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Straight Talk about Bottles and Oil

There are many articles and studies that have been done to demonize bottled water.  It's difficult to find objective data on the subject.  All of the top search results are dripping with rhetoric and fast math (and some mighty big belt buckles).  This agenda makes it difficult to put one's hands on the actual data.  Statistics can say anything if one is creative enough.

After a few hours of research, its clear that America consumes about 9.26 million barrels of oil per day to fuel its cars.  By contrast, it takes about 46,000 barrels of oil per day to supply America's demand for bottled water.  So America uses 200 times more oil to fuel its cars than it does to make the bottles for its bottled water demand.  It's also true that soft drinks, milk and beer account for 75% of America's bottled water demand.  Yet water seems to be the only product under public scrutiny.

99.7% of America's oil consumption is for things other than bottles.  So before we demonize the industry responsible for less than one third of one percent of the nation's aggregate oil demand, let's look at alternative modes of transportation and alternative forms of energy and put the emphasis in the right place.  Of this one third of one percent, Luna and Lara accounts for less than 1% of the US bottled water market.

It is important for us as parents to stress the importance of recycling to our children.  PET plastic is 100% recyclable, and every effort should be made to ensure that it is recycled and reused.

Luna and Lara exists to encourage children to drink more water.  The characters, songs, attractive design and stories all serve this one single purpose.  It is 100% pure Irish spring water, not filtered, purified tap water.  The difference is real, and it is clear.  If children naturally gravitated toward what was good for them, there would be no need for all of this song and dance.  But children are overwhelmed with advertising for things that are not good for them, so we have to fight the battle where it is, in the minds of our children on the internet, the television, and other media.  Left to themselves, children do not tend to choose plain water over its fizzy or juicy competitors.

Nothing would please us more than to hear that children's consumption of tap water increased to the point where they are properly hydrated each day.  Pure spring water is better than tap, but tap is still better than sugary sodas.  According to child nutritionists, it's better than fruit juice as well.

Until the statistics concerning child obesity and child dehydration change, we will continue encouraging children to drink pure spring water.  We will also continue to encourage responsible recycling and keep in proper perspective its impact upon the environment.

Sincerely,
The Pin

World Energy Consumption
Bottled Water Statistics
US Vehicle Oil Consumption
Energy Implications of Bottled Water
Water Not Juice

Stay Hydrated!!!

Stay Hydrated this summer!

Mom and Dad

As parents we want the best for our children.  But we also have to choose our battles carefully because they have 1000 times the energy we have and everything can’t be top priority.  Like every parent, you know your children need water to keep their minds and bodies going, but it is difficult to get them to want to drink water.  Headaches, lack of concentration, poor memory and tiredness are often symptoms of children’s dehydration.  Luna and Lara were created to help you in that daily struggle to serve your children’s needs.  Everything about the characters, the website, the music band “The Rubyz”, the artwork, the stories, puzzles and games has been designed to make your children see that drinking water from day to night is fun. During term time, our children spend most of their waking hours at school.  It’s impossible for them to “make up” for their fluid intake when they are back in our care.  That’s why we’re going to schools to encourage them to make water available throughout the school day, even during classes.  We’re doing our part to help your child to stay hydrated from day till night by making drinking water fun as well as essential and healthy. Luna and Lara’s message is right, always drink water from day to night.

Our mission is to make your job easier.  Please let us know how we can do a better job. Meanwhile, we will keep doing our best to educate your child on the importance of drinking water from day till night!

On Yer Bike! (How to train your child to ride)

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I remember tearing out my front door on a Saturday morning and throwing my skinny frame onto my yellow banana seat bike.  Michigan blue sky and massive puffy clouds above and the open road ahead, I’ll never forget the feeling of freedom as the wind built up in my face and blew my hair back.  My first bike meant freedom, adventure and an expanded world.  Banana Seat Bliss.

Do you remember your first bike?  Cycling is a fantastic way to get the kids away from the TV and computer screens.  Get your child a bike and give them the gift of the outdoors, exercise, freedom and increased motor skills.

Most children get their first bike between the ages of 3 and 6.  I got mine at five and immediately began testing the laws of physics and gravity.

As a parent and caregiver, it’s a great time to teach and bond with your child.  Not only do you get the opportunity to help your little one to grasp the basics of cycling, you can also help your child learn how to face their fear and to conquer the unknown.

