Monday, March 23, 2009

The Best Child Advice I Ever Received

The Best Child Advice I Ever Received
by Gregg Prescott, M.S.

We have all received some sort of valuable advice from friends and family or from an inciteful article or video. Besides Maslow's hierarchy of basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, safety, etc) there always seems to be some sort of gem that we treasure a lifetime. The best advice came to me before my daughter was born.

At the time, I was working as a bartender at a small country bar. One of my customers told me some advice that I have never forgotten and have passed on to as many people as possible.

She stated, "Don't look forward to your baby's milestones, such as his or her first tooth, the first time he or she walks, etc... Appreciate and love your child every day because those milestones will come and go too quickly."

This is so true. My daughter turns 15 this yer, yet it seems like only yesterday when I was bottle feeding her.

The only thing I would add to this is to take a lot of pictures and videos because each day, they change just a little and you can never go back in time to recapture how they looked yesterday, last month or last year.

Source: http://famunet.com/parentingforum/index.php?topic=8.0

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Take the time to appreciate the little things in life

Take the time to appreciate the little things in life
by Gregg Prescott, M. S.

About the author: Gregg Prescott is a Parenting Counselor, Child & Family Therapist and business owner of Family Unity Network's Parenting Megasite (http://www.famunet.com/). Prescott attended the State University of New York at Oneonta where he obtained a B.A. in Psychology. Upon graduation, Prescott attended Capella University where he received a Master's Degree in Human Services. As a Child & Family therapist, Prescott noticed common parenting mistakes amongst his clients and developed a U.S. and Internationally patent pending program to address these issues, called an Adolescent & Family Skills Program. Prescott is also the author of 100+ Common Parenting Mistakes (available at http://www.famunet.com/ and http://www.lulu.com/) and wrote and illustrated a soon-to-be-released "Interactive Children's Book" entitled, "Meowsey Finds a Home" which will also be available on both http://www.lulu.com/ and at http://www.famunet.com/

A couple months ago, I took my daughter for a walk on the beach. My daughter and I ended up having an incredible day. We stopped to look at a fence that was previously submerged at high tide. The fence had barnacles on it and we knocked a few of them into the puddle below the fence. As we looked closer, we could see tiny conch-like animals congregating around the barnacles. After looking even closer, we saw the tiniest little crabs around the fence post. It was amazing and beautiful at the same time.

Many people passed by this fence but no one stopped to see the beauty that was before them. Now, the fence has been removed and the beauty that was once there is just a wonderful memory.

That's what life is all about. That's God's message telling us to take the time to enjoy the little things in life because they're right there before our eyes, yet we seem to take them for granted.

source: http://www.famunet.com/