Child Development

Introduction

In a world dominated by picture-perfect parenting blogs and Instagram-worthy family moments, the need for a dose of reality is stronger than ever. Enter “Dad and Buried: The Anti-Parent Parenting Blog.” In a realm where parenthood is often portrayed as a perpetual fairy tale, this blog stands as a beacon of honesty, humor, and raw authenticity. Join us as we explore the refreshing world of Dad and Buried, where real parents share the unfiltered truth about the rollercoaster ride of raising kids.

The Genesis of Dad and Buried

Dad and Buried is not your typical parenting blog. It was born out of the frustration of one dad, Mike Julianelle, who was tired of the facade that surrounds modern parenting. In 2010, Mike became a father for the first time, and like many new parents, he was unprepared for the challenges that lay ahead.

Instead of sugarcoating the experience, he decided to embrace the chaos, the mess, and the exhaustion that come with being a parent. With a sharp wit and a keen eye for humor in the everyday chaos, Mike Julianelle created Dad and Buried.

Embracing Imperfection

The heart of Dad and Buried’s content revolves around the acceptance of imperfection in parenting. Mike’s blog strips away the façade of perfect parenthood, allowing readers to see that it’s okay to have bad days and imperfect moments. It’s a place where parents can share their struggles without judgment, and it’s a stark reminder that nobody has it all figured out.

In a world where social media often portrays parents as always smiling, having endless energy, and never making a mistake, Dad and Buried challenges this narrative head-on. It’s a place where parents can come together, commiserate, and laugh at the messiness of life with children.

The Humor Factor

One of the standout features of Dad and Buried is its humor. Mike Julianelle is a master at finding the comedy in everyday parenting situations. He tackles subjects like sleep deprivation, toddler tantrums, and the constant demands of children with a self-deprecating wit that resonates with parents everywhere.

Through hilarious memes, clever one-liners, and relatable anecdotes, Dad and Buried creates a safe space where parents can laugh at the absurdity of parenting while acknowledging that it’s entirely normal to feel overwhelmed and exhausted. Mike’s humor is the perfect antidote to the pressures of perfect parenting.

Real-Life Stories

What sets Dad and Buried apart is its commitment to sharing real-life stories from parents around the world. It’s a platform where moms and dads from all walks of life can come together and candidly discuss their parenting experiences. These stories range from heartwarming tales of love and connection to gut-busting narratives of parenting mishaps.

The authenticity of these stories is what makes Dad and Buried a must-visit blog for parents. It’s a place where you can find comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in your struggles and triumphs as a parent.

Challenging Stereotypes

“Dad and Buried” is also a powerful advocate for breaking down stereotypes associated with fatherhood. In a society where mothers often bear the brunt of parenting expectations, Mike Julianelle challenges these stereotypes by showing that dads can be hands-on, emotional, and hilarious parents.

Through his own experiences and those of other fathers featured on the blog, Mike encourages dads to be active participants in their children’s lives and to embrace the joys and challenges of parenting with open arms.

The Community

The Dad and Buried community is a supportive and welcoming space where parents can connect and share their stories, frustrations, and laughter. It’s not just a blog; it’s a thriving community of like-minded individuals who understand that parenting is a wild ride filled with ups and downs.

From Facebook groups to Instagram followers, the Dad and Buried community is growing rapidly, providing parents with a place to seek advice, find solidarity, and discover a treasure trove of parenting humor.

The Anti-Parenting Blog Movement

Dad and Buried is part of a broader movement of anti-parenting blogs that challenge the conventional norms of parenting and embrace the messiness of real life. This movement has gained momentum as more and more parents reject the idea of perfection and choose authenticity instead.

These blogs highlight the importance of self-care, the beauty of imperfection, and the joy of laughing at life’s absurdities. They remind us that being a parent is a journey filled with unexpected twists and turns, and that’s what makes it beautiful.

