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Have you every tried looking at the X-ray result of any part of your body? It was amazing, right? Also, have your dentist ever showed you a film of your mouth and told you that you have a certain bicuspid that is causing you the pain that you are feeling? It was quite a relief, right? You see, today, modern-day people are very much fortunate that they now live in a world assisted by medical technology wherein all it takes are blood tests, MRIs, and CT scans to determine what might be wrong with your body. Even so, no matter how amazing these medical tools and equipment are, they still have limitations. Their ultimate limitation will be their only being able to determine the underlying cause about something on a physical level. In terms of one’s mind and soul, there are still no medical equipment that can accurately pinpoint healthcare professionals what mental problem their patient has. Even the psychiatrists who have spent years studying a wide range of mental disorders treat their patients based on their subjective symptoms as per oral communication. These healthcare professionals, unfortunately, only see what their mental patients want them to see and only within the scope of their medical training. This is the case with depression and its rampant existence among teenagers.

Depression has sadly become very common among teenagers. On a physical level, some may think at first that the teenager only suffers from nutritional deficiencies or hormonal imbalances. However, there is more to their condition than their physical signs and symptoms. A lot of depressed teenagers turn to suicide as their last resort because of the many emotional issues that are eating them up such as prolonged grief and hopelessness. For most teenagers who suffer from depression and have plans of committing suicide, they blame their school for what they are planning to do. They just hate their school to their core. Dealing with mental disorders is never the same as dealing with physical disorders. There are a lot of factors that you have to take into account and you have only your methods of communicating with the depressed teenager that you can find a way to lead them away from the dark path of depression.

Teenagers suffering from depression should be considered a serious issue among schools and even at home. The problem of depression should be handled with utmost professional knowledge and skills. One of the best ways to keep people well informed of this particular mental condition and its effects among teenagers is to spread the word and keep people educated about the matter.

What is really most important with treating depression is that it all depends on the person and every applicable healthcare provider must be tapped on such as the psychologists and even the alternative healthcare providers. A more creative approach should also be undertaken when dealing with depression and other mental disorders. Depression and other mental conditions should not be taken as health issues that cannot be treated. They can and they should. Make the society be healthier not just in body but also in mind and soul. Mental issues must be discussed openly and its stigma must be erased whatever way possible.

Have your ever thought about ways in which you can make the life of your child more creative and fun? If you have, then this short article can give you some tips to explore the creativity in your child. Here are some of them.

1. Let your child color pictures
Start with buying a picture book and a set of crayons. You then tell your child how to color a page of the picture book by teaching them how to properly hold a crayon and then color even just one part of the picture. You then teach them that other parts of the picture can be colored by them using any color of crayon. Once your child learns how to use a crayon and explore the ways in which they can color the picture book, they then become busy doing this particular art activity. As they do, you can spend your time doing some chores at home while your child is busy coloring books.

2. Teach your child stamping and putting their fingerprints on paper
Stop the habit of pointing your finger at your child. Your child may end up following this particular habit of yours. It will be better if you sit next to your child, dip their fingers in pain, and let them take the time to stamp on the paper you have provided them as well. When the both of you have done this for quite some time and your child is confident to do it on their own, you can let them do the fingerprinting and stamping all by themselves so they will have more fun.

3. Give your child some clay to play with and demonstrate to her how to mold it
Spend more time cuddling with your child and then use some clay together to create a wide range of things such as airplanes, doll, saucers, cups, and many more. Your child as well as yourself will have a fun time molding your clay to the shapes that you want to form out of it. You can give her more ideas of what other objects she can make and look at how she takes it. Just be sure to help her out in case she has some questions about what you are asking her to mold out of her clay.

4. Create different things using paper and teach your child
Using a plain paper, create different things like a basket, boat, crane, goldfish, purse, and so on, and surely, your child cannot help but enjoy whatever these things you think about and make using paper. You can start teaching her with simple structures that can be formed out of paper. There is no doubt that your child will have a mighty fun time doing this activity with you.

5. Help your child make her own kite and have it flying high up in the air
Make the most out of your child’s time by helping them make their own kite. As the both of you become creative, your child will enjoy this time spent with you and easily pick up some cues from you. If the both of you are done making the kite, go outside of your lawn and assist your child with letting their kite fly up in the air.

