31 Realistic Resolutions to Transform Your Child, Your Family, Yourself
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One of the hardest things about dealing with children's behavior is that no approach works for every child. Things that work great on your nephew or your neighbor or another of your kids may not work on your child with special needs, and something that works for that child one year may lose effectiveness the next. Keep up on different approaches, taking what works and leaving the rest. These articles and resources will give you ideas for tailoring a strategy that's right for your child.
• Best Behavior Books
• ABCs of Behavior Management
• Your Child's Best Reward? You!
• How to Make a Transition
• Write Your Own Behavior Plan
When you're stuck with your child in a place that's boring, stressful, or involves endless waiting, having a good supply of toys and tricks on hand is essential to keeping everybody's cool. That might mean an actual stash of goodies in your purse or diaper bag; a bunch of ideas for word games or conversations to provide quick distraction; or some combination. These articles and resources will help you fill that bag up, and keep it constantly fresh.
• Keep a Big "Bag of Tricks"
• Create a "Sensory Bag"
• 101 Things to Do When There's Nothing to Do
• Sneaky Ways to Get Your Child's Attention
• Magnificent Obsessions
It can be hard to stay inspired while dealing with the day-to-day realities of parenting children with special needs. You want to forge ahead with purpose and determination and unbounded love, but more often, you stumble on through exhaustion and despair and endless frustration. These articles and resources will help you find your inspiration, whether you're looking for ways to do what needs to be done or just reasons to get up in the morning.
• Quick Tip: Eight Quick Ways to Get Inspired
• Article: Mom Moments
• Index: Parenting How-To's
• Top Picks: Books of Humor and Inspiration
• Index: Humorous and Inspirational Web Pages
Sure, it's important to plan for your child's future, to make sure there will be somebody to care for him and money to do it with. But if you're constantly sweating the small stuff, maybe it's time to give your perspective a tune-up. These articles and resources will help you appreciate your child right now, when your time and attention matter most.
• Focus on Today, Not Tomorrow
• Five Secrets to Success
• Request a Work Schedule Change
• Teach Your Child Self-Care Skills
• Book Review: The Pressured Child
Giving your child fun and focused signs of your love and devotion every day can do a lot to ease stress and manage behavior. These articles and resources will help you come up with creative ways to give your child attention and affection, and make him more receptive to it.
• 31 Ways to Tell Your Child "I Love You"
• Help Your Child Recognize Emotions
• Ten Chances to Chat With Your Child
• Hugs Are a Parent's Secret Weapon
• Book Review: Show Me You Love Me
Your child's speech, occupational or physical therapy shouldn't stop when you leave the therapist's office. There are lots of things you can do at home to reinforce and continue the work the therapist is doing. Often, therapists will give you "homework," but if you're looking for more ideas, these articles and resources will point you toward sites and other sources of strategies.
• Do-It-Yourself Therapy
• Take a Look at Your Child's Learning Environment
• Game Review: A Fist Full of Coins
• Five Familiar Games for Sneaky Speech Therapy
• Make Your Own Therapy Tools and Toys
We've all dealt with children who stubbornly cling to a particular obsession or misbehavior. But parents can sometimes dig in, too, getting stuck on a particular point of obedience or etiquette and escalating the situation until the child -- or the parent -- hits the meltdown point. Choosing your battles is one of the most important strategies for parents of children with special needs to learn. These articles and resources can help you add this tool to your parenting toolbox, and show how it works in a few common trouble spots.
• Choosing Your Battles
• Lying vs. "Truthiness"
• Dress for Less Stress
• Church and the Child with Special Needs
• Keep It Calm
Mornings are the essence of a "whatever works" situation. Your only goal needs to be getting everyone out the door with clothes on and lunch money and homework. If you find that goal being sabotaged because you leave too much to do in the a.m., or your child is so anxious about school she drags her feet, or you can't count on your kids to practice self-care and self-control, these articles and resources can help you pick up the pace.
• How to Streamline Your Morning Routine
• How to Relieve School Anxiety
• How to Write a Note to the Teacher
• Clear Backpacks Let You See What's Stowed
• Book Review: An Introduction to "How Does Your Engine Run?"
You may think you're being perfectly clear when you give your child a message loaded with sarcasm, body language, facial expressions or figures of speech. But your child may miss your intent and take you exactly and only at your word, causing misunderstandings and misbehavior. These articles and resources will help your tailor what you say to your child's level of understanding, and clue your child in to your often unspoken messages.
• Say What You Mean
• Book Review: What Did You Say? What Do You Mean?
• Turn Down the Emotional Volume
• Book Review: Childhood Speech, Language and Listening Problems
• When Ultimatums Don't Work
"Play" doesn't seem to get much play these days. With all the school, work, sports, therapy, homework, and other obligations that fill our days and evenings and weekends, simple unhurried play, with all attention on your child, can be hard to wedge in. If you can manage it, though, regular periods of parent-child play can reap emotional, learning, and language benefits. These articles and resources will give you some ideas on what to do with whatever playtime you can manage.
• Games for Fun and Learning
• Make Your Child Into a Burrito
• How to Play the "Dots" Game
• Book Review: Starting Sensory Integration Therapy
• Camp Mom
11. "I Will Stop Using Disciplinary Strategies That Don't Work"
One of the hardest things about dealing with children's behavior is that no approach works for every child. Things that work great on your nephew or your neighbor or another of your kids may not work on your child with special needs, and something that works for that child one year may lose effectiveness the next. Keep up on different approaches, taking what works and leaving the rest. These articles and resources will give you ideas for tailoring a strategy that's right for your child.
