A parent is obligated to equip their children with the necessary skills and means to survive and flourish in life. Here are some simple life skills you can teach your child at an early age:
Do the laundry
Cook their meals
Connect simple electronics
Care for plants and animals
Make use of tools
Write a letter
Make their own bed
Guide them through the internet and its capacities
Wrap a gift
Set the table right
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
ADHD manifests itself differently in every child and affects their certain mental faculties. The most common symptoms of ADHD are:
Inattentive
Child exhibits significant inattention and inability to focus on one thing at a time. The jump from one activity to another without finishing what they were previously doing. Though inattentiveness alone does not mean hyperactivity or impulsiveness.
Hyperactivity
Though they have adequate attention control, they are hyperactive and often act on impulse. They have inadequate control of their behavior and activity.
Combined
The child exhibits both hyperactivity and inattentiveness. This is the most common form of ADHD, and this combination makes it extremely difficult for the child to develop properly or on par with their peers, and there is often a stigma with children that exhibit these behaviors.
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
Self-awareness is important for children and younger learners because it sets the stage for success. If kids have a better understanding of their emotions, actions, and abilities, they can make better choices to help them be successful.
Here are some easy and effective ways on developing self-awareness in children:
1. Be the Role Model:
Use your everyday behavior to show your child how to manage daily situations in a calm and positive way. When faced with an unpleasant or frustrating incident, teach your child how to react in a positive way and deal with the situation.
2. Accept and Recognize Your Child’s Emotions:
Understand your child’s emotions and never make fun of them, in front of him or others. When your child learns to deal with his emotions, he will learn to accept his behavior and understand how to function better.
3. Empathize with Your Child:
When you empathize with your child, it will make him feel secure and confident about himself. Empathizing with your child will teach him that his emotions are important and are nothing to be ashamed of or hide.
4. Let Your Child Communicate Freely:
The key to your child’s self-awareness and overall growth is a good communication that is honest and open. Let him express his thoughts clearly and without worrying about what you will think. Appreciate the fact that he talks to you about what he feels and tell him that you are happy he discusses things with you. Even if you do not agree fully with what he says, do not ridicule his opinion. Instead, guide him gently in a positive way.
5. Pay Attention, Be A Listener and Teach Effective Problem Solving:
When you shower your attention on your child, it will make him feel loved and wanted, and his sense of worth will also reach a high. Help your child understand how to respond to and not react in certain situations.
Your child will pick up most of his behavioral and social skill sets from you. Be your child’s role model and help him understand his potential best.
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
Being a parent is one of the most challenging roles in the world. We always go above and beyond to make sure we raise happy and successful children. But no matter what style we choose to use, at the end of the day, it still boils down to the kind of relationship every parent has with their children. The stronger the parent-child relationship, the better the upbringing.
Here are some techniques that can help you strengthen the relationship between you and your child:
❤ Show Your Love Human touch and loving affection are needed at every stage of our lives for healthy emotional and neurobiological development. It is important that your child receives gentle, loving touch (i.e., hugs) from you several times throughout the day.
❤ Say “I love you” often Even when your child is being difficult or does something you don’t like; this can be an excellent opportunity to remind them that you love them unconditionally. A simple “I love you” can have a major impact on your long-term relationship with your child.
❤ Set boundaries, rules, and consequences Children need structure and guidance as they grow and learn about the world around them. Talk to your children about what you expect of them and make sure they understand. When rules are broken, make sure to have age-appropriate consequences in place and be consistent with them.
❤ Listen and empathize Connection starts with listening. Acknowledge your child’s feelings, show them you understand, and reassure them that you are there to help with whatever they need. Try to see things from your child’s perspective. By listening and empathizing with your child, you will begin to foster mutual respect.
❤ Play Together Play is so important to a child’s development. It is a fun way for you to strengthen your relationship with your child. It does not matter what you play. The key is to just enjoy each other and commit to giving your child your undivided attention.
❤ Create parent-child rituals Quality, one-on-one time with your child can strengthen the parent-child bond, build up your child’s self-esteem, and lets them know that they are special and valued.
