Parenting Children

Kids get bullied every day, there is no news there. But how they are being bullied is new, cyber bullying is now how most children grades 6 through 10, through the internet or phone calls.
According to the study by the National Institutes of Health, “20.8 percent of respondents reported being perpetrators or victims of physical bullying in the past two months; 53.6 percent were victims of verbal bullying; 51.4 percent were victims of relational bullying, which involves social exclusion, and 13.6 percent of cyber bullying on a computer, cell phone or other electronic device.”

Bullying was defined as hitting, kicking, pushing, shoving, locking a classmate indoors, calling someone mean names, making fun or teasing in a hurtful way, saying mean things about a person’s race or religion, spreading rumors or socially excluding others.
Cyber bullying — bullying through a computer or other communication device — is still a small phenomenon. Researchers found that 8 percent had received harassing computer pictures or messages, and 6 percent were bullied by cell phone. More boys were cyber bullies; more girls were cyber victims.

There is no way to stop bullying, it is so common especially in middle school. Being an active participant in your child’s life gives them confidence and a chance to talk to someone about their situation. While most kids survive bullying, you should make sure to talk to your child about kids who bully and being a bully themselves.
For more information, check out this web site.

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When my twins came home from their last day of school, they each had a note from their teacher next year. Each letter reinforced the need to practise their reading and writing over the summer. It is something we knew we were going to do, but now we will step it up so the kids don’t lose anything.

Math
Everyday there is a new chance to teach math. At the store have your child look for the prices and add them up. Have them pay for their purchases with money and receive the change.
When they go outside, have them wear a watch and tell them what time to be back in the house.
Bake with your child and have them help with measuring and when the pie should come out of the oven.
Take sidewalk chalk and write numbers 1-10. Call out math problems and have yoru child jump to the correct answer.

Reading
Read, read, read. Read a book together every night or better yet, have your child read to you.
Have your child make a book. Buy an inexpensive journal or blank book and have them write about what they did each day.
It will make a great keepsake!

Science
Have your child help with your gardening or go on bug scavenger hunts.
Science is all around us. Buy a butterfly growing kit, or a bug house. Study the bugs or lizards under a microscope or magnifying glass, or other things like feathers, your hand or a coin.

Lastly if your children are into video games (and whose kids aren’t?) give them learning games like the ones from Vtech or Dream Box.
What do you do to keep your kids on track during the summer?

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My son had gone a little too far in the deep end in the pool last month and freaked out. He didn’t want to return to the pool without floaties. I would be fine with that if he wasn’t 6.5 years old and already knew how to swim!
What did we do? We signed him up for swim class to gain back his confidence.
It is working, at least it was working until he hit his face on the side of the pool yesterday and needed a stitch!

How can you teach your child to swim at your local pool, lake or Y? Follow these steps:
Hold the child beneath the armpits and walk him around in the water to develop a feeling of comfort in the water, your child already trusts you, so this will be easy.

Have them hold onto the side of the pool and practice their kicking, Remember to have them kick with their whole leg not just with their knees.

Have your child blow bubbles in the water, to get him used to putting his face into the water.
Gradually have her put his whole head under the water. If he is getting water up his nose, tell him to hum- this will not let water go in his nose.

Hold your child around his waist and begin having him stroke with his arms making his hand into a “cup” shape. Make sure he keeps kicking!

Let your child swim a short distance from the wall to you. Gradually increase the distance.

Let your child jump off the side of the pool to you, eventually adding distance.

Remember: Take your time with each step and don’t rush your child.
The first day, only do the first step. The second day, do the first step again and then add the second step. Start each new lesson with a review of the previous lessons and advance to the next step, but only if the child is ready.
Make it fun and don’t have the lesson last too long or it will take the fun out of learning!

Most important- make sure you are CPR and infant CPR certified!

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People are not born knowing how to share. It is a learned skill, and it is a skill. Many adults have still not mastered sharing and I am sure you know some of them. In the Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early Childhood) egocentric thinking predominates, meaning your child does not know anyone else has needs or wants besides them.
You need to help your child learn to share.

