Hard work and determination pretty much go hand and hand. In a room full of geniuses and idiots, The determined person is usually the one that works the hardest and achieves the most regardless of their IQ. According to some experts, teaching children the value of hard work and determination is essential in the childs social and emotional development. 

So how do we teach them the value of hard work and determination in an era watered down with Google and iPads? 

Heres are 3 simple things we practice that go a long way with our first grader.

PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD:

Jordyn decided she wants to be an olympic gymnast. She watched the Gabby Douglas movie and started doing gymnastics recreationally a few months ago and fell in love. Because she worked so hard at it, she was invited to join the pre-competition team within 2 months of ever even stepping foot into a gym. She started learning her routines and wanted to show me and Zeke. As she was showing us, although she had the routine memorized and it would have probably been good enough for some parents, we noticed that she wasn't putting her best foot forward. Her kick overs were good, but not great. Her toes weren't pointed as they should b...So instead of praising her on memorizing the routine, we reminded her that if she wants to be an olympic gymnast, she needs to always make sure she is giving 100% and that doing her routine half-heartedly, even if its just to show us at home, isn't going to get her to her goal.. A few minutes later....those toes were pointed, those kick overs were perfect. If she knows she can do it...she needs to always put her best foot forward in any instance in life.

PRAISE THE EFFORT MORE THAN THE ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Its hard for us as parents to not over praise our children when they do something great. Some kids do things with such ease, while it takes others 30 tries before they can get it. But the child that took those 30 tries and accomplished what they set out to do, deserves more praise for their effort that the child that accomplished something with ease. That child should be pushed to do something that takes more effort on their part and then praised. If we over praise our children on things that come easy to them, they're always going to want to take the easy way out and not work hard at things that take effort. 

THE ONLY FAILURE IS NOT TRYING.

Jordyn is really hard on herself. She gets really down on herself if she can't accomplish something. but she never gives up. She tries and tries, no matter how many times she fails. She tries until she nails it. I don't hide my failures from Jordyn either, modeling what you're teaching is one of the most important things we can do as parents. Instill in your children that the only failure is not trying. Drill into their brains the concept of "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again". There are also tons of children's books that can be read with your children in which the underdog prevails.

It's important to keep home a safe place. Free of judgement from failure. If your child is afraid of the consequences of failure, they wont even try.

SOME GREAT CHILDRENS BOOKS ON DETERMINATION:

(click titles to purchase from Amazon)

Wilma Unlimited

A great book about determination in sports.

Pancakes for Breakfast

a fun story about hard work!

Walk On!

Such a cute story that reminds children they were determined before they even knew it!

Amazing Grace

A story about succeeding despite opposition!

What about you? how do you teach determination in your homes? 

Xo, Jeanice.

caring for braces/ teaching children oral hygiene

I get a lot of questions about Jordyns braces and her oral hygiene. A lot of parents email me stating that they want their children to get braces for cosmetic reasons. Let me make something clear, Jordyn did not get braces for cosmetic reasons and I do not encourage anyone to try to get braces for their 6 year old for cosmetic reasons. Jordyns case was a very special/rare case. Jordyn lost her first baby teeth 3 days before she turned 4. A majority of the teeth in her mouth are adult teeth. Her need for braces came from her two front teeth growing in sideways as well as her having an extreme over bite. With everything going on in her mouth and all of her adult teeth growing in so early, the teeth growing in sideways the way they were without any correction would have caused extreme crowding in her mouth which would have resulted in her needing to have teeth pulled. 

HER BRACES CAME FROM A NEED......NOT A WANT. 

Here are a few answers to some of your questions.

Q: when did she get her braces and how long did she have them?

She got her braces in May and got them taken off in October. She had them for about 5 months. 

Q: How did her teeth get straight so quickly?

The reason her teeth moved so quickly is because she is so young. 

Q: My child is Jordyns age and has crooked teeth, should I get braces for them?

No. I do not recommend getting braces on your young child for cosmetic reasons. Unless your dentist says that your child has a medical need for it, I suggest waiting until they are older.

Q: How much did they cost?

The braces are paid in monthly installments. Theres about 15 payments of 161 a month. Plus a down payment of 500 dollars for a total of $2,765 dollars. Braces are NOT cheap. 

Q: What food could she eat and not eat?

We were advised not to eat any super crunchy foods ( carrots, apples, celery, etc) No popcorn, no bubble gum, no super sticky foods. Everything else was fair game. 

Q: Did she have a lot of pain?

There was actually very little pain. She only had pain when they would tighten her braces for about 15 mins, and after she was fine. 

 In addition to having braces put on Jordyn also had space maintainers put in. Space maintainers are put in when a child either loses baby teeth really early ( Jordyns case) or if there is severe tooth decay in the baby tooth and it needs to be pulled. Its' purpose is to keep the space open to allow the permanent tooth to erupt and come into place. 

The bumpers were added to her braces because the wire was cutting into her cheeks. Once her teeth were pulled back, they added the rubber bands to push them together. 

Braces are extremely expensive, so its very important that you take care of your teeth while you have them, otherwise, you'll have straight teeth but you'll also have a lot of other dental issues. We just had a checkup and cleaning, and the pediatric dentist is different than her ortho dentist and he had never met Jordyn, he was very surprised to hear that she had braces. He stated that it's rare for children to have teeth as clean as she has especially with braces. He said that he can usually tell when kids have braces because they have stains on their teeth that take multiple cleanings to get rid of but had I not told him she had braces he would never had guessed it. She left the cleaning with no cavities and a declaration of " perfect teeth"

I could go on and on about the importance of dental hygiene but.....if you don't listen to your dentist, I doubt you're going to listen to me. All I can do is share what we do, and hopefully inspire someone. 

While Jordyn had braces she brushed twice a day with a soft bristled toothbrush and Crest Pro-Health toothpaste flossed, and used  ACT Braces Care Mouthwash. It is hard to floss with braces so it takes time and patience but it is something that has to be done.

Nothing really changed onced she got her braces off. She goes in for her regular cleanings ( try to schedule a cleaning after Halloween to keep potential problems from all that candy eating at bay) Brush twice a day, floss and use mouthwash. Instead of the Braces care we now use ACT Anticavity flouride rinse. I don't use children products on her. So theres no bubble gum flavored anything going on. 

I allow Jordyn to brush and floss by herself, I used to watch her but now that I know she's got it down I allow her to do it herself. Its important to give children the freedom to try to do things on their own instead of automatically assuming they cannot do something. 

Teaching children about oral hygiene not only benefits their health but cuts down on potential costly dental work. 

 Just look at that smile!

Xo, Jeanice