There is a name for this forgetting phenomenon. It is usually termed childhood amnesia. It appears to be a robust effect that is well established [J.M. Fitzgerald, A Developmental Account of Early Childhood Amnesia. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 152(2)]. It appears that the period of childhood amnesia extends from birth to age three or four�sometimes its can even extend to age 6 or 7. Referring to that time period at a later age, children and adults do show the �snatches� of memory that I have experienced, but they seem to take all of the �snatches� and �snippets� and form a �conglomerate memory� blending many things together and embellishing and subtracting from actual events� as adults present at the time of the original event occurrence can attest.

Newcombe et al [Remembering Early Childhood: How Much, How, and Why or (Why Not). Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(2)] affirm that the phenomenon of Childhood amnesia is real, but that people continue to be able to recall parts of their lives from age two to five, however in much less detail and accuracy than from later periods. Implicit memories may be present, even if explicit ones are not. As we shall see, this may have some relevance for emotional content of memory, even if facts are sketchy. Lastly, Newcombe et al conclude that the autobiographical content of early memories may be missing. I would add that, even if they seem to be present, they might not be veridical.

Now, in the midst of this, I must hasten to say that research has continued to strengthen the case for a reasonably robust memory in toddlers. It seems to persist for days or weeks. So, that being the case, and taking, say age five as the �memory pick up point,� we are left with a mystery attested to by Eacott [Memory for the Events of Early Childhood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(2)]. There have been many answers proposed from many theoretical perspectives to explain the �great forgetting.� Nevertheless, as of yet, no truly satisfactory consensus has been reached. One might say it is a mystery.

At any rate, I have been pondering a few real (shall we say �cult??�) classics from the late 60�s and early 70�s, namely Berne�s, Games People Play, Harris�, I�m OK- You�re OK, and Steiner�s, Scripts People Live. As I�m sure the fifty-ish+ crowd will recall, these are all classics of transactional analysis. Harris offered the most �pop view.� The others were more serious attempts. Of course, TA didn�t just �die out� in 1972 or so (just search the web!). It has long ago outgrown its moniker as a �pop psychology��see for example TA for Today: A New Introduction to Transactional Analysis by Stewart and Joines, 1987, Lifespace Publishing. I think TA offers some useful insights here.

The basic notion is that we all have an inner Parent, Child, and Adult. The Parent sounds and does just like our parents. And it offers the same injunctions�don�t�s, but of course we are offered plenty of do�s as well. The Parent includes other parenting figures as well. Of course the Parent isn�t necessarily BAD. If that were the case, there would be little hope of socialization, and we might all be a bunch of criminals. However, the Parent can offer up a hefty dose of guilt and pain and leave us feeling not �good enough.� The Adult in each of us takes in the data from our world, the data from the Parent, and the data from our either quilt ridden or more free wheeling Child and tries to make sense of the world�deciding which data is correct and which is unhelpful or simply wrong.

As Steiner points out, we use all of this and, either in early childhood, or at least by early adolescence, form a script for our lives. It may be one that tells us we are successful. It may be the script of �The Lonely Loser.� It may be a helpful script, or a harmful one; the point is that we will ever try to live it out, because it helps us make sense of our world (unless there is a conscious effort to change it and a bunch of work to do so�TA teaches that we can always change our script).

We also choose some basic life position, such as �I�m OK and You�re OK.� Harris, borrowing Adler�s notion of a universal inferiority complex feels that, no matter how �good� our parenting, we all emerge from early childhood with a life position of �I�m NOT OK and You�re OK.� I believe that Berne and Steiner might argue that one. The gist of it all, however, is that we have �an inner voice� that we may not identify as the Parent or the Child, a position, perhaps I�m NOT OK, and a life script with a beginning, middle and ending, written long ago to make sense out of life. It is doubtful that we recognize these things unless they are pointed out to us and we think about them.