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
Play improves the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and young people. Through play, children learn about the world and themselves. They also learn skills they need for study, work and relationships such as:
⭐ Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength.
⭐ Play is important to healthy brain development.
⭐ It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact with the world around them.
⭐ Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles, sometimes in conjunction with other children or adult caregivers.
⭐ As they master their world, play helps children develop new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges.
⭐ Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills.
⭐ When play is allowed to be child driven, children practice decision-making skills, move at their own pace, discover their own areas of interest, and ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to pursue.
When parents observe their children at play or join with them in child-driven play, they are given a unique opportunity to see the world from their child’s vantage point as the child navigates a world perfectly created just to fit his or her needs. The interactions that occur through play tell children that parents are fully paying attention to them and help to build enduring relationships.
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
The 5 Love Languages for kids, enumerates the different manifestations of love, namely: Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Quality Time, Gifts, and Acts of Service. Applying each type of language for children means to:
WORDS OF AFFIRMATION
Tell them I love you
Tell them how proud you are of them
Find reasons to congratulate and praise them
Formulate your words as to not hurt them
TOUCH
Hugs are a free commodity
Hold their hand when walking to places
Cuddling is mutually beneficial
QUALITY TIME
Try to bring them to events or sports games
Go on walks
Play sports together
Bike riding
Watch a movie together
GIFTS
Small, simple gifts
Surprise gifts and parties
Reward their achievements
Leave little surprises such as trinkets and candy
New clothes for special occasions
ACTS OF SERVICE
Help them with homework
Clean their room from time to time
Teach them new skills
Volunteer for a good cause together
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
In our efforts to protect children, we take valuable opportunities of learning away from them. Mistakes are the essence of learning. As we have new experiences and develop competence, it’s inevitable we make mistakes. If failure is held as a sign of incompetence and something to be avoided, children will start to avoid the challenges necessary for learning.
Protecting your kids from failure isn’t helpful. Here’s how to build their resilience:
When your child asks for help: Try giving your child time for trial and error. If your child is non-verbal, give words to his actions so he can start to learn the process.
When your child asks for an answer: A common parental instinct is to share all your hard-earned wisdom, but in most cases it’s best to support your children as they learn on their own. Start by asking them what they think or what they have tried. Support them as they experiment, make mistakes, and discover why they weren’t right.
When something goes wrong: Instead of telling your children how to fix it or fixing it yourself, start by asking how they think they should fix it. Guiding children to reflect on the problem takes more time but provides rich opportunities for learning and skill-building. While children learn from mistakes, they also develop the self-confidence, self-concept, and moral judgement that comes from doing something like apologizing and working to right a wrong.
When your child doesn’t do as well as you expected: Reflect together on what children did, how they excelled, and things they have learned. Their personal growth and achievement should be the focus of these conversations rather than the mistake or failure itself. Consider encouraging rather than heaping on praise to focus children on positive outcomes.
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
Times of crisis such as the current pandemic can cause major stress and fear in the household. It is important to check on everyone’s mental and physical health and as much as possible, stay safe.
As much as possible, do not expose yourself to the virus
Do not be the carrier of the virus into your home. If there is no need to go outside, then stay at home with your family. But if there is a need for you to go on errands or groceries, make sure that you wear complete personal protective equipment from masks and face shields along with disinfectant alcohol.
Isolate and provide supportive healthcare for members who fall ill
It is difficult to be lenient in times like these in terms of illnesses. If a family member gets sick, even if it is not confirmed to be the Coronavirus, isolate them in a spare room for 2 weeks and wear masks around the home. Provide supportive care and over-the-counter medicine for their recovery.
Be willing to talk to your children about it
As the World Health Organization said, silence and secrets do not protect our children, honesty and openness do. Help your child to understand what is going on and why we must follow the protocols set. If you do not know the answers to some of their questions, it is a good opportunity to learn it with your child.
