Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Protection Perfection

With UPF 50+, the Cherokeee rashguard shirt blocks UV rays while stylishly outfitting your kid in an edgy beach-inspired print ($13, target.com). 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

The Right Stripes

Pair the rashguard shirt with the equally adorable Mini Boden Bather. Its multicolored stripes make it any easy match for bright summer solids ($24, bodenusa.com).

 

 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

No-Slip Sandals

With grippy channeled rubber soles, adjustable straps and an eye-catching color combo, these durable Land’s End action sandals in rich olive will last season after season ($30, landsend.com). 

 

 

 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Shades of Summer

He’ll feel so grown up sporting these fun shades. Stephen Joseph octopus sunglasses ($8, stephenjosephgifts.com).

 

 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Bold Beach Bag

This playful sea-inspired tote holds all of your little surfer’s beach or camp essentials. Melissa & Doug flex octopus beach tote bag ($15, melissaanddoug.com). 

 

 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Funky Fedora

Top off his summer uniform with this trendy, summer-ready hat. The Children’s Place straw fedora ($13, childrensplace.com).

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Neatly Nautical

The design of Land’s End sailboat mini beach towel will suit any sea-loving kid ($18, landsend.com).

 

 

 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Dotted Tot Tankini

Trade in a classic one-piece for this modern and practical rashguard swimsuit in blue grotto from The Children’s Place. With polka dots, ruffles and a cute butterfly design, your little one will make a big splash ($20, childrensplace.com).

 

 

 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Fitting Footwear

Her feet will stay super comfy in these LL Bean cool wave sandals, whether she’s walking through the sand or frolicking at the playground ($25, llbean.com).

 

 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Floral Topper

This cute flowery hat protects face, neck and ears from the sun’s rays. Made from quick-drying microfiber fabric, it can stay on while your daughter wades in ($24, wallaroohats.com). 

 

 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Bucket o’ Fun

Fuel your tot’s creative spirit by joining in on a friendly sand castle-making contest. Stephen Joseph dolphins sand bucket with toys ($8, stephenjosephgifts.com). 

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Oceanfront Accessory

There’s ample space to soak up the sun lying on the Pottery Barn Kids lavender/blue seahorse beach towel ($26, potterybarnkids.com). 

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Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Steam Train, Dream Train

By Sherri Duskey Rinker.

At night, when the dream train pulls into the station, animals help load up the train cars. From elephant to polar bear to kangaroo, each worker knows just what to do (ages 4 and up, $17).

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Turbo

An ambitious young snail named Turbo has big dreams of becoming the fastest gastropod in the world, but his determination means he’s cast out from the slow-paced snail community. After a freak accident, Turbo gains the gift of lightning speed. Will his Indy 500 dreams become a reality? Race to theaters and find out on July 19.

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Monsters University

Non-scary monsters Mike and Sully are back in this comedic prequel to the animated hit Monsters Inc. Before they worked as partners on the scare floor together, Mike and Sully weren’t exactly the best of friends at the university. See how they overcame their differences and embarked on a frightful journey to friendship in theaters on June 21.

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Despicable Me 2

This follow-up flick focuses on hapless super-criminal-turned-sweet-natured Gru. When, after tucking the kids into bed, two of Gru’s wacky, bumbling minions are kidnapped by an unknown force, it’s up to him and the trio of orphan girls to save the pair from captivity. Get ready for more minion madness on July 3.

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Classic Corner

Celebrate the iconic action series’ twentieth anniversary when Power Rangers: Clash of the Red Rangers—The Movie comes to DVD. Join the Rangers as they band together to defeat Master Xandred’s Mooger army as the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Go, go Power Rangers! ($10, amazon.com)

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Hands On

What to do on a beautiful summer day? Go fly a kite! With the Todd Oldham Kid Made Modern Kite Kit, little flyers can design and decorate their own paper kites—then launch them high into the sky ($10, target.com).

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

FArTHER

By Grahame Baker-Smith.

A child decides to honor the dreams of his dad after he fails to return home from the war. This story of the bond between father and son will touch young readers (ages 5 and up, $13).

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

I Scream Ice Cream

By Amy Krause Rosenthal.

This delightful book
 of wordplay showcases how phrases can sound similar yet mean totally different things (ages 4 and up, $13).

Photo by: Working Mother Editor

Steam Train, Dream Train

By Sherri Duskey Rinker.

At night, when the dream train pulls into the station, animals help load up the train cars. From elephant to polar bear to kangaroo, each worker knows just what to do (ages 4 and up, $17).