Demonstrate sharing yourself. If you have a snack and your child wants some, let her have some and tell her “Oh, you would like some of my snack, okay I will share with you”. This lets your child hear and see that you are sharing.
Go off and play with one of their toys, they will come over and want to play with you, say “Let’s play together and share the toys”.
This is especially important if you have an only child, you have to be a peer and share for them to learn to do the same.

When they do share, praise them. Say “good job letting your friend have some crackers, that is good sharing”. Give them positive attention and you will get positive behaviors.
They will see that sharing gets a positive reaction and make them feel good.
Of course children will not always want to share all of the time and that is normal and okay. If you see your child doesn’t want to share or is having a hard time with sharing redirect their attention to something else and try again later.

sharing, teaching kids to share, toddlers, kids, parenting, parenting children, preschoolers

New research finds that stimulant medications commonly prescribed to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children are associated with an increased risk of sudden death. Although rare the researchers in this study sifted through mortality data from 1985 through 1996, and found 564 cases of sudden death that occurred in children aged 7 to 19 and they found 10 sudden, unexplained deaths in children taking stimulant medications.
The study found that children and teens taking ADHD stimulant medications were seven times more likely to die suddenly than their peers.

“What we found — to our surprise — is that even if you take out confounding factors, the association between stimulant use and sudden death was still significant,” said study author, Madelyn Gould, a professor of clinical epidemiology in psychiatry at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City. “I’m confident the association is real and significant, but it’s very rare. I don’t want our findings to change prescribing patterns or for a parent to change their willingness to use stimulant medications if they’re called for, but physicians should monitor patients with any new medication you give a young person.”

Results of the study were published in the June 15 online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
As many as 2.5 million children in the United States take ADHD stimulant medications, such as amphetamine, dextroamphetamine (Adderall), methamphetamine or methylphenidate (Ritalin).
reserchers say that if your child has been on a stimulant for awhile there may be no need to worry and parents should not abruptly stop their child’s medications,. If you are concerned call your pediatrician and go over the risks and side effects of the medication and if necessary have a full physical of your child before taking these types of medications.

ADD, ADHD, ADHD and sudden death, children, parenitng, parenting our children. ADHD medications, adderall, ritalin, teens, school age children

Last year I reviewed The Daring Book For Girls, which I loved. It had pages upon pages of fun things to learn, games I played as a child and facts and tips. Now they have a sequel to the popular book, The Double-Daring Book for Girls.

Again, this book is perfect for girls of all ages and perfect with the long summer months ahead of us. From how to tie a sarong, picnic games and dyeing your hair with Kool aid to how to make a sundial and moon lore, this book is packed with great information!
I love these books and have purchased them as gifts for my nieces. This is an easy, inexpensive way to get all of your children, not just girls, some summer fun and excitement. It also makes a great gift idea for hard to buy for girls (all of them!).

How about a little challenge. There is a section of this book called, “How to Hula-Hoop”. I was a hula-hopper from way back so I thought this would be no problem. I had to get my rhythm back and I finally made my best time with 18 times around before I nearly tripped and fell.
Can you beat me?
Try your best and leave your best hula-hooping skillz in the comments!

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Now that schools are letting out for the year and summer vacations are upon us, I am always looking for some family friendly things to do. At the end of the day when the kids are worn out from their fun, television is a great go to activity for our family. I try to watch TV with my kids and monitor what they watch as well. During the summer, the networks will all have on reruns and reality TV that is not appropriate for little ones, and there is only so many times I am willing to watch Finding Nemo.

Starting this month, TCM is launching TCM Essentials Jr., bringing families together by making moving watching a family experience. TCM Essentials Jr. will have classic must see movies every Sunday night suitable for the whole family. This year it is hosted John Lithgow and it gegins Sunday, June 7 at 8 p.m.

