There will be some comments here and there, but the original content will all be here. So, here’s what I’ve written (date)

There is never a ‘too early’ date to choose a baby’s name. Although choosing a baby’s name is a husband and wife thing to do, in my case, I already have a name in mind for my first born baby boy. The only thing for me to do then when my wife got pregnant was to convince her to use that name.

What is the best way to choose your baby’s name? Is there a rule? A guide perhaps? Is there a trend or is it just something that you can pick this instant?

For my second baby (coming real soon!) (update: Well, as of this writing, my second son Sean is 1 year and 2 month old. Time flies doesn’t it?) , we already have a name prepared, well, at least I have. My wife still have some suggestions of her own. Important thing is we agree on it.

Popular Names

There are some parents who like names that are popular and easy to remember. Although there are good, popular names, we have to consider that these names don’t stay popular forever.

Also, if you did choose a popular name, chances are you are not the only one who picked that name and it and your child could have a name that everyone else has.

Celebrity Names

This one I’m guilty of. Yes, i must admit that my first born was named after a famous fiction writer and a TV/comedy actor. Good thing about picking a name from celebrities is that most of them has common enough names that does not get worn out over time. A name Stephen will always be Stephen and will always remain a good choice for a name. Right?

Nicknames

When choosing a name, you can also consider the nicknames that comes along with the name. You may plan on your child never being called by a nickname, but you can’t always prevent this from happening.

You may want others to use your child’s full name (like Joseph), but there will always be someone who calls him by a pet name, (Joe or Joey).

If you really don’t like your child to be called by a name other than his real name, consider giving him a name that has no or are hard to associate a nickname. Examples are Jude, Adam, Blake, Carl or Ross.
Unique Names

What are these unique names? Well, that will definitely depends on you creativity. You could coined in a new name from your name and your wife’s. You could research a named from mythology or some old stories. You could use weather names or nature (summer, river, forest). It really depends on you and your partner’s creativity.

The danger of using a unique name, however, especially if it is very unusual, is that while it may make your child stand out from the crowd, he may stand out too much and can lead to teasing. Also,some unique names can be difficult to spell, so watch out for that.

And finally,

Find a name that both of you like and feel positive about. The most important thing is you and your partner agree on it.

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In his post, he enumerated 5 Tips that helped me him in teaching his one year old son the most important topic in a child’s learning development.

Here’s what the father mentioned in the post:

1. Start Early
2. Use Props and Posters
3. Use Educational DVDs and VCDs
4. Repetition
5. Give Rewards and Compliments

Let’s quote the whole blog post here to further explain the bullets

• Start Early

When is early? It still depends on you. As soon as you feels like your baby can interact with you, you can start telling him things you want him to learn. I started introducing letters to my son during his 18th or so month (maybe earlier).

The earlier he knows what those things look like and learn its name, the better.

• Use Props and Posters

I collect Stephen King books and other IT and work related books all lined up in a shelf. I remember the first time I introduce the letter ‘S’ to my son. I kept showing him letter ‘S’ of every Stephen King novels on the book shelves.

Aside from single letters from books, we also bought a number of posters which we placed in every door of the house and areas where the toddler often play.

We also use alphabet-shaped fridge magnet to further supplement his learnings. Everywhere we go, we always made sure that we bring along these toys with him.

• Supplement with Educational VCD/DVD

With todays advancement in technology, many information are available in many media formats. Aside from toys and educational posters, another big help in teaching your child the alphabet (and counting numbers) are educational DVDs or VCDs

Bought several of them when I noticed that my son are very interested in letters. Bought several volumes of Barney and a few special edition/episodes of The Sesame Street.

• Repetition

Repetition is one of the most basic learning techniques. It may sound boring for us adults but for a baby who is very curious about anything around us, repetitions is a superb way of retaining information.

For example, every morning (after watching the morning news.. that’s for me), we always watch The Sesame Street’s Alphabet Jungle or Big Birds’ The Number game! There are days that we watch Barney or Dora the explorer over and over and over again.

He like those shows.

• Give Rewards and Compliments

A simple smile, a sweet kiss or a “very good son!” said cheerfully will have a tremendous effect on the development of your child in general.

Every time he does good, we always shower him with compliments. We can actually see on his eyes that he is happy that because we are proud of him and what he can do.

These are just few of many ways on how to help your toddlers learn not just the alphabet or numbers but a lot of other things.

There are also other factors that may influence the learning capacity of a child like heredity, living environment, media, learning resources and others. But what is really important is the parents love and support for the child.