It’s a tossup which is more difficult:  learning to ride or teaching someone to learn to ride.  Your patience will be pushed to the max, but oh what a result when they finally get the hang of it!  Neither of you will forget that moment for the rest of your lives.  Experience always eventually kicks in and the initial roughness and hesitation slowly ebbs away.  Some take to it quickly, some take ages, but in all cases it’s a worthwhile investment of time and energy.

There are a couple of basic ways to teach your child to balance on two wheels:  training wheels, assisted two-wheeling, and un-assisted two wheeling.  Each has its advantages, and best results will often be obtained by a mixed, graduated approach.

You need to adjust to your child’s learning style and aptitude to determine which approach to take.  First thing’s first:  find a safe, spacious learning ground, the place where the indelible memory will happen.  If you go with training wheels, be sure there’s plenty of space to turn around because the training wheels require a larger turning radius.

It’s easy to topple with training wheels if the bike gets going much faster than a walk because the weight is shifted to one of the training wheels if the child leans the bike to one side, which is inevitable.  Toppling is inevitable, so we’ll get to the safety in just a bit.  Stay very nearby until your child gets the hang of turning and braking.  Set up the training wheels so there is a bit of lean on both sides, but not so much that they don’t do their job of keeping your child vertical not horizontal.

Once your child has become accustomed to pedaling, steering and braking, the training wheels should be raised slightly, a bit at a time.  As the child becomes more adept, the bike will spend more and more time with both training wheels off the ground.

The day will come when it is obviously time to take off the training wheels.  This is when the real fun begins.

Running alongside

Now you’ve got your bike and are ready to either take off the training wheels or you want to skip that step altogether, here comes the really fun part. 

Hold onto your child by the shoulders and run along behind.  Don’t hold the handlebars; let them learn the feel of balancing themselves.  Hold onto the saddle or any part of the bike so that your child will not necessarily realize you are holding them. And leaning to one side or the other.  Instead, hold them by the shoulders, so that as they lean to one side or the other they will feel the side pressure, and can learn to reduce it by turning into the lean.

This should be done in a wide-open space such as an empty parking lot or large driveway.  Don’t try to steer, just make let the bike go where it will.  Make sure you don’t bang into the pedals or trip over the wheels (ouch).  Easier said than done!

As in life, falling is absolutely inevitable.  I fell so many times I could not count them.  Even though we never had them, teach your child the importance of wearing ahelmet from the outset.  Gloves and kneepads are also a good idea as they will help keep the scrape factor to a minimum, keeping your child encouraged to keep trying.  Reflective clothing on your child and on the bike are also a good idea, so they look like a meteor to cars in the area, especially when riding at dusk or in the evening.

Foot brakes and hand brakes have their strong and weak points.  Foot brakes get in the way at times if your child suddenly puts their feet down to stop.  Kids do this involuntarily when they feel frightened of falling.  They forget to use the pedals.  Hand brakes require a certain amount of strength in the hands.  Little hands may not be able to pull the lever all the way to a stop.  Practice will tell you which one works best.

Before your child ever gets on the bike, teach them the rules of the road, such as:

·      Always ride with a helmet

·      Always ride with your hands on the handlebars

·      Always stop and check for traffic in both directions when leaving the driveway, alley or curb

·      Cross only at intersections

·      Ride on the same side and in the same direction as the cars

·      Never ride against traffic

·      Use bike lanes or designated bike routes whenever possible

·      Don’t ride too close to parked cars as doors can open suddenly

·      When passing other bikers or people on the street, always pass on the left

·      Call out “on your left” when passing

·      Stop at all stop signs and obey traffic lights just as the cars do

·      Ride single file on the street when riding with friends

·      Learn hand signals for turning left, right and stopping

Exercise, freedom and mobility are just a few of the benefits of riding.  It’s also a great family activity.  Every hour spent on the bike is an hour away from the telly or computer screen.  And of course, keep your child hydrated as cycling really burns up the water and calories.  We’re not bothered how you get the water down them, but if you need a suggestion which water to use, we may be able to be of service!  Now on yer bikes and let the good times roll!

