Parenting Children

Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 1 to 14.

Most happen in backyard pools or open water areas. Most drownings happen while children are being supervised. The SAFE KIDS study examined data from 496 child-drowning deaths from 2000 and 2001 from 17 states and found that 88 percent of the drowning victims were under supervision.

Children can drown in as little as one inch of water. That means that the bucket you have outside, your hot tub, toilet or wading pool are all potential dangers. “Two minutes following submersion, a child will lose consciousness. Irreversible brain damage occurs after four to six minutes and determines the immediate and long-term survival of a child. The majority of children who survive (92 percent) are discovered within two minutes following submersion, and most children who die (86 percent) are found after 10 minutes. Nearly all who require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) die or are left with severe brain injury.”

Do you feel confident about performing CPR? Could you do it accurately? What about your teenage babysitter or your neighbor?
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My children are new to the world of games. They have a V Smile learning game system that they can play once in a while and they have a few board games that we play together. They love to play especially my daughter who perfectly sets up the board and places the cards in neat piles.

Last night after dinner, we played a rousing game of Candy Land, one of my favorites. A couple of turns into it, my daughter got a card with a dot on it, which means (for you non C.L. playing people) you have to stay on that color until you pick another card with that same color on it. She denied that was what it was.
Keep in mind she has played this game about 50 times and knows the rules, she just didn’t want to stay on the blue square.

Then she tried to cheat again, at which point I told her, it was ok if she didn’t win, you can’t win every time and the game was still young. Look at me I am all the way at the end and I am not crying. I explained that nobody likes to play with a poor loser or winner.

On one hand she is only four, she wants to win, I get that. Her twin brother wants to win too, but he is not crying. Should I look the other way when she cheats? Should I make sure to catch her cheating and tell her to stop it? If everyone looks the other way when a child cheats to win or only plays games they know they will win, I think that is a great disservice to my child. In the real world nobody will do that for them.
Winning is great but just playing the game is also just as great.

Moms, please help me out!

kids, preschoolers, children, families, kid’s games, board games, parenting, parenting kids, parenting twins, twins, moms

I remember taking my kids to a movie, and I was so mad that in this cartoon movie for children words like stupid and name calling were peppered throughout.
If a movie is geared toward children it doesn’t automatically mean that it is appropriate for kids of all ages. I found out the hard way. I mean what if you never saw Bambi and thought it was a sweet, light tale of a young deer with no cares in the world? I know to this day I will never watch Dumbo again, it made me so sad.

Now there is www.kids-in-mind.com. It is a web site that has a movie rating system which allows you as the parent to read about the movie and decide if it is something you want your child to view, what the message of the movie is and if there is strong language or substance abuse. Information that the traditional MPAA rating system doesn’t let you know.

While some movies may have a low sex and violence rating it may have a higher “gore” factor. The site has new release movies as well as older movies you can rent on video.

I think it is a terrific resource for parents, who don’t always have the time to research the movie and themes, this site allows you to do that quickly and thoroughly. I know I will be using it in the future, especially with free movie days this summer.

movies, movie ratings, movies for kids, parenting, kids, children, teens, family movies, movie rating system

One of the things my husband and I would do BK (before kids) was pick berries in the summer at local markets.
This summer we will all be picking berries as a family. It is something to do when you don’t have plans on the weekend or something for mom to do with the kids during the week. Look here for local you pick it farms in your area.

Include your children in what to do with the berries or fruit once it is picked. Make a pie together, a fruit salad or fruit pancakes for breakfast the next day. If your kids pick it and then participate in making something they will be more apt to eat the fruit.

I know I can go broke on fruit in this house, my kids love it as much as I do. If you don’t have any local you pick it farms, try this web site to see where the local farmers markets are near you. I know on weekend my local farmers markets have live music and some people even sell crafts. It is a great lazy weekend morning thing to do with the entire family.

summer, summer fun, berry picking, farmers market, children, teens, kids, parenting, moms, SAHM, dads, weekend fun

I now officially know why my Mom was not as happy as we were when school was out for the summer. Going out every day is too expensive and trying find something cool, literally and figuratively to do every day is tough.

Last year I found the best thing ever and it has saved my life and I know for the summer, at least twice a week I don’t have to think of what to do, it is movie day!

Starting June 19th and running through August, Regal Entertainment Group has free movies Tuesdays and Wednesdays for families. They are not the newest releases but so many of the movies are new to my kids. Plus how many times does your child watch the same video at home?

We go to the theater and either I bring some snacks (it is in the morning so popcorn is not purchased too often) and some waters and we are off to a free movie! Our theater happens to be in a mall so we have lunch after the movie is out and then home in time for our nap.

