Kids and cell phones

When my children were infants and toddlers, I used to be horrified by the parents that gave their bigger kids cell phones. I used to look it as pure spoiled. My son is almost 10 years old, he walks my 6 year old daughter home from school. This was not out of my original choice, but because I work full time, and interestingly enough neighbours were not willing to help me out and bring my children home from school, which I would’ve gladly done for them if I could, they have to walk. Being a little bit concerned about their safety, I have given my son my cell phone to take along with him. He keeps it in a special place in his school bag, and it is not to be used at school, nor are his friends allowed to even know that he has it. If ever there is a safety or emergency issue, I have taught him only how to switch it on, call 911, and dial the very next emergency contact number. Each day when they are home safely I take it back from him and put it away. He does not ever use it during weekends or any other time, it is purely there for the safety of their walk home and that’s it. For those of you whose children are infants and toddlers, you are probably quite horrified at the idea, like I used to be. For me, it is just a tiny tiny bit of “peace of mind” for their safe walk home.

Kids & Food

Food seems to be a common topic among parents with young children.

You often hear parents say: “I’m so lucky, my child eats what ever I put in front of him” Then you hear the opposite from other parents, “Food is a constant battle”

There usually are 3 categories, when it comes to young children ad eating.

1) The “perfect” little eater.

2) The child that has a lot of variety in his or her diet, but is a little “fussy’ with certain things.

3) The very ‘fussy’ eater.

If your young child is a “perfect” eater like in category number one, then you are very lucky, so continue to incorporate a variety of foods in his or her diet, which should incorporate all four food groups.

Don’t be alarmed though, as your child grows up, their tastes do change with age, and so he or she may not be as open to as much of a variety of food as when they were young.

If your young child fits into category number two, don’t make a fuss about the food that he or she might not like. Rather continue to give the variety in their diet that they already have, and slowly but surely you can introduce other new things.

If your child fits into category number 3, I would first of all not make any issue of meal times. Find things that your child likes to eat, continue to give that as long as they are eating either fruit or vegetables. Slowly encourage new and different things from the four food groups. Try to make meal time and food fun, and even consider offering food in different ways e.g. try offering frozen peas instead of cook peas, you’ll be pleasantly surprised in how you can get your child to enjoy something new just by changing the way you prepare it. Also sometimes get them to choose want they want to eat and to help you prepare the meal. Children feel important to be involved in the process and you’ll be surprised once again at the variety that they might be willing to try. However if your child is adamant not to eat new things, don’t make an issue of it. Leave it alone. As children grow up, their tastes do change and they certainly become a lot more willing to try different food.

You’ll be surprised. Some of the children, who began as the fussiest eaters when they were small, eventually learn to appreciate all kinds of food. Usually the ones you least expect, will like the most variety of foods later on in life, and become ‘food adventurous’.

When you have young children, meal time and eating should not become a stressful issue. If it does, then later in life these are the children who will be prone to developing more serious eating disorder.

Germs

Should we be exposing our children to germs or should we be walking around with hand sanitizer in our purses?

Babies and little children tend to get sick a lot, especially after they join a daycare or preschool for the first time.

Unfortunately babies and toddlers put their hands in their mouths a lot, and also put toys in their mouths, especially babies who are teething. Other babies and toddlers will then pick up the same toys and put it in their mouths a minute later, and that’s how they pass their germs to one another. Is this avoidable? Not really when they are this little. However the best thing that one can do about this is to teach your baby and toddler from a very young age, not to put toys in their mouths. Take it out their mouths and repeatedly say, no Michael no toys in your mouth. It will take a long time but eventually when they become toddlers, they will learn not to put either toys or their hands in their mouths.

One doesn’t always have the time to wash toys daily, but when ever you have a chance you should try and keep the toys clean, also if you have taken a toy out of your child’s mouth, immediately put in the sink to be cleaned.

From the time your children are babies and toddlers, get them in to the habit of washing their hands, before and after meal time.

As your children grow into school age children, the best method of prevention of germs is to them to wash their hands. Get your children to wash their hands before and after meal time, as well as each time after going to the bathroom.

