Helping Around the House - Starting Your Child on Chores

Chores are something every child dreads doing. How many TV sitcoms have you seen with a parent hounding a child to do his chores? While this scenario is played repeatedly with older children in houses across the globe, smaller children actually enjoy helping out around the house. But when is it time to introduce a few household chores to your child, and what tasks can a toddler or preschooler accomplish?

You can start educating children about chores as soon as your child is able to follow simple directions. As you start feeding your baby table food, you can have him pick up food from his tray and put it back in his bowl. This enforces the idea that he has to pick up his messes. Be sure to praise him for his efforts, even if he ends up making more of a mess than he started with. The point is that he is trying to help, and he needs praise for that.

Toddlers can help mom or dad set the table. Give your child unbreakable items to take to the table, like silverware and napkins. While he may not get the items in their perfect location, he will gain a sense of accomplishment from helping. At the end of the meal, have an item or two that the child is responsible for putting away. Many kids enjoy putting their milk or juice cup in the refrigerator when the meal is done. This enforces the idea that they do not jump up from the dinner table without helping with the clean up.

Another task a very small child can do is bringing in the mail. While you will have to get the mail out of the mailbox physically, you can hand it to your toddler to carry inside. Again, she will feel great accomplishment from helping. Be sure to teach her the importance of not opening other people's mail.

Children who have pets at home can help with care of the animals. Toddlers can bring pet dishes to mom or dad to be filled when it is mealtime. Older preschoolers can fill the bowls or feed smaller pets themselves. Because large pets like dogs often get excited around food, an adult should always be present at feeding time.

The most important thing to remember when introducing your child to chores is that praise is the best way to reinforce the idea that helping is fun. Instead of hounding your child to do what you want her to do, praise her when she does it.

Should you reward your child for doing chores in other ways? You may want to avoid giving tangible prizes to your children for doing chores every single time. This fosters the belief that children are only doing the chore because they get something for it.

A system of rewards can be set up where the children earn points for doing chores willingly, and the points are turned in for rewards. This teaches children the value of hard work, and the fact that sometimes the reward for their efforts comes a little later. With these suggestions, you can help your children develop a sense of accomplishment, pride, and belonging in your family by introducing them to the world of chores in a positive, uplifting way.

voice over video rental

Continuar leyendo

Ocultar articulo

Out of the House and Into the Unknown - Helping Individuals with Autism Cope in a Social World

Life at home with a child with autism is rarely easy. Changes in routine, unexpected visitors, difficulties with food, toileting and dressing can be disruptive to the whole family. Visits to the doctor or the dentist are incredibly challenging. Parents too often forgo visiting friends and family because the stress of breaking the routine of a child with autism and bringing that child into unfamiliar territory is just too much to bear. Parents cringe at the thought of public meltdowns and/or self injurious behavior in a place where people are very quick to judge. No, staying home is often just easier.

But, staying home is not always the best for parent or the child. Parents need to have the freedom to get an errand done or to visit a friend without being completely overwhelmed. Our children also need to be given the opportunities to experience new sights and sounds and to build self confidence from "tackling the world." Every single time that a child steps out of their door (with or without autism) they have an opportunity to learn and to grow. Research has proven that neurons in the brain get "excited" by new experiences and from this we "grow" our brain by building new pathways. Individuals with autism need experiences in the world outside of their home in order to build neural pathways, practice living in a social environment and learn to regulate their own behavior. Children can't practice social skills while sitting in front of a Disney movie. We can't learn how to manage our senses or our fears if we are safely kept away from things that may bother or scare us. But we also can't "throw" the child into the midst of social situations and hope they can cope. We need to give them the tools that they need to be successful. What are these tools?

1. Use a visual schedule regularly. Paradoxically, teaching individuals with autism to use a schedule gives them the ability to be more independent. Schedules enable them to understand their world, organize their thinking, and sequence their lives. By showing them a change on the schedule visually, we are helping the individual to process the change at a basic level so that they are able to cope with it.

2. Show and discuss a "game plan" before going leaving home. Using the schedule, explain what will be happening, identify how it might feel and how you will help. Some people use Carol Gray's Social Stories but a simple script can be just as useful. Keep in mind that pictures/written words are far more effective than just talking. The child needs to feel some sense of control over what is happening. These kids too often feel an acute anxiety over what is or what could happen to them.

3. Show exactly what is expected of your child. Warning a child that you expect them to be good won't do the job. Many children don't even get the concept of what "good" is (even kids that don't have autism). What does being "good" looks like? And sound like? A checklist of these behaviors, a social script, or a of set visual pictures may be the tools that make the difference in the success of the outing. Parents may even find it useful to role play restaurant, church, dentist, or doctor before the child encounters the real thing. The point is that, individuals with autism don't instinctively know what is expected of them in given situations. Parents and caregivers can bridge this understanding by identifying the expectations in a constructive and non -threatening manner.