It can be quite a battle to be optimistic in most days of your life most especially during these times that everywhere you look you see people fighting, suffering, or hurting other people. From fear-mongering by your local news, a road rage scenario while on your morning commute, to a hurtful comment on social media, all of these things and more are already being witnessed by your children. These are even the times that your children will look at how you react during these scenarios as their parents. It may seem too tempting to live with more negativity in your life, yet you should not easily fall into this path. As a parent, it is your job to make sure that you raise your children to be more optimistic. Teach them how they can look on the positive side of things. Remember that if your children become optimistic, they become more well-adjusted and happier with their lives. Below are some things that you can do to raise optimistic children.

• Always think before speaking. Have you ever noticed how easily your children follow the negative comments that you make with just about anything that you encounter with? It is very much common among children to follow how adults talk and do their day-to-day grumblings. Your children should never hear these things from your negative comments to the driver in front of you to bad things you have to say about the colleague at work who has wronged you. These stories should just be reserved to be shared with your partner or your friends. If you decide to share them with your children, find a positive anecdote out of them. Always tell them something nice such as a success story from your workplace or doing something nice to your friend. When you do make the mistake of saying something negative, you can always turn it around and put a positive twist to it.
• Teach them about kindness and gratitude. To help your children become more positive in life, make sure that you teach them the importance of being thoughtful and giving to family and friends and of appreciating what they have. Also encourage them and even be a good role model to them when it comes to helping out other people who are less fortunate. Grateful families make sure to talk about the things that keep them thankful and live their lives with gratitude and kindness.
• Stop before you react. As a parent, it becomes all too challenging to not get into the picture and help your children when something unfortunate happens to them. However, it is better that you stop and think before you react. Observe how your child handles any difficult situation that comes their way. Do not be quick to be the one to give them solutions or a way out but instead, give them the opportunity to resolve the issues ahead of them. Not only will this empower them but also, this will give them some sense of optimism as they resolve these issues all on their own. As they do, they will now become more positive that whatever challenges may come their way, they can now find a good solution for them.

The bond that babies and parents form is a process. A child becomes attached to their parents based on their being together everyday and their instincts. With this bond, a sense of belonging to each other is built between the parent and the infant.

There are times where infants easily bond with their parents. Unfortunately, there are times where the bond between infant and parent becomes difficult to accomplish. According to a 2014 research study about the bond of an infant with a parent, one in four infants does not easily bond with their parents. This is a situation either the parent or the infant do not want to be a part of.

It is not always that bonding happens immediately between the parent and the child. If you and your child have not formed a bond yet, do not lose hope! Bear in mind that bonding sometimes takes some time. A lot of factors come into play for the bond of the parent and the infant to form. Oftentimes, mothers who have given birth via C-section find it hard to establish a bond with their newborn. They are not able to easily embrace their newborns after they have given birth. This is usually the part where a psychological gap is made between them. Moreover, for newborns who are born premature, they have to stay longer in the intensive care units. This situation again delays the bonding with their parents as they are kept away from them longer.

Most of the time, compared with mothers, fathers will have a difficult time bonding with their newborns as they do not nurse their newborns unlike their partners. Furthermore, they do not usually have skin-to-skin contact with their babies. Owing to the fact that most fathers are breadwinners, they spend most of their time away from their babies. But this does not mean that the father cannot bond with their child, they can still do so. Some of the things that they can do to bond with their child include bathing their babies, comforting them, preparing their baby food, feeding them, changing their diapers, and many more.

Some things that you can do to easily form a bond with their newborns

The best way to form a bond with your bundle of joy is to spend as much time as you can with them. After birth, make sure to ask your health care professionals if your newborn can be roomed in with you. In case your newborn will be kept in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), visit your newborn as much as you can. You can get some permission if it will be fine to hold your baby, sing to them, and talk to them. A lot of new mothers use baby carriers or slings to have their babies close to them. These are better options than using a stroller for your baby. Babies love being close to their parents. They feel more secure and warmer. Now as your baby grows, you can then go walking or grocery shopping with them. This will not just help your baby appreciate better and explore the world but also help the both of you bond better.

