I didn’t own a cell phone until I was eighteen years of age, and even then my parents had me on a very limited plan. I had thirty minutes a month on my plan. Yes, you read that right, a month. The plan was to use my cell phone to call them when I arrived at college each week. It was only for safety and emergency purposes. You can probably guess I went over my minutes quite frequently. There was no such thing at that point as text messaging though so I didn’t have that to help me run up my bill.

Besides running up my bill, there was not much that I could do on the cell phone. It had no camera capabilities nor did it have the Internet. It was ancient compared to the cell phones of today. Today children as young as preschool are carrying cell phones, and not just any cell phone but smart phones, with not only cameras, but text messaging capabilities and an Internet connection.

Why is this scary to me? It is scary because of the power that they hold in their hands. Cell phones keep no secrets, the connections that can be made and the harm that can be done from them is mind blowing. Cell phones can now take pictures of just about anything and the pictures can be sent instantly to others. Kids are taking pictures of private areas of their bodies and multimedia messaging the pictures to each other. It doesn’t stop there, the kids that receive the photo message are then forwarding the photo on to other kids, or worse uploading the photos to the Internet. Literally in minutes your kids private picture could be spread around the world.

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Parenting is a hard job, but it’s even harder during the Christmas season. It’s hard to tell your children no at any time, but it’s even more difficult when you have to tell them no because someone is getting them what they want to buy. Discipline is also difficult during this time of year because children are excited about the holiday and everything that comes with it.

1. Saying NO

Saying no is hard to do any time, but it’s even harder when the Christmas holiday season is involved. Children want things no matter what time of year it is and to say no is the worst thing in their eyes. You can explain to them that Christmas is around the corner and people need gift ideas, but they probably won’t understand that. They might even tell you they’ll be able to come up with more gift ideas, so it would be ok to buy it for them.

There are a few things you can do to avoid the need to say no. One of the easiest ways is to not take them anywhere they could find things they want to buy. Course that’s not possible, so you’ll want to continue to remind them to not ask about buying things. Another thing to do is remind them before you go to the store and then praise them when you come out of the store and they didn’t ask. One last suggestion is to remind them before you go into the store and tell them if they don’t ask, you’ll buy them a candy bar or a bottle of pop.

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Being a parent is so hard to do. Wondering if you’re making the right choices for your children is something we all worry about, but it is what it is and we can’t worry forever.

I have run into a difficult choice to make recently. I hate it when that happens, but I’m sure as my boys get older, those choices will become more difficult and will probably come more frequently.
The difficult choice I have to make comes with my oldest son this time. He recently got a job washing dishes at a local restaurant. Now we’ve put restrictions on the hours he can work and then due to his age, the state has also put restrictions on him.

The problem occurred when the new schedule came out and he was scheduled to work from 11 am to 5 pm on Sunday and 7 am to 2 pm the following Sunday. Our son specifically told them he wanted Wednesday night and Sunday morning off for church. So far Wednesday’s haven’t been a problem, but Sunday has been.

We have told our son to communicate with the manager to make sure they know how we feel about him working on Sunday’s. He explained to them we have church and he can work after 1 pm. They told him he would have to work these two shifts, but it wouldn’t happen again. We told him that would be fine.

The difficult decision may come when the next schedule comes out. If he’s scheduled on Wednesday night or Sunday morning do we let him try to handle it, but insist they change the schedule or do we call and complain and require the change?

I’ve been told we have the right to call, but I’m sure our son will have a problem with that and will assure us he’ll take care of it. Allowing your 15 year old to try and handle the problem is difficult, but I need to remember I can’t baby him forever. He needs to be able to learn how to make decisions and handle things on his own, but it’s sure is hard to do.

I’m learning as he gets older that certain things I used to do when he was a child are things I can’t do anymore. He’s old enough to do things on his own, no matter how difficult it is. He’s not a baby or a child anymore, but it’s so hard to do.

I guess I’ll cross this bridge when it comes, but it will be hard to do. I know God will guide us through this situation and by making sure our son is in church will help the situation. In the mean time, I’ll continue to pray for the knowledge and encouragement from God to make the right decisions.

School is very important because it’s how your children learn and develop knowledge. Encouragement from you is also important because some children may not realize the importance of school and what it can do for them in the future.