A Source of Comfort and Validation

For many parents, Dad and Buried is more than just a blog; it’s a source of comfort and validation. It reminds us that it’s okay to have moments of frustration, exhaustion, and doubt. It reassures us that we’re not alone in our parenting struggles and that there’s humor to be found even in the most challenging situations.

The blog’s relatable content serves as a reminder that being a parent is messy, chaotic, and imperfect – and that’s perfectly okay. Through the lens of Dad and Buried, parenthood becomes a journey of self-discovery and growth, filled with both tears and laughter.

Conclusion

“Dad and Buried: The Anti-Parent Parenting Blog” is a refreshing and much-needed voice in the world of parenting blogs. It’s a space where honesty, humor, and authenticity reign supreme, challenging the conventional notions of perfect parenting. In a society that often puts unrealistic expectations on parents, Dad and Buried reminds us that it’s okay to be imperfect, to have bad days, and to find humor in the chaos of raising kids.

Mike Julianelle’s creation has become more than just a blog; it’s a movement that encourages parents to embrace the messiness of life and find joy in the most unexpected places. So, if you’re a parent looking for a community that understands the ups and downs of parenthood, head over to Dad and Buried, where you’ll find laughter, support, and a whole lot of reality. Embrace the imperfection, and remember, you’re not alone on this parenting journey.

The field of psychology for children is just one of the tenets of psychology and one of the more popular areas of study. It is frequently referred to as developmental psychology as it caters to children throughout their advancement years from the prenatal phase to their teenage years.

Child psychology not just focuses on how the kid grows physically but also mentally, psychologically, and socially. However, what do you do if you feel that your kid is having difficulties and problems in any of these areas? What do you do?

Mental resources and services are readily available however depending upon the seriousness of their problems, discovering a kid psychologist might be your only alternative. These experts are well-read and knowledgeable in the field of child psychology to handle precisely what your issues are with your son or daughter.

How to choose the right psychologist for your child?

There are some factors that one needs to consider to find a child psychologist in Sydney that is most suitable for your case. The latter must not only be knowledgeable in the field of child psychology while successfully dealing with and treating the concerns the kid is having.

Consider the following:

The reasons for getting your kid into treatment

Was it a school-related issue or has the child experience some injury? You will also wish to determine which parenting strategy is going to be best based on the situation

Having the financial means to manage your child’s treatment

Occupational therapy for children can be exceptionally expensive ranging between $150 and $200 per treatment session.

Some alternative sources for more affordable treatment include utilising community healthcare that is free, low cost, or no charge to you in addition to healthcare insurance benefits and school district counselling resources.

Study the various kinds of therapy alternatives

Think about discussing your child’s problems with family, friends, the child’s pediatrician, and their school to see if they can suggest a great child psychologist. Make a list of these experts and after that call them to get a concept of their schedule along with what they charge.

Contact your healthcare insurance

If you can utilise the medical advantages offered by your insurance coverage provider, you might be able to save much money in the process.

Remember that most of the times, they will only cover these expenses once a condition has been diagnosed. If your child’s health is not psychological or medical, healthcare insurance will not cover the cost of appointments and medications.

Finally, when you are speaking with different therapists make it a point to raise the following questions:

• Do they use play treatments?
• Do they work with parents as well?
• How does the psychologist handle client confidentiality?
• What can they teach you about managing the situation at home?

Parents have the right to make sure that their child gets all the help that he or she needs. Occupational therapy is no exception, and you are bound to find the right one if you keep the factors mentioned above on top of mind.

We all want the best for our children, and that includes securing the best possible financial future for them. Many young people in Australia today grow up without a grounding in financial knowledge or awareness, and without any money behind them to see them through their early years of independence. A lack of financial literacy is a major problem among young Australians

In fact, back in 2015, the University of Sydney Business School (USBS) reported that poor financial literacy leads to an increased risk ofpeople making poor decisions on important financial issues such as making the right investments and managing their personal finances.

With the cost of property rising all the time, it is also increasingly difficult for young people to get a footing on the property ladder, and many young Australians are having to stay at home well into their 20s before they are able to strike out on their own and get a house.

