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November 2001

Welcome to the first issue of MyBabyConnection.com Newsletter! We want
to “Thank You” for joining and hope you find this newsletter helpful.
We will aim to keep this newsletter short and sweet because we know how
busy and demanding parenting is! Our goal is to give you important
tips and advice on raising your babies and toddler, which can help make
your life as a parent easier! That is our goal with
MyBabyConnection.com – to help you as a parent, anyway we can by
education and showing you products that will make it just a little bit
easier for you!

Here is what you’ll see in this first MyBabyConnection.com Newsletter

1.      Article: “Providing Positive Learning Experiences for Your
Child”
2.      Advertisement: Baby Songs Holiday Promotion
3.      Article: “Can You Afford to Stay Home with Your Children?”
4.      Advertisement:   The one and only Over the Shoulder Baby Holder
5.      Inspiration/Humor
6.      FYI – Prize drawing in December



Providing Positive Learning Experiences for your Child

We are living in stressful and difficult times – a flippant statement,
but true for many parents. If “Time” is a problem how does one teach a
new skill to a young child in the shortest possible time? If “Time” is a
problem maximizing the child’s opportunity to experience success is a
subject matter of some importance for all parents. Here are some ideas
that have worked very well for my wife and me over the years, both in
our profession as well as in our parenting.

There are two simple concepts, firstly “break the task you wish to teach
into a series of little steps of learning”, and secondly “shape the
learning of the task by using appropriate reinforcement of the child”.

To start it is generally a good idea to set the scene, e.g. where are
you going to teach. This will depend on the task. For a fine motor
(manipulation) skill for example consider having your child sit on the
floor or at a child-sized table. Sit alongside your child, on their
dominant side. Why? Setting the scene will provide a signal for the
child that your are teaching something “new” and this will make your
child interested. Sitting alongside your child shows your commitment and
involvement. Sitting on the child’s dominant side (the side the child,
may have already chosen, to use for picking things up) when
demonstrating a task, because this helps the child to copy you later.

Depending on the difficulty of the task, the child may have to make a
number of attempts before mastering the task and in many cases will
require some form of initial assistance from you. What is important, is
that after each successful attempt, the child is reinforced, e.g. by you
saying - "you did the ‘..activity name..’, really well."

Always “examine” the task, and determine how many logical component
steps there are from starting to finishing the task. For example: you
want to teach the child to build a “bridge” using three wooden or
plastic blocks. To break down or analyze the task consider the following
learning steps.

1)     Place several blocks on the dominant side of the child

2)     Take one block first and then place a second block next to the
first leaving a small gap of ½” between the two blocks.

3)     Take a third block and place this over the gap of the two bottom
blocks, thus constructing a “bridge”.

First show the child what is required; this is called “modeling the
task”. Then ask the child to copy what you did.

The child may be able to do this without any problem, as well as repeat
it several times, and you can now say “the task is learnt”. If the child
has some difficulty in understanding the task, provide some physical
help. Guide the child’s hand in picking up the first block and so on.

When repeating the task, reduce the amount of help a little bit, and
each subsequent time reduce the help a little more. At the same time,
reinforce the child each time the performance is done with less help or
done better. In other words praise the child enthusiastically in an
"excited and elaborate" way the first time they do a task successfully,
and reduce the amount of praise as they gradually master the task
repeatedly (This is called “shaping”).

If the child has difficulty doing this task, there is a principal rule
that should be followed: Whenever a child has a problem with learning,
make “the task objective” a bit simpler, by going one step backwards, or
alternatively breaking an existing step into smaller steps (as described
above), until they do succeed. Always remember to give clear information
back to the child that they are doing well, and become “more
enthusiastic” as they are visibly learning.

If a child really struggles in learning a task, keep making the task
easier (by breaking it into little steps) until they can succeed. Never
spend time on telling them about what they are doing wrong. Just
emphasize what you want them to do. A good phrase to use is " Try it
this way".

When will you know that the child has learnt the task? Practice makes
perfect. It is desirable but not always necessary to perform a "new
behavior" regularly. Use some measurement. A simple rule – if a child
can repeat a newly learnt skill for 4 days out of 5 consecutive days –
it’s safe to say, “my child has learnt this”.

What I have described here is a very effective teaching technology and
can be adapted to all learning situations. Do use it, it’s efficient, it
maximizes the child’s opportunity to learn rapidly and successfully.

Someone has said, “the most important thing you can spend on your child
is - your time –“. I go a step further; spend “constructive time” with
your child.

To see one such parent empowering option in action, you might like to
visit the mylittlesteps online program by clicking on the link below.