If your child is struggling in school, you need to communicate with the teacher and keep on top of it. The older your child gets the easier it will be for them to get so far behind that it won’t be possible for them to catch back up and the unfortunate thing is it can happen very quickly.

This holds true for high school children. The teachers usually go fast and they don’t stop and reteach something if one or two children don’t get it. If things are related it’s possible they will continue to be behind because of the lack of understanding from before. That means they will continue to struggle and at some point the teacher may say it would be better to drop the class.

You don’t want that to happen, so your best bet is to communicate with the teacher ahead of time. Most high schools offer tutoring or before or after school help from the teacher. While your child may not want to go, it’s important they do so they don’t have to retake the class again.

This is why it’s crucial that you continually monitor your child’s grades and encourage them to get help when they don’t understand. Continually remind them of the consequences, but don’t make them feel it will happen to them. Gently remind them of what the outcome will be and encourage them to get help early.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has two teenagers. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you click here to read her mommy blog.

Teenagers have a lot of hormones running ramped in their bodies. At times they can handle them on their own, but more times than not, they don’t know how and they take it out on others or they make poor choices. Sometimes the actions are ok, but other times they aren’t, so it’s important you help them through it.

Regularly talk to your teenager about things going on in your community and in the world. While it’s almost impossible to talk about everything, you can do a lot when you talk to them and share with them how you would handle the situation if they had done what this person did.

Helping your child through this difficult time is not easy, but it needs to be done or you’ll find your child will be depressed or worse, they’ll do something they will regret for the rest of their lives. You don’t want that to happen, so it’s best to help them through it. Here are a few tips to help make that happen.

One the best ways to help your teenager overcome the difficult times they go through with their hormones is to communicate with them. Make sure you tell them you are always there for them no matter what happens. You need to show them you want them to feel comfortable talking to you about anything and everything. When you get them to this point they’ll know you care.

While discipline is difficult to do with your teenager, it’s something you must do. It’s another one of those things that’ll show them you care. They may be really upset when you first do it, but they will remember it when they go to do it again. The actions they do now will effect them later in life so it’s important to discipline them when they do something wrong. When they know you’re series about it they won’t do it again. After a time or two of being punished for something you told them not to do they’ll see you’re doing it because you love them.

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Handling a child with an attitude is hard, but it can be done if you do it correctly. Most teenagers will tell you all day long that they don’t have attitude but more then likely they do. Whether they see it or not, you need to correct it so they don’t have that with someone who could prevent them from doing something.

Attitude can get you in trouble quicker then anything else. If your child is in school and they give it to a teacher, they may end up a detention or they could get sent to the principal. If they have a job and give their manager attitude they could get fired.

The best way to overcome attitude is to sit down with your child and explain what is going on. Hormones are ranging in teenagers and so they may be doing it without even realizing it, so you need to explain what is going on and then help them to overcome it.

Overcoming an attitude is hard, but needs to be done. Remind your child that you’re there to help him; remind him he can talk to you at any time and you’ll be a shoulder to cry on if needed. Encourage your child to speak his mind and help him to keep from bottling things up inside. Stress can also bring on attitude so if you can help your child to prevent stress, he’ll be better off in the long run.

When your child overcomes his attitude things will be a lot better in your family. Your child will see he won’t get into as much trouble and you won’t be mad at him all the time. When the attitude is gone things aroud your family will be much better.

How do you help your child when it comes to attitude? Leave your tips and suggestions in the comments below.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has a teenager and a tween. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you go to PeekintomylifeasaSportsMom.com to read her mommy blog.

School supply shopping can be frustrating and stressful all at the same time. Usually there are a lot of people doing the same type of shopping as you, so the isles are full and the supplies are limited.

If you have multiple lists, you’ll need to find a way to make sure you get all of the supplies you need without doing multiple trips down the isles because you’ve forgot something you needed. There’s nothing worse then to get home and find out you missed things on your list because you were flipping back and forth.

One of the best ways to eliminate forgotten items is to create a master list that contains everything you’ll need to purchase. An easy way to do it is to start with one list and add everything to a sheet of paper. Then move to the next list and start adding those things to what’s on the list already. So if you need six notebooks for one child and three for the other you’d have nine under your notebooks.

