While we can’t make our children tell the truth at every turn, we can have a major influence in their moral development. We can make honesty the only interesting, smart and appealing choice for our kids.

And once they start down a pathway of truthful habits, those habits get stronger and more deeply ingrained each passing year. Until truth telling is simply second nature.

That’s success!

Here’s a simple 4 point plan for encouraging your kids to develop the lifelong habit of honesty.

1. Honesty must be valued.

This seems obvious, but here is what I’ve seen happen time and time again. Parents in a family like the IDEA of truth telling, but not the HARD WORK of honesty. If you value honesty, you will make being honest a priority each and every day. It is what you do, far less than what you say, that carries weight with your children.

If you are not valuing telling the truth in your family, neither will your children. Period.

2. Develop a culture of honesty.

This second point flows naturally from the first point. Once you decide that you are going to make honesty a priority in your home, look for ways to incorporate truthfulness in your everyday life. Instead of only focusing on behavior that involves lying, emphasize truthful behavior everywhere you see it. This will show both you and your child how vital a foundation of truthfulness is in daily living and that throwing the occasional lie in the mix is like throwing a wrench into a smoothly running machine, causing problems far more difficult to solve than the original issue.

3. Be consistent.

Teaching your children to tell the truth is not a one time conversation. This is a lifestyle decision which means you will need to examine your own actions in light of being honest. Do you believe there is ever a time to tell a lie that’s acceptable? What ethics are involved in that decision? Is that decision made for your benefit or for the benefit of others?

These are difficult questions, but wrestling with them will clarify your own position on honesty and ready you to help your child work through these same ethical issues as they grow.

If you find you have trouble being consistent in your own honesty and you’d like to change that, help yourself consider new points of view by studying religious and philosophical books on the subject. Start a discussion with other parents like yourself who want to bring up their children in a conscientious manner also.

4. Use examples.

Literature is filled with examples of both honesty and dishonesty. So is our modern culture. Movies, songs, television shows and the local newspaper show the consequences of people who have not decided to be honest in a variety of ways.

Talk to your kids about these examples. Learn to observe when people are telling the truth and when they are lying. Help your kids to think about how they feel when someone is dishonest with them. To foster discussion, you can ask that each member of your family notice one act of honesty or dishonesty each day and be ready to discuss that information at the dinner table. This type of activity is invaluable in creating the culture of honesty we talked about above.

So if teaching your children to tell the truth is a high priority for your family, you can use this simple 4 point plan to keep your parenting focused on creating a culture of honesty by valuing the trait, being consistent and incorporating life examples into your family’s daily routine.

Such deliberate character training is sure to help your kids start down a solid pathway of honesty.

Anger becomes a problem when it causes negative, aggressive behavior, gets out of control and when the root cause of the problem isn’t being dealt with. For instance, often children with undiagnosed learning disabilities will have frequent angry outbursts. They may be feeling frustrated because they are struggling to learn and it may feel like the world is closing in on them when parents or teachers suggest that they aren’t trying hard enough or doing their best. Because the child isn’t able to deal with the real issue, they become angry over small incidents that would normally be insignificant. This helps them to avoid feeling “stupid” or incapable. Once the problem is discovered and the child gets the help, support and proper discipline that is needed, the angry outbursts become less frequent or disappear altogether.

It is important that children learn how to express their emotions in a healthy and constructive manner. A child should never be told that their feelings are wrong, though they may need reminding if their behavior is wrong. For instance you might say, “Johnny, I understand that you are angry about your brother breaking your toy, that wasn’t fair, but it is not okay to hit when you are angry.” The child needs to know that his feelings are validated and should also be given some ideas about how to handle the situation better the next time they are in a similar position.

Anger is a normal emotion for people of all ages, including children. Good communication and modeling good behavior are two of the best ways to help children learn to deal with anger. Taking the time to praise your child whenever he or she does anything that is positive can also help them understand what it expected and feel good about doing what is right. Take the time to check yourself to see if you spend too much time being negative or angry and find ways to be more positive. If the parents in the home aren’t dealing with anger appropriately, they can’t expect the child to. Be willing to admit when you are wrong and apologize to your child, teaching them to do the same. If you suspect that your child has a serious anger problem, it may be time to get some additional help and guidance.

What exactly do you have to have to play these games? The only things you need are a computer connected to the internet and your imagination. The clothes for these games do not need to be washed, dried and ironed or even stored in your home. All you do is drag and drop the outfits you want to put on the virtual doll. That is much easier than putting some of those complicated doll outfits on baby dolls.