Many parents make regular payments into a savings account, but unless you have substantial funds to begin with, low interest rates mean that the amount of money you invest is unlikely to grow significantly to give your children a meaningful lump sum to help them start out on their adult life.

So, as well as teaching your children about the importance of investment and how to properly manage their finances, what is the best way to provide for their financial future through investing?

The first step is to set up a long-term savings plan. Many parents choose to do this through an equities-focused fund, run by a management team with a good record. Alternatively, you can set aside money in a separate cash account and use this to buy shares on a regular basis.

Investing in shares and other financial vehicles through stock brokers or CFD Brokers is not a risk-free activity, but you can minimise the risk by diversifying the type of investment you make and the types of stock that you buy. You will also have to account for brokerage fees along the way, but if you buy shares with the aim of holding them for a period of time, rather than attempting to trade on a daily basis, you can minimise the amount of money you end up paying in fees.

Investing in the stock market on a regular basis for an extended period of time, re-investing profits as they accrue, could enable you to build up a substantial fund to support your children through their early years of independence, even help them make a deposit on a new home.

And as your children grow older, you can involve them more in the investment process, showing them how you choose shares, and teaching the value of long-term saving and investing, which will enable them to become investors themselves, as well as instilling in them the importance of proper money management, lessons that will hopefully serve them well throughout their lives.

Finance is a popular degree choice for many Australians, and it’s believed that certain finance courses can even add 20% onto a graduate’s average earnings! If your child has come home and announced that this is their chosen degree, then there is plenty to celebrate: not only is finance a rigorous degree with transferable skills, but it also has great career potential. There’s a lot that you can do to help them along their way. Here are a handful of top tips that you can use to enhance your child’s financial education.

Subscriptions to resources

The first thing that anyone who is interested in pursuing a finance degree should do is make sure that they have got a good supply of reading material to make themselves as well-informed as possible. If your child hasn’t studied economics or a similar subject at high school, then it may be worth investing in a corporate finance primer. Those who have a child at a more advanced stage in their financial education journey could give them a subscription to the Australian Financial Review instead, as this covers everything from stock exchange listings to the equities markets. A stocks and shares calendar is also a good idea: that way, your child will get used to the idea of monitoring for company events such as annual accounts releases, which is a useful financial skill.

Equipment and tools 

A good-quality laptop computer is pretty much essential for any degree, and finance is no exception. Finance may not be the most essay-heavy subject, but there will certainly be a need to read and write a lot while your child is on their course. In addition to a laptop, it’s worth ensuring that your child has a scientific calculator before they head off: while they may not have to press every button every day, learning how to use each function will give your child a good mathematical grounding.

Career assistance

Ultimately, the aim of a finance degree is to secure a job – either in a financial company or in an organisation that requires financial skills. If you are able to, try to help your child in a long-term way rather than simply during their degree. Do you have a friend who hires in the finance industry and could secure an internship for your child for the university holidays? Is there a CV expert in your circle who could help your child polish their documents while they are still a student? If so, making the most of your network is key.

With finance becoming a popular degree for many reasons, it’s clear to see why so many students are taking it as an educational route. As a parent, you will be able to help them achieve their financial education goals in many different ways. From providing them with the resources that they need to helping them get onto the career ladder, there is a lot you can do.

Parenting stress can very easily cause a strain in relationships and studies have shown that parents who are stressed out are more likely to be harsh to their children. The best way to manage parental stress is social support. Spending time with other parents and sharing your experiences can often help. Knowing that you are not alone in your daily struggles to keep up can eliminate some of the toxic feelings that can cause parental stress.

But connecting with your fellow parents can only do so much. The following are some of the other ways you can manage parental stress;

1. Reduce Negative Influences

When you are upset, angry or stressed out, you tend to focus more on negative stuff. Pay attention to you tendency to expect the worst in every situation. Just because your child is defiant today doesn’t mean that their next move will be a negative one. Your stress conditions you to expect the worst and when it happens, you get even more stressed. Instead, choose to focus on what your child is doing right and see it that helps.

