Monday 17 November 2008

Time Management and Children

Parents face their own challenges in regards to time. Some guidelines may be offered to parents in relation to time management:



A key approach with children is behavioural management. Children are not always inclined to reason and trying to negotiate with reactivity and irrationality can be one of the most time consuming activities of all. It is best to listen, acknowledge what has been said, then to gently insist on and enforce what is needed.

A 'rewards and penalties' system can work wonders. Some parents keep a board on the fridge and on a weekly basis tally up points for good and bad actions. The end score is used to decide on whether rewards are given or privileges are taken away. The key to the whole thing is logic and consistency and it is more effective if the system has been talked through in a family meeting before being instated.

Parents should ensure there is 'family time' each day. This should be a time that everyone looks forward to. Having times that are dedicated to the family might seem to eat into the week significantly. However, this time is important for children to feel wanted and acknowledged and are more likely to keep themselves busy at other times. Also, this can also lessen the time spent handling arguments and tantrums.

Children really do thrive on feeling that they can contribute and delegating tasks to them is something that should be done thoughtfully and with patience. This can boost a child's morale and self esteem.

A behavioural management system should be in place such as when getting ready for school in the morning, being on time for meals and other areas where children can slow the day down.

Parents should speak in a calm, normal voice with eye contact when giving instructions. That way there is 'somewhere to go' when there is a need to change the tone of voice to indicate displeasure. Parents who start off with an angry, escalated tone have nowhere to go, the children become desensitized demoralized because they start to think that their parents are always mad at them.

Some parents have found success with turning off everything electronic in the house if children's behaviour escalates. Some parents tell their children to read and draw or make things, while others are sent out to play. Often, the children immediately calm down and lose themselves in their new activities.

Parenting is a major part of some people's lives and can be successfully addressed as part of a time management process.



Source: Counselling Academy

Wednesday 5 November 2008

7 Ways to Boost your Self Confidence today

Most of us, if we are honest would like to feel more self confident. For some people, it is situation specific, like meeting new people, speaking in public or attending an interview. For others it is all encompassing.


We are not born lacking confidence; lack of confidence is something we learn.
Before looking at practical ways of boosting self confidence, it is useful to know what confidence is. Probably the best definition I’ve come across defines confidence as ‘an internal faith, believe or certainty about our personal powers and abilities to achieve.’ The word comes from the Latin ‘con fidis’ meaning ‘with faith’, doing something with the faith that you can do it.


Here are 7 ways to feel more confident:-

1. Know that being confident is not the same as being comfortable

Most people think they will only feel confident when they are comfortable doing something. This can be true. If you have been working in your job for a few years, you can be confident in your abilities and comfortable dealing with work-related issues. It is perfectly natural to feel uncomfortable or less than certain in unfamiliar situations. Most people feel less than confident when they are doing something they have not done before. The question to ask yourself is ‘how can I get more comfortable with being uncomfortable?’ This is how we expand our comfort zones.


2. Set yourself a confidence building goal

One of the best ways to boost confidence is to decide to take a specific action so that you can earn and deserve the right to be confident. In other words, setting yourself a little test. One of the things I did in the past to boost my self confidence was to ask more questions at talks or meetings I attended. I would try to come up with something logical to ask, but the main reason I was doing it was to build my self confidence. I wanted to be someone who could ask questions. That doesn’t mean my hand wasn’t shaking when I raised it, but I felt good afterwards. Remember that ‘buzz’ we feel after we do something that scared us, is our self confidence growing.


3. Eliminate Comparisons

This is a neat one. If you are in the habit of putting other people on pedestals, ‘I wish I could do that like her!’ or ‘Why can’t I be more like him?’ what you are doing is putting the boot into your own self confidence. It is one thing to admire someone and ask yourself what can I learn from them, it is another to compare yourself to them. The only comparison that is ever valid is between where you feel you are now and your potential. And remember most of the time when we are making comparisons we are comparing what we feel on the inside with what we see on the other person’s outside! We don’t know what the other person is feeling on the inside!


4. Acknowledge your strengths

When we are lacking self confidence we are focussing on what we believe to be our weakness. A great way to boost self confidence is to make a list of your strengths, the things you are good at, your talents, aptitudes, personal qualities etc. Indications of strengths can be things you enjoy doing, or things you have been complimented on. The foundation of Self Confidence is Self Esteem. The best definition of self esteem I’ve come across is ‘the degree to which you like yourself.’ Spending more time at least acknowledging our strengths will boost self esteem.


5. Confidence is a habit.

As humans we are habit forming creatures. In the same way that we have behavioural habits we also have thinking habits. We have habits about how we think about ourselves and what we are capable of and habits about how we think about certain situations. To change a habit we have to consciously do something differently. For example, rather than focussing on the worst outcome, which is what we are doing when we are lacking confidence, how can we view the situation differently? Just for a split second ask yourself ‘what is the best outcome?’ and ‘what is likely to happen?’ rather than just focussing on ‘what is the worst that can happen?’


6. Put on the ‘uniform’ of confidence

When we are confident we tend to walk tall. Our shoulders are back, and our eyes are looking around (instead of looking down when we are nervous.) We tend to breathe more deeply and our body language is open (no folded arms or crossed legs.) The interesting thing is that by purposefully putting on this uniform of confidence you are not only communicating to others that you are confident (though in the short-term you may feel like a fraud) you are also influencing the sort of thoughts you are having. Our thoughts influence our body language, but our body language influences our thoughts as well. To boost self confidence you need to forge a new habit of body language. You are faking it until you make it!


7. Learn to accept compliments


Learning how to accept a compliment is another powerful way of boosting self confidence. Most people don’t know how to accept compliments, they brush them off – ‘Oh this old thing I have it for ages...’ We all receive compliments all the time, but we don’t realise it. Statistics show that by the age of 18 the average teenager will have been praised about 300,000 times. Scarily about 80% of this positive feedback will have been by the age of 3! The average 5 year old is told ‘no’ or don’t do that’ about 60 times a day. Children are not born with a lack of confidence, but by the time we reach adulthood we are so unaccustomed to positive feedback that when we get it we don’t know what to do with it, so we brush it off. See each compliment as a gift (which it is) and as a little building block to self confidence.

Many people drink excessively or take drugs in an attempt to boost their self confidence. But perhaps there are other more effective and long-lasting ways that don’t have the same side effects. Follow the above 7 steps and you will be unlearning the habit of lack of confidence and enhancing the quality of your life along the way.

James Sweetman is the author of Graduate to Success and is a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you are ready to step into your potential, visit www.jamessweetman.com