Have you ever had a morning when you woke up and everything was coming at you like a ball of fire….baby crying, phone ringing, stomach growling, people knocking at the door, or your neighbor's music is too loud. It’s always something. You don't want to get out of bed, take a shower, talk to ANYONE, or even clean. You’d rather live and lay where it’s just messy, thinking your mess is the comfort you need to get through the day. Do you have moments like this? You want to go crawl under a rock and never come out. You want to throw in the towel and say “NOPE” to any and every one that crosses your path. People this is what you call a depressive state of mind.
But the God I serve did not allow the devil to take over me. He allowed me to get out of that bed and get myself together, take my shower, do my hair, put on lashes (lol), play with my baby, do her hair, and make sure she’s clean and looking cute. This year (2017) I want to be better, happier, and more loving. I feel this is my year to get all this junk out of me that's been in me since I was 12 years of age. With God on my side and my New Beginnings family, anything is POSSIBLE! Philippians 4:13 New International Version (NIV) I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. Shaneka has been a resident at New Beginnings since June of 2015. She is working towards pursuing a degree in nursing. She has always dreamed of working in the healthcare field and is excited that New Beginnings can help her fulfill her dream. She enjoys spending time with her beautiful baby girl, Kiarra.
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Sometimes I wonder how I came this far and how I manage with both my kids. To tell you the truth, sometimes it gets hard but I’ve learned that nothing is impossible, especially when it comes from God. With Him, everything is possible! When I had my second baby, I didn’t know how I was going to do this but honestly it just came naturally for me to manage both of my kids. Coming to New Beginnings really changed everything and made me look at my situation so differently. Truthfully, it helped my faith grow more and more. It is just amazing how God did all this. Wow, God is really good! I thank Him for bringing me here. I have learned and I am still learning more and more day by day. I am not going to give up because New Beginnings hasn’t given up on me even when they should have. I really do love the women at New Beginnings. They truly show what love and family are all about. They care, they’re very supportive, and they teach you more about God so your faith can grow more with Christ. When you need a shoulder or someone to talk to, they are here and they will cry with you. Amazing! These women care and the love and compassion they have shows that they definitely love their jobs, our kids, and us. God bless these women now and forever! Jasmira has been a resident at New Beginnings since May of 2016. She is working towards pursuing a career as a beautician. She is excited that New Beginnings can help her fulfill her dream. She enjoys spending time with her beautiful baby Caleb and going to visit her older son often.
Ways to encourage cognitive growth. Read books aloud to your baby and recite nursery rhymes, choose books that have brightly colored pictures that show common objects, point and make noises – say the animal sounds to go along with the animal pictures. Babies enjoy cloth books with different textures, and flaps. Have meaningful conversations with your baby, react to their coos and smiles, they are expecting you to respond. Provide lots of fun bath toys. Give your baby toys that let him push a button to make something happen, or activities like shaking or banging objects. Your baby wants to see the results of his actions, this helps him learn the “if-then” reasoning. As you can see, babies are not only growing physically during their first years of life, but also cognitively (mentally). It’s never too early to help your baby become all that they can be. Karen O'Leary is the the Program Manager at New Beginnings. She has her BA in Bible Theology and her Masters of Divinity. She has 8-years of experience as a Social Director at a non-profit organization helping those in crisis with financial assistance, brief supportive counseling, and being a spiritual presence in their time of need. In her free time Karen enjoys reading, cooking and traveling. A lot of people struggle with going to school or working. Why is getting an education important when you need money to support your child/children now? Especially mothers, we need to find ways to provide for our children. We need to work to have the funds available to support our children. We have to look beyond now and look into our future, and having a higher education can help your future become secure. Growing up I always wondered why my mom pushed education on me so hard. Who likes waking up early for school? I never knew how much education could be important until I got older. Higher education offers graduates more jobs to choose from than those who didn't continue their schooling. Higher education also improves an individual's quality of life. By having a higher education, you have more access to better healthcare, better jobs, and more stability in life! When I first found out about being pregnant, I wanted to work to make sure I had enough money to take care of my daughter. I had to realize the bigger picture and that was that my daughter needed a stable future. The best decision you can make for your children is giving them a stable future. I love New Beginnings and the mission behind continuing your education. Providing the best resources and guiding them while they're in school. I’m working while in school, but I always make sure my education comes first. Higher education will help you expand your knowledge and skills. It will prepare you for things you need to know in the world. I want to teach my daughter that with God anything is possible. While I’m going to school and taking care of my daughter, it is teaching her the importance of education. DeShanna Turner- Smith Is the intern here at New Beginnings. She is pursuing her associates degree at Milwaukee Area Technical College in human services and will be graduating in December. While juggling school and work she enjoys spending time with her daughter. She's so excited and thankful to be apart of the New Beginnings team!
