positive-discipline

Positive Discipline Starts With The Parents- Part 2

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In our last blog post, we gave our first three steps to practicing positive discipline. In this post, we explore four more ways to discipline children effectively.

1. Give Attention To Good Behavior, Not Bad Behavior

Children often act out to get attention. Sometimes, it pays to ignore your child when he/she acts out. Ignore the behaviors you don’t want to see more of and give attention to the behaviors you want them to display more often. Katharine C. Kersey, the author of “The 101s: A Guide to Positive Discipline,” calls this the “Rain on the grass, not on the weeds” principle. In the midst of tantrums or whining, play deaf or walk away and your child will soon learn that those behaviors don’t catch your attention. This is a way to practice positive discipline and teach your children to communicate better.

2. Redirect

Instead of trying to stop bad behavior, try redirecting your child’s attention to good behavior. Kids who constantly hear “no” or “don’t” tend to eventually tune those directives out. So instead of telling your child what not to do, Kersey recommends instead, offering a positive behavior to replace the misbehavior. For instance, a child acting up in a grocery store could be redirected to helping pick out grocery items. A child running around a swimming pool might be challenged to walk “as if on marshmallows.” Be creative with your children.

3. Exploit the “energy drain”

Any parent who has dealt with a tantrum or a whining child knows that parenting can be exhausting. Fay calls this the “energy drain” and says you can use it to your advantage. For instance, you might defuse a sibling confrontation by saying, “wow, you need to take that fight with your brother somewhere else, because listening to that could cause me a big energy drain and I don’t think I’ll have the energy to take you to get dessert after dinner.” What will your child care more about, getting ice cream after dinner or fighting with their sibling?

4. Stay Away From Bribing

Sometimes bribing seems like the easiest option in a moment of desperation, but is not the best long-term solution for your children. Fay warns that bribing sends the wrong message. What kids hear when we offer a reward for good behavior is “you don’t want to be very good and you have to be paid off,” says Fay.

The most important rearward to give your child is quality time. That should be freely given. Children need us and they need our undivided attention at times. Fay recommends spending AT LEAST 15 minutes of one-on-one time with your children a day. It’s very important for children to know they are loved and to hear it often. Love is the best medicine.

discipline

Positive Discipline Starts with The Parents- Part 1

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Some parents are lucky enough to have angel children who never misbehave but the majority of us have to sometimes put up with thrown toys, screams and slammed doors in our faces. The way we handle these situations, behave ourselves and discipline our children really matters. Here are some tips that we’ve gathered from a few experts.

Understand The Meaning Behind The Behavior

As parents, it’s our job to be selfless and to be cognitive of what’s going on with our children. Taking the time to really know our children gives us the opportunity to understand why they are acting certain ways. Naomi Aldort, the author of “Raising our Children, Raising Ourselves,” says that children are born wanting to behave well. If they seem to miss the mark, there’s a valid reason for it. “The most important [thing] is to realize that whatever a child does, we may label as bad, [but really] the child is doing the best he can. It’s our job as parents to find out why [he is] doing it,” says Aldort. “Once we know the valid root of the behavior, we can easily remove the cause or heal the emotions, and the child won’t be driven to behave in that way anymore.”

Ask yourself if your child is acting out for a certain reason. Have they been getting enough attention? Are they acting out to be noticed? Is there a certain correction you can make to your own behavior that might positively affect your child? “A lot of what we expect of children is unreasonable,” says Aldort.

Be Willing To Adjust Your Own Behavior

Our children pick up on our behaviors. It’s often hard to keep calm in the heat pf the moment but how we react to situations is often how our children will grow up to react to situations. Dr. Katharine Kersey, author of “The 101s: A Guide To Positive Discipline,” says that parents need to model the types of behavior they want their kids to emulate. Leading by example is very powerful. ” We should not do anything in front of [our children] that we don’t want them to do,” she says.

Be Consistent

Consistency is everything in parenting. Being consistency is very healthy for our children. Aldort says that parents often overlook certain behaviors and hope it will pass. That is a lazy perspective. It will not pass. If your child bites another child, for instance, hold their hand and them their behavior was unacceptable. If they continue, it’s time to remove them from the situation and handle it.

Sometimes a child might try to test the limits by arguing with the rules. When this happens, Fay suggests neutralizing negotiations by repeating one simple mantra as often as necessary: “I love you too much to argue.”

Let’s all strive to understand our children, exemplify positive behavior and be consistent in with our parenting styles and discipline patterns. Stay tuned for part 2 with even more advice on utilizing positive discipline in the home.

