Family Matters Articles and Advice On How To Improve Marital and Family Relationships
After years of study and practice with hundreds of couples and individuals working through the essence of what it means to be in a relationship, several key factors have been prominent throughout
Each factor can be seen as a particular trait among the couples and/or individuals that moves them to be passionate and deeply loving in their relationship. Such traits enable them to stand in the face of adversity and move though the troubled waters that might crash upon their solitude.
A great relationship stands in the midst adversity and withstands the crash of troubled times. Too often, couples are unsure and feel unsafe about the relationship they have. They question the validity when times are tough. They question the longevity when troubled times persist. What is missing during such questioning is not the making of a great relationship but the perception of what it takes for a great relationship to thrive. A great relationship is NOT something you HAVE but something you DO.
Recently while guest speaking at a local BEC breakfast I was asked the question "What makes a good parent?"
My immediate response was "there are three things you need to give your children, one is roots, one is wings and the final, and probably the most important, is an authentic parent."
What do I meant by this?
Firstly roots
We need to give our children the grounding and stability of a safe and secure home. This is where they learn about boundaries, limits both internal and external. They learn to self-nurture themselves through watching their parents fulfil their own needs without having to have others fill them for them. We also need to give them a soft place to fall when they start spreading their wings.
The wedding planning budget & determining a wedding planning checklist
It is always best when determining your wedding planning budget to start with an initial number and decide what elements you want t include at your wedding reception. For example, I am working with a bride right now who had a preliminary budget in mind and found her wedding reception venue. From there she was able to create her wedding planning checklist to include the elements most important to her.
Thus, with an $18,000 wedding planning budget that included the ceremony, luncheon, open bar, cake and wedding reception venue, this bride had an additional $12,000 to spend for her wedding reception.
Her wedding planning checklist for the basic remaining elements for her wedding day include the following:
Toys For Young Toddlers
When considering what toys to choose for your young toddler, (one year olds), it's important to look at the child's abilities and interests in terms of physical, mental and social areas of development.
On a physical developmental level young toddlers exercise and increase their physical skills such as pulling, pushing, dumping, knocking down, and climbing. By two years of age they can usually catch a large ball, string large beads, (beads should be 1 ¾ inches diameter). Toddlers are exploring all these movements and activities but as yet have rarely mastered them.
Mental abilities and interests center on cause and effect and objects that move or can be moved. Children likes to combine objects and make simple block structures, simple stacking toy structures and put simple puzzles together. Curiosity applies to everything around them as young toddlers experiment with objects, group, match, and sort and identify objects. Water play is a favorite and pre-writing skills emerge with the first scribbles and marks on paper. Imitative play begins to emerge in a simple fashion, especially caretaking and housekeeping.
Your older toddler has distinct characteristics and abilities that should guide our choices for toys they will love and learn from
When we consider choosing toys for our older toddlers (who are never, ever, actually really terrible!) let's look at their physical, mental and social abilities and interests in the same way we viewed the younger toddlers in my earlier article. Let's make sure the toys we choose are developmentally appropriate.
Physically, older toddlers are skilled at most simple large muscle skills and do lots of physical testing. They jump from high places, roll, gallop, sommersault and rough and tumble wherever and however they can. Older toddlers like to throw and retrieve objects. They have good finger/hand co-ordination by about the age of 2 1/2 to three years of age. Lots of active play with small objects and exploration of different types of materials is of high interest to this age group.
