Raising young children is probably more art than science. While you may or may not have been blessed with the innate ability to be a great parent, you can learn good parenting skills. Realize that life as a toddler can be very frustrating. They can't get what they want on their own and when they can't do it themselves, they may communicate their frustration by throwing a tantrum or other misbehavior.

Here are 5 keys to getting good behavior from your toddlers.

1. Head off tantrums before they begin

• If a tantrum breaks out, stay calm and try to distract your child. Don't worry about minor eruptions, but if your child is hitting, kicking, and screaming. You have to hold him or her close to you or if that doesn't work, try a short period of alone time (for the child that is).


• Recognize and avoid tantrum triggers. You should know if your child more often than not has tantrums in a certain setting, Avoid that place or situation if possible. If it's necessary to take her to a stressful situation, make sure she's not tired or hungry.


• Use a Mister Rogers voice - kind, soft, friendly - when you ask your child to do something. Use please and thank you a lot. "Taylor, please put the knife down... Thank you"


• Stay calm when you hear, "No". It may sound defiant to you, but it's just another word to your child if you don't overreact.


• Don't say, "No" to you child very often. Pick your battles.


• Make sure your child understands what you are asking of her. It may be crystal clear to you, but may be confused.


• Let your child choose frequently. It teaches independence. "Which shoes would you like to wear this morning?


• Don't bargain. Don't make deals like, "If you stop screaming, we'll go to MacDonalds for lunch." You'll just be teaching your child to behave only when he's being rewarded.


• Make a game out of good behavior. He'll be more likely to do what you want if you make it fun.


• Establish a daily schedule and stick to it. Your child likes to know what to expect.

When your child breaks the rules, she needs to know what the consequences are and you need to be completely committed to enforcing the consequences. Dad and Mom, and Nanny all have to be on the same page. Rules must be enforced and consequences meted out uniformly. This reduces your child's confusion and need to test the rules.

Here are some ideas that will help.

• Make consequences logical. "If you don't put your train set away right now, you won't be able to play with it tomorrow. Taking away the use of the toy connected to the misbehavior is a logical consequence.


• Let your child experience the consequences of his actions naturally as long as he is not endangered. If he breaks a toy, he won't be able to play with it any more.


• Timeout. If after a warning, your child continues to misbehave, lead your child to a designated timeout spot. Make it short - 2 to 5 minutes for young children. If your child resists, hold him or her by the shoulders until time out is over.

With very young children, protect your child from harm with a few simple rules. You will add rules as needed, but watch for signs of confusion and frustration from your child indicating that you're expecting too much of them.

4. Accept Your Child

Your child will develop a unique personality, a complex package of genetic and learned traits. You may not like your child's personality because he or she is not like you or too much like you. Perhaps you'd prefer to have a more athletic son or a more outgoing daughter. Stop it. Accept your child. If they feel unaccepted, they will be more likely to behave badly.

5. Do It With Love

Show your child that you love him or her. Your child must feel that your love far outweighs any punishment or consequences. Reassure them of your love with frequent hugs and kisses. Praise them when they follow the rules. It will motivate them to more frequent good behavior.

This article gives you advice on how to boost your brain power and keep your brain in the best shape possible.

1. Exercise

Getting cardiovascular exercise is one of the most important aspects to having a healthy brain. The main reason is that cardiovascular exercise increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain. There are other benefits to exercise, but it's of great benefit to the brain in particular.

2. Brain Activities

We all fall into routines in which we aren't using our brains to learn anything new. This becomes more common as we get older and lose interest in new things. Unfortunately for some, their minds fall into such a rut that they develop attention deficit disorder or even worse - dementia.

There are many ways to keep the brain active. Here are just a few of many: Reading, doing arithmetic in your head, memory exercises, learning a musical instrument, learning a foreign language, crossword puzzles, chess, games that require concentration, or any kinds of puzzle games in general. Creative exercises such as painting, poetry, music, improv, or writing are also great ways to use the brain.

Here is a recommendation, for example: If you take the same path to work each day, challenge yourself by taking a different path and figure out how to get there just by using your mind. Try memorize the street names and just exercise your brain as much as possible. Another similar example would be for a guitar player to try and play his guitar left-handed, simply for the sake of mental exercise. Get the idea?