Michael G. Ahrens is a parent, teacher, researcher, writer, and program
developer associated with http://www.mylittlesteps.com/?C=3477&O=0 a
powerful online parenting tool that ensures learning is fun, interactive
and a worthwhile experience for both the parent and the child,
irrespective of the child’s abilities.



_______________________________________________________________

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Can You Afford to Stay Home with Your Children?

Article provided courtesy of MediaPeak, http://www.mediapeak.com


A few years ago, after the birth of our second child, my husband and I
were trying to decide whether or not it would be possible for me to stay
home.

At first we thought that since we were just about breaking even, there
was no way we could ever make it happen. But when we decided to actually
put pen to paper and calculate our bottom line with
and without my salary, we were quite surprised.

What we found was that it was actually costing us to have both of us
working.

While that may not be the case for everyone, you may find that the
second salary brings in much, much less than you think it does.

According to Jan MacGregor, a financial consultant and former analyst,
“There are people out there who are expecting to be able to meet their
bills better (after they re-enter the work force)
and never realize they are either working for a loss or for something
like $4,000 a year (after expenses)."

That may seem hard to believe, but if you consider the many hidden
expenses of a two-income household it is often the case.

There are, of course, the obvious expenses such as child care and
commuting costs. Some of the hidden expenses are the money spent on
lunches, more take-out and convenience food for dinner, dry
cleaning bills and professional clothing. There can be higher medical
costs due to increased exposure to illnesses for children who are in
daycare.

Many families hire a housekeeper or gardener to keep up on the household
work that they don’t have the time to do.

A significant factor is your taxable income. A second salary can push
your taxable income into a higher tax bracket.

While the tax issue in and of itself does not eat up the entire second
salary, when you add in all the other expenses of a two income family,
you might find that it’s not worth it to have
both parents working.

Here is a link to MacGregor’s cost of living chart that uses a second
salary of $40,000 as an example:
http://cnnfn.com/1999/02/22/life/q_income/chart.jpg

If you are considering having one parent stay at home, the best thing to
do is to actually calculate your income and expenses, taking into
consideration the difference in taxation. You may find that you can in
fact afford to stay home with your kids.

Need more advice on saving money, balancing the family budget, and
coping with family financial pressures? Try the following resources.

SmartPortfolio.com, Click here for long-term profitable investment
opportunities.
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=d/eMSMGQILo&offerid=18576.10000007


TheLoanPage.com Mortgage Center
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=d/eMSMGQILo&offerid=12227.5

Kiplinger's WILLPower - Protect your family and your assets for just
$29.95.
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=d/eMSMGQILo&offerid=22994.10000004



About the Author:

Sharon Davis is the Mother of two girls, the Editor of
http://www.2work-at-home.com and the owner of 2Work-At-Home.com
Resume Services. In her spare time she reminiscences about what it was
like to have spare time. Subscribe to her free ezine, America's Home, by
sending a blank email to mailto:workathome2-@listbot.com

_________________________________

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________________________________________________________________
Just a little humor to brighten your day:)

A four-year-old girl was learning to say the Lord's Prayer.
She was reciting it all by herself without help from her mother.
She said, "And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us some e-mail. AMEN."


A three-year-old went with his dad to see a litter of kittens.
On returning home, he breathlessly informed his mother there
were two boy kittens and two girl kittens.
"How did you know," his mother asked?
"Daddy picked them up and looked underneath," he replied.
"I think it's printed on the bottom."
    

These were passed along to us. If you know the source, please let us
know so we can give credit where it's due

________________________________________________________________

ATTENTION MyBabyConnection.com Newletter Subscribers FYI!

Stay Tuned for in December, we will be drawing for the LUCKY WINNER of
the FREE Baby Diapers and the FREE Program to MyLIttleSteps.com. When
you subscribed to this newsletter, you were automatically entered in to
the drawing! Good Luck to All of YOU!

Be sure to tell your friends and family that for just signing-up with
the MyBabyConnection Newsletter they have a chance to win great
prizes!!   They’ll thank you for it!! Oh, yeah, they’ll also thank you
for telling them about a great site http://www.MyBabyConnection.com

Also, feel free to forward this newsletter on to any of your friends
and invite them to subscribe to this MyBabyConnection.com newsletter by
clicking here

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___________________________________________________________________

ATTENTION WEBMASTERS

    If you are interested in advertising in MyBabyConnection Newsletter
just e-mail request to

advert-@mybabyconnection.com

___________________________________________________________________________
If you have any questions concerning this newsletter or above articles,
you can e-mail me at

newsl-@mybabyconnection.com

All information is copyrighted. Be sure to get permission from the
author to reprint any of the above information.


Michelle
www.MyBabyConnection.com
Connecting YOU to the Best Baby Sites!