Tomball

New Location In Tomball, Texas

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Tomball In A Nutshell

Are you a native of Tomball? Tomball is a city in Harris County in the state of Texas and is part of the Houston metropolitan area. With an estimated population of 10,753, Tomball is a suburb of Houston and it’s a wonderful small town to raise a family. Many families reside in the Tomball area. If you are a parent of young children, you may have to deal with head lice in the near future. That’s where we come in. We are experts of head lice and we now offer safe and effective lice treatment at our new clinic in Tomball, Texas to make it even more convenient for our wonderful Tomball neighbors. Our original location is in College Station and we continue to operate both locations.

Our AirAllé® Lice Treatment

We hope there is not a head lice outbreak at your child’s school anytime soon but if there is, there’s a big chance your son or daughter will come home with lice so it’s important to be prepared. We encourage parents to know a little bit about head lice, such as how it spreads and how to treat it. We offer treatments using our revolutionary and guaranteed lice treatment with our Airalle device. It was invented at the University of Utah and uses controlled, heated air in a pattern to dehydrate head lice and eggs, even when you can’t see them. It will work no matter how resistant lice become to chemicals and pesticides because we don’t use any! That means it’s not only effective but also safe! Don’t use drugstore lice shampoos because they simply don’t work. Parents love our treatment because it’s one and done with no follow-up appointments necessary. It’s safe, fast and effective. Give us a call today for a head check and possible treatment!

super lice

Super Lice: Not So Super

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Super Lice

No matter what, head lice are a nuisance and they always have been. We’re lucky we live in a day with so much technology and so many resources. We don’t have to carve lice combs out of stones like people in ancient times but now parents have to deal with an even stronger and trickier strain of head lice. They act and look the same but are resistant to treatments that used to easily kill them.

Super lice are now in 48 states in the U.S, according to head lice research from the last few years. This has brought the efficacy rate of over-the-counter treatments from 96 percent to 28 percent. Parents are realizing more and more just how valuable our AirAllé treatment is because it’s a one and done, safe and effective treatment, which isn’t easy to come by these days. It’s worth the price and makes lice treatment easier than ever for you. If your family is affected by lice in the future, we know we can be the best resource and treatment in town for you.

Super Lice

Super lice got their name from the media in 2015 when public research showed that strains of head lice had developed a resistance to pesticides and chemicals that are in drugstore head lice treatments. Lice have mutated and evolved over the years to become stronger and resistant. Scientists found that lice have become resistant to many medical lice treatments as well. Doctors often recommend Lice Clinics of America because of our success rate. The bad news is any lice treatment you buy at the store or home remedy you find in your kitchen probably will not work. The good news is, our treatment will work no matter what. It works for regular lice, super lice and whatever the future hold for lice. It uses warm, controlled air to dehydrate lice and their eggs.

12 Things To Teach Your Children In Their Younger Years

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As parents, we do our best to teach our children about the world and about life. Certain life skills are useful throughout life. Here are 12 things that your children will someday be very grateful that you taught them.

  1. To Be Active

being-active

Expose your children to a healthy lifestyle early on that will lead them to love being outdoors and being on their feet. Teaching good, active habits will assure they don’t turn into a couch potato (hopefully). Teach them that they want to take care of themselves to live a long, healthy and happy life.

  1. Dental Hygiene

dental-hygeine

Did you know that daily flossing can add 6 years to your life? Dental hygiene is extremely important. Get them in the habit NOW. Don’t assume they’ll one day make a habit of it if they don’t start now.

  1. To Face Their Fears

feace-your-fears

Life is not always a picnic. Sometimes we have to do scary things. Teach your children to take on challenges and have the confidence to face their fears. Being afraid of life is lonely and filled with anxiety.

  1. To Be A Reader

reading

There is nothing better for the brain than reading. It is such a valuable skill to have. Always teach your kids to be readers and to have an imagination. Read to them and tell them stories.

  1. How To Have Fun

Beautiful girl having fun at beach

Life should be enjoyed. Teach your kids that it doesn’t have to be serious business all the time. Teach them to live, laugh and love and to have a good time doing it. Hard work is of course, important but kids should know that happy memories are crucial as well.

  1. To Move On

moving-on

Teach them not to dwell on things, not to sweat the small stuff and to learn to eventually move on from hard things or mistakes or things that haunt them. This is never an easy task but dwelling on things can destroy people.

  1. How To Cook

how-to-cook

You either had someone in your life who taught you how to cook and you’re eternally grateful or you wish you had someone who did that for you because ramen gets old after a while and you’re sick of burning meals or over seasoning. Be the parent your child can be grateful to.

  1. Internet Safety
internet-safety

safety first concept with blue key on computer keyboard

The internet can be a scary thing for parents. Teach your kids not to accept a friend request from the creepy guy you don’t know or to accept a chat from someone claiming to be someone who goes to their school. Teach them to only use the internet for good.

  1. Hard Work

hard-work

Teach them to be a hard worker. Spoiling them constantly and never making them work for anything will be a disservice to them.