Read more from source:“workingmother”

posted in Mom Stories

When Yale law professor Amy Chua published her personal memoir about “tiger parenting,” she stirred up a lot of controversy.

Many folks were disturbed by Chua’s descriptions of intense conflict – like the scene where her 7-year-old daughter was forced to sit for hours at a piano, threatened with punishments and denied the opportunity to drink or go to the bathroom. But a lot of the furor concerned the question of superiority. Are tiger parents better parents?

To mainstream developmental psychologists, the answer was clear. Much of what Chua described met the criteria for authoritarian parenting, and research suggests that authoritarian parenting puts kids at risk for social and emotional problems. There are also hints that, compared to the more nurturing, authoritative parenting style, authoritarianism leads to less successful academic outcomes.

But Chua’s tiger parenting isn’t exactly the same thing is authoritarian parenting.

According to the official definition – which was inspired by observations of Western families – authoritarian parents lack warmth and fail to reason with their children. In essence, they employ negative tactics (like threats and displays of anger) and reject positive parenting tactics (like showing affection and explaining the reasons for rules).

By contrast, tiger parenting sounds like a mixed bag. Chua used negative tactics and positive ones. The end of that story about the piano? Chua’s daughter finally learned her recital piece, and there was an affectionate finale. “That night, she came to sleep in my bed, and we snuggled and hugged, cracking each other up.”

This “mixed bag” may be characteristic of many traditional Chinese parents, and some investigators have wondered if the positive parenting dimensions protect Chinese kids from negative outcomes. Might all that power assertion be acceptable – or even helpful – if kids are convinced you’re looking out for their best interests?

To test this idea, what’s been needed is research that starts from scratch – that doesn’t try to force Chinese parents into categories designed for Westerners.

And that’s what a new study does.

Su Yeong Kim, an associate professor at the University of Austin, is lead author of a study that tracked more than 300 Chinese American families for over 8 years. Kim and her colleagues asked adolescents and parents questions about eight different parenting dimensions – four positive dimensions (warmth, inductive reasoning, parental monitoring, democratic parenting) and four negative ones (parental hostility, psychological control, shaming, and punitive parenting).

Then the researchers looked to see if any recurring profiles emerged, and they did:

• About half of the parents could be sorted into a category the researchers call “supportive parenting.” These parents scored high on positive parenting and low on the negative parenting dimensions.

• Approximately 25% of parents scored high on both positive and negative dimensions. These were the tiger parents.

• Another 20% seemed relatively uninvolved or “easygoing.” They scored low on both positive and negative dimensions.

• The smallest group was made up of “harsh” parents who scored low on positive parenting and high on negative parenting dimensions.

With these parenting styles identified, the next step was to look at outcomes, and those were pretty clear.

The best child outcomes – academic and emotional – were linked with supportive parenting. Easygoing parenting came in second place. And tiger parenting?

Kids raised by tiger parents had the third best outcomes. The only kids who did worse were the kids raised by unrelentingly harsh parents.

So if we analyze tiger parenting in its cultural context, it wasn’t particularly popular and it wasn’t the approach linked with optimal development.

Is this the last word? No. The study examined a particular group of Chinese-American parents: Immigrants of modest socioeconomic status born in Hong Kong, China, or Taiwan and settled in Northern California. As the study authors note, they might have gotten different results in another setting or community.

And we have to keep in mind the results are culturally relative. It’s possible that the supportive immigrant parents in this study would rate as relatively tiger-like if we compared them with other, non-immigrant ethnic groups.

But it’s interesting to note the overall pattern of this study. Based on child outcomes, tiger parents weren’t just bested by parents who scored high on positive dimensions and low on negative ones. They were also bested by “easy-going” parents — the people who scored low on both positive and negative parenting dimensions. Tiger parenting’s poorer outcomes appear to be related to high levels of negative parenting dimensions, like parental hostility, psychological control, punitive parenting.

What, then, can explain the Asian American success story? Amy Chua puzzles over this herself in an article by Jeff Yang. “…[I]f tiger parenting leads to lower grades — then why are Chinese Americans so wildly over-represented at Stuyvesant and Bronx Science and in the best U.S. conservatories and in the Ivy Leagues?”

I don’t know for sure, but I think a lot of it boils down to beliefs. Studies demonstrate that East Asians are more likely to endorse an effort-based view of expertise. They believe that talent and intelligence are heavily influenced by practice, and that hard work pays off. Parents pass these beliefs onto their children, and the result is a kind of cultural capital that motivates kids to aim high and keep at it.