It has saved me from pulling my hair out with boredom in the summer. I thin you can agree this may be the best thing to happen to a stay at home parent. Check out the site and see if their are participating theaters near you.

summer, summer fun, free movies, kids, family, family fun, preschoolers, toddlers, kids, children, SAHMs, moms, parents, movies, parenting

Today, Friday May 25th is National Missing Children’s day. Every day children in this country goes missing. I know we all think of missing children as abducted by a stranger but parental abduction is the leading cause of missing children accounting for over 78% of all child abductions.

This Friday lets all strive to keep the children in our lives safe. Get a free missing child care kit, for the worst case scenario this information in a safe place may help police locate your child.

Teens and tweens are not altogether safe either, get a free internet safety kit.
Half of teens 13-18 have communicated online with someone they have never met.
One third have talked about meeting in person someone they only know online.
One in 10 have learned that someone communicating with them online was an adult pretending to be much younger.

Talk to your children about strangers, about how to dial 911 in an emergency and to trust their instincts about adults.

missing children, national missing children’s day, parenting, teens, internet predators, keeping kids safe, online safety

Remember I have a contest going and five winners will get a free pro membership to a online greeting site worth $19.95!

Entering is simple, just post your favorite picture on your web site and link back to my site. All the information on how to enter is here.

Hurry and enter before May 31, 2007!

contest, photo contest, moms, dads, family, parenting, pictures

I never knew that the true art of being a good mom was all in the ability to live with your child’s repetitiveness. We all know that kids love to watch the same movies over and over, play the same games over and over and listen to the same old CDs over and over again.

I have found children’s music that will not make you puke, I swear.
I heart these cds by Elizabeth Mitchell. They are for your budding hippy or for the parent who is even the slightest “granola”. Beautiful timeless songs, and wonderfully done.
Ms. Mitchell’s CDs will be on full rotation in my home for a long time to come and nobody will puke.

children’s music, children’s CDs, Elizabeth Mitchell, music, parents, moms, music for kids, parenting

On Tuesday a mother gave birth to twins at Hackensack University Hospital. So? Even I did that, at that very hospital.
This birth will go into the record books though because the mom was 60 years old!

60 year old Frieda Birnbaum gave birth to twin boys via caesarean section is the oldest woman to give birth to twins in the United States.
She has three other children ranging in ages from six to thirty three years old.
She says she is wonderful and her boys are doing very well.

What do you think of being a mom again, to twins no less at 60 years old?

twins, oldest woman gives birth to twins, older moms, parenting, moms, late life parenting, newborns

You know you are a mom when your dinner talk consists of your children’s bowel movement frequency and you just keep eating.

dinner time, kids, children, parenting, moms, dads

Last week I was watching TV and flipping around and I stopped on The Colbert Report. Stephen Colbert was interviewing Conn Iggulden on his new book The Dangerous Book for Boys written by Conn and his brother, Hal.
I found it fascinating, a book filled with things for boys (or girls!) to do that give me gray hair just thinking about it.

Really when we were children or our parents were children for that matter, summer time was when kids would be at their most “dangerous”. Climbing over rusty old fences, jumping of the roof into the pool, running with sticks and riding our bikes wherever and whenever we wanted just as long as we were home by dinner. After dinner we would go out and do it all over again, but it was even better because it was in the dark.

Would I let me kids do that now? Absolutely not. First they are too young to even be in our backyard by themselves, but after I told my kids they could not play on the play set we have in flip flops, I wondered, have I gone too far?

Is my paranoia about scraped knees, grass stained clothes, whether or not I can see them every second at the park and if they are wearing their helmet every time they are on anything that has wheels, about me as a mother or a media induced craze where everything is dangerous for my child?

Kids fall down, they get hurt it is a part of life. The book is filled with cool things for kids to do before we bought pre-made forts and took all of the imagination out of it. It is filled with cool stuff like how to make different knots, how to make a tree fort, to write in invisible ink and skimming stones. It also has facts that everyone should know like the names of cloud formations, common American trees and the timeline of American history.

I wonder if the Dangerous Book for Boys would let me loosen the reigns a little, let my children be children and not worry so much.
Nah, but I will still buy this book for my dangerous boy and girl.

The Dangerous Book for Boys, sons, boys, summer time, summer, dangerous kids, parenting, moms, dads, Conn Iggulden, Hal Iggulden

This is the first year my twins were in school, so it is their first summer break. I am not exciting about it. The whining, the days of hanging on me because they are tired is not for me.
My husband and I don’t feel they are old enough for camp the whole summer yet, although R may go for one week to a camp. Our town pool is VERY expensive coming in around $700 for a family of four for the summer.

