A Baby Is A Miracle: This little tiny baby, Was sent from God above, To fill our hearts with happiness, And touch our lives with love, He must have known, We'd give our all, And always do our best, To give our precious baby love, And be grateful and so blessed. A Mothers Prayer: Lord help me remember when I feel it's a chore, The time will come when I'll hold her no more. Asleep on my chest, the blanket refused The crib, the pacifier, gone unused. For infants grow up and leave us behind With only memories left to remind us, Of midnight walking and pre-dawn rocking. Of soft, helpless babies unable to sleep So, Lord make me patient and keep me awake As I cradle this baby, and don't let me take For granted the moments I spend in the night With this baby - Your gift My joy - My delight.
This site is the sister site of Stand For The Child (click here) Babies Have So Much To Do: In a world that's all brand-new, Babies have so much to do! Laughing, making funny faces, Finding out those ticklish places. Cuddling up and wiggling toes, Looking cute in tiny clothes. Tasting, touching, reaching high, Crawling under, scooting by. Learning words and having fun. Making memories one by one.Sleep my child and peace attend thee, All through the night Guardian angels God will send thee, All through the night; Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, Hill and vale in slumber sleeping, I my loved ones' watch am keeping, All through the night.Angels watching, e'er around thee, All through the night Midnight slumber close surround thee, All through the night Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, Hill and vale in slumber sleeping I my loved ones' watch am keeping, All through the nightWhile the moon her watch is keeping, All through the night While the weary world is sleeping, All through the night O'er thy spirit gently stealing, Visions of delight revealing Breathes a pure and holy feeling, All through the night.By Sir Harold Boulton If 20 million people were infected by a virus that caused anxiety, impulsivity, aggression, sleep problems, depression, respiratory and heart problems, vulnerability to substance abuse, antisocial and criminal behavior, retardation and school failure, we would consider it an urgent public health crisis.Yet, in the United States alone, there are more than 20 million abused, neglected and traumatized children vulnerable to these problems. Our society has yet to recognize this epidemic, let alone develop an immunization strategy. - B. D. Perry A Vaccine Against ViolenceATTACHMENT: being able to form and maintain healthy emotional bonds and relationships containing impulses, the ability to notice and control primary urges as well as feelings such as frustration AFFILIATION: being able to join and contribute to a group ATTUNEMENT: being aware of others, recognizing the needs, interests, strengths and values of othersTOLERANCE: understanding and accepting differences in othersRESPECT: finding value in differences, appreciating worth in yourself and others For more information on the Six Core Strengths, visit the “Meet Dr. Bruce Perry†page at http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry Prevention and Solutions**** We are the product of our childhoods. The health and creativity of a community is renewed each generation through its children. The family, community, or society that understands and values its children thrives; the society that does not is destined to fail. To truly help our children meet their potential, we must adapt and change our world. Some ways to do this follow: 1) Promote education about brain and child development**** We must as a society provide enriching cognitive, emotional, social, and physical experiences for children. The challenge is how best to do this. Understanding fundamental principles of healthy development will move us beyond good intentions to help shape sensitive care giving in homes, early childhood settings, and schools. Research is key. Public education must be informed by good research and by the implementation and testing of educational and intervention programs. An important component of public understanding must be awareness of the power of the media over children.What to do?******Integrate key principles of brain development, child development and care giving into public education. We presently require more formal education and training to drive a car than to be a parent. More research in child development and basic neurobiology is needed to guide sensible changes in policy, programs and practice.2) Respect the gifts of early childhood**** Enriching environments do exist. Many homes and high-quality, early childhood educational settings provide the safe, predictable, and nurturing experiences needed by young children. Unfortunately, we often squander the wonderful opportunity of early childhood. At a time when the brain is most easily shaped – infancy and early childhood – we spend the fewest public dollars to influence brain development. However, expenditures on programs designed to change the brain dramatically increase for later stages of development (e.g., mental health, substance abuse or juvenile justice interventions). Investing in high-quality early childhood programs could avoid the expensive, often inefficient or ineffective, interventions required later. Unfortunately, these expensive interventions can be reactive, fragmented, chaotic, disrespectful and, sadly, sometimes traumatic. Our public systems may recreate the mess that many abused and neglected children find in their families. What to do? **** Innovative and effective early intervention and enrichment models exist. Integrate them into the policy and practices in your community. Help the most isolated, at-risk young parents connect with community resources, both pre-natally and postpartum. Demand and support high standards for child care, foster care, education, and child protective service.3) Address the relational poverty in our modern world**** We are designed for a different world than we have created for ourselves. Humankind has spent 99 percent of its history living in small, intergenerational groups. A child’s day brought many opportunities to interact with the variety of caregivers available to protect, nurture, enrich, and educate. But, the relational landscape is changing. Today, with our smaller families, we have less connection with extended families and fewer opportunities to interact with neighbors. Children spend a great deal of time watching television. While we in the western world are materially wealthy, we are relationally impoverished. Far too many children grow up without the number and quality of relational opportunities needed to organize fully the neural networks to mediate important socio-emotional characteristics such as empathy.What to do?