Tony®, Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning actor John Lithgow is coming to Turner Classic Movies (TCM) to host this summer’s edition of TCM’s ESSENTIALS JR. Lithgow, who has also earned acclaim as a children’s author, will present 13 classic films ideal for parents to introduce to their kids, beginning Sunday, June 7, with the musical classic Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). The following is a complete schedule:

June 7 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

June 14 To Have and Have Not (1944)

June 21 Father of the Bride (1950)

June 28 The Philadelphia Story (1940)

July 5 Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)

July 12 The African Queen (1951)

July 19 An American in Paris (1951)

July 26 High Noon (1952)

Aug. 2 Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Aug. 9 Notorious (1946)

Aug. 16 It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963)

Aug. 23 Gaslight (1944)

Aug. 30 You Can’t Take It With You (1938)

I also love the book The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide For Watching Together and would be a good companion to these movies this summer!

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I remember my first week of 2nd grade and how stupid I felt. I rocked at math in 1st grade but almost lost it because I had not practiced at all through the summer. I vow not to let that happen to my kids.
I addition to practicing their handwriting, reading and spelling this summer, I will also use DreamBox learning.

DreamBox offers engaging kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade math games that provide an in-depth math curriculum and completely individualized learning. Dreambox Learning K-2 Math is aimed at children 5-7 years of age and right up my 6 year old kindergartners alley! It features over 350 individual math activities, and there are over a million different paths a child can take and difficulty level progresses as they play along.
It is learning games that are actually fun and do not lose my kid’s attention.
The math problems are presented in different adventure theme parks with pirates, dinosaurs, cute animals or pixies. Kids are motivated to play the math activities because in doing so, they move the story along. They also can earn certificates of achievement and coins that can be used to play carnival games.
In addition, Dreambox Learning tracks the child’s progress and emails progress reports to you which is terrific.

I think this is an excellent tool for children to “keep up” with math and for a little extra practice. Plus I am all for online or handheld video games as long as they are learning.

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I am just culling my kids’ books from our move. Some of their books are baby-ish and others don’t hold their interest anymore, so I put them aside for baby K. Then I came across our big old stash of Wild Animal Baby magazines from the National Wildlife Federation that my children got as a gift from their Grandmother. My kids were wild about this magazine and I know baby K will love them too.

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Kiss My Face National Endangered Species Day is today, May 15th. Celebrate National Endangered Species Day with Kiss My Face by visiting http://www.kissmyface.com/kids/index.html, where kids and parents can learn about endangered species and try their great kid-friendly activities including a coloring page, videos and games!
Kiss My Face launched the site to celebrate the launch of its collection for kids, which features endangered species like Terell the Tiger and Preston the Penguin on its packaging. Not only is this a fun site for kids to go to, it is a learning tool for you and your child.

The kids’ collection packaging highlights various endangered species and provides facts and tidbits on each animal. Inside, parents will find products free of artificial colors, fragrances, parabens and SLS, and boasting natural ingredients such as Organic Green Tea Extract to protect against sun damage, Nettle Extract to stimulate hair growth and improve the condition of the scalp and Tea Tree Oil to kill germs.

Kiss My Face created the kids collection because they know parents want to teach their child/children on how to make good decisions naturally. Whether it is about what they eat, wear or put on their skin, today’s parents are teaching their kids the importance of choosing natural products whenever possible. Kiss My Face, a company that has believed in making natural products since they were founded in the 1980s, uses natural ingredients to create products that won’t harm the earth, or your skin! The packaging was designed to bring awareness of endangered species and the importance of making a conscious effort to help preserve the environments these animals live in, with the goal of getting these animals off the endangered species list one day.

I love using Kiss My Face products and I love using them for my kids because I know there is no harmful chemicals in them. I know it is safe for my kids and I love the way they smell!

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The winter has finally gone and spring is here. With spring comes a new set of problems, ones that I will take any day, like where do I go with my kids every day to entertain them. Like every parent does, I turn to the good ‘ole playgrounds and parks. Now that I am in a new state, I have to learn where all the great parks are.
Enter KaBoom!, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding and creating play spaces within walking distance for every child!