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Smitten with jealousy, they sulk, sabotage, scream or solicit more attention by hitting their siblings, breaking toys, throwing tantrums and so on. Justified or not, your child’s jealousy can tear your heart out. Interpret their jealous behaviour as a teachable moment by giving her both attention she needs and the opportunity to be helpful.

How to Prevent the Jealousy?

1. Keep your child INVOLVED her can put the wind back into her sails.
   While you’re changing the baby, for example, enlist your child’s help by asking her to get a new diaper, hold the lotion, or entertain the baby. If your preschooler becomes jealous while you’re hugging your baby, a bigger hug to include her can put the wind back into her sails.
2. PRAISE Sharing
   When your child accepts your attention being directed elsewhere, point out her willingness to share by saying, That was so nice of you to share me with the baby. Thanks for being so generous.”
3. Help your Child feel SPECIAL
   To keep the green-eyed monster at bay, allow an older sibling to help open the baby’s gift and show them to the baby. Encouraging friends and relatives to bring gifts for both children keeps the older child feeling special.

How to Solve Jealousy?

1. Show EMPATHY
   When jealous flares, tell your child you understand how she feels by saying, “ I know you don’t like it when I have to take care of the baby, but I think you can handle it. After you play with your building blocks until I’m through, then I’ll play with you.
2. Provide alternative ACTIVITIES
   Understand that your child gets jealous because she feels left-out when you and your spouse want some time together. Give your child something constructive to do until you’re ready to give her the undivided attention. Say, “Daddy and I want to talk for a while. You can play your toys until the timer rings. Then you can talk to me if you want.”
3. Monitor your TIME
   To a child, love is spelled T-I-M-E. Consider how much time you spend your child reading stories, answering questions, sharing meals, playing games and so on. When your child feels secure in love, her jealousy meter stays low because she knows she’s your number one priority. Tell her “ I love you” many times each day. Strengthen your bond with each of your children by making special play dates for just the two of you so each child feels valued and important.
4. Turn jealousy into HELPFULNESS
   A younger child wants her world to exist for her alone, but she also wants to be independent. She needs to learn that independence comes at a price: She has to give up having her parents’ undivided attention to gain a sense of control and self-determination. By teaching toddlers and preschoolers to be helpful toward siblings and others when feeling left-out and jealous, you’re helping them turn negative behaviour into something positive and praiseworthy. Say, “ I know you want me to play with you now, but first I have to take your brother to basketball practice. Come help me put the oranges in the bag so the boys will have the treat. You can have one, too.”

DONT’s:

1. DON”T COMPARE your child to siblings or others
- Saying, “ I wish you could be as helpful as your little brother,” or, “ Why can’t you be as sweet as your big sister?” only tells your child that she’s not being lovable as other family members, which is a sure-fire way to stir up the green-eyed monster.
2. DON’T PUNISH
- When your child gets out of the sorts because she wants your undivided attention, punishing her for being upset will only increase her sense of alienation. Instead, show her how she can better cope with not getting the attention she wants when she wants it. Say, “ I’m sorry you’re so upset because I can’t play right now. Let’s make a deal. I’ll play with your baby sister for a while, and when the timer rings, I’ll read your book to you. Next time, we’ll switch and you can go first.

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Yet, being a parent is a wonderful experience, from bearing your child from fetus to growing pains in the a$$. You also learn from them and it’s never been an ending experience. Until you’re a grandparent, and that’s a different story.

Here are 3 things to practice from day one of being a parent:

1. Never fail to give praises. Whenever your child does something right, you should praise him or her to let her know you appreciate what he’s or she’s done. In that way, he or she will be fond of doing right things and in the same way making them happy doing those. Surely, they will always wait for your compliments after. And with that also, your child will never want to commit mistakes as much as they could.

2. Know his/her potential. In your everyday interaction of child-parent relationship. You can distinguish what field your child excels. Knowing that, you should enhance whatever it is for them to have mastery of what they love. For example, you can see that he/she loves to sing, find time even every hour a day where you can let him/her hear different kinds of music and sing with it.

3. Let them be. Meaning, let them be what they want to be. As related on the above discussions, do not force your child to do what you want from them but let them do what they really want. Knowing their potentials, you must not hinder them from what they love to do and you must not also give them frustrations as a parent. In fact, you should be the one who’ll encourage them and who’ll let them explore in growing up. Otherwise, who else would? You know what’s best for them and you also don’t want them to get wrong ideas from their peers. Though we really can’t help it but we parent were also there to guide them consistently.

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