The Importance of Being a Father

September 10, 2012Leave a comment

I recently read this article which provoked some thinking on what wonderful father’s my life has been blessed with. Thought I would pass along the read: Why Father’s Really Matter. It states some interesting facts on the importance of being a father and the life longs, generational impacts this may have, like:

Environmental toxins leave even more florid traces on grandchildren and great-grandchildren
When the study appeared in 2002, a British geneticist published an essay speculating that how much a boy ate in pre-puberty could permanently reprogram the epigenetic switches that would govern the manufacture of sperm a few years later.
Effects of betel nut consumption by a male may extend to his grandchildren
Fathers’ trauma communicates itself to their offspring
Children of men older than 50 were 2.2 times as likely to have autism as children of 29-year-olds
By the time the men passed 55, the risk doubled to 4.4 times that of 29-year-olds
What doctors should probably add is that the health of unborn children can be affected by what and how much men eat; the toxins they absorb; the traumas they endure; their poverty or powerlessness; and their age at the time of conception

Car Seat Guidelines: Tips for Keeping Your Child Safe

August 27, 2012August 24, 2012Leave a comment

Tips to ensure you are using a child car seat correctly

Car seats can be difficult to put in and can easily cause confusion. Here are some important car seat guidelines for keeping your little one safe:

Never put an infant in the front seat of a vehicle with a passenger air bag.
Route harness straps in lower slots at or below shoulder level.
Keep harness straps snug and fasten the clip at armpit level.
Make sure the straps lie flat and are not twisted.
Dress your baby in clothes that allow the straps to go between the legs. Adjust the straps to allow for the thickness of your child’s clothes. Do not use bulky clothes that could increase slack in a crash.
To keep your newborn from slouching, pad the sides of the seat and between the child’s legs with rolled up diapers or receiving blankets.
Put the car seat carrying handle down when in the car.
Infants must ride in the back seat facing the rear of the car. This offers the best protection for your infant’s neck.
Recline the rear-facing seat at a 45-degree angle. If your child’s head flops forward, the seat may not have reclined enough. Tilt the seat back until it is level by wedging firm padding such as a rolled towel, under the front of the base of the seat.
All new car seats are now required to come equipped with top tether straps. A tether strap is a belt that is attached to the car seat and bolted to the window ledge or the floor of the car. They give extra protection and keep the car seat from being thrown forward in a crash. Tether kits are also available for most older car seats. Check with the manufacturer to find out how to get a top tether for your seat. Install it according to instructions. The tether strap may help make some seats that are difficult to install fit more tightly.

Practicing Spelling Words: Fun and Creative Ways

August 11, 20123 Comments

As the children head back to school, it means homework is about to start again. If your child seems to be lacking passion for homework, here are some fun creative ways for practicing spelling words.

Creative Ways for Practicing Spelling:

Blocks: Legos, logs, pretty much any block will do. This helps a child’s creativity, as well as, learning the words
Chalkboard or White Erase Board: Not only does this give the child a chance to use something besides paper and pencil, but it also help to save a tree
Sand: Take your child outside. Let them draw the words with a stick into the ground.
Foam Letters: You know those big foam alphabet mats. Set them all out and have children jump out words. It helps them burn energy and learn the words.
Paint with Water: Water on extra cardboard can be a fun way to learn words and as it dries the words simply disappear, so that the child can practice all over again.
Shaving Cream: Kids can use shaving cream as a mat to carve the letters into. Fun with supplies you probably already have at home.
Online: There are all kinds of fun things online that allow your children to practice there spelling. Here is one site, Spellingcity.com , but there are many more like it.
Memory: This is less definitive, but is still good practice. Also you can keep the cards and rotate in old ones to keep them all fresh in the child’s mind.
Act Them Out: Have your child act out the letters while verbally spelling the word to you.
Manipulative:Search your house. Yes you might not have full out teaching supplies but even magazines are full of letters. Laminate letters in magazine or have your child do a gluing collage of there words.
Magnetic Letters: You can get these at the dollar store, so even if you do not have them the investment is minimal.

Good Luck with getting your kids spelling! and remember if they are having fun, they will forget they are learning and enjoy the process.

🙂

Trading Clothes: What to Do with All Those Outgrown Clothes

June 27, 2012Leave a comment

As a mom, I see my child outgrow clothes practically before they are worn. For example, I bought him 2 sets of sandals for summer in mid April (we leave in the heat) and by mid May his feet had grown them by 1.5 sizes.

There are several great options out there for what you can do with kids clothes. Here’s a list of great ways of trading clothes and other options when getting rid of old clothes:

Thrift Store it

There are tons of great thrift stores out there that sponsor different organizations. Think Goodwill and Salvation Army. They can be great for helping the community or a specific cause or both.

Selling Clothes

Selling clothes at garage sales or to a store can be an easy way to get a little extra cash. It does take some work and often times, I have found very minimal pay out, but I have done it to get a specific item or if you already having a garage sale, you might as well.

Hand-me-downs

Growing up as a second child, these were not always my favorite, but when they are shared amongst families, it doesn’t seem so bad. We constantly get clothes from friends, and they are great. We also are happy to hand them out as we always have a surplus and no room to store them.

Trading Clothes

There are some places to trade your kids clothes. Tradello is a new site starting on this premises, and although it is small now, these type of things are community based, so the more people to get involved the more successful they will be.

What are some of the things you do with your child’s old clothes?

Fun Free Toddler Apps: for iPhones and iPads

June 18, 20121 Comment

As summer is here and vacations are sure to be a worry if you have a little one in tow, here’s a list of fun free toddler apps that will keep your children entertained while challenging them to learn something too.

9 Free Toddler Apps to keep your little one busy learning…

Play Phone

This definitely has some annoying glitches, but we have also gone through phases where it was my sons favorite. He loves the function of personalization.

Giraffe’s Matching Zoo

There is I believe a paid version where you don’t have to deal with the annoying ads, but my child has fully learned to navigate the free version. It has great sounds to go with the cards, so it is more of a multisensory memory experience.

Animal Sounds for Baby

Admittedly this is for the younger child but I sometimes still here my two year old playing with it. There are some other cute baby ones made by Fischer-price.

Little Writer

This is a cute app to develop some pre-writing skills.

My First Wood Puzzles: Dinosaurs

This is super fun for a little boy or a dinosaur loving girl. It incorporates the alphabet with science all while working on fine motor skills.

Jake’s Never Land Pirate School

Nothing keeps m son as busy as an app he can also watch on television. This one is FREE and it has lots of fun inside of it from cruising a ship to playing music.

Counting Ants

This is a cute app that incorporates numbers and foreign languages. It has multiple animals and multiple modes of transportation so there is lots to keep your kids attention.

Preschool Games

This has tons of ways to learn and play. It is full of customizable options. It helps kids expand there vocabulary and learn all about animals.

Hello Crayons

This app is great for the budding artist. It is pretty straight forward for just coloring but it has lots of mediums and colors to choose from to keep your little artist hard at work.

A Child With Needs

Early child development from a mom and professional.

Category: Parenting