Your Child's Journey

wisdom for the big steps little children take

You are here: Home / Archives for Diane Constantine

New Kid by Friday- part 2

By Leave a Comment

Last month I introduced some insights from Dr. Kevin Leman’s book, Have a New Kid by Friday. In that letter I talked about his three pillars of your child’s self worth; Acceptance, Belonging, and Competence. Our parenting during our child’s infancy through preschool years sets the foundations for self worth. We show our acceptance and love even when we disapprove of his behaviour. Belonging to us, our family, and community is established as we treat him as special and teach him that he has responsibilities because he belongs to us. And we encourage his competence in tackling and succeeding in new tasks.

Another section of Dr. Leman’s book highlights the top 3 long-term concerns of parents: Attitude, Behaviour, and Character. For those of you who have infants, these concerns may sound like they are far off. Let me assure you, the time will pass all too quickly and you will be wanting a refresher on how to shape a child’s attitude, behaviour, and character.

[Read more…]

Stammering

By Leave a Comment

The mom of a 3 year old wrote the following letter to ask about stammering.

“Kensei is now attending a playschool and really enjoying his time there. However, since Monday, he has been saying that his teacher was angry with him. We decided to check with the teacher yesterday and was told that he stammers (more than other kids)when he talks and the teacher was trying to correct him – spot on. I understand that kids at his aged sometimes stammer as their minds process words faster than they can utter. I noticed he does that occasionally when he talks and thought it is normal. Your advice? ”

When I research a question, I look for the most reliable information. This time the British Stammering Association had a site full of good resources to answer these and many other questions about stammering.

About 1 in 20 children between the ages of 2-4 have difficulties with fluent speech. Most children out-grow this problem in a few weeks to months. If it persists longer than about 6 months or if the child is becoming overly anxious or self-conscious, find a good speech therapist. The earlier therapy starts the better the outcome.

Here is the help sheet for parents concerning stammering. Help for Stammering

New Kid by Friday- part 1

By Leave a Comment

This month I have been reading a great book by Dr. Kevin Leman called Have a New Kid by Friday. Although it sounds like a quick-fix, self-help book, it is really well written and has such sound beliefs behind his teaching. He is a clinical psychologist, married for almost 40 years, and with experience raising 5 kids. He is a believer in Jesus and uses Biblical principles, though he doesn’t declare chapter and verse. I have been confirmed by this book in what I teach moms with young children. I want to share some of the principles from this book over the next few months when I send your monthly bulletin to you. Of course Dr. Leman has much more to say and lots more examples than I will ever be able to cover in this short email.

For those of you who have been receiving First Steps bulletins for a while, some of these points will be review. Dr. Leman has put these ideas in such easy to remember form that I want to share them again.

[Read more…]

Classic Meltdown

By Leave a Comment

James was meeting his brother Chris for coffee at the mall, so I gamely decided to attempt taking both boys to the Pak N Save supermarket by myself for the first time. First mistake. Imagine 4:30 on Friday afternoon at the most popular supermarket in the most popular mall in Christchurch. What was I thinking!?!?

James dropped me off and helped me put Will in the cart while I optimistically strapped Ben into the front pack– second mistake. I will never again ask my body to grocery shop with a 10 pound weight strapped to my front. (I naively thought it would only take half an hour!)

Apart from struggling to make decisions and focus on the task with Will interrupting all the time, I did pretty well. I did stretch Will’s patience though, and by the time we got to the checkout he had had it with sitting in the cart. So while I packed the groceries I lifted him out and let him ride the toys at the front “for a treat for being so good”. Third mistake. Never un-contain a rather large and strong, safely contained toddler in a public place unless you are supremely confident of being able to re-contain him.

[Read more…]