Although we do not want our children getting sick often, it is not always a bad thing, if our children are exposed to some form of germs. This helps build up a strong immune system later in life. We wonder how doctors stay as healthy as they do when they have a lot of bad germs around them, and this is probably because they have been exposed to so many bad germs they have had the opportunity to build up a stronger immune system. It is important to introduce your children to as many different types of foods as you can when they are young, this can also help build up their immune system, and prevent allergies later on.

One doesn’t realize that your children are not only exposed to germs in daycares, preschool and schools, but that even in the parks and shopping malls and any other public place, they are exposed to germs.

Don’t wrap your child up in cotton wool, but provide them with a healthy and nutritious diet, exercise, and a positive outlook on life, and your child will grow and develop into a healthy child.

Feeling age through your child’s age

For those of you who are reading this and whose children are adolescents you will probably have a good laugh at this. Last week my oldest son turned ten years old. I felt quite old at the fact that I have a ten year old son. He really is no longer a kid anymore and is kind of a pre teenager. I know that the challenges are going to come my way over the next few years. He is a fabulous boy with a wonderful disposition and very kind and caring heat. However I am aware that things may change as he approaches the teenage years.

My little one is six and half years old and I know when she turns seven this year, it will really hit me that we have no more babies at home.

In many ways I prefer the stage that they are at now to when they were infants. Don’t get me wrong, they were cute and adorable when they were infants. But, I do feel that I enjoy them in a different way now and I am certainly not as tired and exhausted as I was when they were infants.

I don’t know if any of you have felt this way before, but I really felt my age through my son’s 10^th birthday..

Disciplining our babies and toddlers

Often we hear parents say that they can’t believe that their babies and toddlers understand so much, and that they are so smart.

Yet, when it comes to having to discipline our babies and toddlers, a lot of parents say, oh she/he is too young to understand that they are doing something wrong – quite a contradictory isn’t it?

Discipline does not mean being mean to babies and toddlers, but rather teaching them and giving them direction.

Here are some methods of discipline that can guide parents along.

Firstly, always reward positive behaviour! Children thrive on praise, and it also helps to develop a good sense of self confidence.

Teach your children to use good manners and to respect other children and people.

From the time our children are babies, and begin to move around and explore their environment, it is important to teach them what they can and can’t touch. This is important for safety reasons too. All we have to do is in a firm tone say “No Jack you cannot put your hands all over the television!” Move Jack away from the television and re-direct his attention on to a toy that he can play with safely. Keep repeating this to your child and eventually they will loose interest in touching things that they are not supposed to. Be consistent so that your child learns well and does not receive mixed messages.

When our children are toddlers, disciple is a real challenge. Once again always reward positive behaviour, by doing this you will encourage good behaviour, and also develop a good sense of self esteem.

Your toddler will understand if you speak in a firm tone, when teaching them that certain behaviour like aggressive behaviour or impolite behaviour is not acceptable.

Toddlers become strong willed and will try everything to fight for what they want. Re-direction is a wonderful way of moving your child’s attention on to something else, and preventing a lot of upset behaviour. Be positive and show your toddler that they can have fun with lots of different toys, teach them to take turns and share while socializing with their friends.

Time out is also successful, it does not need to be something harsh or negative .It removes a toddler from the situation, and gives them a small moment to understand that what they where doing is not right. Teach your toddler to apologize to other children for upsetting them, and once again re-direct their attention to different toys.

Discipline can be a challenge with our babies and toddlers, but be consistent and be patient, so that we can encourage our babies and toddlers to grow into happy confident children.

Anything in extreeme is not healthy

We all want to do what’s best for our children. Sometimes parents don’t realize that what they are doing can be detrimental to their children.

You hear of Sam, the little boy that was never allowed even the slightest bit of sugar in his diet. His parents only wanted him to eat healthy food. That sounds alright, nothing wrong with that. However when Sam turned 3 years old, he was invited to a friend’s birthday party, and while all the other children ran around and played and had fun, Sam sat at the snack table guzzling down the candy that he had never tasted before. Of course giving candy to your children daily is unhealthy, however anything in moderation is okay, and a very small treat once a week is acceptable to give.

It’s the same with discipline. The child that is screamed at daily for every tiny thing that the parents feel they do wrong, will cause them to turn into an anxious child. The child who never hears the word no, will be the type of child that people dread having over to their house, as they become destructive and unpleasant to be around. The best thing to do is to choose your battles, but to teach your children to be respectful and to teach them the difference between right and wrong. Give them lots of praise and self confidence, but don’t let them be your boss, show them that you are in charge.

