92 Percent Want ‘Country of Origin’ Labels on Food
In what can only be described as “obvious,” 92% of people want their food to have the country of origin on the label.
It should come as no surprise to people that having everything you and your children eat, wear and play with come from a country with horrible environmental and human rights records might be a bad thing.
One more reason to plant some heirloom crops, try make do with not made in China and eat locally grown foods.
Free Play at the Playground
The playground is a great, free place to spend the afternoon or morning or whatever time of day suits your needs. If you have one within walking distance of your house, even better. The playground can be a place to stop for 10 minutes to give the kids a chance to run off some energy (good luck getting them to leave after only 10 minutes, though). Or it can be the destination for a long afternoon. Or maybe it is a place to meet up with other stay at home parents or the local playgroup.
Find a park that fits your needs. For an infant, find a place where you can park the stroller and let the baby play on the grass or on a blanket. If you are outside, make sure there are shaded areas. Baby swings are great. If you have young twins, sit them in the baby swing back to back.
Your toddler might be starting to climb on anything and everything. If this is the case, try out the play structure area yourself. Make sure the steps are safe and if there are places where your enthusiastic little one might tumble, stay with them as they climb. Check out the ground cover around any climbing structure as well. Thoroughly check out any sand play areas, particularly if they are not covered and if there are cats living in the area. Baby swings are still great for toddlers until they get too big. If your toddler is a ‘runner,’ watch for areas where s/he could run off or run toward a street.
Bigger kids might want a more intricate climbing structure. If they are old enough to keep track of their own toys, take a kickball or other toy to keep them interested. You may want to label the toys you take to the playground with your telephone number (not your name or your child’s name!) in case they are left behind.
If you are going to spend a significant amount of time at a park or playground, pack a diaper bag before you go. Include diapers, water or other drinks, snacks and sunscreen. If it has been rainy recently, take an old towel to wipe down the slides and other equipment. If there aren’t benches, take a blanket to sit on. If there are muddy areas in the park, take a plastic bag for soiled shoes and clothes.
Teach your kids from an early age to stay within ‘vision distance’ of you. They should be able to see you at all times. And you, as well, should pay attention to them all you can. Although I know the chance to sit down and chat with other stay at home parents is mighty tempting. If you are taking your child’s friend with you, check with their parents to make sure they don’t have any allergies that you should be aware of. If the play structure is wooden, do a once over for splinter-y areas. If the structure is plastic or metal, check for heat before sending your kids onto it.
Television vs Books
A recent study has shown that kids develop stronger vocabularies when read to (surprise!) and talked to by a real adult, not one on TV.
…the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos.
I will toss my opinion into the fray and add that I think the best thing you can do for your baby/toddler/child is to read to them every day and talk to them. It doesn’t matter what you are talking about. Give them a blow-by-blow account of how you are fixing their breakfast. What matters is that they are listening to your voice. They are hearing your intonation and gaining new vocabulary. Ask them questions and then answer them yourself if they are not old enough to carry on a conversation. I don’t think all TV is bad, but I do try to limit The Boy’s TV watching to a half an hour per day. And to be honest, he usually loses interest after about 10 minutes anyway.
As a former teacher, I can not stress enough the importance of encouraging kids to read and reading to them. I could usually tell, by the end of the first week of school, which kids were read to at home. Most of the time, they were more focused and willing and able to do grade level work.
As your kids grow, try to set aside at least a little time every day to read with them. By talking and reading to them, you will see their vocabulary grow rapidly every day!
Book Review: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Another book that we relied heavily on when The Boy was an infant and which we still refer to now and then is
by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. In fact, our family mantra comes straight out of this book: A Well-Rested Family Is A Happy Family. It is what I sign on all “advice to the new mother” pages at baby showers. It is what we said over and over when we were sleep-training The Boy.
Everyone has a different stand on sleeping and where the baby should sleep (in bed, in a crib, in a co-sleeper), whether or not sleep-training should be used and when a baby should no longer need to eat during the night. Whatever your own beliefs are, I do think this is a good book to read. Dr. Weissbluth covers a multitude of issues, from sleep training to night terrors, nap timing to bedtime routines. He does emphasize the importance of naps and wake time and suggests ways to determine your own child’s sleep pattern. I did not feel that this book was ‘preachy.’ In fact, I felt that I, as the reader, was being encouraged to figure out what would really work best for my own family. The book has statistics, but I didn’t find them too overwhelming.
Now, I must admit that The Boy was and still is a great sleeper. But this book helped us stay on track to establish a sleep routine and stick with it.
Book Review: The Happiest Baby on the Block
A friend lent us a stack of books before The Boy was born. One of them was The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. This turned out to be our ‘go-to’ book for all things soothing when The Boy was an infant. That tricky time between birth and 4 months old can be frustrating in terms of soothing and sleeping. For both baby and parents.
Dr. Karp describes the first 3 months of life as the 4th Trimester. Evolutionarily, he explains, babies had to be born with smaller heads in order to not cause harm to the mother at birth. This 4th Trimester, then, is a time period in which babies should be treated to situations that are as womb-like as possible. Dr. Karp of course gets into much more detail in his book. He has developed 5 steps to create a soothing experience for your baby.
The 5 S’s are: Swaddle, Swing, Sucking, Side, Shush. We found that a tight wrap, or swaddle, on The Boy really calmed him when he was fussy and helped him to sleep through the night. We swaddled him during sleep times from birth until about 6 months of age. This gives the baby that tight, warm feeling of the womb. All during gestation, your baby was gently rocked by your movements. This is where the swing comes in. We used a musical swing for nap times for the first few weeks. Most infants need to suck. Many sucked on fingers in the womb and they instinctually need to suck in order to eat after birth. Dr. Karp recommends a pacifier for soothing infants. One position that babies often feel most secure is a side hold. We would sometimes swaddle The Boy and hold him ‘football style.’ Shushing (or a white noise machine) may sound like what the baby heard in utero. We also often shushed him loudly while he was falling asleep. In our own experience the white noise machine did not work as well as mommy or daddy.
Dr. Karp writes with humor and includes some funny cartoons. There are also many anecdotes and personal stories from his own patients included in the book. It is repetitive, but I believe that this just enforces the 5 S’s and other ideas that he has put forth in the book.
If you are watching your pennies, then check this book out from the library or scour your local garage sales for a copy.
NOTE: I was excited to read The Happiest Toddler on the Block when The Boy got a little older. However, I was not as impressed as I was with the first one. It is still an interesting read, but it didn’t hit home like The Happiest Baby on the Block.
-
Twitter Updates
-
Topics
-
Archives
-
Links