Every school as cliques, and unfortunately, every child will be introduced to them at some point. Cliques aren’t necessarily bad, but children who are both inside and outside of a clique can be effected negatively.

Andrew Harper, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and medical director at the UT Harris County Psychiatric Center says that, “Cliques serve a function to help children feel like they are fitting in, some cliques may motivate kids to perform in school, if your child is part of the academically gifted clique. And cliques might influence them to do other positive things”.

Helping Your Child Navigate Cliques 

Your child has needs that can be met by cliques. Here are some tips about the dynamics of cliques:

• Positive roles. Harper stresses that the need for belonging and acceptance is powerful. That’s why it is a good idea to help your children understand the positive role they can play in their own clique, even if they don’t belong to a clique at the top of the school hierarchy.
• Understand strengths. Every child has strengths, interests, and talents that can help them survive and thrive in school cliques. Help your child find groups with similar values or interests, perhaps by coordinating after-school activities such as sports, faith, or scouts programs.
• Reach out. If your child just doesn’t seem to fit in, is withdrawing, or shows signs of fear or anxiety about school, consider an underlying depression or anxiety problem. Seek help from a medical professional, counselor, or psychiatrist.

Should You Be Worried? 

“The problem becomes when the sole purpose of the clique is to exercise power — by excluding and being mean to others. That creates an adverse dynamic for those who are on the outside, but even inside it can create the anxiety of ‘What if I get kicked out?'” says Harper.

Most young people will have times when they are part of a clique and times when they are not. If your child’s clique has thrown them out or simply fallen apart, you can talk to your child about this painful learning experience. Just remember to:

• Be strategic. Focus on emphasizing and building on your child’s strengths.
• Discuss coping strategies. Remind your child life is full of people who may not like you, but you have to find ways to get back into the swing of life.

“The kids that really have a lot of difficulty are those who feel like they don’t fit in anywhere,” says Harper. The children who don’t fit in anywhere are more likely to end up in one of the undesirable cliques and turn to substance abuse.

If you child feels they don’t fit in anywhere it can be hard to make them understand that their desired clique isn’t the only place they can gain recognition. Always highlight your child’s strengths and encourage involvement in activities that could help them shake this belief.

Tips were taken from www.everydayhealth.com

About Brittney:

Brittany was born and raised in Alabama. She is a Wife and Mama of two sweet babies- her son John is two years old and her daughter Annie is ten months old. She has her degree in Home and Family Studies with an emphasis on Child Development from BYU.

Technology is disrupting sleep across many demographics. As gadgets have become more accessible to younger users, they’re also starting to have a negative on toddlers’ sleeping patterns.

Ideally, toddlers around 1-3 years of age should get around 12-14 hours sleep per day. However, this might not always be possible. If not, parents should at least try and ensure their toddlers get at least 10-hours per day so that they don’t suffer any health implications as a result of a lack of sleep.

Parenting Science suggest toddlers who don’t get enough sleep tend to be more sickly, linking childhood sleep loss with bad moods, poor memory, fatigue and a short attention span, among other worrying side effects.

It has been well publicized how toys can be distracting so much so that can keep children from sleeping at night. But in the last 10-years, new tech innovations have paved the way for tablets and mobiles to become easy go-to gadgets that keep toddlers occupied and give parents much needed rest.

Journalist Katie Forster discussed this topic in an article on the Independent, stating that the more time toddlers spend using touchscreen devices, the more likely they will find it hard to sleep at night or take a nap in the afternoon. She went on to say that most kids nowadays have access to tech gadgets like an iPad or smartphone.

Why Tech Gadgets are Dangerous

Apparently, the danger here is that the light emitted by electronic screens can decrease the amount of melatonin in the body. Melatonin is important as it help regulate sleep and has many properties in it that help the body relax.

As previously mentioned, one thing that can affect a toddlers’ ability to take a nap is their exposure to the screen’s blue light. Before the problem gets out of hand, parents must find ways to address the issues at hand. One solution is to avoid having any light emitting devices in the child’s bedroom when it’s sleeping time. Leesa discussed some tips to help improve sleep and dedicated a number of important variables to consider when it comes to tech devices in the bedroom. They suggest keeping “tablets, smartphones, and televisions out” of the bedroom so that there are no distractions. If there are no distractions for your toddler, the chances are they will be able to relax and get a good night’s sleep.

Also, it’s worth noting that the responsibility lies with the parents too. If they go for the easy option of handing their child a tablet to keep them from crying or to keep them distracted, the potential long-term problems are endless. The ability to regulate your toddlers’ sleep is down to you. Remove the tech gadgets from your toddlers’ bedroom and the chances are they will improve their sleep quality and you will see a much more energetic child during the daytime.

