A great rainy-day project to do with your little ones, is making macaroni masterpieces. Take pieces of construction paper, elbow macaroni, child-safe glue, and crayons and lay them out on the table. Let your little one color the pieces of construction paper, and then help him glue the macaroni to his drawing. He will be proud to see his own macaroni masterpieces hung from the refrigerator for all to see.

Make sure that your child gets at least one hour of active play time outdoors. Outdoor play is needed to exercise his body and to develop his gross motor skills. His muscles and coordination will develop as he climbs, runs and jumps. A good hour of playing outdoors also helps him sleep better at night.

Things like giving “timeouts” and sending your kid to the room to “reflect” on what he or she has done is not really a punishment at all. Putting them up in the room means they’ll just be browsing the internet or playing PS3. Instead, punish them by taking something away that they love, like the aforementioned PS3.

If your child is having trouble with homework, do your best to help them. If you are not able to help them, talk to the teacher about alternatives. The teacher might be able to provide extra help or point you in the direction of a great tutor that could help your child with the homework.

Make sure that your child understands what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Sometimes children can misinterpret your messages. However, if you explain it to him in very clear terms, then ask him to explain it back to you, you can be sure that he understands your explanation the way that you want him to.

One way you can prevent tantrums (and sneakily encourage self-determination at the same time) is by offering your child a choice between two equivalent alternatives. The chance to make his or her own decision will please your child. By presenting equally valid choices you can avoid any disagreement. Often, a well-prepared choice can entirely eliminate arguments and dissension.

Give your young child a five to ten-minute warning when you and your child need to leave the playground by a certain time. If you tell your child too early, he will forget. If you tell him at the very last minute, he might not be mentally prepared to leave. Giving him a five to ten-minute warning will give him a chance to wrap up his activity.

It is important to make sure that your child is not watching too much violence on television. Children learn by what they see and if they see too much violence it could make them think that it is acceptable or lose a sense of what is real violence and what is not.

Stick to a flexible routine and schedule. Try to plan meals at about the same time each day. The same is true for nap time and bed time. Children respond well to a routine. Their bodies physically adapt to it, and their time clock will, in time, automatically respond to it.

An important aspect of parenting is to recognize your child as an individual with his or her own personality. Your children may have different interests than what you envisioned. Allowing your children to express themselves and grow into the person they want to be is vital to maintaining a positive relationship.

Praise your children often! If you ‘catch’ your child doing an appropriate behavior, tell him how proud you are. Children love positive words and praise. Hearing kind words will help your child to feel good about himself and will cause him to continue trying to do good things to receive more praise.

Being a parent has its fair share of rewards. When you see your child make the right choice or take someone else’s feelings into consideration above their own, you beam with pride. Take the time to use some of these suggestions and have an easier time raising your little ones into amazing adults.

The author continues to be in the field of family and relationships and into how to deal with toddler tantrums for some time and made a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHZwIzshK04 where you may have answers to the rest of your questions.