A little adventure

A nice game to play with your children, to give them some exclusive attention by one of the parents is Het Kleine Avontuur.

How2talk2kids

A lot of people know this book already or they have heared about it. It’s the book parents should read if they notice they grumble to their children because they don’t do what you want. Efficient communication is the key to solving this problem. But how? How2Talk2Kids explains how. This book has so many recognizable examples for parents, including tips of how to react. This practical explaination makes theory applicable. I think it’s a good and usable method, although I don’t agree on everything they write. It says for example you can encourage a childs’ autonomy by giving a child information instead of an direct answer. I don’t think this always works. Some kids just rather have an direct answer (or they are just not smart enough to understand yet). So, for example, if they ask, can I play over at my friends’ house for a while? The books says you have to tell them, we’ll have dinner in 5 minutes. I don’t think that makes everything clear. I think it’s better to tell a child the combination of information and answer, like: No, because we’ll have dinner in 5 minutes from now. A lot of kids don’t have a notice of time (especially young kids) or they think 5 minutes is more than enough to play. Another point of attention for me is praising kids. The book says you have to encourage children to praise themselves. I agree on that, but in my opinion kids also like hearing their mom or dad (or teacher) tell they did something well. It’s also important telling a child why you think they did something good. It makes the compliment more sincere. I do find good information on that topic in How2Talk2Kids. All together this book sure is worth recommending. You can buy it on the webpage, where you can also get workshops in how to practice this method.

Rebels & Rules

I always am especially interested in nice tools to manage the hectic family life. Partially because we are pretty occupied with our companies, jobs and 2 babies, but also because of my work as an ambulant counciler to help both teachers and parents to guide kids in a positive way. Sometimes in school, other times at home. Rebels & Rules is a perfect example of a nice tool. We received a calendar to count down the days to a birthday for example. Great, because our daughter Sterre had her 4th birthday coming up and was pretty nervous about it. So this calendar helped her to count down the days. There is a nice picture behind each number you tear off, which helped her to get an overview of this exiting periode.  We also received a starterkit, a really handy reward system in a box, so you can use it whenever it’s necessary. On their webpage I found a lot of other practical stuff, so it might be usefull for your family too!

If you now order your appointment board or ‘how many nights until’ at www.rebelsenrules.nl with code hiphot2011 you get a free groceries expedition. Valid until March 31st, 2011.