Blog - A Fine Parent

How to Transform Terrible Preschool Behavior with Positive Guidance

by Ariadne Brill.
(This article is part of the Positive Parenting FAQ series. Get free article updates here.)

When my son was just four years old, he loved to investigate things around the house. He spent hours each day opening, spilling, touching, shuffling, dumping and tinkering. There was a lot he wanted to learn about and play with.

Sometimes he made choices which were not necessarily in line with my expectations. One time, while coloring, he broke a few magic markers open. He wanted to “catch the colors” hiding inside, he explained.

Children need time to play, tinker and discover. This is vital to growing and developing well. Very often in this playful process young children create messes and make mistakes. Having a safe home in which to make mistakes is vital to growing well. It is also important to the child that as parents we offer them guidance, limits and clear boundaries.

Children don’t really need to be told how to play or supervision that mimics a hovering helicopter. Children do however need to know that they can count on us, without a doubt, to provide them guidance and safety.

Gentle guidance or positive discipline is about honoring the needs of the child while providing safety, connection and confident leadership.

[Read more…]

How To Baby Proof Your Bedroom

by guest_author.
(This article is part of the Mindful Parenting series. Get free article updates here.)

One of the most important duties of a parent is to ensure the safety of your kids. This includes everything from taking appropriate fire safety measures to babyproofing your home. To help you better understand how to babyproof your home, Contractor Quotes has created the following infographic and article on the topic.

[Read more…]

101 Easy Ways to Show Your Kids Just How Absolutely Loved They Are

by Sumitha Bhandarkar.
(This article is part of the Positive Parenting FAQ series. Get free article updates here.)

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon.

My daughter was reading a book, I was folding laundry and there was music playing in the background.

I was humming to myself along with the music, when she looked up from her book and smiled at me. I smiled back and playfully replaced the words in the song I was humming with “I love you. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

It was one of those silly, goofy, whim-of-the-moment things. But she beamed. Her smile could have lit up a city block. For a long while after she returned to her book, she still had the smile plastered on her face.

And I couldn’t help but think — we have literally hundreds of simple ways to show our kids how much we love them! During simple watercolor moments like these. And during the not-so-simple, definitely-not-watercolor moments as well.

So, I decided to make a list of all the different ways we can show our kids our unconditional love for them… during the times everything is nice and beautiful. And during those other times when things aren’t going quite as well.

Check it out –

[Read more…]

Positive Parenting in a Box:
Connected Hearts Journal

by Sumitha Bhandarkar.
(This article is part of the Positive Parenting FAQ series. Get free article updates here.)

For about a year now, I’ve worked with many of you to put together a beautiful, custom-designed, parent-child journal. It is time now for the big unveiling…

Note: The print versions of the journal are SOLD OUT! I don’t have plans to reprint them at the moment. You can however get the downloadable PDF version of the Connected Hearts Journal HERE.

The “Executive Summary” Version

And all this while requiring just a few minutes of your time, and done at whatever pace that works for your family’s schedule.

Got elementary school-aged kids? Then you don’t want to miss this!

What Makes the Connected Hearts Journal So Special?

You can walk into any bookstore and pick up a journal. So what makes this journal special? (And why should you absolutely get one for your kids? 🙂 )

The devil is in the details. And we have spared no effort. [Read more…]

A Personal Story:
Life, Goals and Gobi Manchurian

by Sumitha Bhandarkar.
(This article is part of the Wisdom From the Trenches series. Get free article updates here.)

Do you believe in the power of stories?

I do.

And today, on the almost-3rd anniversary of this blog (it’s on Oct 7th, woot!), I want to share with you a story that has driven some of the biggest decisions of my life in the recent years and helped me turn my life around.

This is a story from my college days.

As many of you know, I was born and raised in India. The culture and lifestyle there, particularly 20+ years back was very different than it is here now.

Back in India, parents fund children’s college years. There are no jobs for students to do to earn an income. You learn to make do with whatever allowance your parents give you.

I am a middle child from a middle-class family. My years in college overlapped those of my sisters… first my older sister and then my younger sister. Consequently, the allowances we received were pretty meager.

I didn’t think too much about it at the time though. It was the norm. Most students fell into one of two distinct classes — the “rich” or the “others”.

I firmly belonged among the “others” and for the most part, I was perfectly fine with it.

During the first years of my college, I received an allowance of Rs. 800 (USD 12) per month, and a little more in the later years. Out of this Rs. 600 – Rs. 650 would go towards my board (a small room shared with two others), food and electric bills. That left me with roughly Rs. 150 – Rs. 200 (about USD 2.25 – USD 3) to for all other expenses — from books to tampons.

The cost of living in India 20 years back was quite low. But still, Rs. 200 didn’t go very far. Ever the resourceful, we — the “others” — made up with creativity what we lacked in the financial department. [Read more…]