Strategy #1: Use school time wisely. If you have free time during school, use that time to try and get some homework done or even study for an upcoming test. These things may or may not work for you but it wouldn’t hurt to try. Good luck! Meosha is a former resident here at New Beginnings. She joined our family in January of 2016. She has a beautiful little girl for whom she is striving to make a better life for. How can we correctly install and use car and booster seats to keep our kids safe? Did you know that studies show that car seat use reduces the risk of death to infants by 71% and to toddlers (1-4 yrs.) by 54% in passenger vehicles? Booster seats reduce the risk for serious injury by 45% for children aged 4-8 yrs. when compared to seat belts alone. As far as rear-facing vs. front- facing car seats go, each car seat has its own height and weight requirements – so you will need to check, however, most car seats allow children to sit rear-facing up to 40 lbs. The height limit for most rear- facing seats is that there must be a least 1 inch of room between the top of the child’s head and top of the car seat. When your child reaches the height or weight limit it is time to switch from a rear-facing to forward-facing car seat. Car seats expire, and when they do, they are no longer safe. Most manufacturers place an expiration date of 6 years on their car seats. Since car seats are expensive, people often pass them on or donate them without realizing this. Always check the expiration date before using them, and realize that if a car seat has even been in a minor accident it is no longer usable, and should be replaced. Don’t accept a donated car seat if you are not 100% sure of its history. I heard someone say, “You take your child to the doctor and dentist for preventative care. Well, meeting the requirements and new guidelines for car seats is preventative care too.” A car seat is one of the most important purchases you will make for your child. For parents that are concerned that they haven’t installed their child’s car seat correctly go to www.seatcheck.org then, click onto Parents Central | Keeping Kids Safe| NHTSA. Under EXPLORE (on the bottom of the page), go onto Inspection Station Locator, put your zip code in and it will show you on a map where to go for help to install or check your car seat. Karen O'Leary is an Assistant Home Manager at New Beginnings. She has her BA in Bible Theology and her Masters of Divinity. She has 8-years of experience as a Social Director at a non-profit organization helping those in crisis with financial assistance, brief supportive counseling, and being a spiritual presence in their time of need. In her free time Karen enjoys reading, cooking and traveling. As a former daycare teacher, I learned so many things about the growth and development of a child. I helped out in the infant room where we took care of babies just 6 weeks old. I worked my way up room by room and age by age. I attended school toward my degree and I also took day classes to keep up with the research and development of care and procedures. I worked my way up to the school age classroom where I did the after school program and summer school program. It was a wonderful experience for me and I loved to see the children grow and learn. What I missed during my years at the daycare was the opportunity to share God’s Word and His Love with the children there. We were so focused on their physical well-being and because it was a public daycare, we were not allowed to focus on the children’s spiritual well-being.
While it is most important to know that the children are growing in faith, I would like to share some ideas on how to help their physical development. Working in the daycare field helped me put a lot of these tips and tricks into practice and it was fun to see the children learning through play. There are endless ideas out there on helping your children develop specific skills. Everything from fine motor skills like putting puzzle pieces in place to large motor skills like running and jumping should be considered. You can find various websites for specific skills but you are welcome to check out a website I found that has many different tips and ideas to help your child grow and develop physically and mentally. There are many different links on The Imagination Tree webpage so have some fun and try a few of these out with your little ones! If you don’t have little ones of your own, share this page with other young moms or use these ideas for grandchildren, friends, nieces and nephews. The children will have fun and you will know that you helped with their growth! God’s Blessings on your journey with His precious little ones! May they grow strong in faith and body. Christina Pritzlaff is married with two children. She has completed Early Childhood 1 & 2 classes, Infant Toddler classes, and completed the coursework for her Associates degree in Child Development. Christina splits her time between spending time with her family and working at New Beginnings. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her children, camping, fishing, reading, and doing counted cross-stitch. How can I help my baby become a good sleeper? What can I do to help my baby fall asleep? What sleep strategies can I try? Getting your baby to sleep can be a challenge and it is often the number one concern of parents. Even though there isn’t any sure way to get your baby to sleep, there are some things you can do to ease your mind and help the process along.