KaBOOM! is a wonderful tool for every parent. You can seach for playgrounds, parks, and other play areas near you by city, state, or postal/zip code! Not only that but you can see the ratings of these playgrounds and read the reviews. Perfect for someone like me, who doesn’t know the area very well, or for summer travel!

KaBOOM! has embarked on a nationwide mission to help communities build playspaces. This proves critical for those many children living in neighborhoods without playgrounds or playspaces, or unable to use existing ones because of rundown conditions or dangerous neighborhoods. Mom Central has teamed up with KaBOOM! to help map online 100,000 playspaces in 100 days. Wondering what counts as a playspace? Any playground, field, a skate park, roller hockey rink, lake, dog park, community center, basketball court or ice rink - anywhere kids can just be kids!
For every play space entered into the KaBOOM! database on behalf of the Mom Central team, $1 will be donated to Jumpstart, a non-profit that brings at-risk preschool children and caring adults together to improve literacy.

KaBOOM! cares about the lack of places kids can just be kids and learn to share and have fun. They are an amazing, caring organization and a huge help for parents everywhere.

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I always try to stay away from too much candy and junk for Easter because I don’t want my kids to have too much and I don’t want to eat it either! This year will be no different and we are trying to keep our Easter “green”. Here are some alternatives to candy and junk and some tips to be more Earth friendly for your Easter.

Say no to plastic grass. Grow your own. This is easy and looks great in a basket or for a table centerpiece. I have seen edible grass in Target that you can use as an alternative. Have your kids color or paint some paper and shred it for their baskets.

Use natural dyes for eggs. Boil your eggs in water with vinegar and one of these ingredients below, then let simmer for at least 15 minutes:

Purple grape juice (for lavender)
Red cabbage (for blue)
Spinach (for green)
Carrot tops, orange peels or lemon peels (for yellow)
Yellow onion skins (for orange)
Beets or cranberries (for pink)
Red onion skins (for red)

Skip the candy. If you have to use plastic eggs (we use the same ones every year) fill them with coins, almonds or raisins. Or you can just hide the dyed eggs.

Skip the toys. Don’t you have too many toys anyway?
Instead maybe buy books, puzzles, outdoor chalk, phthalate free bath toys (bunnies or ducks are perfect) or bubbles (you can even make the bubbles yourself).

What do you plan on doing to make your Easter a little more “green”?

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Finding the right gift for kids these days is hard for me, they seem to have everything.
Are you looking for a one-of-a-kind gift for that special child in your life? Something that is as unique as they are? Enter Child’s Own Studio.

Child’s Own Studio is a special place where you can transform your child’s drawing into a custom plush doll or soft toy. That is right, make a toy out of a drawing your child made! Anything in your child’s imagination for the first time can be made into their own personal lovey.
Wendy was generous enough to make a softie for my daughter from the drawing of a princess she has made.

Drawing by R age 5

I loved this drawing because of how detailed her dress was, I loved the way my daughter had drawn her shoes. Wendy made the doll exactly like her picture and we couldn’t have been more happy with the results! You can tell it was made with love.
Don’t believe me? Check out the gallery of other amazing softies she has made.
Wendy will make any drawing that is a recognizable person, place or thing.

A Child’s Own custom made soft toy starts at $50 CAD, plus shipping. Drawings containing many details and/or many colours will require more labor and therefore be priced accordingly. After payment is received, expect your special toy in 2-4 weeks!

Wendy was amazing to work with and I cannot say how much I love this site.

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Moving from New Jersey to New Hampshire in the middle of winter wasn’t the best idea. It has been all snow all the time here. We are just catching some reasonable weather and the snow has been melting (finally!) and now there is rain!
I can’t complain because I would rather have rain than snow any day! Rainy days can be fun for the whole family!

If it is warm enough, go ahead and let the kids get wet. My kids love when I let them go outside in their clothes and just run in the rain and splash in puddles. Go out there and get wet with them, I promise they will remember it always.
Bring your bath toys outside and play in the puddles or collect the rain water in your buckets. Find a “stream” and race a light toy in it. