Almanac for Homemakers

Child Development Books Help You "Keep Your Cool" "Although it is questionable whether you can follow any single book to the letter in raising your children, there are many which may help." Today's Almanac post about our kids being little turds. Seriously! Everyone has their own opinion on how to deal with kids and their negative behavior. We touched just a little on kids developing their behavioral skills before in this post in February. The key is to help yourself as your kid has a full blown tantrum at home or in public. Just listen to my tale: We have an ongoing battle with my toddler. He refuses to eat. Like food is what makes you live and this kid won't eat. I have seen kids eat and they are like unicorns. I love watching other people's kids eat because it gives me hope that my toddler will one day sit for a meal and not survive off milk and crackers. He attends daycare and eats well there. Snacks and lunch are...

Do Your Children Say "Please" and "Thank You"? "Children's manners, as well as morals and values, are established in the preschool years, according to child educators." When you encounter a youngster who strikes you as being exceptionally polite, you can be absolutely sure he learned it at home. Now that is not to say that when a kid has a public tantrum that they learned that from watching adults. We are just talking about some basic manners here. Kids need constant reminders too! Remind them to say "Yes ma'am/sir, Please, Thank you". This takes all adults in the kids life to reaffirm these behaviors too. I've met my share of bratty kids whose parents are super nice. It was just that the adults in that kid's sphere of influence didn't instill what kind of behavior is acceptable and unacceptable. Then you have kids who just fight you on everything. You can be trying and trying to teach them th...