Ways to Bond With Your Teenage Daughter

Do you want to get to know your daughter a bit better? Taking the indirect approach is a good idea. Here are some ways to become closer friends with her.

It increases your child's self-esteem if she can teach you something. Ask your teen to teach you how to produce an online photo gallery or a blog. Most teens today were raised in the digital age and can do this type of thing better than you can.

Yet another way to bond is to start reading the same book and discuss it. This is both an intellectual and intimate pursuit.
Yet another good idea is to take a trip together somewhere. Let your teenage girl drive. This is perfect for the teen with a new driver’s license. The destination could be anywhere, but venturing out to visit the family homestead or another fun spot of your teen’s choosing would fit the bill for an afternoon of bonding. It could be as simple as regular practice sessions in the country or on city streets so that your son or daughter can perfect his or her driving skills.

You could also consider biking together or going on a camping trip together.

A weekend getaway or a day spa treatment provides the necessary elements of relaxation and pampering to put mom and daughter into the right frame of mind for serious bonding.

Most female teens are quite self-conscious about their body so it is a great idea to suggest that the two of you work out together. Not only will having a fitness buddy for emotional and inspirational support keep you both motivated to attend classes, but it will ensure a regular and long-lasting commitment to building a close relationship. Think of all the shopping you can do afterward.

Another neat thing to do is make a family scrapbook. This helps kick the nostalgia between you into high gear which of course is very bonding. Let her be creative as possible when scrapbooking. This is also a great way to introduce her to your family history.
Another way to bond with each other is to bake cookies together. It sounds cliché but it has worked for mothers and daughters for aeons. Choosing recipes is just as fun as doing the baking itself!
If you do this you help your teen build a strong sense of self which also helps them fight things like peer pressure.

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Surefire Ways to Keep Kids Healthy

If you love your kids you want them to operating at their optimum health levels so they can be as creative and productive as possible.

First of all you should check your child's weight once a month to ensure that he or she hasn't dropped any weight as a result of insufficient calorie intake. Active kids can require 500 to 1,000 more calories a day than their inactive peers because they burn more energy while engaged in sports. It is essential for you to make sure that they have enough to eat so they can thrive in life.

If you do discover that your child has lost weight, consider seeing a registered dietitian to help plan a diet that will meet his increased energy needs. You can find a dietitian at by talking to your family doctor or pediatrician. You can also find them listed online. Sometimes even your school will have a dietician you can talk to.

Ideally you should give an active kid three meals each day, as well as three or four healthy snacks. Kids have small tummies and cannot eat enough at a meal to sustain them for many hours, so snacks are vital to keeping their energy levels up. Feeding children like this also makes sure they never feel hungry and if you feed them several tinier meals a day they never get stomach aches either.

To keep kids healthy meals should be high in complex carbohydrates, such as whole grain breads, pasta, rice, cereal and potatoes. They should also contain protein (chicken, fish) and healthy fats (oil-based salad dressing, soft margarine, or any vegetable oil, such as olive, canola, sunflower or flax). The key is balance! I have found that a kid that eats too much is unable to do hi s or her homework.

It is also crucial that you serve a variety of foods to ensure your kid's entire vitamin and mineral needs are met. If your kid eats the same thing every day he or she may get sick because there is not enough variety in the diet.

When it comes to feeding the kids it also helps to plan ahead. Busy schedules that include early-morning or night-time practices interfere with meal times. Be sure to carry healthy snacks and think ahead to the next meal so that healthy options can be available.

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