By: Renae Byers, owner of Lice Clinics of America Birmingham

When preparing the kids to head back- to- school, parents usually go shopping for new clothes, buy fresh pencils and pack up their child’s backpack before the big day. The last thing on their mind is checking their child’s head for head lice. But, elementary school children have the highest risk of getting head lice, as they tend to play closely together and share items that touch their heads, making it important to be prepared for lice infestations as the kids are headed back-to-school.

It’s true, unfortunately, 6 to 12 million infestations occur each year in the United States among children 3 to 11 years of age. Additionally, this head-scratcher causes 24 million missed school days for kids.
So what is a parent to do when their child comes home with an infestation?

Let’s start with the basics. Head lice are parasites that feed on human blood from the scalp. Lice can attach themselves to the bottom of a single strand of hair and crawl their way up to the head. Head lice are primarily spread from head-to-head contact. This can happen by simply hugging someone who has the bugs crawling through their head. This includes close contact from putting heads together and/or sharing brushes, hats and coats. Family members often will spread it to one another due to the frequent close contact. As a single female louse can lay up to 200 eggs in 30 days, it’s important to take prevention steps in order to avoid an infestation.

In order to spot an infestation early, it’s important to perform frequent head checks. Adult lice are the easiest to spot because they are the largest. But, at the size of a sesame seed, they still aren’t that big. Although lice vary in color, they commonly appear to look grayish-white or tan. Adult head lice can only live up to 48 hours without human blood.

Once an infestation is spotted, parents need to get rid of the bugs and eggs before they spread to others. At Lice Clinics of America, we remove the bugs and eggs with a process that doesn’t use any harmful chemicals, toxins, or pesticides. We use an FDA-cleared medical device called the AirAllé. The AirAllé device kills lice and eggs through dehydration. This is a revolutionary alternative to treating head lice with pesticides, herbal lice remedies, suffocation products or lice combs. The device, which was invented by scientists at the University of Utah, kills lice and eggs through a specific combination of temperature, airflow, time and technique. Because the AirAllé device is so effective
(over 99%)  at killing lice eggs (which are the hardest for traditional lice products to kill), the chances of needing a follow-up treatment are less than 1%

Staying lice free can be done by remembering not to share things like: hair brushes, hair accessories, pillows, hooded clothing, hats and costumes. Instead, parents should use prevention products daily. Parents should also keep their child’s hair up in ponytails, buns, or braids. But, the most important thing to keep in mind when preventing head lice to avoid head-to-head contact with others.

About Renae Byers:
Renae Byers, RN, is the clinic owner of the Lice Clinics of America Birmingham and Auburn locations. After working as a pediatric nurse for 20 years, Renae decided to open her own clinics to help educate her community about the myths and facts of head lice and to remove the icky headscratchers that infests so many. Appointments can be made by calling the clinic directly at (205) 783-5423.

In just a few short weeks, Disney on Ice Follow Your Heart will be skating into Birmingham! Follow your heart straight to adventure at Disney On Ice! Just keep swimming with Dory and new pal Hank from Disney•Pixar’s Finding Dory as they set out to find her parents and discover the devotion of family. Cheer with Joy, Sadness, and the rest of the Emotions from Disney•Pixar’s Inside Out as they work together to boost Riley’s spirit and win the big hockey game. Venture to wintery Arendelle where Olaf and Kristoff help reunite royal sisters Anna and Elsa from Disney’s Frozen and learn love is the most powerful magic of all. See Cinderella, Rapunzel, Ariel and the Disney Princesses make their dreams possible through virtues of bravery, kindness and perseverance. And celebrate true friendship with Buzz Lightyear, Woody and the Toy Story gang. Make unforgettable memories with Mickey, Minnie and all your Disney friends when Disney On Ice presents Follow Your Heart skates into your hometown!

BirminghamMommy is excited to offer our followers an exclusive ticket giveaway!

Beginning Thursday, September 7th, readers will be able win tickets by finding specially marked rocks  – there will be 10 locations.

Here’s How It Works!

BirminghamMommy will be hiding rocks in parks all over Birmingham, exact locations will be given on Social Media, make sure to watch for clues! To get you started, the first 3 have been hidden, you’ll be able to find 1 at Homewood Park, 1 at Railroad Park and 1 at Wald Park in Vestavia!

Once you find a specially marked rock, take a picture, post it on BirminghamMommy’s facebook page using #DOIROCKSBIRMINGHAM.

DO NOT RE-HIDE YOUR ROCK! Keep your rock, you will need it to claim your tickets. You will be contacted by a BirminghamMommy.com representative to make arrangements for your tickets.

Each Rock is good for 4 Tickets to the Friday, September, 22nd Show at 7pm. 1 Rock per person!

Rocks must be found and posted to BirminghamMommy no later than 9/18/17 in order to qualify for tickets. If the rocks are not found by that date they will no longer be eligible for the contest and will be void. Once you locate a rock you MUST share it with BirminghamMommy in order to claim your tickets. Disney is not a sponsor, endorser or administrator of this sweepstakes.

Happy Hunting!!