**** Increase opportunities for children to interact with others, especially those who are good role models. Simple changes at home and school can help: limiting television use, having family meals, playing games together, including neighbors, extended family and the elderly in the lives of children, and bringing retired volunteers into schools to create multi age educational activities.4) Foster healthy developmental strengths**** Certain skills and attitudes help children meet the inevitable challenges of life. They may even inoculate children against the adverse effects of violence. A child who develops six core strengths will be resourceful, successful in social situations, resilient, and may recover quickly from stressor's and traumatic incidents. When one or more core strengths does not develop normally, the child may be vulnerable (for example, to bullying and/or being a bully) and may cope less well with stressor's. These strengths develop sequentially during the child’s life, so every year brings opportunities for their expansion and modification.What to do?**** The major providers of early childhood experiences are parents. Supporting and strengthening the family will increase the likelihood of optimal childhood experiences. Also important will be peer and teacher interactions. Specific ways to foster strengths at home and at school are suggested on The ChildTrauma Academy’s website: www.ChildTrauma.orgConclusion**** The effects of maltreating and traumatizing children have a complex impact on society. Because our species is always changing, better understanding of these issues would help us develop more effective solutions. The human brain is designed for life in small, relationally healthy groups. Law, policy and practice that are biologically respectful are more effective and enduring. Unfortunately, many trends in care giving, education, child protection and mental health are disrespectful of our biological gifts and limitations, fostering poverty of relationships. If society ignores the laws of biology, there will inevitably be neuro developmental consequences. If, on the other hand, we choose to continue researching, educating and creating problem-solving models, we can shape optimal developmental experiences for our children. The result will be no less than a realization of our full potential as a humane society.(Bruce Perry M.D., Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Child Trauma Academy, Houston, Texas) The Third Week Of April 2007 has been declared National SBS Awareness week
Children are people watchers~~~ Children learn how to behave by watching people around them. Your child learns by watching characters on television, in videos, and in movies. And, above all, your child learns by watching you. Think for a moment about how you react to difficult situations. How do you act toward your spouse? Your friends? Your neighbors? Other family members? You are teaching your child, by example, how to get along in the world. When you and others come together to solve your problems peacefully, your child learns how to deal with people in a positive way. But when you or someone close to your child is aggressive and destructive, the child learns to act the same way Children See....Children Do!
Golden slumber kiss your eyes, Smiles await you when you rise. Sleep, pretty baby, Do not cry, And I will sing you a lullaby.Care is heavy, therefore sleep, While I o'er you watch do keep. Sleep, pretty darling, Do not cry, And I will sing you a lullaby. By Thomas Dekker**** 21 things to try to help baby stop crying*****1. Feed your baby 2. Burp her 3.Wrap her snuggly like a burrito (leaving her face uncovered) 4.Talk soothingly to her 5. Play music for her 6. Change her position 7. Change her diaper 8. Check to see if she is too warm or cool 9. Hold her 10.Put her down 11. Put her to bed/sleep 12. Offer her a toy (for babies three months and over) 13. Take her outside 14. Take her away from an overstimulating environment (for some babies, this can be lots of people or noise) 15. Get comfortable holding her (some people like to hold a baby laying on her back along their thighs with her head at their knees, so they can make good eye contact) 16. Put her down where you can stay close and still touch her 17. Calm yourself and relax your breathing (remember, she can't cry forever) 18. Think about how you might want people to respond when you are crying (do you like being jiggled, bounced or plugged up when you are crying?) 19. Stay close 20. Make eye contact 21. Use your voice to let her know you are present and that you will stay with her while she cries Ask your baby******Magda Gerber, a respected authority on infants, when asked about how to stop a baby's crying, advises us to "ask the baby." As difficult as that seems, this advice can help us communicate to baby that we trust her as the authority on her feelings and condition. Careful observation, review of past experiences and sensitive trial and error are wonderful tools for learning to listen to our babies. When we focus on listening, rather than on simply stopping the crying, our babies have the experience of someone's full and responsive attention. Rather than having someone who is running through a list of "tricks" aimed at making her quiet, she has the experience of someone who wants to truly help her feel better*****
Children need to feel safe and loved First and foremost, a child needs to feel safe at home. There is no surer way to start children on the right path in life than to provide consistent, reliable, loving care. How you relate to the children inside your home is perhaps the most powerful tool for protecting them from violence outside the home. ************* Violent behavior is learned, and often it is learned early in life. But just as children can learn to be violent, they also can learn to be kind-hearted. They can learn constructive ways to solve problems, deal with disagreements, and handle anger. Children who learn these skills early in life actually are learning violence prevention—something that will be valuable for the rest of their lives. With these skills, children are far less likely to grow up to be violent, or to be victims of violence.********
Courtesy of MsTags.com
Christian Glitter by www.christianglitter.com