4. Pack the "tools of the trade". There are some items that I never leave home without: a visual clock, sand timer, coloring books or small quiet toys, white board and marker or paper to write messages to your child (talk less, show what you mean with pictures/words). Sensory toys (squishy balls, vibrating pens, fabric or sandpaper that the child enjoys touching) are also important tools because they can help the child to self regulate. We all have items that we feel more comfortable having with us; a coffee, a favorite pen, pictures of our family, or a "lucky charm" are all objects that bring us some sort of comfort and inner stability. Persons with autism may have the need to carry different objects for similar purposes.

5. Provide information about your child that others will need in order to serve your child. I personally believe that explaining some of your child's basic needs to a dentist, doctor, store clerk, waitress or any person that may misunderstand your child is far fairer to everyone involved. Sharing information does not mean that you are trying to gain sympathy or tell a life story. It could be as simple as, "Please give my child more time to respond." When ours on began being invited to birthday parties, we contacted the parents and let them know some of the basic information that they would need to know in order to make the birthday run smoothly. This info may be that the child does not like the birthday song, or clapping sounds and he will therefore "be in the washroom" while this is happening. One parent even identified a "quiet spot" that our son could retreat to if he was feeling overwhelmed. Information is power.

6. Give yourself plenty of time. A rushed errand will too often be disastrous because as many parents know, the more hurried we are, the slower our children move! Our kids with autism are busy dealing with their own stress; they can't possibly cope with ours as well!

Every ounce of energy and thought that we put into planning for out of home experiences for individuals with autism will multiply into benefits for everyone. As a teacher of students with severely debilitating autism and a mother of a son with autism I am very much aware that the task of breaking into the fast paced world with a person with autism is not an easy one. I know first hand that it can be downright terrifying to bring six students with autism to a zoo, a church, a restaurant or a supermarket but the learning that happens for the students, the staff and for the community is well worth the effort. We enrich each other's lives when we move beyond the comfort zone of our own homes and schools.

Copyright©2007 Jennifer Krumins - All Rights Reserved

Author of Been There. Done That. Finally Getting it Right. A Guide to Educational Planning for Students with Autism: Lessons from a Mother and Teacher

birdmanbirdmen Fat Joe Fame

Continuar leyendo

Ocultar articulo

Building Teamwork: Helping Your Team responsible for the results

The end of the year in an organization is often a time of reflection and evaluation. Looking back over the decisions that I over the past 12 months, then I see them assess how they affected our business, and what I could do differently. When I think about it, I am attentive to the voice in my head that tries to make our mistakes on other people (or organizations responsible for this) in full recognition of our achievements. If I want my team to work together effectively, I haveto resist this impulse to blame or to assign credit.

I remember an incident in my life several years ago that this trend, other people, for the unfortunate events that happen in our lives emblematic fault occurred. I was in my car waiting for the green light given to a pedestrian, so that I could right on a street corner. Suddenly, a truck had run over the back of my car. It was a U.S. Post Office truck from an employee who continue to secure and away from the scene of the drivenAccident. Because these vehicles have a large number on the back, this was not such a good idea. I have this number down and followed him straight to the post where I told a supervisor what happened. The supervisor left to get the official papers. As the two of us stood there and looked at the back of my car, he actually said to me in an accusatory tone: "Well, I hope you're happy. She has just lost me my job."

I remember this situation and his remark that ifI'm trying to make someone else responsible for the consequences of my own actions. To avoid that I have found it useful to ask myself: how I contributed to this result? What I would do differently if I could do this all over? Next time, if I do face this problem, what I?

When we have teams, we can help them, this habit of personal responsibility for their role in a difficult result. The trick is, without them or us to do even the debt. We can use the foundation ofTalk about the problem or challenge with sentences like:
When I think about what has happened, I can see that I am through .... contributed
We all bear responsibility for this outcome. For example, I would like me ....
The next time we will handle this challenge, I plan to ....

And we can also help our staff and employees take responsibility for their part, by questions such as:
When I look back, how do you think you played a role?
If you could do it over again, what would you dodifferent?
What steps do you plan the next time you face this situation?

When people clear statements that show that they can take at least partial ownership of a difficult situation, we reinforce their positive behavior by statements such as:
I appreciate your ability to objectively look forward to this challenge.
I think your assessment of this situation is right on target.
I hope that you will succeed next time. These are great ideas.
Thanksfor talking about this problem so that we can work together to achieve better results.

How do we model has the property and responsibility, and we see the same level of personal responsibility demonstrated by others, we reinforce a positive cycle, that the road paving to healthy teamwork.

So what will it be? A team that is at the mercy of LUNKHEAD in other departments that? Or a team that is in its ability to meet any challenge and secure? You have a choice.

video rental watch sons of anarchy

Continuar leyendo

Ocultar articulo