Cowan and Davidson in Salient Childhood Memories [Journal of Genetic Psychology (145) First Half] point out that when adults are asked to produce their earliest memory, the memories tend to be largely unhappy ones. Not all researchers have found this effect, however the study appears to be well done and carefully analyzed. Acklin et al [Predicting Depression Using Earliest Childhood Memories. Journal of Personality Assessment (53(1)], report that adults recounting earliest memories involving deprivation, loss of control, poor human interactions�just plain negative stuff�were more likely to be depressed as adults.

You may wonder why a writer about fundamentalism is interested in all of this. As a child I attended a Child Evangelism Fellowship Bible Club. It was full of five to nine- year olds. Every week, we sang songs, did crafts, all kinds of fun stuff. Then they got out the heavy guns. We were sinners and God had a place for sinners. We were all going to hell. If we didn�t know what that was, well they made sure they told us. What impact does it have on a six- year old to be told that s/he is so bad s/he is worthy of hell? A five- year old? If fundamentalist big people told this to five and six- year olds, do you think they did any less with four- year olds? You see, now we are somewhere in that zone of childhood amnesia. At this age the Adult within the child does not have the cognitive capacity to sort through the input they are receiving.

I think of the writings of James Dobson in the 1970�s and 80�s (before he toned it down a bit for his newspaper column). I recall Larry Christensen�s, The Christian Family, published in the early 1970�s�the child raising bible when I was a fundamentalist. I well remember their advice about spanking and �breaking the will of the child.� In fact, I often reflect on all of the hierarchal authoritarian parenting/family schemes set forth by fundamentalist Christians and all of the books on Child rearing in fundamentalist/evangelical bookstores, and I am concerned. I remember being a Jesus Freak in the early 1970�s (as part of the Jesus Movement) and seeing two and three- year olds spanked. I recall one father who, as part of the ritual, even made his two- year old bring him the paddle. When the boy was two, every night, the parents would tell him a bedtime story about �going to hell.� Finally, one night, the child came �unglued� and began screaming that he didn�t want to go to hell. His dad said, �The good news, Bobby, is that you don�t have to, if you accept Jesus.� The church was all-abuzz! �Bobby got saved that night!� It became a real model and point of celebration for the church. What a clever and loving father and mother! After all, the boy was saved and only two- years old!

The TA folks say that the basic life position and script are pretty well written by five, six, seven or so. The childhood amnesia folks tell us that we can�t recall why we wrote it. The personality researchers remind us that we hang on to the �bad memories��even if we don�t have them quite right and they cause us problems later�depression, anxiety, and (from a TA perspective) a likelihood of defeatist scripts. And the fundamentalist �child development experts?� Well, they help ensure our kids will write dysfunctional scripts through �hellfire,� beatings, and confused love. There must be a better way.

1. Pediatrician
A child’s doctor is often the primary line of defense against learning problems. Nowadays, pediatric tests are able to identify possible disabilities earlier than ever before. Still, if symptoms manage to keep themselves hidden for a while, as soon as they’re discovered, the pediatrician will be the first person that a child’s parent will contact. For example, if an 18-month-old child doesn’t seem to understand or respond to his or her parent’s speech, the parent may bring this up with their pediatrician, who will first test the child’s hearing. If his or her hearing is fine, then the child will be referred by the pediatrician to a speech pathologist.

2. Speech Pathologist
These licensed professionals are trained to assess a child’s speech development and point out any potential problems. When a child is sent to a speech pathologist, he or she will be tested for the ability to speak and to understand the speech of others. If a problem is identified, the speech pathologist will suggest that he or she begin speech therapy as soon as possible, since the sooner a learning disability is dealt with, the easier it will be for him or her to make the transition to school.

3. Teacher
The right instructor for your child will have the time and the training necessary to work with learning disabled students. This may be a general or special education teacher, depending on the severity of your child’s scholastic problems. General education teachers may obtain the necessary training from workshops or classes offered by private schools, nonprofit organizations, or learning centers that specialize in working with students who have scholastic difficulties. Special education teachers are trained to work with students who may have one or more of a variety of disabilities, including cognitive, physical, and social disorders.

4. Tutor
Sometimes outside help is needed to assist your child in making the most of his or her educational opportunities. If this is the case, you may want to hire a specially trained tutor to teach your child the strategies that will allow them to interpret the information that is relayed to them in their schoolwork. Sometimes, the difference a tutor makes can help a child forever.

Jane Saeman runs an In-Home Tutoring service called Aim High Tutors. Find out about how to help your student reach their full potential at http://www.aimhightutors.com/blog

Many people even start stressing in the first trimester about who would be the easier person to offend – Mabel or Mary when you are thinking about the baby name factor alone. Pregnancy is a time where your thoughts are constantly running a mile a minute about what this new change will bring for you.

The first thing you need to do when you realize you are pregnant, is stop for a moment and think about your health and what you need to do about it. A woman’s health requirements when she is pregnant are much higher than normal. You are under demanding physical and emotional stress.

Most of your nutrition will be carted off to a whole other person. Keeping fit and ensuring you get enough nutrients are much more important during pregnancy than any other time in your life. Put aside the other issues, although not of lesser importance, like baby names until you have created an action plan to make yourself healthy.

It is critical that you establish regular visits to a health practitioner such as an OB-GYN or midwife. You will need to work this in your schedule if you work out of the home. Your health practitioner will monitor your entire pregnancy from beginning to end and advise you of all of the routine testing you will need.

Put your questions on paper for every visit. Especially if you are a first timer, you will have questions for every visit. It is good to know now as well that you may have some waits when you visit your OB-GYN. These are on call doctors and babies are not always born after business hours as those in the waiting room would like. There are more full waiting rooms with empty doctor’s office at the OB clinic than in any other practice. Now would be a good time to think about baby names, when you have the time. Chances are your clinic will have a few books sitting around as well.

Prenatal vitamins are another must. And here, you need to purchase actual prenatal vitamins. Your little bambino needs them as much as you do, so you will be doubling up on the things you normally take. Folic acid is a biggie as well. Research shows that in folate deficient moms, there is a higher occurrence of spina bifida in babies. Start these as well before you pin down a baby name. That can wait, these can’t.

There are so many other factors involved in a woman’s health when she is pregnant. The time is now to get a doctor and start taking your vitamins. All of the other factors will fall into place eventually with both of these support systems in play.

The author Ajeet Khurana is a web enthusiast and recommends that you visit Meaning of Names and Womens Health and Parenting.

I think that kids miss out today by not having that quality time with their parents and siblings. It’s a great bonding exercise and it teaches kids to be graceful in victory and defeat. So many activities are solitary today, and kids have entire home entertainment systems in their bedrooms. Families are fragmented throughout the house.

My father taught my brother and I to play chess from a very young age. Chess games and checkers were part of our Sunday afternoon routine. We also liked to play card games for matches or pennies. We’d play pontoon or gin rummy. Board games were another sort of family games we played a lot. Our favorites were monopoly, snakes and ladders and clue. Family games of monopoly could go on for days.

Outdoor activities were also popular with my family. We liked to go to the local park and play a game of cricket or kick a soccer ball around. There were tennis courts too, which we made use of.
When my own children were little, my husband and I carried on the family games tradition. They liked board games too, and we played the old favorites. My adult son still plays The Simpsons version of monopoly with his girlfriend. We also liked to play Risk, the war strategy game. Pictionary is still one of the games we enjoy. We have only recently got Twister in our house. It’s certainly good for keeping you agile and its great fun.

Many games now have computer versions, such as Risk. I’d rather smell the board and hold the figures in my hand. Everything has to be on a screen now. I think we assume that kids won’t want to play family games the old fashioned way. You can also play chess and cards on the computer.

If more families spent time together, perhaps they’d stay together. I have many happy memories of sitting round the table with loved ones, playing family games. It’s great for stress levels, as long as you don’t mind losing!

Sarah Jones loves teaching. When she isn’t teaching her own son, she is busy sharing her love of education with others.
Find a wide assortment of Lesson Plans, crafts for kids, and education tips at her site, http://www.KnowMore.com.

Organic Baby Clothing has recently become very popular with concerned parents due to the Natural way the Cotton is grown, therefore making it a better choice for our Baby’s Clothing needs. Cotton that has been organically grown is not subjected to harsh Chemicals and Pesticides as is Non-Organic Cotton, therefore making it a better choice for your Baby and our Planets Environment.

There is one drawback to choosing Organically Manufactured Baby Clothing, and that one drawback is the higher price! Since the process for growing and manufacturing Organic Cotton Baby Clothing is more expensive, and as Parents we must pay higher prices for the Organic Baby Clothes we buy. However we do get the peace of mind knowing there are no harsh or harmful chemicals in our Baby’s Clothing.

Not only is Organic Cotton grown under stringent standards, it is also manufactured under very tight guidelines, in order to be considered Organic in nature. The manufacturing process must not include harmful fabric dyes and or harmful chemicals in the Growing, Processing and Manufacturing of organic clothing.

Parents should be cautious when buying Organic Baby Clothes, and be sure to read the Clothing Labels carefully, because there are Clothing Manufactures that are not totally truthful, or ethical. Some Manufactures will label the clothing as “Organic” when in fact it is NOT fully Organic in Nature. It is advised that Parents should shop for Name Brands that you both know and trust when shopping for Organic Clothing for your Baby.

Buying Organic Clothes is safer for your baby as well as safer for the environment. Just be sure to read the labels and check for wording like, “Organically Grown Cotton” and possibly “Organically Manufactured Cotton”, to be assured you are buying Authentic Organic Cotton Baby Clothes for your Baby. Buyer beware, as my Dad always said!

As a Frugal Mom I want my Baby to wear Organic Cotton Baby Clothes; however the price is rather high if you are Shopping at the Local Mall, or Independent Baby Stores. Since my Baby is actually allergic to some of the fabric dies used in Non-Organic Cotton Baby Clothing I had to begin buying ONLY Organically Grown and Manufactured Baby Clothes for her.

I first went Online and researched the topic of “Organic Baby Clothes” and found the prices Online to be less than in the Brick and Mortar Baby Stores in Town. However, one day in my research I found a link on Google to Ebay and it was about Organic Baby Clothing, so I clicked the link and was pleasantly surprised with what I found.

In searching further on Ebay, I found I could save even more money buying Organic Cotton Baby Clothes on Auction, and sometimes I even get Free Shipping from some Ebay Sellers Online. As a Work at Home Mom on a tight budget I welcome any opportunity to save money on things I buy on a regular basis such as Baby Items.

So, needless to say I spend a fair amount of time searching for all types of Baby related items on auction at Ebay. I have saved lots of money and found tons of great deals on Organic Cotton Baby Clothes, and other Baby Items since I found Ebay.

When it comes to saving money, and saving time, I like the idea of shopping at home and not having to worry about finding a parking place, fighting traffic, or standing in line at the cash register. Plus, I also save money on gas by shopping online. I guess that is why I am called The Frugal Mom!

This Article was written by Sally Jean Myers, a Mother of Six Children, a Work at Home Mom, and the Owner of Baby Store Bargains Online. If you would like more information on Shopping for Baby Clothes as well as other Baby related articles please visit the Authors Website www.BabyStoreBargains.info

But parents of infants and toddlers may not believe that they’ll ever really enjoy the holiday season. Christmas shopping, party-going, travelling to family events-every holiday activity is just more difficult with a very young child in tow. Just moving around is problematic. There’s never enough room for a stroller, anywhere, at Christmas time. And it’s difficult, these days, to find a trustworthy baby-sitter who’s affordable and available.

Parents shouldn’t have to forego their favorite holiday activities, and they shouldn’t have to dread a Christmas-shopping excursion, just because they have little ones in their lives. And parents shouldn’t feel alone and isolated. After all, there are moms and dads everywhere in exactly the same situation.

Parents can band together to help each other get through the holidays, by forming groups that care for each others’ kids, on specific dates. Through work or club memberships or daycare centers, most parents of young kids know other parents who have the same issues and needs, as Christmas approaches.

Several weeks before Christmas, parents in such a group can exchange their planned schedules, either at a meeting or via e-mail. One member of the group then makes a master schedule of everyone’s holiday season, then sets specific times when each couple can host all of the group’s children, or just a few.

Then, when a couple has an afternoon or evening when they’re at home, they can host the children of other couples who may have plans. When a couple acts as the babysitters for the evening or afternoon, the others will help out, by leaving meals or games with their kids, when they drop them off.

Facing the hectic bustle of the Christmas season with an infant or a toddler can be daunting. But parents who cooperate with and help each other can make the holidays pass much more smoothly.

Imaginary Greetings has been providing products and services to scores of families globally that have become family rituals that before just weren’t possible. Make Santa letters an element of your holiday season.

Homeschooling children with ADHD shouldn’t be that hard. A child with ADHD can be very trying, requiring an even greater investment in energy, patience, and love both on your part as well as the child’s, and so the following is a list of tips and suggestions to make homeschooling for a child with ADHD a little easier:

1. Be Patient: Tough as it is, you have realize that homeschooling a child with ADHD will require a great deal more patience and commitment on your part, taking longer for them to settle and concentrate. If it feels like its getting too much for you, then remember two very important things 1) your efforts are for their benefit 2) a child with ADHD doesnt choose to be the way they are, or act the way they do. Accept the child unconditionally.

2. Fun time before teaching: Engage the child and make sure he is happy, content and satisfied, that he has had an opportunity to go to the bathroom, to have something to eat, and have some fun as well. This will pose less distractions and les demands on the attention of the child, meaning that they will focus more.

3. Hardest things first: start with the subject(s) the child dislikes the most, starting with the most difficult things at the start is a good idea because this is when the childs attention and focus will be at a peak. It also means that if towards the end the child has a subject they enjoy, then they will see that as a “treat”.

4. Place a priority on oral and verbal skills: most children who suffer from ADHD also suffer from other conditions and learning disorders, which impedes their learning making learning more difficult which in turn deters them from learning, and so it goes on a vicious circle. Therefore, concentrate on the oral skills first, once the child has mastered this then move onto the verbal. With the oral skills so developed, the sense of achievement should be enough for the child to be prepared to move onto more advanced things.

5. Make learning fun!: The usual implements and methods of learning wont work with a child with ADHD, you have to engage them and make learning an enjoyable and creative process. Thus adhd child home schooling isn’t that bad at all.

6. Positive encouragement and praise whether on its own, or reinforced with a reward of some sort is an excellent tool to help a child with ADHD. This will allow your child to feel more confident and also have a positive goal to work towards, creating routine and this will all help encourage your child study on their own. Let them feel loved and cared for, and always be truthful.

I hope these tips are of some use, and will help you with your child.

Discover the techniques to encounter adhd in child when you visit http://www.adhdchildparenting.com and download free report on

Eager to have the same successful results parenting that my husband’s clients have with their businesses, I have incorporated four of his business practices into my parenting technique.

Think Strategically

When one thinks strategically he or she devises a careful plan of action to carry out and achieve a goal. Strategic thinking is a helpful tool for today’s busy parents who are pulled in many different directions and pressed for time. Set a goal and devise a smart plan to achieve the goal. Strategic thinking can be used in conjunction with meal planning, grocery shopping, leaving the house in the morning, etc.