It also applies to things like too much programming or too little programming of your school age child. Children already spend a full week at school and are basically there for a whole day. Some children go to school a full day and their parents put them into a different extra curriculum activity each night and all weekend. Those children are sometimes so over programmed, not only do they not have time to relax and be kids for awhile, but they also burn our before they are even teenagers. Other children do not activities after school and nothing on the weekend either. You know your child best. If you think that too many activities in the week as well as full days of school each day is too much for your child, then at least do one activity or two activities on the weekend. Try and pick an activity that your child wants to do, and will have fun and that they don’t feel like it’s a chore. If you feel your child is the type that needs to be busy constantly, then instead of always putting them into programs make time for play dates as socialization is also very important. kids.

You know your child the best and what would work for your child’s needs. Although it is not always easy, try and create a balanced situation for your child. Anything in extreme is not healthy and can do a lot of harm to our children without us realizing it.

What kind of Curriculum do Toddlers & Preschoolers need?

This is an interesting question. In this day and age, it seems as if parents are obsessed with programming their toddlers.

What happened to the good old days when kids were kids? Kids used to build sand castles, draw pictures and run around outside creating imaginary games with their friends,

Digital toys were not available, so kids actually had to think for themselves and use their imagination.

Kids were less stressed, free spirited and happy.

It is not a bad thing that toddlers and preschoolers are placed in programs today, and yes they do absorb a lot of information at a young age. However you wonder how much information is really relevant to a toddler and preschooler and how much is just too much.

I don’t think it’s necessary to have an extremely formal curriculum at this age. Do you remember what you learned when you were 1, 2, and 3? I do think it’s important for toddlers and preschoolers to do craft, puzzles, and learning through circle times and creative play. It is very important to nurture their socialization skills, and teach things such as sharing, as well as how to communicate and interact with one another. This is a very important part of a child’s development.

For this age group, I think that all learning should be approached in a fun, and creative manner. Toddlers and preschoolers should not feel pressurized whilst being educated, but rather they should enjoy the fun of learning. This will help create an enthusiastic outlook toward learning that will extend through all their school years.

Anything in extreeme is not healthy

We all want to do what’s best for our children. Sometimes parents don’t realize that what they are doing can be detrimental to their children.

You hear of Sam, the little boy that was never allowed even the slightest bit of sugar in his diet. His parents only wanted him to eat healthy food. That sounds alright, nothing wrong with that. However when Sam turned 3 years old, he was invited to a friend’s birthday party, and while all the other children ran around and played and had fun, Sam sat at the snack table guzzling down the candy that he had never tasted before. Of course giving candy to your children daily is unhealthy, however anything in moderation is okay, and a very small treat once a week is acceptable to give.

It’s the same with discipline. The child that is screamed at daily for every tiny thing that the parents feel they do wrong, will cause them to turn into an anxious child. The child who never hears the word no, will be the type of child that people dread having over to their house, as they become destructive and unpleasant to be around. The best thing to do is to choose your battles, but to teach your children to be respectful and to teach them the difference between right and wrong. Give them lots of praise and self confidence, but don’t let them be your boss, show them that you are in charge.

It also applies to things like too much programming or too little programming of your school age child. Children already spend a full week at school and are basically there for a whole day. Some children go to school a full day and their parents put them into a different extra curriculum activity each night and all weekend. Those children are sometimes so over programmed, not only do they not have time to relax and be kids for awhile, but they also burn our before they are even teenagers. Other children do not activities after school and nothing on the weekend either. You know your child best. If you think that too many activities in the week as well as full days of school each day is too much for your child, then at least do one activity or two activities on the weekend. Try and pick an activity that your child wants to do, and will have fun and that they don’t feel like it’s a chore. If you feel your child is the type that needs to be busy constantly, then instead of always putting them into programs make time for play dates as socialization is also very important. kids.

You know your child the best and what would work for your child’s needs. Although it is not always easy, try and create a balanced situation for your child. Anything in extreme is not healthy and can do a lot of harm to our children without us realizing it.