The purpose of these kinds of exercises is not only to build concentration ability, but to keep challenging your brain to learn new things. When the brain learns something new, it develops new neural pathways. So in a sense, every time you learn something new your brain "blazes a new trail" so that it gets easier the next time you do it. If you remember when you first learned to type on the keyboard, it was difficult remembering where all the letters were. At this point in time, I'm sure that you have so many neural pathways that your mind effortlessly types away on autopilot.

Increase your brain power by learning to do something new, and use your brain in ways that you are not typically familiar with. It takes some effort, but it's well worth it.

3. Get Outdoors

Many people suffer from poorly ventilated areas such as offices or rooms that lack oxygen. Well, big surprise: The brain needs oxygen to perform at its best. Make sure to get outdoors, get a little sunlight, and keep your homes and offices well ventilated.

4. Brain Foods

If you haven't already read my article about Healthy Brain Foods, be sure to check it out. In summary, I'll say that the our brains benefit the most from fish, blueberries, natural coffee and dark chocolate (in moderation), walnuts, blueberries, eggs, cheese and milk (in moderation), whole grains, avocados, bananas, and many other great foods such as acai berries, almonds, and cashews.

The brain is very greedy and taxes the body heavily in terms of blood sugar. The brain feeds directly on glucose, so if you aren't nourished, you will lack focus and concentration. For this reason, it's important to Eat a Big Breakfast before you start the day.

Eating a diet full of protein, whole grain carbs, and healthy, unsaturated fat is the key to a healthy brain.

5. Relaxation, Peace of Mind

If something's bothering you, it's very difficult to concentrate since your mind is constantly somewhere else. The same thing occurs when you're in a situation in which you are distracted, such as email notifications or a nagging relative. When you have peace of mind, you have clarity and focus. Try some relaxation techniques like a hot shower, bath, meditation, or deep-breathing. It's also good to take a break: Go for a walk or watch a movie to get your mind away from the stress, so you can come back refreshed.

6. Brain Supplements

I'm not going to get too much into herbs and vitamins that boost brain power, because much of it is due to speculation and conflicting data. I will emphasize that Omega-3 Fish Oil has been proven to help increase cognitive ability. Aside from the regular vitamins A through E that we normally ingest with food or over-the-counter vitamins, I don't see much of a need to rely on other supplements. It's rumored that Gingko Biloba helps enhance brain concentration and reduces memory loss over time, but there are conflicting studies. Just be sure you're following the Mr Healthy Diet and taking your multivitamin each day. That should be just fine.

7. Avoid Alcohol and Smoking

While there are some benefits for middle aged or older people to have 1-2 drinks per day, keep in mind that alcohol directly kills brain cells. So the health benefits of alcohol do come at a price. It does matter how much you are drinking though. If you do drink occasionally, keep it under control and follow the advice in the rest of this article so that your brain does not suffer.

While we're on the topic of alcohol, I'll also mention smoking. It's not only bad for your skin but it's also bad for your brain. The primary reason is that it restricts blood flow to your organs, which obviously include your brain. The same goes for drugs, which can cause mild to severe damage.

8. Sleep

Without a good night's rest, it's very difficult for the brain to concentrate. Each one of us is different, and we all require a different amount of sleep. Using trial and error, you must determine which amount of sleep is best for you and try to stay on a schedule. Consistency is key!

President Obama's $789 Billion Recovery Bill includes some health care benefits for those recently unemployed. If you lost your job after September 1st, 2008, this bill has some very good news for you regarding your health care. The federal government will soon subsidize 60% of your COBRA premium for 9 months. Doesn't sound like a big deal to you? Let me explain. COBRA coverage is offered to individuals and their families who had group coverage with their employer before they lost their jobs. The problem is that COBRA insurance premiums are high and unemployment benefits are no so high. In fact, the average premium for family COBRA coverage exceeds the entire monthly unemployment benefit in 9 states: Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

If you lost your job recently, you have 62 days to decide on taking the COBRA offer or not. TAKE IT. You'll have to pay the entire premium for a month or two, but once the new legislation takes effect, you'll be paying only 35% of the premium. It's a great deal. Purchasing your own individual health insurance, assuming you can qualify, will cost you more for less coverage. If you pass up on the COBRA offer or wait beyond the 62 day window, you can't opt in later. It's a one-time offer.

Unfortunately, last minute haggling removed from the bill a provision that would have extended COBRA coverage to age 65 for jobless Americans over age 55.