2. Think Positively

Even when bad things happen and they will a lot, always endeavor to see the best in your children, your partner and your home. In certain situations this can be very difficult to do especially when your children are being particularly fussy or when a child is sick. The easiest way around this is to try and see it from a different angle.

3. Increase Quality Time with Family

Find time to spend quality time with your children. Having child-parent time can greatly improve your relationship and can also provide you with the invaluable opportunity to find out what is going on in our child’s life. During this free time, incorporate certain creative activities that your children love. Spending time having fun with your children will do wonders to help you reconnect with why you are a parent in the first place.

4. Make Time for Yourself

Sometimes the hardest thing for a parent especially one with very young children or children with special needs is taking a break. You feel guilty spending quality time with yourself because you worry that your children will not have their needs met. Understand that you cannot give your children the best if you are not at your best. So, once in a while plan to take some time off from the daily tasks of being a parent and focus on what you need instead.

5. Get Professional help

If it all feels overwhelming, it may be time for you to get professional help. There are websites that can provide some advice for parents who are freaking out on the way forward. Psychologists can also be very in providing additional strategies that can help you overcome some of the anxiety surrounding parenting and help you easily cope with the stress of parenting. A professional will also provide you with the necessary resources to help you move forward.

Guide created by Scottsdale Mental Health & Wellness, fill out this mental health assessment online for more information.

For those out there who are lucky enough to be blessed with a child or children, it may be soon time for you to prepare for them to enter a good nursery. This certainly applies to any Mums out there who wish to re-enter the workforce, or stay at home Mums who will benefit from the advantages of seeing their child opening up a new dimension in their youngster’s lives.

This will also give them the greatest benefit of having a command of social skills, which will certainly assist them for later on in their lives.

Yes, Time Does Certainly Move!

• It might still feel like last year when you gave birth to your lovely child, and yet here you are a couple of more years later and time to start learning!

If your child is four years or older, (and younger in certain cases) you will soon have to be thinking of making the choice of whether or not to send him or her to a local nursery in Nottingham. And yes, if you don’t feel ready to let go of your baby, the truth of the matter is that the most crucial question you should ask yourself is if or not your darling child is ready for nursery.

Development Matters

As you may have noticed, not every child develops at the same rate, and not all of them are yet ready to face long periods of their time in different surroundings. So you should consider your child’s maturity level, and other things like his or her capability to concentrate and feel at ease with others.

Inclinations

Nurseries have changed since the end of the 20^th century and nowadays many children who are around the age of four years old are ready for nursery and any changes that come with it. And then there are some children who are not really developed enough at that age to deal with some of complex subjects which the nursery teaches.

• If your child is ready or not, usually it has little to do with chronological age.

So, think over your child’s inclinations, which includes sufficient motor skills, the capacity for concentration, curiosity, and as mentioned above, social skills.

• They will also have to be able to share and get used to a routine.

Making it Easier

Should you believe your child is indeed ready for going to a nursery, you can yourself make the process even easier by assisting him or her to build social skills from earlier on. You should make reading a priority at home and make games to teach them the alphabet and other academic skills.

Even simple placing all kinds of puzzles together and playing with things like building blocks will help to stimulate and prepare your child for nursery.

Make sure to do some research on any nursery you are thinking of sending your child and before you know it, they will be making new friends and having fun learning!

Early Child Development (ECD) is known to be the period when an individual shows a rapid growth. Generally, children develop at their own pace. However, all children progress or grow through a common series of physical, cognitive and emotional patterns. Most ECD approaches are designed to stimulate and encourage advancement to the succeeding developmental stage. In most cases, children respond best when they are given care according to their individual needs. In fact, early child development is the start toward the accomplishment of primary school.

The main goal of ECD programs is to enhance children’s abilities in individual growth and learning. Such approaches assist and guide children for school. In this case, children are expected to display positive characteristics to get them ready for their formal learning. They should be emotionally and socially healthy, friendly and confident. They should already have the capacity to have good peer relationships. Such situations require them to have good skills on language and communication. Also, their listening skills should meet the demands of the teacher’s instructions.