Can this mindset be combined with an affectionate parenting style that minimizes coercive, punitive parenting? That’s a sure bet. And many families — Chinese and non-Chinese — are living proof.

More reading

For more information about Chinese parenting, see my article “Traditional Chinese parenting: What research says about Chinese kids and why they succeed,” and my blog post “The real benefits of Chinese parenting.”

image of tigers by Dave Pape / wikimedia commons ; image of Amy Chua by Qalandariyya / wikimedia commons

Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”

posted in Mom Stories

My daughter speaks her own, unique language. Every kid does at a very specific time of life. It comes about somewhere in between crying as the only form of communication, and when they are able to string together coherent sentences.

I’m having so much fun with my daughter during this stage. I can understand what she is trying to say, but others struggle to comprehend. Adults, other than my husband and myself, give her plenty of enthusiastic nods, but obviously don’t understand what she’s trying to say. I’ve had my fair share of time at the other end, where a friend’s kid tries to tell me something, but I stare back wide eyed, nodding, trying not to offend the little tyke.

I’ve compiled a little list of some of my favorite words that my daughter mispronounces. They are all sweet, innocent little words, but sometimes sound less so, especially when said loudly across a quiet store, or to random passersby.

1) Clock. C gets really excited about this one. She just started recognizing them, and will frequently yell out her identification. The only issue is that she will forget to use the ‘L’ in the word. You get the idea.

2) Butterfly. This one really gets people confused. I’ll point to a picture of a butterfly and ask “what’s this?” C responds with “Adiskah”. She can say ‘butter’ and ‘fly’, but when you ask her to put them together it becomes ‘adiskah.’ I don’t get it either.

3) Toothpaste. We recently started using toothpaste when we brush her teeth at night. She gets really excited when it’s time to brush, and will announce “toothpaste, toothpaste” on her way to the bathroom. Seems innocent enough, unless you’re an outside spectator of this event. In which case “toothpaste, toothpaste” sounds enough like “pussy, pussy,” that we avoid saying toothpaste in public, especially if there’s a clock around – see # 1 in this list.

4) Cup. This one actually sounds like it should, except she, for whatever reason, has decided that one syllable isn’t good enough for the word. She has never just said the word ‘cup’, but instead says ‘cup-mm-mm-mm.’

5) Want some. This one confused me for awhile. ‘Want some’ comes off as ‘awesome.’ For quite awhile I thought she was just enthusiastic about the things that I was eating. Our conversations frequently went as follows:

C: “Awesome”

Me: “Yes, this toast is awesome!”

I’m enjoying her one and two word sentences. It’ll only be too soon when her attempts to say ‘butterfly’ become ‘I have a crush on a boy.’ Perhaps I’ll just have to learn some of my own unintelligible responses to that.

What are some of the words your toddler mispronounces? 

Photo: flickr/Shardayyy

Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”

posted in Mom Stories

There’s been a big countdown going on in our house for the past few weeks, and tomorrow morning is the big day. We will be piling in to the car and heading to the airport to pick up the girls’ grandmother.

This is a particularly exciting day for them because they haven’t seen their grandmother in almost three years. My youngest, now three, was just a tiny newborn. My oldest wasn’t quite as tall as her grandmother last time she saw her. This time, she’ll be towering over her, I’m sure.

Not only will this trip be special because of the time that has passed since they’ve seen her, but the ways that the girls have kept in touch with their grandmother while they can’t be with her have kept their relationship close despite the miles between us.

The older I become, the more I come to value the influence my parents and in-laws have in my girls’ lives. They have perspective, experience and knowledge that is unique and important. And even when we can’t be together physically, there are lots of ways for my kids to show their grandparents how much they care about them. It is a relationship that is important to encourage and care for.

Whether your grandparents live across the country, like ours, or right down the street, the bond between them and your children can be truly special. Here are five of my favorite ways to show grandparents that they are loved and cared for.

Other posts in this series:

5 ways to show your kids you care when you’re away
How to teach your kids to care for others
5 ways to show your babysitter some appreciation

In today’s busy times, it’s easy to lose perspective on what is most important in life. Sometimes we need a bit of help to put things back in perspective. From this need, an idea was born: FOR ALL YOU LOVE. Through the FOR ALL YOU LOVE campaign, Johnson & Johnson is helping to bring a fresh, uplifting perspective on why love matters. Let’s celebrate the power of love. Join in the conversation here.

Disclaimer: This post is part of a sponsorship with Johnson & Johnson.

Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”

posted in Mom Stories

As new parents, we are told time and time again, cherish these moments of babyhood, for they are but fleeting and before you know it, the babies are grown and out on their own. I remember sitting with each baby as they nursed, trying so hard to memorize how they looked, how it felt, what it meant, to freeze time.

My babies are big kids now. As the school year draws to a close next week, I’ll have a senior, a sophomore, and an eighth-grader. If I sniffle here and there, it’s out of pride, and love, but not out of grief over the passing of childhood. Their father and I instead celebrate the people they are, right now, and who they are becoming. Nostalgia, though, is a powerful evocation and I admit to some tears in writing this!

There’s our kitchen floor that needs replacing. Fifteen years or so ago, that white expanse was adorned with a golden sparkly arc of glitter glue as Katie (now 17) chose that space as her canvas. She’s an artist now, with a large fistful of county fair ribbons, though thankfully she sticks to more – shall we say, traditional – media for her talents. She plans to be a teacher and continue with her art.

We recently replaced the bedroom door for Karl (15) but I still come up short when I go past it, as his original door had been broadly adorned with stickers – NASCAR, smiley faces, dinosaurs, stick figures – stickers that of course couldn’t be easily peeled off. Each were placed with care and intent. It was the mark of a child’s room, for sure. He thinks he might want to study geography or engineering when he grows up.

Outside stands the pink playhouse in the back yard, with the laser-etched sign proclaiming it as “Jayne’s Playhouse” made by a friend via her Etsy shop. Baby-doll care items, wee groceries, and a tiny rocking chair are all squeezed into this tiny space. Jayne and her daddy painted that house together and though she’s nearly 13, she will still pop in there to play house a little. She thinks she might want to be a nurse when she grows up.

Members of our Bargain Hunters group (read that group description if you’re really thinking you’ll find bargains there) have been listing the things they’ll miss as their little ones grow up.

MamasMonkeys0307
As I’m loading my dishwasher, I found a nerf bullet in my sink and it made me think. I often find toys in the oddest and sometimes amusing places. While it’s annoying at times to constantly find toys all over, I think it’s definitely one of those things I’ll miss when they’re grown. Who doesn’t love an action figure near the toilet or matchbox in their shoe? Lol What will you miss?

mrsmcguirt
I’ll miss him getting excited and hugging every pillow he sees. He loves pillows.

graysmom4
yeah, i will miss the baby stage also. the bedtime battles, the cute way they say things, and all the “but why” questions. I love the innocence of childhood.

RumourHasIt
His happy dance. Whenever SO and I come in after being out DS does a happy dance and starts screaming and laughing. I’ll miss that.

OhRamon
I will miss the finger and hand prints on my fridge. Sometimes I leave them there for a few days. I also have a picture of their tiny handprints on my stainless steel fridge. I doubt I will miss stepping on legos though.

SaruuhShoup
The cute way they say words. Stepping on blocks in the dark.

QuartzMermaid
My LO is almost 3 months so i can’t say a whole lot but so far I miss tiny newborn clothes. Now big boy is slowly creeping into 3-6 month clothes.

I’m with OhRamon. I still have to dodge those Legos – just what’s been built with them are bigger and more complicated these days!

Your turn: What will you miss the most as your kids grow up?

Photo: shawnzrossi/flickr

Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”

posted in Mom Stories

My 3-year-old daughter has become the queen of bedtime stalling tactics. Even though it takes a ridiculously long time to get through all of her crying, call-backs, questions, requests, demands and delays, I do have to give the kid points for creativity.

Here, in no particular order, are some of her excuses for not going to sleep:

1. She’s too tired
2. She’s not tired
3. She’s thirsty
4. She’s hungry
5. She has to pee
6. She has to poo
7. She has to pee again
8. She forgot she has to watch Yo Gabba Gabba
9. She’s wearing the wrong pajamas
10. Her sleeves are too short
11. She has a hair in her mouth
12. She needs a tissue
13. Her pant leg is pushed up
14. She’s too hot
15. She’s very freezing cold
16. Her toes are sticking out
17. Her stuffed frog, Cupcake, is looking “all crazy”
18. She needs to play Wii Golf
19. The coat-hanger is crooked (like this! pointing her elbow to the ceiling)
20. There is a tiny corner of a sock sticking out of her dresser drawer
21. Her tummy feels warm
22. She has to go pick up the fork she dropped at supper
23. She just wants one more big hug
24. She’s mad at me
25. She needs to talk to grandpa. “On the pone.”
26. She forgot to put her baby to bed
27. It’s too dark
28. It’s too bright
29. She thinks it’s “actually still daytime”
30. Her eye is too itchy
31. Her bed is too small
32. Her hair is too long
33. She’d like to know if she could please have a lollipop
34. Her Care Bear needs to go into the living room
35. Her Dora books need to go into the living room
36. Her red sparkly shoes need to go into the living room
37. Basically the entire contents of her bedroom need to be cleared out into the living room
38. She just needs to do a cough. *cough cough*
39. She just has to tell me one more thing
40. She thinks she needs a Band-Aid
41. Or maybe an ice pack
42. She wants a different blanket
43. She wanted a different bedtime story
44. She forgot to give Daddy a kiss
45. She forgot to give the cat a kiss
46. She forgot to listen to her music box
47. She forgot to brush her tongue
48. There’s a fly in her room
49. Her blankets aren’t “all cover me up”
50. Her eyes can’t close
51. She wants to have a sleepover!
52. She has to show me a dance
53. She has to finish her hiccups
54. She just needs three more minutes

Has your child used any of these? Do you have any more to add to the list?

And when they do finally sleep, it’s not always where you want them to! Check out these hilarious and adorable shots of snoozing kids, courtesy of our BabyCenter moms…

Be sure to check out these posts, too: Reasons My Son Is Crying gives frustrated parents a laugh and Samuel L Jackson: Go the F**k to Sleep, kids!

Main photo: Flickr/Jean Pichot

Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”

posted in Mom Stories

At one time or another, our little babies’ bottoms have been hit with diaper rash. With shelves full of products promising a cure, it’s hard to know where to start and even harder to know where to go when they don’t work. One of the most commonly given pieces of advice for clearing up a persistent diaper rash is to let your little one enjoy some non-diaper, naked time. That makes all the sense in the world, but how do you accomplish it without major clean-up duty? The moms in BabyCenter’s community have some great ideas and I’ve pulled together a top ten list that’s sure to get your baby’s rash on the road to recovery.

1. Spend tummy time with no diaper and on a thick towel.

2. Use the cool setting on blow dryer to air out your baby’s bottom after each diaper change.

3. Lose the wipes and use warm water on a washcloth or cotton balls instead.

4.  Run your baby’s bottom under a faucet after each changing in place of using wipes.

5. Pat, instead of wipe, when cleaning up your baby’s bottom during a diaper change.

6. Use breast milk on your baby’s bottom with each diaper change.

7. Use coconut oil as an ointment.

8. Try a different brand of diapers or start using cloth diapers.

9. Change your baby’s diaper more frequently.

10. See a doctor if the irritation won’t go away. There are many causes for a diaper rash including a yeast infection and food allergies, neither of which are likely to resolve without a doctor’s advice and care.

Do you have more tips for curing a persistent diaper rash? We’d love to hear them!

Photo credit: Flickr

Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”

posted in Mom Stories

Every year I dare myself to do summer renegade style: No camps, no schedule, no summer school.

And every year, when faced with a blank itinerary, and the thought of blanked-faced kids looking at me as if they want to eat me, I panic.

What am I so afraid of?

I remember waking up giddy on the first official day of summer when nobody, aside from the sun in the sky, the water in the brook, and the trees outside my window, expected me to show up somewhere.

I woke up. I went outside. I played with whoever or whatever I found there. Sometimes I found friends– my dog or the kids, mostly boys– who were out roaming too.

We moved through the neighborhood like a swarm of bees, zigging, zagging, not sure who was leading and who was following. Not caring where we were going.

We played from morning until night, stopping only to eat, but not until our mothers called us in. So free was our range, our mothers used bells to woo us back inside. Ours was a cow bell, embarrassing in its deep country clang that resonated across the sleepy lawns.

My mother was insistent with that bell. She knew I’d answer just to make it stop.

I ran home, breathless, under the row of lazy willow branches, leaping over the statue of the Virgin Mary that watched over the Comar’s flower bed, weaving in and out of birch trees, hopping over the stream, cutting across Aunt Jenny’s front yard and across our dead-end street, through our gate, up the marble sidewalk across the lawn, into the back hall, and up the step into the kitchen.

I bee-lined to the fridge to pour myself a glass of milk, gulping its cold perfection down in one, breathless effort. I came up for air, gasping, only when I saw the bottom of the glass.

Breathless.