After 3 months, babies will sleep 13 to 15 hours a day, some more or less than others. Babies will also need naps from 2 to 4 times a day, so just remember not to let your baby nap too close to bedtime. Between 3 to 18 months, the baby learns to soothe himself to sleep. Place your baby down to sleep when he is drowsy but awake. Babies need to be able to fall asleep independently so that they can self- soothe when they wake in the middle of the night. Once your baby sleeps through the night, you can put him to sleep in his own room.
Just remember, babies don’t naturally take to sleeping through the night. Consistency is key. Sleep is a learned skill and it isn’t learned overnight. Karen O'Leary is an Assistant Home Manager at New Beginnings. She has her BA in Bible Theology and her Masters of Divinity. She has 8-years of experience as a Social Director at a non-profit organization helping those in crisis with financial assistance, brief supportive counseling, and being a spiritual presence in their time of need. In her free time Karen enjoys reading, cooking and traveling. When you hear the word Mother, who do you think of? It might be the woman who gave birth to you. It might be the woman who raised you. Does it make you think of a woman who was always there for you? Or perhaps someone who wasn't really there for you much, but worked all the time to help pay the bills? Okay, so clearly Beaver had some interesting ideas of what being a woman is all about... If you watch the nightly family sitcoms on television or if you ever go on the popular website Pinterest, you will see all sorts of unspoken rules or standards that mothers today are set against. Married mothers, single mothers, working mothers, and stay at home mothers all have standards to live up to. Often it is the mother's job to take care of the house. The shopping, cooking, cleaning, planning, and laundry for the family all lay on the mother. According to The United States Department of Labor website, almost 70% of mothers with children under the age of 18 years of age are working either full-time or part-time. So now they, like many others, have to balance the home chores with a job. Let's throw kids into that factor now. After all, this is what makes them mothers. Child-rearing is a huge job in itself. Everything from waking with the child at night for diaper changes and feedings, teaching them how to take care of themselves as they get older, helping with homework, carpooling to sports, attending school meetings, and helping them cope with the changes through life is a job a mother often takes on herself. Knowing who her children's friends are and keeping her children safe, what they like and what they do in their free time, and the children's hopes and dreams are all things that a mother needs to know. Basically, a mother is supposed to have it all and do it all. All of this is quite overwhelming. How can a single person live up to these standards all the time? I know that I fall short as a working mom. I struggle with juggling a job, housework and the kids. I feel like during their teenage years is when they need a mom more than ever to be there for them. My house should be clean for when they want to have friends over and my responsibility to my job is very important to me. I think that all moms struggle and become stressed out with the responsibilities of being a mother. Now as crazy as it sounds, I would like you to take a step back and forget all of what the world thinks a mother should be and look at what God says a mother should be. Let's look at what the Bible says children are. Psalm 127:3 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Let's remember what God says about being a mom and the role a mother should play, and everything else will fall into place. Christina Pritzlaff is married with two children. She has completed Early Childhood 1 & 2 classes, Infant Toddler classes, and completed the coursework for her Associates degree in Child Development. Christina splits her time between spending time with her family and working at New Beginnings. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her children, camping, fishing, reading, and doing counted cross-stitch. Discipline is a subject that is hard to talk about with parents and non-parents alike. Every child is different and everybody has an opinion on how to raise and discipline your children. As a mother, I welcome any advice and still value the opinions of my friends and family on how I can be a better mom and raise my kids to be respectful and obedient. I want to discipline them in love and help them make better choices out of their own free will and not out of force. I will be honest though. Sometimes, somebody will show me a different way to handle discipline or offer me some advice and I start to get defensive. Thoughts will run through my head that I don't like to face. These thoughts sometimes sound like, "Who are you to tell me how to handle my kids?" and, "Are you calling me a bad mom because I don't do that?" The truth is that most of the time, it is done out of love. They want to see me succeed and they are offering tools to help me and my children. With careful instruction here at New Beginnings, we are teaching our resident mothers how to discipline out of love and understanding the way that God instructs us to do. God is love and so everything He does is out of love. Should we not mirror His example? The Bible tells us "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." - Proverbs 13:24 We are also told "Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death." - Proverbs 19:18 God disciplines us out of love. We are His children. We should raise our children out of love the way God has loved us. As a mother of teenagers, I was looking for advice on disciplining my children out of that love that Christ has taught us. I found a website that is wonderful and has tips on how to discipline from a Christian point of view using our Lord as the center. You can see it by clicking on the button below. May God Bless and Guide You! Christina Pritzlaff is married with two children. She has completed Early Childhood 1 & 2 classes, Infant Toddler classes, and completed the coursework for her Associates degree in Child Development. Christina splits her time between spending time with her family and working at New Beginnings. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her children, camping, fishing, reading, and doing counted cross-stitch. |
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