• Best Behavior Books
• ABCs of Behavior Management
• Your Child's Best Reward? You!
• How to Make a Transition
• Write Your Own Behavior Plan
12. "I Will Keep a Big 'Bag of Tricks'"
When you're stuck with your child in a place that's boring, stressful, or involves endless waiting, having a good supply of toys and tricks on hand is essential to keeping everybody's cool. That might mean an actual stash of goodies in your purse or diaper bag; a bunch of ideas for word games or conversations to provide quick distraction; or some combination. These articles and resources will help you fill that bag up, and keep it constantly fresh.
• Keep a Big "Bag of Tricks"
• Create a "Sensory Bag"
• 101 Things to Do When There's Nothing to Do
• Sneaky Ways to Get Your Child's Attention
• Magnificent Obsessions
13. "I Will Seek Out Things That Inspire Me"
It can be hard to stay inspired while dealing with the day-to-day realities of parenting children with special needs. You want to forge ahead with purpose and determination and unbounded love, but more often, you stumble on through exhaustion and despair and endless frustration. These articles and resources will help you find your inspiration, whether you're looking for ways to do what needs to be done or just reasons to get up in the morning.
• Quick Tip: Eight Quick Ways to Get Inspired
• Article: Mom Moments
• Index: Parenting How-To's
• Top Picks: Books of Humor and Inspiration
• Index: Humorous and Inspirational Web Pages
14. "I Won't Let Worrying About the Future Keep Me From Enjoying the Present"
Sure, it's important to plan for your child's future, to make sure there will be somebody to care for him and money to do it with. But if you're constantly sweating the small stuff, maybe it's time to give your perspective a tune-up. These articles and resources will help you appreciate your child right now, when your time and attention matter most.
• Focus on Today, Not Tomorrow
• Five Secrets to Success
• Request a Work Schedule Change
• Teach Your Child Self-Care Skills
• Book Review: The Pressured Child
15. "I Will Tell My Child 'I Love You' Every Day"
Giving your child fun and focused signs of your love and devotion every day can do a lot to ease stress and manage behavior. These articles and resources will help you come up with creative ways to give your child attention and affection, and make him more receptive to it.
• 31 Ways to Tell Your Child "I Love You"
• Help Your Child Recognize Emotions
• Ten Chances to Chat With Your Child
• Hugs Are a Parent's Secret Weapon
• Book Review: Show Me You Love Me
16. "I Will Try to Do Some Therapy With My Child at Home"
Your child's speech, occupational or physical therapy shouldn't stop when you leave the therapist's office. There are lots of things you can do at home to reinforce and continue the work the therapist is doing. Often, therapists will give you "homework," but if you're looking for more ideas, these articles and resources will point you toward sites and other sources of strategies.
• Do-It-Yourself Therapy
• Take a Look at Your Child's Learning Environment
• Game Review: A Fist Full of Coins
• Five Familiar Games for Sneaky Speech Therapy
• Make Your Own Therapy Tools and Toys
17. "I Will Choose My Battles"
We've all dealt with children who stubbornly cling to a particular obsession or misbehavior. But parents can sometimes dig in, too, getting stuck on a particular point of obedience or etiquette and escalating the situation until the child -- or the parent -- hits the meltdown point. Choosing your battles is one of the most important strategies for parents of children with special needs to learn. These articles and resources can help you add this tool to your parenting toolbox, and show how it works in a few common trouble spots.
• Choosing Your Battles
• Lying vs. "Truthiness"
• Dress for Less Stress
• Church and the Child with Special Needs
• Keep It Calm
18. "I Will Make Mornings Easier"
Mornings are the essence of a "whatever works" situation. Your only goal needs to be getting everyone out the door with clothes on and lunch money and homework. If you find that goal being sabotaged because you leave too much to do in the a.m., or your child is so anxious about school she drags her feet, or you can't count on your kids to practice self-care and self-control, these articles and resources can help you pick up the pace.
• How to Streamline Your Morning Routine
• How to Relieve School Anxiety
• How to Write a Note to the Teacher
• Clear Backpacks Let You See What's Stowed
• Book Review: An Introduction to "How Does Your Engine Run?"
19. "I Will Say What I Mean"
You may think you're being perfectly clear when you give your child a message loaded with sarcasm, body language, facial expressions or figures of speech. But your child may miss your intent and take you exactly and only at your word, causing misunderstandings and misbehavior. These articles and resources will help your tailor what you say to your child's level of understanding, and clue your child in to your often unspoken messages.
• Say What You Mean
• Book Review: What Did You Say? What Do You Mean?
• Turn Down the Emotional Volume
• Book Review: Childhood Speech, Language and Listening Problems
• When Ultimatums Don't Work
20. "I Will Play With My Child Every Day"
"Play" doesn't seem to get much play these days. With all the school, work, sports, therapy, homework, and other obligations that fill our days and evenings and weekends, simple unhurried play, with all attention on your child, can be hard to wedge in. If you can manage it, though, regular periods of parent-child play can reap emotional, learning, and language benefits. These articles and resources will give you some ideas on what to do with whatever playtime you can manage.
• Games for Fun and Learning
• Make Your Child Into a Burrito
• How to Play the "Dots" Game
• Book Review: Starting Sensory Integration Therapy
• Camp Mom
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