Sincerely,
The Pin

New Information: Fat Inflation Rocks Nation

THURSDAY, July 7 -- A new report outlining how obesity threatens America's future reveals that obesity rates climbed over the past year in 16 states, and not a single state reported a decline in the proportion of excessively overweight residents.

The report, released Thursday, also found that more than 30 percent of the people in 12 states are obese. Four years ago, only one state could make that claim.  Twenty years ago, "there wasn't a single state that had an obesity rate above 15 percent, and now every state is above that," said Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, which compiled the report.

"We have seen a dramatic shift over a generation," he added. "This isn't just about how much people weigh, but it has to do with serious health problems like diabetes and hypertension. These are the things that are driving health care costs."

With the exception of Michigan, the 10 most obese states are in the South. The Northeast and West reported the lowest obesity rates. In addition, in eight states, more than 10 percent of adults suffer from type 2 diabetes, according to the report.

Mississippi, where 34.4 percent of the people are obese, has the highest obesity rate. Other states with obesity rates above 30 percent include: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Thirty-eight other states have obesity rates above 25 percent.

For the second year in a row, obesity rates rose in Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Rhode Island and Texas.  And, for the third year straight, more residents of Florida, Kansas, Maine, Oklahoma and Vermont tipped the scale toward obesity.
Colorado, with an obesity rate of 19.8 percent, is the only state where the rate is less than 20 percent, the investigators found.

Other highlights of the report include:

• The number of adults who do not exercise rose across 14 states.
• Obesity among men is up in nine states, but dropped for women in Nevada.
• Obesity prevalence varies with education and income. The least educated and the poorest had the highest rates of obesity; college graduates had the lowest.

More than one-third of children and adolescents are obese or overweight, with the highest prevalence in the South. However, the new data indicate that obesity among children and adolescents may have leveled off, except among the heaviest boys.
"This generation of kids could have shorter life spans, because people are getting diabetes and hypertension much earlier," Levi said.

The solution is simple, he added: Eat less, exercise more. "We have reconstructed our lives so that we don't build in physical activity. We have neighborhoods and communities that are food deserts, where the only food you can find is unhealthy fast food," he said.

Samantha Heller, a dietitian in Fairfield, Conn., called childhood obesity "a complex, multi-faceted problem that needs to be tackled from many different angles." She said she wished the report offered ways to educate parents and caregivers about healthy eating for children.
Parents and caregivers make approximately 75 percent of the food decisions for children, Heller said, so it is essential that they learn about healthy, affordable foods and meals for children that make sense to them.

"Overall, I am hopeful that the report will help motivate food companies, local and state governments, schools and communities to generate a good head of steam to help stem the tide of childhood obesity," she added.

Obesity expert Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., called the report "a reminder that obesity ranks among the most urgent public health problems of our time. While efforts to reverse obesity trends are proliferating, the tide has not yet turned, and more needs to be done."

The report makes it clear that interventions need to be tailored to diverse settings, Katz added. "I support the view that the root cause of epidemic obesity is everything about modern living, and that it will take the aggregation of a lot of effective programming to change our course," he said.

Levi noted that the federal government was introducing programs to stem the obesity crisis, but "we need to fund these programs adequately," he said.  "We now know the pieces that need to be put into place [to reduce obesity]," he added. "Some of them are about what we as individuals do, but a lot of it is also about what we as a community come together to do," Levi stated.

More information
For more information on obesity, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Overweight Mother = Overweight Daughter? Research says 'probably'

Obesity 'link to same-sex parent' 

There is a strong link in obesity between mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, but not across the gender divide, research suggests.

A study of 226 families by Plymouth's Peninsula Medical School found obese mothers were 10 times more likely to have obese daughters.

For fathers and sons, there was a six-fold rise. But in both cases children of the opposite sex were not affected.   The researchers believe the link is behavioural rather than genetic.  They say the findings mean policy on obesity should be re-thought.

Researchers said it was "highly unlikely" that genetics was playing a role in the findings as it would be unusual for them to influence children along gender lines.  Instead, they said it was probably because of some form of "behavioural sympathy" where daughters copied the lifestyles of their mothers and sons their fathers.  It is because of this conclusion that experts believe government policy on tackling obesity should be re-thought.

