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Parenting - The 10 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make
1. Not Enough Time and Attention
How many hours each day do you spend in direct communication or activity withyour children? How many hours each day do your children spend with acaregiver other than their mother or father? The problem with mothers andfathers in high-dollar careers is that those careers demand 40 to 80 hours a weekof the parents’ time—which is 40 to 80 hours a week their children don’t receivetime and attention from Mom and Dad.When Nadya Suleman, a.k.a. The Octomom, gave birth to octuplets, the mediathrew her under the bus after finding out that she was a single mother alreadyraising six other children. Society screamed, “How will this woman give proper attention to 14 children all by herself?” The answer is: She can’t. And neither cana day care center. The average day care center ratio is one adult to 12 children.The Octomom’s ratio is one to 14. Not much of a difference. If your child spendsmore than six hours a day, five days a week in a day care center, then she is notreceiving the essential direct communication from an adult that’s needed for her to develop into a confident, well-adjusted adult.After you’ve spent eight to twelve hours at work, how much energy and patiencedo you have left for your kids? Not much, right? By working fewer hours, you’llnot only provide your children with more one-on-one time, you’ll also have more
energy 
to invest in them when you spend time with them. It’s a lose-lose situationwhen you work all day and your children are with a caregiver all day. But it’s awin-win situation when you can spend more quality time with your family.
2. Not Enough Sleep
According to The National Sleep Foundation (SleepFoundation.org), researchsuggests that most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night.Children and adolescents need even more. The following is a breakdown of the
 
recommended number of hours of sleep people need by age (* including naps):INFANTS(0 to 2 months): ................10.5 to 18 hours*(2-12 months): ...........................14 to 15 hours*TODDLERS/CHILDREN(12-18 months): ........................13 to 15 hours*(18 months-3 years): ...............12 to 14 hours*(3-5 years): ..................................11 to 13 hours*(5-12 years): ....................................9 to 11 hoursADOLESCENTS 8.5 to 9.5 hoursADULTS 7 to 9 hours
Exercise:
What time do your children go to sleep?What time do they wake up?How many hours of sleep do they receive each day? ______________ According to the chart above, do your children get an adequate amount of sleep? ______________ 
3. Poor Nutrition
According to The American Obesity Association, 127 million adults in the U.S. areoverweight; 60 million are obese and nine million are severely obese. So
 
basically 200 million of the 300 million people in America are overweight! Well,that’s no surprise, considering what we eat and feed our kids.Not long ago, a mother told me, “I never give my kids sodas. I give them Sprite.”Since when was Sprite not a soda? Just because it’s clear and “caffeine free,” it’sstill a soda and it’s not healthy. It’s not the caffeine in drinks that make them soterrible for children—it’s the chemicals and sugar. Same goes for fruit juice andsports drinks. Read the labels. You’ll be astounded by the amount of sugar inthese drinks. If you see a child who’s unruly, emotional or disrespectful, look atwhat the child had to eat or drink that day. I can guarantee he or she consumedsomething with sugar.A few years ago, my daughter attended a school that boasted a National EarlyChildhood Accreditation. We paid $1,000 a month for her to attend—part time!Yes, the education was excellent, but the food they served the children wasatrocious. They served sugar-coated cereal or pancakes with syrup for breakfast,applesauce with added sugar for a snack, fried steak fingers for lunch andcookies or crackers for the afternoon snack. First, can you imagine trying tomaintain order with 12 toddlers who had just passed a bowl of sugar throughtheir little bodies at eight o’clock in the morning? No wonder there is such highteacher turnover at pre-schools! I sat down with the school director and said, “Itwouldn’t cost the school a penny to make healthier choices in your food program.Why not serve bran cereal instead of Frosted Flakes? Why not serve naturalapplesauce instead of sugar-added applesauce? What about serving carrots for snacks instead of cookies and crackers?”Do you want to take a guess at the answer I received from the school director?The director said, “The problem is that the kids won’t eat the healthier food.They’re so used to eating sugar-laden food at home, that they won’t eat healthyfood if we serve it—and then we have hungry children on our hands.” See, thishealth epidemic we face is a revolving door. Parents feed their kids terrible food.
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