Kids, programs and pressure

My 6 year old daughter has adjusted well to grade one and going to school five full days a week, plus a little bit of daily homework. However that seems to be enough for her. On Saturdays we do swimming in the mornings, as swimming is a “have to do”. For safety reasons, all kids have no choice but to learn how to swim properly on their own. She is really enjoying the swimming a lot, and at the moment it does not feel like it is a chore. She has no interest to do dance, gymnastics, skating, karate or any other extra curriculum. She loves to play with her princesses and Barbie’s and creates wonderful imaginative games. She loves play dates and socializing with all her new friends that she has from grade one.

Personally I am not worried and feel it’s wonderful that my daughter actually wants to be a kid. She swims on a Saturday which is something, and better than doing no physical fitness programs. I feel that a lot of children are ‘pushed’ into doing so many extra curricular activities both after school and on weekends, that they have no time to be a kid. I will always encourage the other programs, but not force them, as I want them to come from my daughter as her choice and enjoyment, and not for it to be a chore. In the meantime she will enjoy doing a little bit of a fitness program, and use her creative imagination and while loving the joys of childhood.

Communication is the key to success

From the time our children are babies, it is important to communicate with them. Our little children understand more than we think they do. Don’t change the way you speak to your baby or toddler, don’t talk in a different tone of voice, and don’t talk down to them.

Don’t speak to them like they are little robots. Be yourself, and your little one will understand you.

From as early as kindergarten, and then right through the grades and especially during high school days, keep the lines of communication open.

When talking to your children each day, ask very specific questions. Ask them things like what did you learn in math today, or did you have a good day or a bad day and then get them to elaborate. Ask them questions such as did you play with Sally at recess? If your child is in high school ask questions such as which close friends did you hang out with at recess.

Teach your children from a young age, not to be afraid to talk to you if things are bothering them. If you ever notice your child seems to be sad, or just not their regular happy selves, approach them with lots of questions. If your teenager does not want to speak to you, leave it alone, but let them know you are there for them to turn to if need be.

Your child must know that it’s important to talk to you if they experience any form of social, verbal or physical bullying. Teach your children to be strong, to stand up for their rights and generally that bullies pick on other children, because they have very low sense of self esteem, are very insecure, and that most bullies try make themselves feel better by making other children feel bad. If bullying ever becomes a more serious issue, contact your child’s school principal immediately.

As children grow up and become teenagers they are exposed to a lot of things in the world today, that us as parents never were when we were their age.

Young children are exposed to smoking, alcohol, drugs and sex at a very young age. They are also exposed to the internet and various chat lines that aren’t always safe for our children.

It is therefore important for parents to be a step ahead of their children’s friends and that we educate our children about what is going on in the world today, and that we teach them to make responsible decisions.

It is also important that we teach them that we will not judge them and that if they make incorrect decisions for themselves and that we are the first people that they must always turn to for help. Unfortunately in the world today there are many “sick” people that do horrible things to children , therefore it is important to street wise and educate our children as best as we possibly can.

Bed Time Fights

Princess T’s nine year old brother loves his sleep so much. He is so happy to brush his teeth and get ready for bed every night. He just can’t wait to get under his blankets and then in two minutes lights are out, and he’s in a deep sleep. However when it’s time for Princess T to go and brush her teeth, there’s always a moan, or an argument. Bed time has turned into an unpleasant issue.

So what do we do??? If we spanked her, we would be called abusive parents. Sometimes we try the 1, 2, 3 counting thing, and occasionally it works. Other times we threaten to take her favourite toys away, and she sometimes that works. Other times hubby threatens that she can’t do nice family outings- I don’t always agree with that one. Sometimes a smiley face chart works very well.

So basically each night we try a different tactic to avoid bed time issues, .We seem to have to find something different to use each night.

I’d be more than happy to receive any suggestions to make ess of an issue

Breast or bottle feeding?

There really is no right or wrong answer to this question. The answer is which ever works best for your baby and you.

The different factors that pertain to breast and bottle feeding are;

A) Convenience: breast feeding can be very convenient, especially during the night time feeds. There is nothing to prepare or heat up and your baby can be fed immediately as they need to. If you are bottle feeding, the best thing to do is to prepare the quantity of formula in the bottles ready for the night time, and have water that has already been sterilized in a jug waiting to pour directly into the bottle. These days’ hospitals will tell you that it’s alright to give the formula at room temperature, so one doesn’t even have to heat the bottle up at night. Your bottle fed baby can receive their feed as quickly as possible.