Much of the focus so far in the UK - in terms of targets and monitoring - has been targeted at younger age groups in the belief that obese children become obese adults.   But the researchers said the assumption ignored the fact that eight in 10 obese adults were not severely overweight when they were children.  In fact, they said their findings suggested the opposite was true - that obese adults led to obese children, the International Journal of Obesity reported.   Study leader Professor Terry Wilkin said: "It is the reverse of what we have thought and this has fundamental implications for policy.  "We should be targeting the parents and that is not something we have really done to date." 

New direction

His team took weight and height measurements for children and parents over a three-year period.  Segen Yosf has been on an obesity-awareness course: 'If your mum's not healthy you won't be healthy'.  They found that 41% of the eight-year-old daughters of obese mothers were obese, compared to 4% of girls with normal-weight mothers. There was no difference in the proportion for boys.  For boys, 18% of the group with obese fathers were also obese, compared to just 3% for those with normal-weight fathers. Again, there was no difference in the proportion for girls. 

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: "This is telling the government that they now have to look for a new direction.  "We have to make sure parents are in a good condition to bring up their children in a normal manner."  He said he wanted to see more interventions like the one introduced this year offering vouchers to pregnant women for healthy food.

The Department of Health insisted it was already targeting parents through the Change4Life campaign (UK), which was launched at the start of the year and brings together a host of local healthy lifestyle initiatives.  A spokesman added: "The obesity epidemic is one of the most challenging public health issues we face." 

Source:  BBC News

American Fast Food (what a stupid way to die)

You can purchase this song "American Fast Food" off the album 'Our Recollections' by Randy Stonehill on iTunes or go to www.randystonehill.com.  All Rights Reserved WMG.

Obesity Reaching Epidemic Proportions

Wall Street Journal reports Colorado is the only state in the union with lower than 20% obesity.

Don't Raise a Junk Food Flunkie

"Junk food diet 'makes children more likely to fail at school'" is the headline in The Daily Telegraph. It reports on a study that showed “even when other factors, such as low income or poor housing were removed, diet significantly affected the children's development". Children who "lived on sweets, crisps and chicken nuggets from an early age were 10% more likely to be failing between the ages of six and ten than their classmates”, the newspaper reports.

The main result of the study was that eating a lot of junk food at age three was associated with slower progress later in primary school. An extra finding highlighted by the researchers was that eating either packed lunches or school meals made no difference to children’s educational attainment. This finding is less reliable because of the small number of children involved.

Where did the story come from?

Dr Leon Feinstein and colleagues from the Institute of Education at the University of London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Bristol carried out this research. Core support for the study was provided by the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the University of Bristol. It was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

What kind of scientific study was this?

This was an analysis of data from a cohort study. The data came from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), an ongoing population-based study designed to investigate the effects of environmental, genetic and other influences on the health and development of children. Complex statistical methods were used to assess the relative importance of diet on school attainment at different ages.

The participants were pregnant women who lived in the former Avon health authority in south-west England and were expected to give birth between April 1 1991 and December 31 1992. Of all the potential mothers in this area, the researchers recruited a group of 14,541 pregnant women and their 13,988 children who were alive at 12 months old. The mothers completed questionnaires during pregnancy and when the children were various ages. Children’s educational attainment at 6–7 years and 10–11 years old was assessed by obtaining the Key Stage 1 (KS1) results for reading, writing and maths and Key Stage 2 (KS2) results for English, maths and science from the relevant education authorities. Key Stages are national standards for what children should be taught at particular ages, children’s levels of attainment of the set curricula are assessed at each age or Key Stage.

Information about the children’s diet was collected from mothers or main female carers using a food frequency questionnaire, which asked about their child’s consumption of food and drink at about three years, about four years and about seven years old. The researchers identified three different patterns in the children’s diets: “junk food”, containing high-fat processed foods (sausages and burgers), snack foods high in fat and/or sugar (such as crisps, sweets, chocolate, ice lollies and ice creams), fizzy drinks and takeaway meals; ‘‘health conscious’’, comprising vegetarian foods, nuts, salad, rice, pasta, fruit, cheese, fish, cereal, water and fruit juice; and ‘‘traditional’’, typically meat and cooked vegetables.

"Early eating patterns have implications for attainment that appear to persist over time, regardless of subsequent changes in diet"

Leon Feinstein, lead author

In the questionnaire about the seven-year-old children, the mothers also reported whether their child ate meals served at school or packed lunches provided from home, and how often they did this. Frequency was recorded as: rarely, once in two weeks, once a week, two to four times a week or five days a week. Details of socioeconomic, demographic and lifestyle factors were also collected.