For example, getting the kids to bed at the same time every evening is a great goal that can often go awry for many households. Creating a step by step plan, in this case a bedtime ritual, is an excellent means towards achieving the goal of consistent bedtimes. As children become more and more familiar with the bedtime ritual their internal clocks get set and falling asleep gets easier and easier.

Strategic thinking makes parenting easier because the whole family knows and adheres to a good plan and with a minimum of stress, achieves their goals.

Time Management

Good time management asks two questions: Is the activity of value? If the activity is of value, what is the best way to do it efficiently? Parents who find that the day is overwhelming, should ask themselves whether the majority of their time is being spent doing important activities efficiently.

There are four questions that should be asked when determining the efficiency of their activities: Should the activity be done at all? Does the activity need to be done now? Can someone else do it? Does the activity have to be done perfectly or is good enough, good enough?

A simple example is setting the table for the evening meal. The answer for most families is, “Yes, this is an important activity.” Does mom or dad have to step away from the stove to set the table now? “No, a child would feel proud to do it now.” Does it have to be approved by the Queen of England? “No, good enough will do and I am proud my child completed the table, not guilty that it isn’t perfect.”

Create Possibility and Move Things Forward

Creating possibility opens the future to bright and wonderful situations and creates opportunity. Moving things forward happens when the person acts on the possibility created.

Parents should be coming from the possibility of love for children when there is opportunity to express it. For example, when a parent is faced with a challenging discipline situation, he can scream and lose his marbles or he can come up with ideas or possibilities to express his love while still managing the children’s behavior.

“Maybe my kids are out of control because we have been in the car all morning, if I take them to the shore and let them run on the beach for an hour I bet we would all calm down.” Moving things forward is then simply Dad driving to the beach and having a wonderful time rough housing with the kids for an hour.

Another way of thinking about this is Stephen Covey’s concept of choice. As he says in The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People:

“BETWEEN STIMULUS AND RESPONSE IS OUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. We have self-awareness, imagination, conscience and independent will. Responsibility is the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.”

Manage Risk

With every activity in life there is the chance that something could go wrong. Putting a baby in the tub and feeding whole grapes to toddlers are high risk parenting activities. Moving the baby from the crib to a bed with a rail is medium risk and coloring at the counter with washable markers is low risk but risky all the same.

Thinking ahead will help parents manage risk and will minimize the likelihood that something might go wrong. Parents need to get in the habit of asking themselves, “If I let my kids do this, what is the most likely outcome.”

Parents should measure the probability of something (good or bad) happening multiplied by the negative impact if it does happen. They should then ask, “What is the cost of eliminating the risk?”

For example: Electrical outlets are dangerous if a child sticks a fork in one, so parents are willing to go to the baby store and buy outlet protectors. A child might possibly be able to remove an outlet cover, but is that slight risk worth the parent hiring an electrician to come in and move all of the electrical outlets up to the ceiling?

Parents who overestimate the probability that something will happen, compulsively worry and hover. People who underestimate risk don’t provide a safe environment for kids. Good parents are able to correctly estimate risk so that they protect their children when the risk is too high and loosen up the reigns when the risk is low.

Applying these business management practices to the everyday challenges of parenting will help give parents tools to parent more efficiently and with less stress. Parenting thoughtfully and creatively will model effective adult behavior to children and create a calm and peaceful home.

Elena Neitlich is the co-owner and CEO of Moms On Edge Her company designs, manufactures and sells creative and effective children’s behavioral toys, games and parenting aids. Moms on Edge also produces a line of handmade luxury bath and beauty products design.

After reading about the research and benefits of baby sign language, many parents decide to introduce this communication tool into their home. New parents are often very enthusiastic, ensuring that there is consistency with the signs and sometimes getting all family members involved.

However if after several months of effort parents have still not seen that “first sign” they can often get discouraged.

