Toddlers and preschoolers, as well as older children, need to learn about limits. One of the developmental tasks of toddlers is to explore their surroundings. One of the tasks of parents is to consistently set limits.

Discipline is sometimes perceived as punishment — this is not correct. Discipline means parents teaching children which behaviours are acceptable, and which are not. In doing so, parents are also teaching the child to develop his own self-discipline. As he grows older, he will more easily be able to maintain limits for himself. This then becomes the precursor for self-control which is such an important quality in children (and adults).

Physical punishment

Discipline is not about physical punishment. Smacking or hitting your child should be avoided. It is possible to have a well behaved child without the threat of physical punishment. There are a number of arguments for not hitting children:

• It may teach your child that physical punishment or aggression is an appropriate way to interact with others.

• It has the danger of being an outlet for parental anger, and you will find it difficult to remain calm and in control of the situation while hitting your child.

Try to minimise or avoid the use of physical punishment. Use alternate methods of discipline.

*168\90\8*

What did you think when you read that you need to let the attack and the symptoms of anxiety happen? Did you think ‘I can’t do that. What will happen? How can I let it happen?’ How did you respond physically? Did you feel anxious? You probably did. Most people do when they first hear this. Did the anxiety or the negative thoughts come first? It was the thoughts which came first and the symptoms which followed. Very subtle but very true.

The first time we let an attack happen there may be an increase in the intensity of the attack. This happens because we are thinking ‘what if. Go with this onrush of fear. Let this happen also. When we are able to give up the fight and give in to an attack without resisting it, it will disappear so fast it will scare us further. ‘Where is it? Where did it go?’ ‘It’ will only return if we don’t let go of our fearful thinking.

When we fight the attack it can last for over an hour. When we totally give in to it and let it happen it can disappear within thirty seconds because it is not being fuelled by our fear-provoking thoughts.

*82\94\8*

At 3:00 am I looked at the clock and was relieved to see I had two more hours before the alarm would ring.

If you poll a group of parents, and get past the “She has always slept through the night,” you will hear a variety of comments:

When he is teething, he has a little trouble sleeping.

She seems so hungry at around 2:00 am—must be a growth spurt.

He has been waking with bad dreams.

If sleeping all night long, every night, is your expectation for your child,

you may be setting yourself up for frustration. Sleep needs and patterns

change with age, illness, and emotional or even environmental factors. Just as

with other parenting issues, our goals, expectations, and approaches must be

constantly re-evaluated.    

It is misleading to think of sleep as a state we simply fall into at night and wake from in the morning. Sleep research has shown that there are definite patterns and fluctuations during the night. They play important roles to help refresh us and can reveal some causes behind sleep disturbances.

The descriptions of these cycles can be quite technical. Because a basic understanding is crucial, an effort has been made to give a very simple explanation of what occurs and how your child might be affected.

*11\67\8*

If fluid is the cause of the swelling, it is usually lying within the peritoneal cavity. The peritoneum is a fine double membrane that lines our abdominal cavity. Fluid can form between the two layers of this membrane (the peritoneal cavity) for example, when cancer cells start growing on it. This fluid is called ascites. Ascites can also be caused by liver diseases — both cancer and some noncancerous conditions.

Severe bloating due to wind can develop when the bowel is partly or completely blocked. Abdominal swelling can also be due to cancer itself — perhaps greatly enlarging your liver, spleen, or kidney(s).

If your swelling is due to fluid, the resulting discomfort, lack of appetite, nausea and indigestion can usually be quickly and simply relieved by draining the fluid away. This can be done under a local anaesthetic through a plastic tube inserted through the abdominal wall. Unfortunately, the relief will be temporary unless something is done to stop the fluid from forming again. Reducing your salt intake and taking tablets to help you pass urine (diuretics) may help. Treating the responsible cancer itself, say with chemo^ therapy, may be an attractive possibility if you have a type of cancer which has a good chance of responding favourably to chemotherapy.

*205/40/1*

This is a stimulant and is responsible for the lift most people experience after drinking these beverages, but too many cups may make you tense and irritable and keep you awake if you drink them late at night.

Caffeine tends to constrict the blood vessels and, when the effect wears off, a rebound dilation of the scalp arteries may cause a throbbing headache. Many of the combination analgesic tablets and powders also contain caffeine and can relieve the headache by causing further arterial constriction.

But, when this wears off, headaches may recur.

Analgesic abuse is often related to the regular taking of analgesic tablets and powders for the “lift” experienced, then a rebound headache provides the justification for taking more analgesics.