Of the 13,988 children in the original set of data, dietary information at all three ages was only available for 7,703 children and, of these children, only some had information on both KS2 and KS1 scores. The final study sample therefore consisted of 5,741 children with complete information on food frequencies and both school attainment scores results (41% of the original sample of 13,998 children).

What were the results of the study? 

The data collected in the questionnaire about seven-year-old children showed that 29% ate school dinners five days a week and nearly half (46%) ate packed lunches five days a week.

The researchers found that higher ‘‘junk food’’ dietary pattern scores at three, four and seven were associated with lower average KS2 results. In contrast, a positive association was shown for the ‘‘health conscious’’ dietary pattern and KS2 results. The ‘‘traditional’’ dietary pattern showed no association with KS2 results. When potential confounding factors were taken into account, a weak association remained between “junk food” at age three and lower attainment.

There was no evidence that eating packed lunches or eating school meals affected children’s attainment, once the impact of junk food dietary pattern at age three was accounted for in the model.

What interpretations did the researchers draw from these results?

The researchers conclude that “early eating patterns have implications for educational attainment that appear to persist over time, regardless of subsequent changes in diet.”  Translation:  Start your child eating and drinking healthy food, water and milk when they're infants and your child will benefit throughout life.

Luna and Lara

"Mom I'm FAT!"

Nobody needs to tell your dear child that he or she is overweight.  They already know, and they are already trying to process it any way they can.  Unfortunately, without your help, the way they process it could lead to further problems like secret eating and low self esteem.  So go ahead and talk about it.  More importantly, LISTEN about it.

We went through many of the same things.  There’s nothing new under the sun.  Being picked last for teams, being teased at school, struggling in sports, being ridiculed or having difficulty fitting into clothes are just a few of the pains overweight children may have to endure. 

You are the absolute best person to talk to your child about his or her weight because nobody loves your child more.  Therefore, nobody else can empathize as you can.  These frustrations and pains need to be expressed by your child and then validated by you.  Don’t shrink back; it’s the right thing to do.  Encourage.  Listen.  Validate.  Empathize.  RELATE.  Be available.

Unconditional love and acceptance are the life-blood of a child who struggles with weight problems.  You are the primary source of this love, so pour it on with reckless abandon.

Don’t do anything too harsh or rash like super strict diets…they will backfire.  Rather, make small adjustments here and there to put the right things to eat and drink in front of your child.  The last thing you should do is to highlight the fact your child is overweight by over-reacting with harsh diets.  That could spell rejection to them, which is the opposite of unconditional love.

Kids come in all shapes and sizes, and genetic pre-disposition can be a hard taskmaster.  That’s why good habits and small steady adjustments are the best defense against the propensity for your child to be overweight.

Luna and Lara speak about water a lot, for obvious reasons.  However, we are not concerned about kids drinking more water because we’re in the water business.  We’re in the water business because we’re concerned about kids drinking more water.  That disclaimer said, ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO DRINK MORE WATER!  It will greatly aid metabolism, it will help them to process their meals, and it will “fill the gap” with something healthy and life-giving rather than something fattening like sugary soda, sweets or even juice.

Your example is the absolute best thing you can offer your child.  If you want him or her to develop good eating and drinking habits, exhibit good eating and drinking habits.  Show more than tell.

Resist the urge to set a timetable for weight loss.  In fact, weight loss is not the issue at all…good habits are.  Rather than a timetable, make a LIFE change.  Over time, you will begin to see the benefits not only in your child’s weight but in their overall good health.  The good news is, kids learn fast.  It may not seem like it, but it’s true.   

Go for “possible”, not for “perfect”. 

Pick Five:  Choose five realistic goals, such as substituting fatty foods for healthy ones; serving water instead of soda; buy flavoured water instead of juice (shameless but true); buy complex carbohydrates instead of simple ones.

Finally, be patient.  Be patient.  Be patient.  And above all, pour on the unconditional love and affirmation…it’s better to have a slightly overweight child who knows they are loved than a skinny one who doesn’t.

Luna and Lara

Cover Up!

You aren't the boss of me!

