Giving birth to a child may easily be one of the most wonderful things for parents. You cannot entirely measure the joy that children can give to a family. As parents, you would naturally want the best for your kids. You would want to raise and guide them to ensure that they enjoy their life.
However, along the way, you soon realize how raising a bunch of mini-mes is not the easiest thing you can do. It is the total opposite! You might feel clueless and frustrated when unable to handle your children. You are likely to want to quit most of the time.
But quitting being a parent and raising a kid certainly is not the answer. Much like any other skill, you can improve on your parenting skills through study and practice. You just need to use the appropriate resources to develop positive parenting skills.
If this is your first time being a parent, the amount of information that you can find online about family life and child development might overwhelm you. We at Preggy to Mommy know just how much stress you might be under. That’s why we’ve chosen our top parenting resources just for you! Here are some of them, in no particular order:
Circle of Parents
The Circle of Parents includes all types of caregivers who share their knowledge and skills to help parents raise strong, happy, and resilient kids. It is a collaborative project of Prevent Child Abuse America and the National Family Support Roundtable. This site is perfect for you if you’re looking to learn by talking with other parents and families on top of reading articles.
Circle of Parents conducts a weekly group meeting — and don’t worry, it’s free of charge! They are open to exchanging ideas in providing support, information, and resources to other parents. Circle of Parents also coordinates with other organizations to ensure that the parenting resources they provide are study-based.
Their articles offer advice for parents on topics like:
- Tantrums
- Hugging
- Schoolwork
- Lying
- Swearing
- Handling Resistance
- Sibling Rivalry
- Setting Rules and Consequences with Teens
If you want a space where you can openly discuss your challenges and successes as a parent, Circle of Parents may be for you.
ACT Raising Safe Kids Program
Exposure to any form of abuse may significantly impact your child’s upbringing. That’s why it’s critical for families to start talking about it before it happens. As parents, you are responsible to foster a safe and nurturing environment for your child’s physical and mental health. Sometimes it can be really hard to maintain your relationship with them. This is even more difficult if you also have a history of abuse.
ACT Raising Safe Kids Program is a site that gives you healthy ways to support children exposed to violence. If you go to their website, you can find child development worksheets. These sheets help with cognitive and emotional skills appropriate for your children’s age.
Child Care Aware
The Child Care Aware of America ensures the accessibility of affordable care. Their primary focus is conducting research and advocating for child care policies. They provide a variety of parenting resources that are up-to-date in the current system.
Want to find tips in line with some national issues on the news? Visit Child Care Aware. They tackle things affecting your kid’s health and welfare. Their site also addresses concerns like child care regulations and programs, as well as the current global pandemic.
Aside from this, their site offers information for families teaching their young. Here they provide tools to:
- Stimulate your child’s brain development
- Encourage strong relationships between you and your kid
- Offer opportunities to get you involved with child care policies and programs
Infoaboutkids.org
Looking for info geared towards behavioral science on children and adolescents? The Consortium for Science-based Information on Children, Youth, and Families developed a website for this. It aims to provide quality information for parents about common concerns, including their health. Some issues they cover involves kids’ behaviors such as:
- Difficulty in sleeping
- Stages of puberty
- Use of alcohol and other substances
- Changes in mood
- Best coping mechanisms for children
- Separation anxiety
Infoaboutkids.org offers a wide variety of public knowledge and advice from psychologists. . The contents of this website are research-based and use up-to-date clinical psychology. It also features monthly concerns of parents about their children.
Most importantly, infoaboutkids.org provides information about the normal development of children. Websites like this are helpful for determining whether your child’s behaviors are in the appropriate stage for their age.
Center For Effective Parenting (CEP)
You can also take the pediatric approach for guiding and raising your kids. The Center for Effective Parenting aims to teach strategic parenting skills for positive impacts on children. They focus on training, service, and research about healthy parenting skills.