  1. To Be Themselves

be-yourself

Living a life trying to be someone else is exhausting. What makes this world such a beautiful place is that we are unique and have different things to offer. Teach them to embrace that.

  1. To Stand Up For Themselves

Stand Up For Yourself words on a sign held by a single man or person in a crowd to illustrate being a rebel or going on strike to protect your rights and justice

This can be hard at times but it would be heartbreaking if people walked all over your kids their entire lives. Teach them for not only stand for something but to also stand up for themselves and believe in themselves.

  1. To Be A Friend

friend

Teach them to be selfless and to be the kind of person people want to be around. Friendships are special and we want our children to create meaningful relationships.

Someday your children will be so grateful for the things you taught them. Then they will use what they learned to teach their own children someday and the cycle will continue. Spread goodness. Happy Parenting!

 

head-lice

Head Lice Or Dandruff?

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It’s actually quite common to mistake head lice for dandruff or vice versa. They look similar and the average person probably hasn’t seen lice before. There are some distinct differences and once you know them, you’ll be bale to tell the difference.

Location Of Head Lice Eggs

Let’s start with the location of nits (lice eggs). Lice lay eggs about a quarter on an inch from the scalp because they need the warmth of the body to incubate and survive. They also need to be close to the scalp to get their blood supply (That’s their breakfast, lunch and dinner). They survive by sucking blood from your head (yuck). So an egg found at that area would be a definite clue that there’s a lice infestation. If it’s farther away from the scalp, it might be a dead egg or empty nit, or possibly dandruff.

Dandruff can shake right out of your hair but lice eggs don’t budge. Lice eggs secrete a glue-like substance and they will not move if you shake your hair or run your fingers through your hair. Nits (lice eggs) must be individually pulled off with your nails or a lice comb.

What Is Dandruff?

Dandruff is a common form of skin eczema, also called Seborrheic dermatitis. Dandruff can be caused by too much oil on the scalp, which dries and turns into flakes. It is only considered dandruff if it’s on the human scalp. It usually appears as large white yellow flakes. Dandruff might be associated with an irritated head.

Neither dandruff nor head lice present any serious health risks. Lice don’t spread disease, and dandruff can be easily treated with medicated shampoo.

If you discover that it is head lice, give us a call for a lice treatment appointment. If you’re not sure, we can give you a head check!

Fourth-of-July

Fun And Easy Fourth of July Activities For Kids

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A very fun holiday is on Tuesday of next week: Independence Day! Or more commonly known, the Fourth of July! What are your plans? Are you trying to figure out what you can do to entertain your children and make the Fourth of July fun for them? We turned to Pinterest to find 7 different crafts you can do with your kids on Independence Day.

  1. Painting Fork Fireworks

Make some fun Fireworks with your kids by using a fork to make some awesome looking fireworks with paint on paper. This is a fun activity for your kids who love to use paint. They can carry it around with them on fourth of July and then you can hang it on your fridge to show it off. http://athriftymom.com/fireworks-painted-with-a-fork-quick-and-easy-craft-project-for-kids-july4th-usa/.

  1. Making Lady Liberty Hats

Here is a fun and unique patriotic craft. Check out this great Lady Liberty Hat, it’s super fun to make and wear for your little ones! It’s super simple and easy to make and your kids will feel cool wearing it. This can be their patriotic Fourth of July attire and they’ll get better at making it each year.

  1. Patriotic Word Search

Here is a fun Fourth of July-themed word search to give your kids while you are busy doing other things to get ready for Fourth of July festivities. Hopefully, it will keep them busy for a bit and give you some time to get your stuff done. Word searches are great for kids’ critical thinking and can get them familiar with different words.

  1. Fourth Of July Wands

If your kids are a little nervous about being close to the real fireworks, this is a great way for them to feel involved and hold up their crafted firework. It’s simple and a great activity for kids to do every fourth of July.

  1. Balloon Fireworks

Balloon fireworks are pretty and fun. It’s an indoor activity and kids will love it. All you really need is balloons, confetti, a funnel and some sharpened pencils. Anything with balloons is fun, right?

  1. Patriotic Wreath

Another fun activity is this fun, Fourth of July wreath. This would be fun to make during the end of June and hang it up on your door before, during and a bit after the fourth of July. It’s a fun and festive decoration.

  1. Fireworks In A Jar

Here is a fun activity that involves science to create fireworks in a jar. This is a fun one for those who love experiments and mixing things together. This is a cool activity for this year’s Independence Day celebrations.

Gotta love Pinterest, right? We hope you like one of these activities and are able to have a wonderful Fourth of July with family and friends. If any of your kids happen to contract head lice, give us a call. We recommend doing a quick head check at the end of the day if your kids were around other kids. Kids make direct contact with other kids more than we realize. Happy Fourth of July to all!