Questions and thoughts arise such as:

- Were we consistent with our signing?
- Did we encourage others to sign with our baby?
- Was our use of baby sign language in context?
- When we signed was it at our baby’s level?
- Were we encouraging enough of our baby’s attempts?
- Did we use appropriate facial expressions when signing?
- Did we have fun?

For parents who have followed all the steps mentioned above what has gone wrong? Why is their baby not communicating using baby sign language?

One of the most common reasons for a baby not signing is linked to the balance between practical and motivational signs.

Some parents when they begin to introduce baby signing into their home use signs that will help them understand their baby and reduce frustration for all. “Practical” signs include things such as eat, drink, change or sleep. While these signs are very useful they may not be the most exciting ones for your baby to learn.

What is your baby interested in, what “motivates” them? Maybe they like a particular toy, the family dog or a book.

Try signing to your baby about something they are really interested in. When their attention is focused on something that they really want their response to signing can be increased.

By ensuring that you mix “practical” signs with “motivational” signs you will heighten your baby’s interest as they begin to realise the link between signing and the things they are interested in.

The best advice I can give you is to be patient and not give up. I have had parents tell me that they were waiting over six months for a sign but when it happened, it was the most exciting and rewarding experience.

Once this first sign occurs, remember to encourage your baby’s attempts and look at introducing some additional practical and motivational signs into your baby’s vocabulary.

Happy Signing and as always, have fun!

Read more about the research into baby sign language and stories from parents who have experienced the benefits of using baby sign at http://www.australianbabyhands.com.

Teen Addiction and Online AA Meetings

Working parents struggling with work and home chores are saddled with guilt when they discover that their children took to drugs, alcohol, and illicit sex. Not that they have been remiss with their parental obligations, but they just didn’t suspect that their kids are having adult problems. When things are beyond control, they still have hope with rehabilitation programs and online AA meetings.

It is useless blaming your teen for the mess he or she created. All you can do at this point is to take charge and talk to your teen without losing your cool. Your teen is already suffering and needs your help and understanding, not your ire and recriminations. You’ll have to make clear that you want to help him or her because you care.

This is not easy, but there is no choice. You’ll have to look around for professional and medical help fast before the situation goes from bad to worse. In this line of thought, it’s not the kids alone who need help and counseling. Parents are also under moral obligation to seek help to cope with problems like these. Since they have to be the pillars of strength, they have to have all the resources available to boost their flagging optimism.

The advantage of letting your teen sign up for online AA meetings is more than just giving you and your teen the convenience of joining a support group right in the comfort of your home. Other advantages are:

1. You can monitor his participation and progress.
2. Continuing care.
3. Your teen can share his experience with other sufferers and learn from the experience of others.
4. He or she will learn more tips in controlling the urge to drink or shoot up.
5. The online meetings are anonymous and identities of participants are concealed.

What to Expect When You Sign Up

Many of these online AA meetings provide free registration. If you are worried of the cost, check out your insurance if this expense can be covered. A $399 monthly package will get your teen going for those bi-weekly meets, and he or she will get a 12-month after care support program at no added cost.

You’ll need a software to develop a home page wherein your teen can work on his journal and his AA meeting assignments. A web cam and headset will allow live chat and collaboration. But he or she can choose to remain unseen but heard. The facilitator of the online AA meetings is always visible and ready to accommodate post chat exchanges.

During those online AA meetings, your teen will have to observe rules outlined by the facilitator. Sharing of experiences is facilitated by the moderator. The option whether to participate or not is still given to all participants. Each meeting has an agenda or end goal set and assignments are given at the end of the meeting. All of the activities follow a designed recovery program.

All throughout the ordeal remain steadfast. Your teen’s future is at stake and his card is in your able hands. Take that decisive step now before it is too late.

Help a loved one and learn more about online AA meetings and get the right group collaboration software. You can also try checking out merchants providing web meetings. At Web-Conferencing-Zone.com, you’ll have the best choices at smart prices. Visit the site today.