They offer three major sources of information for families. The first one is parenting handouts. These handouts tackle parenting issues from early childhood to early adolescent stage. It also contains wisdom for maximizing parent involvement in your children’s lives to ensure their healthy growth and education.
Aside from handouts, they also provide classes that address parenting-related issues. CEP classes are free of charge. You just need to register and visit their website to check available schedules. CEP also shares other links that give information about other concerns.
Everyday Parenting: The ABCs of Child Rearing
If you are looking for a free online course, this could be the best material for you. This online parenting course provides 20 videos explaining various parenting techniques. You can learn how to address your child’s problematic behaviors at home or in school.
Dr. Alan E. Kazdin, former director of Yale Parenting Center, explains the importance of communicating with your kids. Spend time with them, and speak with your kid calmly or playfully. You might be adults, but it’s also good to play games with your kids. This way, it can be easier for you, as parents, to get their attention. As much as possible, allow them to make their own choices and praise them when they made the right ones.
The good news is, this course also includes other parenting programs as well. You may find information about parent-child interaction therapy as well as the Positive Parenting Program.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
The CDC not only provides you with up-to-date statistics and information on diseases. They also give you positive research-based tips for parents. The page provides explanations of the different childhood development stages. You can also find information on developmental screenings.
Developmental monitoring is essential in observing how your kids grow and change over time. CDC provides free materials on how you can apply parenting tips to each development stage. This plan covers the infancy stage to the teenage period.
What more, they also have multiple articles about the common diseases your kids may acquire. Some of these include:
- Tourette Syndrome
- Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)
- Spina Bifida
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs)
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Sickle Cell Disease
- Jaundice
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- “Learn the Signs. Act Early” Program for Children with Disabilities
- Hemophilia
- Hearing Loss in Children
- Fragile X Syndrome (FXS)
It is extremely important to be aware of the early onset of particular diseases. CDC provides you comprehensive parenting resources so you can learn a lot more about your child’s present condition.
Bonus Parenting Resources Worthy Of Mentioning
The mission of the Preggy to Mommy family is to help you become informed parents. You’ve finished reading about our top resources, but we’ve got a few more for you just in case. Let’s review some websites we’d consider honorable mentions. Here are also some practical productive activities for kids worth checking.
Healthy Children
Healthy Children is a website sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It gives parents information on children’s development. They offers tools to help you with child health, safety, and family issues.
Family Education
Family Education contains general information for parents and families. It also provides educational activities and topics for parents. When you visit their site, you will find sections about the different age groups.
Don’t forget that kids learn differently from adults! it can help for them to play games, so Family Education also features free family entertainment through kid-friendly games and activities.
Family Education is a website containing general information on parenting. It also recommends educational activities for children. Upon visiting the site, you will find sections on different age groups.
Resilience Booster: Parent Tip Tool
This website provides parents tips on how to boost resilience in children. You will find this helpful in teaching your kid how to face adversities in their life. This site also features discussions on how to establish routines, self-control, and solve problems in homes.
Kid Source
Kid Source has several categories, similar to other parenting resources. It offers a variety of kid-centered materials related to each specific age. If you want articles on health and educational issues, this site is for you.
The National Parenting Center
The National Parenting Center produces articles supporting children in all stages of development. If you want to talk to experts and authorities in parenting, then this site is for you. You can learn excellent parenting strategies from psychologists, doctors, and other parenting experts through NPC.
Final Word
As parents, we always want the best advice, strategies, and tips on how to raise our children. While seeking guidance on raising our kids from toddlers to teens can be exhausting and an emotional draining, we don’t give up. Every parent wants only the best for their kids. We strive to find the best ways to create environments that promote healthy growth. We also teach them to stay away from unhealthy behaviors. The stress might seem like a lot, but you are not alone in this.
With the help of these parenting resources, our Preggy to Mommy family hopes that you can learn more parenting techniques. Spend time around other families — you can both give and receive support. We also have articles that will make parenting your teen so much easier!
Just remember that in every stage, being present for your children already makes you a good parent.
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