You may wonder if these online dress up games are safe for your children to play or if you should be worried. You may also wonder if there is any educational value in these games or if they are just a waste of time. Your children are not going to improve their math skills, knowledge of science or history or their spelling abilities while playing these games but they can help them express their creativity and use their imagination. By creating outfits that go together children are learning about style, shapes and color and improving their artistic abilities. These online dress up games can lead to an interest in other artistic hobbies like drawing or painting. They can also help your children discover if a career in fashion design is the right path for them.

The best thing about online dress up games is they bring out your child’s creativity and encourage them to use their imagination. The games may seem silly and trivial and you may wonder what your children could possibly get out of putting party outfits and swimming outfits on virtual dolls and then changing them into rocker outfits. What are the benefits? The best thing about online dress up games is they bring out your child’s creativity and encourage them to use their imagination. The games may seem silly and trivial and you may wonder what your children could possibly get out of putting party outfits and swimming outfits on virtual dolls and then changing them into rocker outfits.

Something to keep in mind is that these games encourage creativity and are a much better thing for your child to be doing than playing some of the extremely violent and graphic video and online games that are out there. There is little or no chance your child is going to be harmed or suffer mental issues as a result of dressing up virtual dolls but you can’t say the same for bloody, violent game.

As a parent, you might have gone through the anxiety of wanting to give your child health packed lunches, but also providing something that they will actually eat. After all, a child that won’t eat their packed lunch is probably just as unhealthy as one that eats a packed lunch made up of junk. It’s a huge pressure – I know all too well – but there are certain things you can do to help ease the stress of it all.

The key is in the word “balance” – making sure that your child has all the essential nutrients to help them be healthy and grow, but a little bit of naughtiness so that they don’t get hung up about food and see it as being a bad thing.

Lunchbox ideas:

Sandwiches – ideally, these should contain protein (cheese, meat or egg) plus either a vegetable or fruit – if your child won’t eat veg, adding fruit to sandwiches gives a bit of sweetness and adds to their five a day. Using relish or salad cream/mayonnaise will also make it more flavoursome. For example: cream cheese and banana, cheddar and tomato relish, chicken and thinly sliced tomato, ham and tomato, egg mayo with sultanas, chicken and grapes (try it!).

Bread – well we all know that white bread is no good. To try and wean children off white bread if they won’t eat anything else, try making sandwiches out of one slice brown and one slice white – you could even make this into a bit of fun, let them know that it’s a special sandwich for a super special child!

Fruit – children are much more likely to eat fruit if it is already chopped and in its own container or Tupperware, rather than if you give them a whole piece of fruit which can be a bit daunting. Try a mixture of grapes, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries for children that “don’t like fruit” or the more traditional mix of orange, grape and apple (squirt a little lemon over it to help stop it turning brown) for those that do.

Snacks – hummus with carrot sticks, cheese slices and tomato, nuts with dried fruit, homemade cake made with honey (instead of sugar) and banana, root vegetable crisps instead of potato ones (look in larger supermarkets).

If you involve your children in making snacks at the weekend, they may be more likely to eat them in their packed lunch. For example, making healthy muffins with blueberries, wholemeal flour and half honey/half sugar to sweeten. Or slice potatoes really finely, dowse in healthy olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and bake in a hot oven until golden brown, for perfect homemade crisps.

If you’re really at a loss and are not sure where to start, a good place to begin is by first establishing if your child prefers sweet taste or savoury taste. If children prefer sweet taste, try and encourage fruit eating, and for savoury eaters, try and encourage them to eat veggies sticks chopped matchstick thin and eaten with something tasty such as cheese.

They key is to take small steps and to not give up. You will get there, even if you are not sure how! One small step at a time.

Does this sound familiar? Do you have to say things three or four times before your child finally complies with your request? Frustrating, isn’t it?

You’re not alone. The biggest complaint that most parents have is that their child doesn’t listen the first time.

There are lots of reasons why your child may not be listening the first time. Listed below are five reasons why kids tend to ignore their parents’ requests and solutions for turning the behavior around. These tips come from the online audio class “Get Your Child to Listen the First Time!” which gives you 19 options for reducing your stress by getting your kids to listen the first time.

Reasons Why Kids Ignore Parents

1. Parent error! Any statement that you make to your kids can either be said in a positive way or a negative way. The positive approach is likely to gain more compliance. Negative statements are more likely to alienate or irritate your child.

For instance, you can say: “Look what you just did! How many times do I have to tell you to take your shoes off at the door?!”

How would your child feel hearing this? Ashamed? Upset? Humiliated?

Or you could say: “Shoes stay on the rug.”

How would your child feel hearing this statement?

Probably OK, right?

Solution: Really examine the word choices you’re making. As often as you can, use positive communication when telling your child to do something. Strive to use positive phrases 95% of the time.

2. It’s hard to leave a desirable activity for an undesirable one.

Let’s say your child is playing on the computer and you say “Shut off the computer and come unload the dishwasher.”