Instead we are going to do a lot of day trips, some trips to the beach and doing all the things kids love to do in the summer. I am stocking up the house with outdoor toys for the kids and give them something to do besides spraying me with the hose.

This bouncer is fun for kids of all ages, up to 200 pounds. These bounce houses are great for parties and I know some people keep them up year round in their basement or playroom.

Parachutes are great for toddlers up to school aged children. You can have a picnic on it, drag kids around the yard and even make a fort out of it. Have some imagination!
If you don’t have imagination you can buy a fort or a teepee.

Croquet is fun for everyone in the family. I remember playing it for hours with my cousins when I was younger and then the adults playing the “real” way when we were done.

How about a lemonade stand? I saw some kids selling lemonade in a neighborhood when we were looking for houses. I automatically wanted to buy that home we looked at because cute kids selling lemonade is the cutest thing ever, unfortunately for us it was $100k more then we were going to spend. The lemonade stand stuck with me though.
It is a great way to teach children about making money, selling, giving change etc. Kids will also sit outside for hours in anticipation of making some money!

I love this sprinkler and every year I say I am going to buy it for me, I mean my kids, and I never do. At this price I will not pass it up this year. I think it is adorable and fun.

Maybe have a camp out in the yard, complete with a fire, hot dogs and marshmallows.
Get a teeter totter, a amazing water slide, a sand box and never, ever underestimate the fun of a good old fashioned slip ‘n slide!

What are your favorite must haves for summer time?

summer, kids, toys, family fun, outdoor toys, outdoor fun, slip n slide, bounce house, sprinkler, croquet, parenting, summer break, summer vacation, sand box

The Good
When you come home from the hospital with your new baby, you are still in a daze. When do I feed the baby, when was the last time anyone changed the baby and why is this baby crying?

The Bad
Sometimes babies are just, well, fussy. I am going to tell some new moms something you do not want to hear: sometimes they are fussy for no reason. I know! Why?

The Ugly
I once read that babies cry or fuss because it is their exercise. It is the only way they have to relieve their tension or little baby stress. I think that is a good explanation, but we will never really know.
You can try many things to get your baby to stop crying, some of them may work once or twice and never again, some may work for awhile before they peeter out. Nothing is forever in baby land.

So, Erinn What Can I Do? Help!
Have no fear, there are many different things to try. Swaddling, rocking in the stroller, white noise like a fan in the baby’s room and deep knee bends while holding the baby, are my personal favorites. If you tried those and you need more ideas, American Baby has 23 ideas to calm a fussy baby. Something will work for your child. I promise.
If I am wrong you can drop your baby off here with me, I will have my husband take care of the baby for you.

What are your go to ideas for soothing a crying baby?

crying babies, newborns, infants, moms, parenting, soothing a baby, fussy babies, colic

According to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) pregnant women who are on bed rest can and should be doing some low impact, approved exercises.

Each year in the US an estimated 700,000 woman are put on bed rest. This can be physically and emotionally not ready for the upcoming birth of their child and postpartum.

A physical therapist out of the University of South Alabama has designed some exercises that she thinks can and should be done from the bed and helps minimize the loss of muscle tone and strength.
It is also helping pregnant women be as comfortable as possible.

Remember to enter my photo contest and win one of five free pro memberships to greetingflix.com!

pregnancy, bed rest, high risk pregnancy, pre term labor, exercise in pregnancy, moms, new moms

Since we live far away from our family and friends, I worried that my kids wouldn’t remember them. I grew up with all of my family no more then fifteen minutes away from each other, I saw everyone all the time. My children don’t have that luxury, so I decided I would make sure they remembered their family members even though we didn’t see them as much as we would like to.

I made picture collages, where I cut up pictures of relatives with each of the kids. Then I laminated each of them and made them into placemats, so with each meal they could see or name each aunt, cousin or grandparent.

Then I took some doubles of pictures we had and put them into a little photo album that they carried with them wherever they went. I put it on a cord for the stroller so we wouldn’t lose it. It came with us in the car, and we looked at it at bedtime. Now that my twins are four we still look at it often, even though they now remember everyone.

It is a fun project to do with your kids and it is a good idea to do with pictures from their class at the end of the year, that way they will remember all of their friends from that school year. You can cut out the pictures and your kids can glue them.

You can write each child’s name or cut out pictures of what was the hot toys or cool things from that time period like webkins or crocs. Or you can give your child all the doubles you have of pictures, get a album from a dollar store and keep them busy for a good hour.

It is a fun art project that is functional.

projects for kids, art projects, kids, children, picture+albums, parenting, photo+albums