Your Child's Most Basic Needs!

Written by Frank W. Thatcher Jr.


Children are supposed to be well-taken care of by adults. They are supposed to have their basic needs met. These includerepparttar need for food, warmth, physical comfort, adequate clothing and a healthy environment. These needs also include their emotional needs, such as comfort, closeness to other human beings, and love.

Unfortunately, due torepparttar 111260 hectic and extremely busy lifestyle we all lead, sometimes we unintentionally neglect some of our children's basic needs which are necessary to facilitate positive growth mentally and physically.

Most of us love and care for our children as we should. We do our best for them by working many hard hours to makerepparttar 111261 money so we can provide as much as possible. However, we must remember to address their most basic needs.

For example, this one very fundamental need is extremely important and very frequently forgotten due to lack of awareness.

This basic need is "water".

Evidence from teachers, school nurses, and school doctors show that many children suffer discomfort such as stomach aches, constipation, poor appetite, frequent bladder infection, and backaches all linked to not drinking enough water.

Children don’t always realize that they are thirsty and in need of water. They do know they feel uncomfortable, unwell, tired, lethargic, and restless which in turn can lead to irritability andrepparttar 111262 inability to focus on tasks assigned by their teachers.

Children at school are expected to concentrate, play well together, share toys, and to follow instructions from their teachers or to sit quietly and listen. A child that is uncomfortable cannot always co-operate and may be labeled as behaving badly or hyperactive when in fact they may just need to drink some water!

Raising Emotionally Intelligent Sons

Written by Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC


“Mommy, I fell down,” saidrepparttar 5-year-old to his mother during a recent soccer practice. “Were you tough?” asked his mom. “Yeah,” he said and walked away with his head down.

I was at this soccer practice with my daughter, and feeling just a bit out of place asrepparttar 111259 only dad there. When I heard this exchange, it reminded me ofrepparttar 111260 ways we can blindly followrepparttar 111261 “old school” concerning how we raise boys. The old school says that boys should be tough, independent and reject feelings of being weak or fearful. When I heard this mother ask her son if he was tough, I wanted to say, “ All he wants is for you to ask if he’s OK!”

What does raising “tough and independent” boys create?

Men generally haven’t receivedrepparttar 111262 training in “emotional intelligence” that women have. They have a harder time identifying their own feelings, as well asrepparttar 111263 feelings of others. They have been trained from an early age to learn that being tough is more important than showing feelings.

When you employrepparttar 111264 old school of raising tough and independent boys, you damage boys’ ability to feel closely connected to others and their ability to have awareness of their own feelings. Boys learn to “swallow” feelings of inadequacy or weakness.

The problem with swallowing these feelings is that it impacts ones’ ability to access other feelings as well. Emotionally intelligent people have access to all of their feelings, not justrepparttar 111265 ones that are pleasant for them.

The result of swallowing these feelings may be fathers and men who are “successful” (they make a lot of money), but who are not in touch with their own feelings and have difficulty in nurturing themselves or their children. They tend to have tremendous difficulty in developing successful relationships with their loved ones.

Most ofrepparttar 111266 men walking around today report they either don’t remember being hugged by their fathers and/or they have never heard their father say “I love you” to them. It’s easy to see why men often struggle in this area. Falling intorepparttar 111267 trap ofrepparttar 111268 old school for boys is easy because it’s beenrepparttar 111269 standard for fathers for a very long time.

It is entirely normal and natural for fathers to have conflicting thoughts about this subject. There will probably be a part of you that wants your son to be tough enough to handle a tough, competitive world.

There may be another part of you that doesn’t want your son to divorce three wives--each of whom he blames forrepparttar 111270 failed marriage—and who buys a red sports car and hangs out at singles bars when he reaches age 50.

Remember thatrepparttar 111271 world is not only moving towards more technological sophistication but emotional sophistication as well. Those who fully succeed in their lives in this generation will berepparttar 111272 people who are able to identify their own feelings as well asrepparttar 111273 feelings of others. Here are some ideas on how you can help your own son with this:

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