Simonsen Prince (MikkelsenRosenkilde3)

Thoughtful parenting begins with the commitment to never stop learning new strategies to improve your parenting skills. What kind of parenting style you use is up to you, but every parenting style can be more effective with the addition of fresh ideas. Take a look at the practical advice below.

Stick with your child's established eating and sleeping schedule as best you can when you are traveling with him or her. Travel can be stressful for everyone, but it is particularly difficult for children, especially infants. Maintaining the same mealtime and bedtime rituals makes it easier for children to acclimate to spaces like hotel rooms, which make sleep disturbances less likely!

Make sure you have an appropriate first aid kit in your home. Children suffer a variety of different injuries and you want to make sure you are prepared for them. In your first aid kit, make sure to include, band aids, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, cotton swabs, bacitracin ointment, and calamine lotion.

When trying to potty train your child, it is advised that you give them a reward each time they successfully use the toilet. This reward can be their favorite food or candy, a sticker, or anything else they enjoy. By doing this, they will be encouraged to consistently use the potty.

Do not put work above your child. Of course it is necessary to work in order to support yourself and your family, but if you are never around, your child is going to feel like you are a stranger, which will make them not want to trust you or be close to you.

When your child goes to the doctor's office, be sure to tell the nurse or doctor if your son or daughter is taking any kind of over-the-counter vitamin or mineral supplement. Even though these products do not require a prescription, they can interact with or decrease the absorption of prescription antibiotics or other medications.

If your child has been making frequent trips to the school nurse, only to be sent back because there is no apparent illness, he or she may be trying to avoid a classroom bully. Ask your child if he or she is having problems with a classmate; you can also directly contact your child's teacher to determine whether there may be a troublesome conflict between another student and your child.

To make hair washing an easier process, pretend like your child is visiting a hair salon. Allow her to lay her head up to the sink and place a towel underneath her neck. Give your child a head massage while you are rinsing her hair. Engaging in imaginative play, will make this task fun for your child.

Want your child to have a large vocabulary? Talk to her! Studies show that parents who spend significant amounts of time talking with their children about everyday events have children with larger vocabularies than their peers whose parents spend less time talking to them. So turn off the TV, put down your book, and start a conversation!

Use your smart phone to soothe your baby with noise. You can download a white noise application and then place the phone near your child. This is particularly useful if you are going for a walk or if your child is riding in the car. You do not have to use white noise; there are a wide range of other calming sounds available.

A great parenting tip is to accompany your small children if they decide to go trick or treating. Young children definitely need a chaperone or parent with them when they go trick or treating because it can get hectic. You should be there for them to make sure they are safe at all times.

Get down to your child's eye level. A child respects a parent who looks them in the eye when they are talking. A child appreciates a parent who will get down on the floor and play with them. If your child is always physically looking up to you then you're missing something in your parenting style.

Your child will more readily try new foods if you include him in the preparation. Ask your child if he would like to help prepare dinner sometime. He ca