When you do your shopping it will be so much easier and you won’t have to worry about forgetting something because it will be together. While this won’t completely eliminate the stress you have when school supply shopping comes around, it will make it a little easier.

Discussing allowance can be hard if you’re not prepared when it comes to talking with your children. There are a number of things you need to know and have in mind when it comes time to have this talk. Here are some tips for you to use when the time comes.

The first thing you need to do is decide what chores your children will do and you need to make this decision based on their age and ability. You don’t want to give them chores that are too hard for them and if you have younger children you don’t want to give your older children chores that are too easy, but just perfect for the younger ones. So it’s important to make this decision ahead of time.

The next thing to do is decide how much you will pay your children for the chores they will do. You can pay them per chore or per week, but it’s important that they know how they will be paid. It’s also important for them to know what happens if they don’t do the chores. While this is hard to enforce, you must do it so they know you are series. It’s also a good way for them to know what happens in the real world when they get a job.

Once these two decisions have been made you need to decide how you will keep track of the chores and how you will assign them if they will be different from day to day or month to month. There are a couple of ways to do this, but not all of them may work. So you need to look into them and decide what you will use.

1. Chore list
2. Paper on the fridge
3. Whiteboard
4. Memory

Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages so you need to consider those before making a decision. The whiteboard and possibly the chore list will cost you money so you definitely want to think about those before you make the purchase. The paper on the fridge and memory don’t cost anything so you’re not out anything if they don’t work.

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How well do we know our kids? That’s a powerful question in itself. You may be quick to answer and respond with “real well.” But do you really know them? What are their inner most fears? Their interests? What type of friends do they have or prefer? Can you identify and connect with their best personality traits? And most importantly, what are their specific needs from you as a parent?

Sometimes we just get too busy with our jobs, household duties, and life in general (unintentionally of course), that we don’t spend the time we should with our kids. And consequently, we sometimes fail to pick up on primary things or situations that may need addressing. Staying connected with our kids as we should often times gets tossed aside.

We are all human and from time to time, we all fall short of giving our children the full attention they deserve and need. Perhaps the concept of prioritizing our time is often the solution. Your little ones should be your number one priority, or at least
should strive to be. If you find prioritizing your time and consistently staying connected with your kids challenging at times,  have some basic tips for you that may be helpful.

Below are 5 prioritizing and connection tips that will benefit both you and your children

* Read to them and ask questions - Read their favorite books to them, and then ask them questions. Such as; What did you like about the book? Ask them simple yes and no questions about the book. Ask them what other books they might be interested in and encourage them reading to you as well. This teaches them reading and comprehension skills as well as getting to know them better.

* Meet with their teacher on a regular basis - You may want to keep this private (just between you and their teacher). Make sure and schedule regular parent-teacher conferences to stay abreast on how they are progressing in their studies and if there are any conflicts that need your attention. These meetings are crucial for your child’s learning capabilities.

* Schedule a block of time with your child - If you have more than one child, then schedule time with each one. Use this time to do something special with them, like going for lunch or to the park. Have a talk session. Topics can be school, friends, conflicts, or let them just talk to you, if they choose to. Also talk about future goals and interests. Offer to help with school projects and homework. Showing your child how special they are to you and how much they are loved is crucial.

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Within the next weeks or so the children will be headed back to school. After a three month break it’s hard for the kids to get motivated when it comes time to go back. That makes it hard for them to feel the need to study or do the work that’s important for them to do.

There are many different ways to help your children become motivated when it comes to school. I’m reading a book that’s called “Raising Motivated Kids: Inspiring Enthusiasm for a Great Start in Life (School Savvy Kids)” by Cheri Fuller and I will tell you it’s a wonderful book.

This book helps you find a way to make education fun, how to create a creative learning environment, model positive habits and behaviors, and how to prevent burnout and mange stress.

This book will teach you how to bring the natural energy your kids have out and how to show them they can use that to do their school work and many other things as well. The author shows you how help your kids to prevent burnout from happening and how to manage stress.

So if you have a feeling your kids might have an unmotivated year or if it’s not starting out so well, this book is one you need to read. Don’t let it go too far. It’s much easier to prevent it from happening or handling it soon after it starts. At some point it’s going to be too far in and it will be nearly impossible to get the motivation back.

If you click here, you’ll be taken to the Amazon website where you can get this book for free if you use the Kindle.