B) Bonding with your baby. Breast feeding did not work for me with both of my children, and I probably have a closer bond with my children than a lot of people who did breast feed their babies. You definitely have the opportunity to bond with your baby whilst breast feeding, but bottle fed babies can be equally bonded with their moms.

C) Nutrition – breast fed babies certainly do receive a wonderful nutrition from their moms provided they themselves eat a healthy diet, and do build up a strong immune system. Fortunately the formula today actually has a lot of wonderful vitamins in it, and bottle fed babies do receive enough vitamins to build up a strong immune system too.

D) When do you stop? There are no rules to end feeding your baby. Breast fed babies can continue to be fed until the mom feels it’s time to change over to bottle feeding or even drinking milk from a ‘sippi’ cup. Babies, who are bottle fed, generally stay on formula for a full year, and after a year their paediatricians recommend they can change over to regular milk, either in a bottle or cup.

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong answer to breast or bottle fed babies. Use your mothers instinct and do what works best for your baby and you.

Approaching your child’s world with optimism

Childhood can be both very exciting, and very challenging. It is very important to have a positive approach to our child’s world.

Our children never stop learning. Each stage of their life brings new learning and growing opportunities.When our children are babies, they discover new sounds, sights and movements. Babies absorb so many new things each day. They become excited, when learning something new; it takes them to each new stage of development. Babies learn to roll over and start to reach toys by themselves. They learn to sit upright, they learn to crawl, stand and walk by themselves. As they enter these new stages of development, they learn a sense of self confidence and independence. They also learn to wave and clap their hands. Babies make different sounds and noises; they smile, gurgle and laugh. It is the most precious moment for a parent, when a baby smiles and laughs for the first time.

Being a toddler and entering preschool age is certainly a very exciting time along with different challenges. It is a time when children explore new avenues. They learn to communicate and express themselves; they begin this by pointing to what they want and also using a certain amount of sign language. They develop sounds, words, and slowly start putting words together to form sentences, until they are able to communicate properly with an adult. They discover how to play with different toys. They learn to use their imagination, and also learn how to interact and socialize with other children..

School age is a new chapter in our children’s lives. This stage of a child’s life is challenging. Exciting and rewarding. Parents and care givers should encourage school and learning to be a positive experience. Each challenge should be approached calmly and one should always encourage the “doors of communication” to be open. .

We need to be excited with our children, about each stage of their lives. As our children develop in life, and approach each new challenge that they are faced with, we need to instil a strong sense of self confidence and self respect as well as respect for others, within our children.

Each child is unique, and each child has their own ‘special’ quality in themselves, that he/her will excel in, in life. As parents, care givers, teachers and child care workers, it is important to bring out the best in each child, so that each child can “blossom’ in life.

The miracle and experience of birth

We all know that when we see a new born baby or have children of our own, those new born babies are truly a miracle.The question is though what kind of experience did the mom’s go through to bring that miracle into the world?

There are lots of mother’s today who choose to have a home birth either with or without a midwife present and no pain medication at all. I admire the mother’s who do that and hope that it can always turn out to be a positive home birth experience. There are mothers who experience their full pregnancy with an OB and have their OB or any other OB deliver their babies in the hospital with and epidural and pain medications. Some births can turn into an emergency C Section which is often necessary to save the life of mother or baby. Then there are mothers and often during their second births that may have to have a planned C Section. Once again this may be necessary for the safety of the mother and baby.

My first birth was a natural birth delivered in the hospital It was 35 hours of labour and initially I took an epidural but when it was time for the baby to come out the epidural had worn off and they would not top me up with another one. I had also developed toxaemia at the end. I had great trouble getting my miracle baby out. It was a very difficult birth and a very hard recovery there after. However my special boy is the best boy in the world and it was worth every difficult moment to have him in my life. My second birth 3 years later was with a different OB and it was a planned C Section. I was awake in the C Section and didn’t feel a thing. I was treated like an absolute queen and felt like it was a lot more civilized way to give birth. My recovery was quick and easy and after 10 days I was well healed and running around and driving. I have the most precious girl in the world that came out of that wonderful birth.

We are all going to have different birth experiences, some positive and some negative. Which ever way it turns out, I know that the miracle of our babies is worth everything.