Making Your Home the Hangout foryour Children and their Friends When you have children, it always is agood idea to have them hang out with their friends at your home.While it might seem like more work on your part, there are many morebenefits to consider. When your home is the central hub, you have theopportunity to meet their friends and ensure that they are notgetting into any kind of trouble. You can make sure they are safe andthat there is adult supervision. You can make your home a place wherechildren and teens want to hang out, if you follow some of these easysteps: Start early – If you are planning to stay in the neighborhood for a while, you need to establish your home as the hub while your children are still young. A good quality play set will help with this, and if you have a large enough indoor space, your children will feel comfortable having their friends over. Invite them – Make sure your children know that your house is an option. If they seem to hang out with … [Read more...]
CHD
It affects 1 in 100 babies. It kills more babies than SIDS or anyother birth defect. It's the most common birth defect. It kills more children than double allchildhood cancers combined. Congenital heart defects are sadly notrare. Yet, I first heard the phrase from the coroner. My daughterCora was born with an undetected congenital heart defect despite ahealthy pregnancy and a clean bill of health after she was born. Cora died suddenly in my arms while Ibreastfed her. I looked up for a moment and looked back down, andCora was pale, limp and not breathing. Thankfully, most babies live. In fact,over 2 million adults are currently living with a congenital heartdefect. But, many mothers are also blind sided by CHD just like Iwas. I now work to spread the word because I think every pregnantwoman should know about the most common of all birth defects. I wish someone had told me the signsand symptoms of CHD in an infant: trouble breathing, difficultyfeeding, … [Read more...]
Flashcards as Learning Devices!
Flashcards as Learning Devices When I was growing up my mom liked todrive home important lessons with some big and inevitably creased andcrumpled flashcards. These lessons covered everything from “A isfor Apple” to the right-of-way rules before our driver’s tests.We tended to lose as many as we kept, but little by little, thesesimple tools and this simple process actually helped us learn. Andthere is more and more evidence supporting the idea that flashcardsare still an effective learning device. Why Flashcards? When I’m teaching my own kids, Inotice that they can pick up new ideas pretty quickly, but as soon asthey are in hand they get misplaced somewhere in the mass ofdeveloping neurons. Getting them to hold on to these new concepts orideas was the real challenge. My kids were doing okay in school, butI believed they could do better. And I remembered what it was likewith those old, creased and crumpled flashcards. They worked for me.Why not try it with my … [Read more...]
How To Protect Your Children From Obesity!
Howto protect your children from obesity We all know that the childhood stage is the perfect stage for learning. It is a period where they easily absorb information like a sponge. That is why most parents focus on teaching lessons, building up values and good habits. This could also be the best time to teach them healthy eating. Obesity is an issue that most parents would not want their children to have. Early cases of obesity lead to low self esteem for kids, early signs of diseases, lack of energy, inappropriate weight loss concerns, and are usually associated with laziness and even stress. Common complaints of adults would go something like, “I wasnot used to eating vegetables” or “I usually eat fast food, it’s what I grew upwith”. All these can be blamed for poor diet management when we were kids. Sodon’t allow this to happen to your own children. As parents you have fullcontrol over exposing them to healthy eating. Here are further tips on how topromote it. Try to … [Read more...]
Congenital Heart Defects
Congenital Heart Defects Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birthdefect, with 1 in every 125 babies—that’s over 35,000!—in the United States bornwith a congenital heart defect each year. But what are congenital heart defects, exactly? A congenital heart defect is a structural abnormality of theheart that is present at birth. Thesedefects, which alter or block the flow of blood through the heart, can range inseverity from mild to life-threatening. Thereare many different types of congenital heart defects, and they can include structuralproblems of the heart valves, the walls of the heart, or the veins and arteriesthat carry blood to and from the heart. Congenital heart defects manifest themselves in the earlyweeks of pregnancy—when the fetus’s heart is developing—and occur when theheart develops abnormally or incompletely. Doctors and scientists are not entirely sure what causes congenitalheart defects but believe that both genetic and environmental factors play … [Read more...]
Guest Post – What is CHD
Whatis CHD? This acronym stands for Congenital Heart Disease, (sometimesreferred to as congenital heart defect). Just so you know what it is, CHDoccurs for babies when the blood vessels nearest to the heart muscle do notadequately develop prior to birth. Having your child diagnosed with it may befrightening, but you can take comfort in knowing that almost all children bornwith CHD live to be active, contributing and completely functioning members oftheir communities. So take a deep breath and smile, it is most likely going tobe o.k. The symptoms of CHD include obvious change of normal skincolor, blue or even pale gray skin color, breathing rapidly, abdominalswelling, or extreme puffiness of the eyes, or legs and shallow breathing whilethe child is being fed, resulting in inadequate weight gain. Now that yourchild has been diagnosed with CHD, what do you do next? You will want to haveyour child tested to learn just what type of CHD is present. CHD can take manyforms. Some … [Read more...]
How to talk to kids about tragedies, disasters: Tips from World Vision
How to talk to kids about tragedies, disasters: Tips from World Vision Megan Moriarity for World Vision WASHINGTON, 16 March 2011- As information increases about the devastation of Japan's earthquake and tsunami, our children will likely see disturbing news footage and have questions about this tragedy. Below are several suggestions on how to talk with children about this disaster and its impact. These tips are provided by humanitarian organization World Vision. World Vision has worked in Japan for more than two decades and responded to the massive Kobe earthquake in 1995, and now has staff assisting in the relief efforts in Sendai. 1. Start by listening. Find out what your child already knows. You can then respond in an age-appropriate way. The aim is not to worry them with the devastating details, but to protect them from misinformation they may have heard from friends or disturbing images they may have seen on television. 2. Provide clear, simple answers. Limit your … [Read more...]
Guest Post – Music: A Powerful Teaching Tool!
Music: A Powerful Teaching Tool Education today has really changed. Morechallenging academic goals are set. Children are not all developmentally readyto tackle them. Recently, I found myjournal from my teaching internship days and guess what? The curriculum taughtin first grade back then is now required in kindergarten! Kindergarteners arenow expected to read simple books independently and to write simple storiesusing correct punctuation and spelling common words correctly! It is a dauntingtask requiring lots of partnerships with parents and unique ways to makelearning fun and meaningful. Yes, the task can seem overwhelming, but it is notinsurmountable! If you are reading thisinformation, chances are you are one of those amazing parents looking for waysto prepare your child at home. Do you want to learn about the most beneficialmethod I have found to teach children difficult concepts in a meaningful way?Read on! The answer is to use MUSIC to teachimportant … [Read more...]
How I Get My Kids To Eat – Guest Post
HowI Get My Kids To Eat Sometimes I can successfully hide a nutritious food in aclever recipe, like the ones you can find from The Sneaky Chef.While this makes me feel better about the nutrition they are getting, itdoesn’t help them get over their issues with food. And that, of course, is the goal. Two things work in our house to get my oh-so-picky eatersto open their mouths and shovel the food in instead of dishing out the wailsand complaints. Those things are: Pizza and Kid Recipes. I find that my kidswill eat just about anything if I put it in some form that resembles pizza. Ican sneak some (not all) vegetables into Pizza Casserole, for instance. Thisone is easy. Just add marinara sauce to cooked noodles, throw in some pepperoniand mozzarella and any and all vegetables you can get away with, and bake it at350 degrees for 30 minutes, until bubbly. Pizza frittatas work to get the ones who won’t usually touch eggs eatingthem up. Just make an egg frittata and add ham and cheese, … [Read more...]