Three words for every parent

Durban baby and child-care expert Jenni Johnson has this week’s top parenting tips:

Three words to think about as you become a parent: Essential – this involves love, touch, food, warmth, support. Accommodate – each other, the baby’s needs, family responsibility. Surrender – to a baby’s sleep and feed pattern, to new adjustments, to self-discovery. If you need guidance with your newborn please go to jennisays.com

In an article called ‘Raising successful children’ by Madeline Levine, the question is asked:  Does over parenting hurt or help? Unnecessary intervention makes your child feel bad about himself (if he’s young) or angry at you (if he’s a teenager.) The happiest, most successful children have parents who do not do for them what they are capable of doing, or almost capable of doing.

One of the most common sentences I hear is ‘my toddler doesn’t eat’ Let’s face it most children need to be encouraged to eat their 5 fruit or veg per day.  Remember that a child’s portion is different to an adult portion. Toddlers who are 2 to 3 years old need about 1 cup of fruit or veg per day, and this increases to 1.5 cups per day for older children. More veg than fruit is best. One small banana, a handful of grapes, a 5cm slice of cucumber, 2 broccoli spears, a tablespoon of peas are examples. I will post this on jennisays.com

Boys, they tend to have a lot of energy, which can get pent-up if they don't have enough chance to run, climb, and blow off steam. Boys may need to be reminded often that there are times and places – the classroom, for example – where he'll need to shift to a lower gear, this is for many children a learnt behaviour. For the particularly energetic boy fill his day with outside free play but show him a balance of quiet non TV time.

Raise girls with a sense of humour, if the pedestal they’re standing on is a bit too high a good distracting laugh will save them from becoming big-headed. When a melt-down about what their hair looks like or they don’t like the clothes you both decided on the night before distract with a sense of humour, laughter really can be the best medicine.

* Catch Jenni on-air every day just after 10am with her tip of the day.

Jenni Johnson, our resident ‘Baby Whisperer’, has been a practicing child-care practitioner for 15 years, and owns a busy ante and post natal clinic in Durban.

At Jenni’s ante and post natal clinic in Durban, parents are taught a system that gives them structure and routine to the baby and childhood years. Jenni has a nursing background. She’s a registered nurse, midwife, psychiatric nurse and a practicing child-care practitioner for the past 15 years. Jenni’s online clinic, can be accessed online via www.jennisays.com. For appointments, e-mail [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter via @JenniSays or on Facebook by 'liking' The Berea Baby Clinic.