: North Texas Kids : Your family guide to raising happy, healthy kids

How to Deal with Tween Attitude

Tween Mean: Time to Adjust the Tween Attitude

Making the transition from child to tween can be exciting and anxiety provoking. As children’s minds and bodies march toward puberty, the maturity process leaves many marks. There are the outward physical changes including the appearance of secondary sex characteristics such as pubic hair for both boys and girls. Tween girls may notice budding breasts, while boys may note the growth of their testicles. During these years growth spurts are common and the majority of girls will experience their first period before the age of 13.

2014 Baby Name Trends

2014 Baby Name Predictions: 5 Trends Say Goodbye to Aiden and Jayden

2013 was definitely a banner year for outrageous baby names. 2014 is shaping up to be the year that pushes the boundaries of what was previously considered “normal” though. Gone are the vogue of baby names ending in –den, such as Brayden, Jayden, Aiden, and alike, as well as the ‘x’ madness of Axl and Xander. As parents strive to distinguish their children from peers, social baby naming website, Belly Ballot is predicting some shocking baby name trends for 2014. The site collects real-time data on what names parents are selecting from around the globe. Based on naming data from over 3,500 parents, along with 25,000 votes from their friends and family, the site has released the following baby name predictions for the 2014 New Year:

Unconventional Spellings

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Tips for Raising Happy, Healthy Teenagers

How to Raise Happy, Healthy Teenagers

by Abigail Clark

Successfully raising kids and transforming them into well-rounded, responsible, and productive members of society is no simple task. It takes years of careful guidance and patient teaching to raise kids who can care for themselves, standing on their own two feet. Most importantly, your goal is to raise them to be healthy and happy, above everything else. Here’s a look at some insightful tips on doing just that.

Remember the Big Picture

As easy as it is to get caught up in the test scores, dating debacles, moral conundrums, and attitude adjustments, remember what you’re working for. The overarching goal is for your kids to be happy, healthy, and productive members of society, and ultimately fend for themselves someday.

How to Parent a Child with Anxiety Issues

Parenting Kids with Anxiety Issues

by Amy Egan

This past year I had a few coaching sessions with a couple of two elementary aged kids. Collin, a fifth grader and Cara, a second grader. Our first two visits we spent mostly working on new, more effective parenting skills when handling Collin. He was a pretty good-natured boy but his parents had typical tweenaged frustrations with him. He was a little disrespectful, a little argumentative and tended to pull them into power struggles. They were becoming beaten down by these things – but more than that, concerned about his anxiety level. Collin was a very anxious boy.

We mostly developed plans for handling his disrespect and the power struggles. After reading suggested materials and a couple of coaching sessions, they began to do the following on a consistent basis.

Forgive Yourself; You are a Great Parent

Learn to Forgive Yourself

by Amy Egan

As a parenting coach I often notice that when a parent or couple first meet with me, they have such guilt that things are less than perfect in their homes. The fact that they yell, are angry with their children, or can’t figure out how to make things more peaceful – makes them feel like failures. I have empathy for them because I can relate. For many of us, being a great parent is the most important thing in our lives. Therefore, when we feel frustrated with parenting it is easy to get down on ourselves for not getting it right.

How to Help Your Child Develop Better Thinking Skills

Using Questions to Help Kids Develop Better Thinking Skills

Guest post by Kids ‘R’ Kids

Early childcare researchers have learned a lot about the ways the brain functions in very young children. Many parents, as a result, want to help their child develop better thinking skills. Research has shown that one of the best ways to develop thinking skills is through the art of questioning.

There are different levels of questioning from the adult and also various responses from the child. It has been found, quite logically, that lower-level questions elicit lower-level responses. Higher-level questioning, on the other hand, tends to elicit higher-level thinking responses. Let’s discuss some of the differences between lower-level and higher-level questions and responses.