*394/71/1*

Even if the cause is hormonal, it can still be corrected by proper dietary advice.

Once the periods have stopped and the woman has become post-menopausal, late changes may arise from the lack of oestrogen. The bones may lose their protein matrix and, with it, some of their calcium. This is called osteoporosis and the bone is thinner and weaker.

Lack of oestrogen may cause changes in the vaginal walls. The skin lining may become thickened and less moist. This may lead to irritation, infection, a discharge or an intolerable itch. Intercourse becomes difficult.

Similar changes may involve the urethra, the tube which carries the urine from the bladder to the outside. These changes may lead to frequency and pain on passing urine. This is commonly called cystitis but is due to irritation.

*141/71/1*

Despite some early grumbling and moaning, the players stuck to the diet almost 100 per cent during the whole two weeks of the Australian championships in Darwin in July. Ian planned the diet very carefully so that they got all the right foods at the right time—low G.I. before the game and high G.I. immediately after, along with jelly beans at half time!

He noticed that the benefits became very apparent early in the championship. The players themselves were noticing that they were not running out of energy during the game and were recovering a lot quicker than they had in the past.

About half way through the tournament other people started to wonder just where this Victorian team was getting all its energy from! Ian said:

‘At first they thought it was amusing and perhaps a little strange that we were eating Coco Pops and Rice Bubbles at the team bus in the carpark immediately after each game, but soon their amusement turned to curiosity.

People kept commenting on how fit the team was. But I knew that it wasn’t just their fitness. I had not had as much time as I would have liked to work on their fitness, and in fact I remember being concerned just before we went away that their fitness levels may not have been high enough. I knew that what I as seeing in Darwin was not just their fitness—it was the combination of fitness and a sustained energy supply. A “whole body fitness” was what we had achieved. It clearly demonstrated to me that you cannot do one without the other.

We ended up winning the championship by a relatively easy margin, and our fitness and energy levels were certainly a major contributing factor.

One of the things I liked about using the Glycaemic Index as the basis of the diet was that the players were able to very quickly understand the basic principles and by the end of the first week they knew exactly what to do.

I gave the players a questionnaire to complete at the conclusion of the tounament, and I thought you would be interested to hear some of their comments.

• ‘ I felt that when I played each game I was at my peak. I believe the diet played a major part in this.’

• ‘I found I had more energy coming into and during the game.’

• ‘Energy and glycogen levels were at perfect level.’

• ‘I never felt flat or without energy.’

• ‘Felt really good after every game, never felt run down during the game.’

• ‘Everything made me feel good before, during and after the game.’

• ‘Diet was major reason we did do well in the championships.’

• ‘Feel better after games, recovery is better, better energy in the game.’

• ‘I was never short of energy. My glycogen levels were con stantly maintained and replenished at the necessary points. I always felt fit and healthy.’

• ‘Kept my energy level high in the game and also after the game.’

• ‘After the game, recovery is far more rapid.’

*121\42\4*

In their simplest form, habits develop as an association between a stimulus and a response. Initially, a stimulus which initiates a response is known as an unconditioned stimulus (US) resulting in an unconditioned response (UR). This stimulus is then paired with a conditioned stimulus (CS) to give a conditioned response (CR). In psychological terms this is known as ‘classical conditioning’. Perhaps the best known example is the salivary experiences of Pavlov’s dog. Ivan Pavlov was a physiologist living in Russia around the turn of the century. He discovered, not so surprisingly, that every time he presented dinner to his dog, the dog salivated. Pavlov then paired the sound of a bell to the presentation of the food and found, after a while, that the bell alone was all that was necessary to cause the salivation.

Similar principles can be applied, in a very simplistic way, to humans. An example of a typical learned response to eat in modern society would be getting up from a chair to get something to eat every time an advertisement interrupts a program on television. The association between the advertisement and eating is a surprisingly simple connection, but the kind of thing that people do every day without conscious thought. This is similar to the habits formed in getting dressed, sleeping, working, driving a car, or the myriad of other activities that are carried out automatically during the day.

Examples of eating patterns that are conditioned include:

• eating at the same time every day whether hungry or not

• reading while eating (and thus getting hungry while reading)

• always finishing off everything on the plate

• eating crisps/peanuts with alcohol.

Examples of conditioned inactivity patterns include:

• driving to the shops instead of walking

• getting someone to get something for you rather than getting it yourself

• going for a drink instead of a walk

• sleeping in on cold mornings.

*185\186\4*