Mother Love

Scientific studies conclude something mothers everywhere have always intuitively known – that the unique love they have for their offspring is vitally important to their development. A mother’s love and nurturing even directly impacts the biological development of the child's brain and central nervous system. In effect, mother and child are “hard-wired” for mutual love. The brain is like a template designed to await molding by its early environment. One researcher even wrote that hugs and kisses during the early critical periods assist in making neurons grow and connect properly with other neurons.
Throughout childhood, warm human love and touch generate an internal release of addicting and pleasurable opiates. Even teenagers (who may act as if they don't need the parents at all) must receive ongoing neural synchrony – love – from the parents. The brain and heart appear literally designed for love, with happiness and even health depending on it.

The pituitary hormone, oxytocin, is present during all loving acts but most especially at birth where it serves to stimulate uterine contractions, and during nursing for the milk ejection reflex. It, along with the nursing hormone, prolactin, help create that intense feeling of love shared by mother and child. Endorphins are physiological chemicals that are also released in both the mother and child during loving contact. They create a feel-good high for both and thus play a critical role in encouraging affection and dependency.

When bonding fails, it is theorized that the absence of these pleasure chemicals can leave a void, making such children especially susceptible to drugs that can also release such pleasure chemicals. The stress hormone cortisol is also released when touch and love are lacking. Sensory deprivation in mother-absent children – a form of stress that stimulates the release of cortisol – can increase susceptibility to abnormalities such as depression, violence, substance abuse, and even impaired immune response.

The most natural way mothers deal with newborns in the majority of the world is with an in-arms approach. In more primitive cultures where mothers are barely allowed a break from work to give birth, babies are swaddled to the body creating constant contact and reassurance. This bathes tissues in love hormones and encourages development of healthy neural connections, particularly as the synaptic connections in the cortex develop for the first two years of life.

There is also heart-to-heart, quite literally, between mother and child. Heart muscle cells not only contract, but also communicate with one another. Isolating one cell from the heart in a petri dish causes it to lose its rhythm and begin to fibrillate until it dies. Putting two cells in proximity to one another causes them to synchronize and beat in unison. There is an unseen and as yet unmeasured communication between living cells. The beating of the mother's heart and her breathing pattern coordinate in a critical way with the infant's internal rhythms. This is part of what is known as a synchronizing hormonal flow that occurs between mother and child (directly from breast milk and also from loving contact and even from proximity and thought) that help to regulate vital rhythms in the child. Mothers instinctively place their babies to their left breast, keeping their two hearts close. The mother's developed heart actually stimulates the newborn heart activating a dialogue between the two hearts and minds. Mother and child are more appropriately considered as one, rather than two separate entities as they bond while the child is being held and nursed.

These interesting links that science is revealing between mother and child are another proof that all life is holistic and intimately interconnected. The ideal holistic model is that which nature presents and it is clear that mother and child are meant to be intimate. Children cannot simply be cast off to be fed, clothed and housed as if that were enough. Society needs to take note of this important biology as more and more pressure is put on modern families and mothers to treat newborns as just another duty to schedule into the appointment book or to have serviced by a third party. By giving love the respect it deserves and making it the starting point of life, the odds are much greater that love will then blossom in children and be carried through to their children…and, who knows, perhaps continue on to the world at large. We could use a lot of that.

Dr. Wysong: A former veterinary clinician and surgeon, college instructor in human anatomy, physiology and the origin of life, inventor of numerous medical, surgical, nutritional, athletic and fitness products and devices, research director for the present company by his name and founder of the philanthropic Wysong Institute.http://www.wysong.net. Also check out http://www.cerealwysong.com.  

Helping Your Child to Read Well

Instilling the habit of reading in your child will help their mind open up to all sorts of possibilities that they otherwise wouldn't have. This is one of the most important things you can do for them as a parent.

If you want to be successful with helping them to read well, it is important to be patient with them as they are learning their new skill. Giving them a lot of room to grow will help them get comfortable easier.

New readers will encounter the frustration of trying to learn how to put letters together into words. Not only that, but it takes a lot of practice to get the pronunciation down as well, so be ready to be a constant source of encouragement for them.

When you are introducing them to reading, pick books that are geared for children. The ones with nice and colorful drawings along with large type helps them to stay focused as well as speeding up the learning process.

Keep them at their reading level until they are ready to move into something harder. Let them grow at their own pace, with a little direction, and they will move into some more difficult reads soon enough.

Remember that children need breaks too, and try not to overdo it. They will have a better chance of loving to read if they can grow at a steady pace without it becoming a chore that they will hate.
The same goes with teaching them new words. Don't over stuff their minds right away, and try giving a few a day for them to work on.

Remember to also guide them through the process. Don't be afraid to read along with them, and always be encouraging as they stumble through words and sentences. Being patient and gentle now will make them better and more confident readers as well as developing the skills they will need in other areas as well.

Reading is something that almost anyone can master if they learn under the right conditions, and you as a parent are the greatest asset in making that happen. Guide them but don't intimidate them while being patient, and they will develop a strong understanding as well as love of reading for their entire lives.
 

