parents must set limits.

The study was conducted with 330 fifth-grade girls and their parents from Birmingham, Los Angeles and Houston. One-fourth of these girls had matured early, meaning they started their periods a year before the average age of girls in the study, which was 11 years old.