 

Luna and Lara understand the difficulties of raising children in a world where rebellion and unhealthy behaviour is encouraged at every turn.  Picture the children who habitually lose temper, argue with adults, actively defy or refuse adults’ requests and rules, and deliberately do things to annoy other people. Add to it the tendency to blame others for their misbehavior. You know for sure that they aren't popular either with adults or peers.

Children, who defy and do the opposite of what parents tell them, often start exhibiting these behaviors from age 2 or 3. Defiant behavior should be handled promptly and carefully. Do not laugh it off as simply a "cute" behavior. Defiant behavior is a progressive problem and if untreated, gets worse.

Defiant behaviors first show up at home at age 2 or 3. By age 8 or 9, a defiant child is hard to get along at school as well. Research shows that at the playground a defiant child tends to be rejected by his or her peers within the first 20 minutes. Defiant children are often angry and hostile in their interaction with peers. They coerce rather than cooperate with other children. They first start violating the rules of the home, and, if untreated, they start violating the rules of the school. By age 12 or 13, they use tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs, and start breaking the rules of society.

It is much easier to treat defiant behavior between age 2 to 5, then after age 12. In one research, psychological parenting techniques were shown to work in about 75 percent of cases of children under 10, but only in 25% of cases of children over age 12.
Parents of defiant children feel frustrated. Many have used severest consequences for undesirable behaviors, but, "nothing seems to work." Research shows that it is not the severity, but the immediacy of the consequences that matters. Consequences are most effective when delivered within seconds rather than minutes or hours. One research shows that "dysfunctional parents" delivered consequences, on average, between 30 to 60 minutes.

The problem is that many parents unduly delay the consequences for defiant behaviors or they provide consequences inconsistently. An even bigger problem is that some of those parents hardly ever reward compliant behavior.

Some parents ignore or try to tolerate defiant behavior until they can’t take it anymore and than they try to teach the child the "lesson of his (or her) life." That just confuses and enrages a child even more. Angry and irritable parents often have angry and irritable children. Some parents have the attitude, "I will deal with you as I feel at the moment." Their child also deals with them as he or she feels.

Here is some advice for parents of 2 to 10 year olds. Treat the problem early. Early intervention also prevents serious behavioral problems in the future. Deliver a negative consequence for a defiant behavior within 10 seconds. Reward a compliant behavior within 10 seconds.  This system of punishment and reward will quickly train a child and begin to alter his or her behaviour.  When rewarding a child, avoid using sweets as reward.  This puts a harmful premium on the acqusition of unhealthy food, so you are in fact solving one problem and creating another.  Instead use healthy snacks as a reward, or better yet leave food out of the equation altogether.

Psychologist Russel Barkley of international fame has this advice for parents, "Act. Don’t yak." Talking about how bad the behavior was is not helpful. Calm and consistent action is helpful. Calmly handle a defiant behavior by delivering the consequences and don’t spend too much time in talking about your frustrations, such as, how "sick and tired" and "disappointed" you are by your child’s non-compliance. Such expressions make parents appear weak and at a loss, and may be counter productive.

Do you have the attitude, "Why do I need to change, the problem is with my child and not me?" Parents who say "yes" to the question may often be butting heads with their children. You can force your child to submission but you can’t truly change your child without changing yourself. You have to change first before you can change your child.

Ask yourself, "What did my "worst" and the "best" supervisor do? Write down the characteristic behaviors of both. Do not act around your child as your worst supervisor did around you. Act around your child as your best supervisor did around you. When you change as a parent, chances are that your child will change too.

When a child has been misbehaving for sometime, parents naturally want to fix it right away. So they look for more draconian methods to raise the ante for a bad behavior. Perhaps, it works for a little while and then the child raises his or her resistance to match the severity of the punishment. Thus, attempts for disciplining fail, breeding more frustration and anger in the parents.
Positive attention and positive interaction are two major tools to shape a child’s behavior.

Attend to your child’s positive behavior. Don’t assume a nonchalant attitude towards a positive behavior because "that is how children should behave all the time." Your child may sometime be at his best to please you, so be pleased and express your pleasure. Find activities, hobbies, and games in which you and your child can have increasingly positive interaction. Your child may want to please you even more.

Principal writing by child psychologist Vijai P. Sharma, Ph.D
Additional writing by The Pin