One benefit of ECD is it help the children learn according to their education level. Meaning, children will have less chances of repeating a grade, being a school drop-out, or being placed in a special education. Take note that ECD programs also require the involvement of the parents, which is really essential for holistic learning growth.

Most early child development approaches consist of delivering services to children, developing capacities of teachers and caregivers, using mass communications for its knowledge and information, and the education and support of parents. Remember that such ECD services can be provided as center or home-based, or formal or non-formal. Also, such programs often include ECD education for parents. This will help parents to understand the process and the results of the each program.

Generally, younger children have different educational needs from those older children. Kids from birth to eight years old are said to be fast learners. They usually maximize the functions of their bodies and senses. This is because they are very curious about the world around them. They are mostly enthusiastic about the sensations and possible experiences with their physical environment. In fact, they explore the world within the so-called developmental dimensions: social and emotional development, language development, physical well-being and motor development, cognition and general knowledge and approaches toward learning.

Good and proper education is very important to foster and develop the skills appropriate to the age of young children. Most curricula are designed to promote progress in the five aspects of child development. Thus, there are certain standards, which are established to achieve such purpose. In social and emotional development, children should be able to build and maintain meaningful relationships with others. This will result to a more collective and positive learning experience, especially in a classroom situation.

Language development endows children to take part in cognitive and affective areas of the educational program. Activities and experiences with oral and written language offer them tools to clearly interact with other people, which include a certain representation of their feelings, thoughts as well as relevant experiences. Physical well-being and motor development is a way to enhance children’s physical health. If children are healthy, they will become more focus on the learning process.

Cognition and general knowledge pertains to the opportunities of children to interact with both people and objects in their environment. Interactions and experiences with both adult and peers enable the children to build or create knowledge of patterns, while understanding relationships between events and objects. This is also a way to improve their problem solving skills.

Take note that children develop or grow at different paces. Approaches toward learning should be designed according to their individual needs and abilities.

The physical development of a child is a continuous process. Generally, parents have a crucial role in the progress. Every parent is very eager for the first roll over, crawl or walk. However, not all parents know that there are specific areas in physical development. In such cases, it is very important that the parents should provide and foster for the child’s need in each aspect of the developmental process. For instance, the child has already learned to walk. It is essential to observe how the child walks. Is his pace steady? Or, how does he make a step?

There are two primary areas in child physical development – gross motor development and fine motor development. Gross motor development is the general motional ability of the child. It involves how the child move around and move the different parts of the body. Gross motor skills are often shown in activities like walking, running and jumping. Such skills generally make use of the entire body. There are factors that measures the extent of gross motor skills. These are muscle tone, muscle strength, quality of movement and range of movement.

Fine motor development require skills for smaller and lesser movements like in intricate situations. Generally, these skills are focus on the child’s capacity to use the hands properly, which should be according to age. However, there are specific fine motor skills. These are visual motor skills, grapho-motor skills and motor planning skills.

Visual motor skills are needed in the coordination of the hands and the eyes. Activities like puzzles can help in the progress of such skills. Grapho-motor skills includes writing tools. This represents the child’s skills with pencils and pens. Activities like coloring and drawing can show the said skills.

Motor planning defines the child’s capacity to interact with the physical environment. This would mean planning, organizing and carrying out unknown motor actions. For example, a child sees a puzzle for the first time. It is expected that the child will perform beyond fitting the pieces together. The child has to display an organized way of constructing the puzzle.

If your child has not yet properly perform the mentioned skills, you need not worry. Remember that children develop and progress at different paces.

Child development has been one of the priorities of the collective society recently. Most governments around the world have put emphasis on the subject. After all, children are the future of the nation as well as the world. As more psychologists encourage its importance, more people become curious and driven to pursue or redirect their careers in child development. Not to mention, child development careers are personally and financially fulfilling. Those who are already in the system believe that, they become desirable parents to their children.