That’s how I remember my childhood. Everything at full speed. Bending double to catch my breath, my heart beating wildly in my chest, and sometimes in my ears, as I pumped my legs or bike pedals in pursuit of my friends, or, once even, an ambulance.

Breathless, pulse racing, as I clung to my horse’s mane and squeezed his heaving sides with my bare legs as he ran, like wind unharnessed, back to the barn. Nostrils flaring. Heart pumping. That’s how I remember it.

Risk taking. Snake catching. Horses without saddles or bridles. Heads without hard hats or helmets. Feet without shoes. Pools without heat. Games without referees. Skin without sunscreen.

We jumped off the barn roof and into the manure pile. We swayed from the tree tops. We watched TV and ate Lucky Charms.

We had horse picnics on pond islands. I can still conjure that moment of uncertainty, when you ride the horse into the water and hope it will swim. Your body starts to float, and you struggle to hang on with one hand while the bag lunch you brought to eat on the island– peanut butter and Fluff on white bread, and, of course, Oreos– is raised up high out of the water in the other hand.

Once we reached the island, we set the horses free, hoping they wouldn’t swim back without us.

I want so much for my kids to have memories of parent-free, adult-free adventures like this. When I walk by that same picnic pond today– it’s a half a mile from my childhood home– I try to imagine letting my kids go there on horseback, or bikes, or on foot, by themselves.

I can’t.

Can you? Do you ever catch yourself trying to reenact your childhood for your kids?

Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”

posted in Mom Stories

Sara McGinnis posted a very good blog entry about Paris Jackson’s recent suicide attempt and about the dangers of depression in general. The blog got me thinking about something that seems obvious to me but that I had never really considered before: someday, I’m going to have to talk to my children about suicide and depression.

I myself suffer from clinical depression and have survived two suicide attempts. One of the first things I can tell anybody about this subject is that if you want to be really bad at something, suicide is the best thing to be bad at. The fact that I have depression means that my children are more likely to have that condition as well. Even if they don’t, they will likely know somebody who suffers from depression or a similarly serious issue. So when the time comes, what are the important things to tell kids about depression?

Well, for starters…

It’s not just about your mood. Depression isn’t just a matter of being sad. It’s not something that you can just shake off by doing things that cheer you up. It is effectively your brain betraying you. Even if you know you don’t have any reason to be depressed, the chemicals in your head are going to screw you. Telling somebody with depression to cheer up is about as effective as telling a case of herpes to go away.

It doesn’t make you weak or crazy. There is a huge problem with the way we perceive mental illness in America. You can commit a crime and make up for it through community service, but once you’ve been treated for mental illness, you often get stuck with the label of being crazy. Depression or any other mental illness is just that – an illness. It is not an insult about your character, and it does not make you worse as a person.

You don’t grow out of it. Unfortunately, depression is an illness that most likely will last your entire lifetime. Want evidence of this? Check out Stephen Fry, who has recently opened up about a suicide attempt of his own from last year, when he was 54 years old. From a logical perspective, Stephen Fry would be one of the last people who would ever experience depression. He has fame, fortune, a strong network of friends, and is one of the most talented and beloved people on the planet. But depression isn’t logical, and you unfortunately don’t get rid of it over time. If anything, you only get better at knowing how to defend yourself against it.

The most important thing is to know your warning signs. Some people can treat depression with medication. Some people can’t. If you treat serious depression as a chronic illness, the one defense that somebody in this situation has is that they will hopefully learn their warning signs and what to do about it. I ran into this shortly before the birth of my son, when money problems and the changes in my lifestyle had me panicking and thinking some dark thoughts. Fortunately, my employer has a generous employee help program that allowed me to talk to somebody until my mood swung back toward normal. For me, it’s a combination of therapy and writing that gets my mood balanced. Hopefully my kids, if they suffer from depression, can have it that easy. If they have it worse, then it becomes even more important to know when you’re starting to get down and might need help. Most importantly, listen to the advice of doctors and take your medication, attend your therapy sessions, and do whatever it takes to protect yourself. You wouldn’t skip out on taking heart medication just because you haven’t had a heart attack in the last couple of years, so don’t consider skipping depression medication just because you’ve been feeling good lately.

Of course, the biggest thing to emphasize about depression is not to be afraid to talk about it. Hopefully, by talking to my kids about depression and other mental illnesses, I can send the message that they can talk to me and their mother if they need help. Having somebody to reach out to can indeed save a life.

Have you considered having this talk with your kids? If so, how have you approached it?

Charlie’s newest book, Greystone Valley, is now on sale. Click here to check it out!

Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”