It can be very hard to determine what baby stuff you need to prepare when you are expecting. Shopping for some baby equipment and products can be very difficult because of the many attractive baby stuff that you see that will lead you to buy just about everything for your baby if possible. But then, out of the many baby stuff that you see being sold in the market, you realize that most are just pure indulgence and are not really pure necessity. Thus, before you waste your money on the impractical stuff, you have to know what are the practical baby stuff that you must prepare before your baby comes into the picture. If you have no idea what these practical baby essentials are, here are some of them.

Nursery: During the first few months that your baby arrives, usually, you will have your baby close to you; so, it is best that you purchase a crib or cradle as their first bed. Once your baby grows, you then prepare a quality cot for their growing body and have them positioned inside your nursery. Do not forget to buy quality mattress for your cot as it does not come with them mostly. Get a supportive mattress to ensure that your baby can sleep better and is very much comfortable with it. Include a changing unit in your nursery as well so that you will not have a hard time changing their diapers and you can just stay in one place.

Sleep and safety: In terms of the safety of your baby, you have to be sure to purchase your own baby monitor. If your baby is asleep, this is the time that you can move around and do some stuff in your home but this does not mean that you have to keep your eyes off of them. By using your own baby monitor, you can still look after them even while you are not in the same room. Another safety baby essential that you must not forget is a thermometer to monitor the temperature of your child. For babies, having low fever can be telling enough that they are suffering from certain health conditions or infection. Also, do not forget to purchase your own room temperature for your nursery. This will ensure that the room of your child is just right and is not too cold or too warm.

Bathing: Buy a baby bath or invest some money on a bath support that you can easily fit into your big bath tub. This will ensure that you will not have a hard time bathing your babies as they tend to be very wriggly and slippery on their own.

Breastfeeding: Buy a manual pump that is very portable and discreet. It is even highly advised that you opt to choose a single or double pump that will allow effective and fast pumping. Be sure to get a sterilizer so that your feeding accessories such as feeding bottles and pumps are free from bacteria. You might also consider getting some cover-ups if you intend to bring your baby with you in public to give you better privacy while you are feeding your child.

Despite how much you want to be by your children’s side all days of their lives to take care of them, that is not the reality of life. And surely, you do not want your children to always be under your shadow. You can, instead, instill some positive habits in your children so that they can just take good care of themselves without your presence. You can start teaching them these habits during their early childhood years for them to maintain both a happy mind and a healthy body.

The earlier you instill in your children these positive habits, the earlier for them to benefit from the good things that they bring. By introducing these positive habits early on, you are promoting the development of their mental health and physical health. But as a parent, you must avoid teaching these positive habits by force but instead look for effective ways that you can incorporate these habits in their day-by-day lives. As your children will grow older, they will begin to understand the values that you have instilled in them while they were younger.

Here are some of the positive habits that you must instill in your children:

1. The importance of breakfast – Teach your children the importance of eating their breakfast by sitting with them during this particular meal time and serving them a wholesome breakfast to keep them energized in the activities that they will do for the day. An active body can only be attained by your child by serving them a healthy breakfast. Make sure to include some cereals, eggs, fresh fruits, and milk to their breakfast.

2. A fixed time for eating meals – You must establish a fixed time for all your meals of the day. This will ensure that all members of the family will be gathered together in one table at fixed times every single day including your children. This pattern will not only ensure that your children eat healthy meals but also ensure that your bond as a family is strengthened. Your child will value better the moments that you share with your family.

3. Cleanliness – For most children, poor oral hygiene is the most common bad habit. As early as possible, you have to teach your child how they can properly brush and floss their teeth and gums at least twice in one day. Also teach your children the importance of washing their hands before and after meals. During their initial years, you can make their bath time more fun by introducing some bath toys and playing some games while they are taking a bath.

4. A sleeping routine – Just like your meal times, your children’s sleep time must also be fixed. Your biological clock is a crucial cue for your system, most especially your children. It will ensure that they get enough sleep at night and enough time for their activities during the day.

5. Keeping oneself physically active – It is crucial that you allow your child to discover the gun of keeping themselves physically active. Try to introduce your children to extracurricular activities and sports such as dancing, gymnastics, and swimming. Your children can benefit from being physically active as they will have improved appetite and sound sleep that will help them maintain a healthy lifestyle.