Hmmm… Computer?? Dishwasher??? What do you think your child would rather do?

Solution: Empathize with your child about how hard it is to leave an activity that s/he enjoys. Provide the child with a 10-minute warning, a 2-minute warning and then place your hand on the child’s shoulder and establish eye contact to move through the change of activity. Or have the child use a timer. Enforce a logical consequence if your child does not comply.

3. Stressors in the family.

Health concerns, a pending divorce, a death in the family, adapting to a new school, or other problems could be causing your child extra stress.

Many of these problems are beyond a child’s control and so s/he will try to take control back by being more “defiant” to a parent’s requests.

Solution: Provide empathy. Your child is going through a tough time and responding with kindness and understanding will help your child more than “laying down the law.” You should still require your child to do what you’ve asked, but use a soft touch when you can. Provide extra hugs and allow the child to make choices in other areas.

4. Your child’s developmental age.

The developmental tasks of separating from you and exerting power and control are more pronounced during different stages of development. Parents with children ages 3, 5, 11 and 13+ seem to experience the most difficulty.

Solution: Don’t take this behavior personally. Create a mantra like “It’s developmental.” Say this mantra to yourself when your child is being defiant so you keep your cool and stay on task in getting the job done.

5. It works!

Let’s say that you ask your child to pick up the toys off the floor so you can vacuum. Your child doesn’t pick up the toys, so you just clean up the toys so you can get done vacuuming.

What has your child learned? Mom and Dad will mop up after me if I hold out long enough.

Solution: Make sure that your child follows through with requests you make. Set up a consequence for noncompliance and follow through.

But there’s something we can always count on, when we pull those boxes from storage-the kids will want to help decorate the home for Christmas. After all, who knows more about the joy and excitement of the holidays than our kids? And putting up the Christmas decorations is one chore they always want to help with.

Why not let your children be a real, fundamental part of the Christmas decorating, every year? In place of some of the knick-knacks, whose origins have been lost to memory, holiday decorations crafted by the children in the family can become truly important pieces of a family’s Christmas celebration for years to come, perhaps even for generations.

It’s the kind of activity that children of any age can engage in. Even the youngest members of a family can make their permanent mark on future Christmases, by helping to fashion new decorations. Designs and simple plans can be found for all kinds of homemade Christmas decorations on the internet.

Creating holiday decorations is an activity in which the whole family can participate, as well. Children, whose families help craft their ideas into permanent Christmas fixtures, will feel a real sense of belonging and pride, when their creations are on display and admired by all of the Christmas visitors.

Making new holiday decorations is an activity that’s perfect for groups of children, also. It can be a wonderful theme for a child’s Christmas party, where friends can gather and create their own new ornaments and decorations, or make special, unique gifts to donate to churches or schools or organizations that provide for the poor and infirm.

Children want to contribute their part to the holiday season, and feel as though they play an important role in a family’s life. Creating new heirlooms, as these decorations are sure to become, is a wonderful way to include children in your family’s holiday season.

Brought to you by Imaginary Greetings, focusing on how families can flourish in this wonderful world we dwell in. Make the Christmas occasion spectacular for your children this year with letters from Santa Claus

The definition used by the U.S government for purposes of legislation and qualifying students for special education funds is the following:

“Specific learning disability” means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

A learning disability is most widely caused by weak underlying cognitive skills. Other factors contributing to learning disabilities include basic genetic limits or poor and inadequate instruction. Weak cognitive skills can impact learning heavily because during the process of reading and understanding there are many processes going on. If one of those processes is weak it could throw off the whole learning process for an individual. When reading a student must process visual images which consist of letters and words, and at the same time they must recall and associate those images with correct sounds. Mental associations must be formed by those sounds to make the words they are associated with, and one has to comprehend what the word means and how it applies to what they are reading. It is easy to see how a weak cognitive skill can throw off the whole learning curve.

The good news about learning disabilities affected by weak cognitive skills is that they can be changed for the better by specific testing and training. These changes can be rapid and dramatic for those that struggle with the various learning disabilities. Cognitive skills testing is available all across the nation. A quality learning center that runs cognitive skills testing will uncover specific cognitive skill weaknesses and will customize training to strengthen those weaknesses. Getting you or your child tested for a learning disability can completely and literally change lives.

According to the National Institutes of Health, one in seven Americans, struggles with some type of learning disability, proving the importance of getting you or your family members tested for cognitive skills weaknesses.

Paul Counts recommends LearningRx they are a child and adult learning training center which provides cognitive skills testing to help individuals pinpoint the causes of their learning disabilities. To find a LearningRx testing center near you, or to take a free self-screening test visit www.learningrx.com.