Archive for the 'Family Issues' Category

Kids’ fighting is a common thing. Did you see your children arguing all the time? Did you experience the change in the environment at home with their fight? Of course every family with kids faces this type of problem.

Don’t worry that you are the only parents who have such kids. You are not alone who is facing this problem.

You might have faced some difficult times where you felt tough to handle with. Many parents are facing this type of problem in their homes.

If you are also one of them who come across such situation where it is difficult to deal, you can follow some simple steps, which limit the fighting of kids.

Tips to limit the kids fight!

Fighting is one of the best ways for kids to make you notice them. In order to avoid them fighting, it is better for you to ignore their fight, so that they only calm themselves, but do not ignore them when they are in fight with any weapons.

When you see your kids are cooperative, do not miss the opportunity to praise them. Encourage your kids that they are doing a good job when they are working together. They may forget it soon, but repeatedly if you praise them, they can slowly understand what you are expecting from them.

Children who deal with divorce, abuse or certain other hardships may be more likely than their peers to start drinking at a young age, a U.S. study suggests.

The study, of nearly 3,600 Americans ages 18 to 39, found that those who’d gone through certain negative experiences as a child were more likely to have started drinking before age 15.

The experiences specifically linked to early drinking were physical abuse, sexual abuse, living with a mentally ill family member, substance abuse in the home, and parents’ divorce or separation.

The findings, reported in the journal Pediatrics, add to evidence that negative childhood experiences are related to early drinking.

What’s new is that they point to specific circumstances that may be especially problematic, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Emily F. Rothman of the Boston University School of Public Health.

They found that adults who reported any of those five childhood experiences were more likely not only to drink early, but to drink specifically to cope with their problems.

Drinking early, especially as a way to manage stress, could shape a person’s drinking patterns for a lifetime, the researchers note — possibly raising the risk of alcohol dependence in adulthood.

Children in nontraditional two-parent families — such as step families or when the biological mother is living with a boyfriend — get roughly the same amount of parental involvement as children living with both biological parents in a so-called traditional family, according to research presented at a recent meeting of the American Sociological Association.

This finding bodes well for the many children in the United States living in nontraditional families, according to study author Hiromi Ono, PhD, who cites previous research that links low parental involvement to behavior problems in children.

Children have the same amount of time with their biological mothers, regardless of the type of father figure in the household, according to the study.

Children spend about five hours more per week with their mothers than with the male parental figure, whether he is the biological father or not.

The study included about 1,500 children aged 6-12 (average age 9) living with their biological mothers, who were either married or cohabiting.

Ono, who does not look at single parents in the study, reports no significant difference in time spent with remarried biological fathers, cohabiting biological fathers, or cohabiting stepfathers compared to first-married biological fathers.

Losing a member of the family is very painful and upsetting to everyone. Death and dying are the incidents that almost everyone will come across at some or the other time in the life.

Coping with grief and loss associated with the death of a loved family member is a stressful event for all, especially children of the family.

Parents, on the other hand, find the incident to be a great loss for missing the loved one as well as for what to say or do to help their children cope with the incident.

How do children react to the death of a family member?

How do children react to and cope with death incident depends on several factors. Age of the child is the main factor to know how the child grieves for the death of a family member.

Children below six are usually unaware of the concept of death. Children of this age range consider death to be a temporary or reversible event where the person will eventually come back after some time.

Parents of these days face several different concerns with their children. Of these, sibling rivalry is one of the most common and universal.

Sibling rivalry is not a new problem that parents are facing today. It is an ancient dynamic that normally affected the families having more than a single child.

“Sibling rivalry” means the competitive/jealousy feeling that arises among children of a family and the term ‘sibling’ is referred to the brothers and sisters of a family.

At times, the siblings may show jealous over, try to compete with, or directly fight each other. So, the risk of having rivalry among siblings is always very high even if they are generally best friends.

According to the recent researches, sibling rivalry is an indication of a healthy family. On the other hand, it is also found that the impact of sibling rivalry will be more on the quality of family life, family relationships, family communication, and self-confidence in children.

In spite of putting hard work to avoid sibling rivalry in your children, these attacks in families can strike at any time. So, the realism in controlling the attacks of sibling rivalry lies in understanding why sibling rivalry occurs, how to minimize it and what steps are to be taken to avoid sibling rivalry.

Step parenting is frightening but understanding your feelings and feelings of others can turn a difficult task into a rewarding experience.

Most American families involve children from previous relationships.

According to the research, step family requires 5 to 7 years before stress returns to a normal range and family functioning improves.

Developing bond in step parenting! In step parenting, developing a bond between step child and step parent can be quite challenging depending on the situation and the child’s age.

As a step parent, you should allow children to get used to the idea of allowing another parent into their lives. This proves beneficial over time. Naturally over time relationship can be built on mutual trust.

Conversation is important in step parenting! According to recent poll on step parenting, conversation is the best key to connect with step children. You can develop relationship by being a loving relative instead of parent.

Children feel aggressive and concerned about their place in the family and their relationship with your spouse, the biological parent.

Discipline! Discipline is a sensitive matter and whether your step children are living with you or not, you need to take care of some discipline. This can cause friction because your step child may feel that you don’t have the right to discipline them.

The love and happiness that your first child brought into your life is beyond measure. You are expecting another child now.

The thought of sharing mom and dad with new baby can be unsettling for your young child.

Older child feels rejected! When a new baby comes into picture, your old child’s world is destroyed.

Up to now, you had paid all the attention to your young child. Now they feel rejected and jealous because you spend time with new baby.

Child feels insecured! It is natural that young children feel insecured with the arrival of new baby. Anxiety in child develops. You have to think in your child’s point of view and support child in all aspects.

Your child thinks why you left home for several days, why you are staying at the hospital, what you are doing there and when she will come back. And when you return home with new baby, they are upset.

Ignoring older one! Every one concentrates on new baby and ignores him. Anxiety in child increases when he feels neglected. This does not mean to make you feel guilty to have second child. But, you have to reduce anxiety in child and understand his feelings. You should talk to him before the arrival of new child.

Step families are also called as blended families.

A step family must tackle many issues including loyalty conflicts.

Parents in remarried families tries to minimize the influence of the absence parent and hope the kids will bond with and accept discipline from the step parent.

Damaging The Efforts Of Step Parent!

Kids try to resist and damage the efforts of step parent because they feel that accepting the step parent means “disloyal” to the absent parent. Many jealous issues come into picture in step families. Children become jealous of the time spent with the new spouse or with other children in the family.

Remarriage!

Remarriage is a challenge for all the members, especially for kids. Most kids feel that remarriage represents the loss of dream that their biological parents would stay married forever.

The angst associated with this loss is painful and the emotions include confusion, anger and jealousy. Encourage your child to talk about his feelings. This makes your child feel safe and nurturing and share his emotions.

It is important to set realistic expectations for step parent and child. Beginning with realistic expectations of tolerance and respect for everyone in the family will help allow love and unity to build over time.