Create a structured schedule
The pandemic has altered our daily routines significantly. This has in effect changed our sense of accountability in terms of following time, it has also changed our way of living life, most likely leaning towards the unproductive side of the spectrum. Creating a routine helps us to set rules for ourselves, such as waking up early and eating breakfast at a certain time of day. This way, at least we can be productive with time.
Be creative in making entertaining activities
Boredom and lack of productivity is also another plague in our homes in these times. Try to counteract this by playing legitimately enjoyable games, either with board games or video games. It is also important to play as a family so that your bond throughout the pandemic strengthens.
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
Children aren’t born with the ability to understand rules – it’s a learned behavior. So, what do you do when your child has taken control of the household into his own hands? It’s important to understand why your child is acting out.
When responding to controlling kids, the secret isn’t to control them more or to try to stop their need for control or to prove to them they don’t need to act controlling.
Help them find something they can control that is okay with you and them. This gets you on the same team, helps meet the kids’ need for control and keeps them working within the boundaries you set in place.
The key to controlling a controlling child is controlling yourself. It is unfortunate that the answers to tough problems often begin by looking in the mirror. But once we see a clear picture of ourselves, we can better help our kids.
Control your reaction. Reacting to inappropriate behaviors not only feeds into the bad behavior by providing a form of attention, but also causes the parent more stress and anxiety. Break the vicious cycle by controlling the one thing you can: your own behavior.
Your child’s mood will mirror your own. When you come home stressed, upset, or angry, your child picks up on that and acts in a similar fashion. They do not do this on purpose – it’s part of a natural reaction called imitation.
Your child needs and wants structure. Children like structure and routine. They like to feel a sense of comfort and to know what to expect, and you’re the most important person who can provide that. If a child is in a state of constant change, she may feel anxious or tense, and inappropriate behavior will soon follow. A lot of children will act out because they are anxious but may not know or understand how to communicate that to others.
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
Tantrums are a normal reaction that a child could express if they feel frustrated or angry. We might often feel offended or angry as well because we interpret these outbursts as a sign of disrespect. But it is important to note that children are still emotionally immature and are unable to process their feelings as well as we expect them to. Thus, it is important to address these tantrums in a manner that does not make the situation worse and ensure that the child does not feel isolated.
Calm down → How can I help you? / What is bothering you?
Stop crying → I can see this is hard for you/ It’s okay, we can work this out
Be quiet → Can you please soften your voice
Don’t hit → Please be gentle
Stop yelling → Take a deep breath, and tell me what happened
I’m done → I’ll be here for you
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
Raising a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may be a difficult task for parents. Due to the nature of their disorder, they may be a bit unruly and hard to manage. It will take patience and unconditional love for our children to pull this off, however, it does not mean you are to do it alone. Here are some tips from KidsHealth of the Nemours Foundation.
🟨 Be involved
Learn as much as you can about ADHD. You have to take a hands-on approach in the wellbeing of your child. Follow the prescription and instruction of the doctor.
🟨 Discover how your child is affected by ADHD
Every child is affected differently. Find out how your child is being influenced by ADHD by observing which areas they have the most difficulty in. By pinpointing their areas of difficulty, you can then begin to work on those for improvement.
🟨 One at a time
Children suffering from ADHD will have an impaired ability to focus. Be accommodating of this fact. When teaching new concepts to children, make sure to introduce these one at a time, and praise their achievements no matter how small.
🟨 Discipline with purpose and warmth
Discipline in a manner that the child will know exactly what they did wrong. Constant nagging and reprimanding will not help stop the behavior, but rather put more doubt and ambiguity in their understanding. It is also important to do so in a manner that is loving that your bond will grow deeper, instead of planting anger in their heart.
🟨 Set clear expectations
Being clear with what you expect from the child helps them to set boundaries on their own. They learn how to control their actions and impulses, or at least train them to. Focus more on what to do, rather than reacting on what NOT to do.
🟨 Build your relationship with your child
Often, children with ADHD will feel they’re letting others down, or feel that they are not good enough. Always be there to support them and build their self-esteem.
Coach Benjamin Mizrahi. Educator. Learning Specialist. Family Coach. Father. Husband.
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