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Severe Anxiety and Phobia in Children - How to Know If a Child Needs Help

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent problems of childhood and adolescence, but the least likely problem to be treated. Common effects of severe anxiety or fears include interference with family relationships, school performance and friendships as well as significant personal distress.

Avoidance is a Key Sign of Severe Anxiety

It is not always obvious that a child's difficulties are a result of extreme anxiety or fear. Avoidance is the most common outward sign that there may be a problem. Children and adolescents will actively try to avoid encountering anxiety or fear inducing events or objects.

Some parents, and even some health professionals, believe that children will eventually outgrow their problems with severe fears and anxiety. Research clearly shows us that this is not the case. Left untreated, children who suffer from severe anxiety and fears are at greater risk for additional emotional and behavioral problems such as depression and substance abuse.

How do you know whether a child is suffering from severe anxiety or fear?

Examples of interference or impairment in a school setting:

What you may see or hear
What may be happening
Child's school work is deteriorating because the child is so distracted from worrying
Child has high rate of absenteeism
Due to separation anxiety disorder, e.g., the child worried about being away from mom
Child's grades are dropping off because child does not participate and does poorly on tests
Due to interfering social evaluative fears, e.g., the child worried about what others think
Child making frequent visits to school nurse and is frequently picked up early by mom
Due to panic disorder, e.g., the child who feels like she needs to vomit every day

For further information on whether your child may need help, please visit our website:

Child Anxiety and Phobia Program (CAPP) at Florida International University

How Should You Teach Self Defense to Your Children?

Self defense is not only important for elderly people but also has a huge importance in the lives of small kids. It is essential that you teach your children some basic self defensive moves early in their lives so that they can master them as they grow up. Children are also in very much danger as the adults are. There are many crimes in the world in which children are attacked for instance theft, kidnapping, murder etc. Criminals can easily steal things from children when they are going to schools or playing outside in the playgrounds. Similarly kidnapping is a very common crime these days and children are kidnapped for money. Although you can never prepare a child to face these huge crimes but you can create awareness in his mind how to know when and where he is likely to be attacked.

You can teach your child many basic things which will help him in avoiding many dangerous situations. The first thing you should teach your kids is not to talk to strangers when they are outside. The first thing the criminals do is talk to children and engage them in conversation. You should tell the children how strangers come to them and try to get their attention by talking to them. Children should ignore such people as much as they can. The next thing to teach them is not to take anything, the stranger offers. The criminals who attack children mostly offer candies to them. You should tell your children what it can lead to if they accept things from strangers. Do not let your children go out at night and when they go to parks try to accompany them as much as you can.

Besides teaching these basic thing to your children do tell them how they can perform some simple self defensive moves. Teach them just how to kick someone and run away after-wards. Do not teach them any technique which is related to weapons. Weapons can be very dangerous for children. Therefore weapons should not be given to them before the age of eighteen or twenty. If you create awareness among the children of the dangerous world outside and tell them how to ignore people, then you have done your homework as far as teaching them self defense is concerned. You can teach them complex stuff when they are grown up. It is better to join some professional training institute where special training classes are conducted for children of different ages.

By Imran Al

Learn more about online self defense training course and check out the cheap martial arts weapons for your self defense.

Find Out How to Stop Stuttering in Children

Some say that stuttering from age 2-5 is normal. Even more so this type of stuttering may only be referred to as developmental stuttering, where kids are still flexing out their speech patterns and capabilities. In fact this type of stuttering are said to be outgrown by the kid after 6 months or even less. But what about for situations of stuttering in children that lasts more than six, months or even years? Once persistent stuttering is detected, it is best to act fast. The best thing to do in this situation is to hire a speech and language pathologist or speech therapist who is equipped and knowledgeable on how to stop stuttering in children.

When it comes to dealing with the kids, the most important thing to do is to relate with the kid in a manner that is not intrusive. Professional speech therapists know how to stop stuttering in children, and at the same time they know how to make children feel at ease. Effective therapists will not follow around a toddler and rattle off words to teach him in a business-like manner. Instead, he will make the kid feel at ease by playing with him and warming up before starting with the therapy. Therapy can be said to have the characteristics of play to attract the children to open up and become responsive to the lessons.

For example speech therapists nowadays will try to talk to the children while emphasizing some words, which in turn makes the children imitate. Also the most common way of teaching and at the same time playing with the children during speech therapy are playing different types of games. One game is called the Picture Flash Game: In the game, the therapist will flash a card with a picture on it. For example, a picture of a car - the picture has no label but, the flashcard indicates the syllable that the kid has difficulty in pronouncing, and for this example it could be the syllable "Ca. This way, the kid gets to practice his mind without being dictated and at the same time won't be struggling with the answers because there is a clue.

These is an example of motivational, educational yet fun way of how to stop stuttering in children. By practicing daily therapy and monitoring, the problem areas will improve and at the same time therapy will not be a boring activity that kids avoid.
 

By James Coffey

There are more resources for how to stop stuttering included on this website: http://www.curestuttering.org, visit now!