Parenting Resources

Why, asked the Little Bear. Because… answered Papa Bear. Answering the little one’s questions should be an important part of every adult’s agenda. For, that is the only way he can learn. All children have two wonderful resources for learning – imagination and curiosity. As a parent, you can make your child aware of the environment around by leading him …

Trust is important in building self-esteem. When my stepdaughter Rita, aged eight, stayed with us during our first summer, it was a difficult time for her because her mother was moving their family (Rita and her older brother and sister) to another city, and Rita would be leaving many of her friends behind. She seemed generally grouchy and out of …

Cramps in the calf muscle, thigh and feet are common during pregnancy. They usually happen at night in the last trimester. The pain shoots down from the calf to the foot, making the calf muscles taut and very painful. They may feel tender for several hours or even for two to three days, making walking difficult. Do not worry. Muscle …

About five percent of children are left-handed. You can notice it even at a few months of age, when the baby uses one hand more than the other to pick up his toys or while playing or trying to put something in his mouth. By the age of one year, the left-handedness becomes quite definite. Left-handedness seems to run in …

Lolita’s son is three years old. He is very fussy about his food and spits it out if he is forced to eat. Lolita introduced her son to chewy food only when he was 15 months old, much after he cut his first teeth. She often wonders if there is a connection between delayed weaning and her son’s food habits. …

Breast feeding is instinctive and most mothers take to it naturally. However, a lot of mothers switch over to formulae at the slightest problem. One of the most common causes cited for resorting to top feeds is inadequate milk production. Primary lactation failure is an extremely rare event. Usually it is due to secondary causes. In order to understand the …

The overnight bag is by the door. The labour and childbirth book you are reading is open to “Labour.” Your contractions are five minutes apart, and as you climb into the car, you know exactly what awaits you… and pigs can fly. No matter how many books you’ve read or how many hours you’ve spent on pregnancy websites, labour is …

If as parent or teacher you are always the listener, children do not get a chance to show acceptance of you. One sided sharing fosters inequality in relationship. Both sides in a relationship need to be listeners and listened-to. For example, my daughters come home from school tell me all their gripes. It might be that sometimes children feel all …

Help children become as familiar as possible with what is likely to happen in an encounter. Predictability reduces fear of the unknown. Knowing what’s going to happen allows children to prepare themselves for it, and perhaps to be predisposed to find enjoyment in it. In this way, successful self-fulfilling prophecy is built into the experience. This principle applies to parents …

The milk supply increases from about 100 ml on the second day to about 500 ml in the second week and more slowly thereafter. Some mothers get very panicky as to whether the baby is getting enough breast milk. I have known mothers who weighed the baby after every feed or at least every day. Such anxiety may interfere with …