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Aamna Sajjad

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In Parenting

Immigrant Families: Balancing Old Traditions with New Beginnings

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To leave your home country and move to another one for the betterment of yourself and your family is one of the hardest things to do. My family and I decided to move to Canada two years ago in search of better opportunities for our daughters, especially our youngest, who has Down Syndrome. While the idea of moving seemed exciting sometimes, most of the time, leaving your parents, your home, your friends, and the life we had built together seemed daunting. After all, we do need our village to survive. Would we be able to create a new village in the new country? Would our children get to know about our traditions and roots? All these questions never left our minds when we came to Canada. Two years down, I think we have been on the right path in building our new home, making our own family traditions, and adapting…

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In Parenting

Gentle and Permissive Parenting; The Thin Line Between Parenting Styles

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The term “gentle parenting” is doing the rounds in the news and social media, and many people have conflicting opinions about it. Many people, however, are still confusing gentle parenting with permissive parenting. Both these parenting styles have a thin line between them, which may be easy to cross. What is gentle parenting? It is backed by research, leaning towards authoritative parenting. It draws a clear boundary with your children that is helpful for their safety and well-being. It involves resolving conflicts together by discussing the reason behind the set rules and boundaries. It looks beyond punishments and consequences of bad behaviour and focuses more on the reason why the child is behaving a particular way. What is permissive parenting? Permissive parents have extremely low expectations from their children. They believe that their child is incapable of making better choices. Permissive parenting gives all the control to the child and…

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In Parenting

Tips to Help Your Kids Manage Their Night Terrors

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Many little ones struggle with night terrors, and it can really catch parents off guard! It can be heartbreaking not to know how to help them. Here are some tips for helping your child with night terrors. What are night terrors?  Night terrors occur when the child is in non-REM sleep. This is when they are transitioning from a deep stage of sleep to a lighter stage. It can be stressful for parents to experience their child struggling with night terrors. While one in six children usually experience them, every child may react to them differently. Night terrors are often confused with nightmares. Your child may be having night terrors if they: Wake up abruptly at night, usually within three hours of sleep. Wake up sweaty, with a rapid heart rate and breathing heavily. Appear to be unresponsive when spoken to, even though their eyes are open. Thrash around aggressively.…

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In Parenting

Transitioning Your Toddler to a Big Bed, 5 Tips to Make It a Success

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Congratulations on your toddler crossing another significant milestone! While transitioning your little one from a crib to a toddler bed can be overwhelming and scary for many parents, there are ways to help make it smoother. Generally, toddlers are ready to transition to a big bed between the ages of 18 months to four years. However, parents and caregivers of the kids know best when they are ready for this big move. If you are wondering whether your child is ready for this transition, it would help if you asked yourself: Is my child consistently trying to climb out of the crib? Is the crib getting too small or tight for my child? Is my child showing interest in a big kid bed? Do I need the crib for a new sibling? If you answered yes to these, it may be time to transition to a big bed! Check out…

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In Parenting

5 things to consider when choosing a water bottle for kids.

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While keeping hydrated is essential for children all year round, it’s especially important that your child drinks enough water during a hot summer day. Summer calls for lots of outdoor activities, including summer camps. Therefore, having a good water bottle tag along the kids’ bag pack would ensure they always have water handy whenever needed.   Having two toddlers of my own, I used to find my kitchen closet full of different kinds of bottles, struggling to find the perfect one for each of them individually. While many of the bottles were brutally rejected by them, we eventually found a good fit for their respective needs. To help other moms going through a similar struggle, here are 5 things to consider when choosing a water bottle for kids this summer. The Opening and Closing Style of the Lid:  Bottles come with different ways to open the lid, and you would not…

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In Mom Moments

The Struggles of The Cycle Breakers

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As parents, we often feel overwhelmed and mentally exhausted and feel bursts of guilt for not doing enough for our children. Sometimes, we may find ourselves replaying our reactions to our children’s actions and wondering if we should have reacted differently. In my opinion, millennials carry a heavier parenting burden than the previous generation because they are the first generation trying to break the cycle. We are the first generation that must deal with an abundance of information about how to raise children, making us question how we were raised and form our individualized parenting style. We are the generation of social media. We are more self-aware and realize the importance of mental health and how our children’s formative years will impact their future relationships. Therefore, comparing our parenting style with our parents’ is natural. However, our children are growing up in a very different time than ours, and consequently,…

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In Parenting

Tips to adjust kids to daylight savings time

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Parents are usually operating on limited sleep with their children’s unstable sleeping patterns. We all know that sleep regression, teething, and stuffy noses due to the changing weather are not fun. To top that off, having to change the clocks twice a year can get frustrating for both the parents and children. Studies suggest that it can take up to a week for our bodies to get used to the new time change. It is very common for children to struggle with their routine during this time and feel cranky and tired. However, the good news is that if we prepare for it in advance, the transition can turn out to be less tedious. Take a look at these tips to help you adjust kids to daylight savings time on November 6th, 2022. Gradually Push Your Child’s Dinner and Bedtime Ahead Children can have difficulty sleeping if they are expected…

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In Food

8 Easy School Lunch Ideas for Your Picky Eating Kindergartener

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Brace yourselves parents, we’re all back at school! While most of us parents are (understandably) ecstatic to have some time for ourselves, the nightmare of what to pack for their school lunch keeps buzzing around our head like the yellow jackets this season. If you have a picky eater like mine, it gets harder and harder thinking of new and healthy snacks to pack five days a week. Here are 8 easy school lunch ideas for your picky eating Kindergartener. These worked for us, so hopefully you can take some inspiration from them! Sweet Potato Fries Kids love French fries, so I thought I would develop a healthier version. You can cut up the potatoes a night prior, and just air fry them with a drizzle of olive oil, and they are ready to go. Letting them completely cool off before packing them in their lunch box will prevent them…

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In Parenting

Summer Activities for Kids That Will Not Budge Your Budget

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As the school year comes to an end, parents are already be worrying about how to keep their children entertained. While sending your child off to the camp seems like an exciting option to many, we understand why some parents might have some reservations about it. Many families find summer camps a little unaffordable, while others are still worried about covid19. If you’re not headed off to camp and find yourself wracking your brain over how to make your child’s holiday fun with activities, take a look at these ideas that might work for your family! You can also plan one activity per day for an entire whole week, and have something to look forward to every day! Movie Marathon On The Balcony/ Backyard Children of all ages enjoy watching movies, especially when they are snuggled up with their parents. It will also give the parents a much needed down…

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In Mom Moments

Grandparents and Their Positive Effect on Child Development

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As parents, we know how our relationship with our children significantly affects how they will turn out as adults. Parents, however, are not the only close relationships that inspire the children. For example, studies have shown how significant grandparents are in children’s lives and how living close to them can affect their well-being. In my experience, the impact of the grandparents has has a positive effect on their development. I am an immigrant from Pakistan. Living in a joint family system is a norm there. I was raised living in the same household as my grandparents. I had my daughters in the same household as their grandparents until they turned 5 and 3 years old. My daughters enjoyed being pampered by their maternal and paternal grandparents while we lived in Pakistan and still share a unique bond with them, even while being thousands of miles away from them. Bilingualism My…

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