Generally, such career offers an attractive and lucrative salary. In the United States, the running median salary is around $35,000. It even exceeds the salary of a public school teacher. Of course, the more motivating part is the opportunity to make a difference by influencing and directing children to their bright future. In turn, they will have greater success and happiness as adults.

As a child development specialist, you will get to evaluate the individual educational and personal needs of every child. You will be using different approaches that generally foster the children’s learning experience. As a result, you are making them grow into better persons. You will also help them improve their social skills, which are very essential for sound and healthy adult interaction. In short, you will facilitate the children to grow physically, intellectually, emotionally and artistically.

There are basic skill requirements to be successful in the field of child development. You have to possess a strong communication and interpersonal skills. Typically, the task involves directly working and collaborating with the children.

Examples of child development positions include day care center teacher, preschool administrator, education manager, child care director and other trained professionals who are task to deliver better child development programs. They can be needed in government agencies, day care centers, churches, private schools, hospitals and other programs sponsored by an industry, organization or a business.

The emergence of speech has begun. Important words are clearly intelligible now for our almost seventeen month old child. Words like: cheese, steak, pasta, pizza and (the first truly effective combination of two words together) “Up please!” We taught this to him patiently as he asks so frequently to be picked up while we are in the kitchen cooking. He wants to see what’s on the stove, watch the hot coffee being made, the dishes being done. The intense “ahh ahh ahh” and pulling on the leg has been effectively replaced with “Up Please,” and then a gesture towards the cabinet with a very clearly stated “cracker!”

It’s truly satisfying to observe my son feeling effective and understood in so many small moments in his life. The special education teacher and developmental specialist within never strays far from my mind making most of my observations of my own child curious ones… and then relieved ones. I know that language is often slower to develop in boys. I know that speech and language delays have been common in my both my family and in my husbands… watching, waiting, listening. “Up please,” B says now when he wants to read a book, go outside, have more snack. He has begun to generalize this phrase that gets him picked up when he wants it to other situations and meanings. It must work for everything right?

In conjunction with “up please” the persistent whine has increased, tripled, expanded so quickly and to so many situations that I found myself yesterday responding with “No, stop, say this instead” every few seconds. Perplexing isn’t it that with the rapid increase in vocabulary comes a rapid increase in whining for things desired. I found myself feeling like the worn out, tired parent I so often used to console in my classroom, my sons voice like the sound of a mosquito I can’t find buzzing in my ear. These interactions reminded me to think about communication, whole communication.

Beginning in infancy the job of the parent is to discern the meaning of a baby’s cry, to be consistent and responsive to the infant’s cues and rudimentary signals for closeness, food, a new diaper. These actions are basic functions of parenting that we end up doing in our sleep and yet these caregiving exchanges become the childs first experience of language, shared meaning, of reciprocity. And that’s what communication is isn’t it? A reciprocal exchange of thoughts, ideas, needs. Telling my son “No, stop, and say this instead” in response to his whines limits the interaction, misses the point, I am not reading his cues and helping him to find the words he is so desperately searching for. That’s what he wants, more words and not knowing the precise word or combination of words needed in a given moment causes him to feel urgent, frustrated and he resorts to the dreaded “whine” to get his point across.

Today however, is a new day, a new opportunity to change the course of the dialog, another moment to return to the beginning as when he was an infant. If there’s anything I am good at after years and years of working with infants and toddlers, it’s reading cues, figuring out what the tiny person in front me is attempting to express. Today thus far I have heard just as many demanding, urgent and frustrated whines as yesterday, the difference is that instead of responding in kind with frustration and impatience I am stopping, observing and listening to what my tiny human is trying to say to me. “Is there something you want to tell me?” “YEAH!” “Would you like me to get you more yoghurt?” “YEAH!” His enthusiasm at being understand is both affirming to him, and to me when I get it right. Onward, we go, in this ever changing, engaging, and ultimately self regulating (but that’s a topic for another post) dialogue between mother and quickly growing toddler. More coffee anyone?