What NOT to Name Your Baby Part II

There are a lot of questionable monikers out there when it comes to giving your baby girl or boy a name. Here is a continuation of some of the questionable names for children that I was making last week.

Please don't name your child –

Dick – This name is short for Richard but it has a fairly well-known connation referring to a certain part of the male anatomy and it can also mean that someone is being 'stupid.' It also reminds people of Dick Cheney who is not the most popular man in the world. Best to avoid Dick if you can.
Dexter – Dexter has been a popular name for little boys but it is also associated with the serial killer on the popular show of the same name. Yet another problem is that Dexter is also the name of a popular great Dane that is a cartoon.
Dracula – If you name your kid Dracula, he will be tortured mercilessly all of his child hood life.
Drusilla – This is a name that is a bit campy from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Edith – Often associated with the shrill flaky character of Edith Bunker from All in The Family.
Elvira – This name is associated with sexy vampires and is a bit corny to be using nowadays.
Emily – This is a beautiful classic name, but it actually means 'rival.'
Endora – The name is indelibly associated with the mother witch on the television series 'Bewitched.'
Ethel – Often associated with unattractive Big Ethel from the Archie comic strip.
Erzesbet – This is the name of Erzsebet Bothory who was a famous serial killer of women in Europe. She is also known as The Blood Countess.
Garth – Once a classic name it is now associated with the goofy character in Wayne's World.
George – Both George W. Bush and George Bush have made this name seem kind of uptight and unpopular.
Gilligan – This is a name that used to be classic but is now associated with the dopy character on Gilligan's Island. It implies clumsiness and stupidity.
Gomez – Once a classic Spanish name it is now very much associated with the Father character on the Addams Family.
Hannibal – The movie Silence of the Lambs ruined this traditional name for many. It conjures up the memory of a serial killer eating brains with fava beans and a fine chianti.
Hecate – This is a beautiful name but it does mean Queen of the Witches.
Hershey – It is probably not a good idea to name your child after a brand name like a chocolate bar.
Herman – Once a dignified English name it is now associated with The Munsters and The Monster Mash.
Hilda – There are a lot of witches in literature and on television that have been named Hilda and almost all have a great big wart on their nose.

The problem is that names that sound trendy often turn into references from television. This is not the way to go if you want your kid to be taken seriously in life!

How to Raise Emotionally Intelligent Kids

Intelligent kids are one thing but they will not get anywhere in life if they are not emotionally intelligent as well. There are four criterions for measuring the emotional intelligence of any child.
• Criteria number one is the ability to identify emotions. This means that you are able to identify how others around you must feel.

• The second criterion knows how to generate an emotion and also reason with emotions that come up.

• The third criteria are to know how to understand complex emotions and how they transform from one stage another.

• The fourth is the skill of manning one's emotions so that decisions and behaviors are not based on them. These are social skills that no child should be without.
Part of this is establishing emotional security in the child when it is very young. You need to nurture the baby when he or she is very young. The first two years have to do with language development and this is the time to develop positive self-talk and also a time to instill how to talk kindly to others. This is the time to make the child feel secure, to relate to him and to nurture positive thoughts and emotions.

The more social interaction your child has the more able he or she will be able to intermingle successfully with others. Emotional well-being is also the ability to get things off the chest. If your child does have a problem let him or her know it is okay and also that it is okay to express their feelings as well. Stuffing feelings down leads to insecure kids, mentally ill kids and kids with anger problems. Many children who are shamed for expressing their feelings tend to be angry, controlling and shame others. They have no idea how to make others feel loved and therefore never get the love they need.

The child learns emotional skills from birth to four years old and after that their emotional make-up may be difficult to develop further. This is why any type of emotional abuse is so hard on a kid. Be aware that if you are not there for your child and communicating in loving way you may be setting up your child for real disaster. If you are a mother with normal instincts then teaching your child to relate to others should be simple; it really is a thing that most emotionally healthy mothers have a gut instinct to do.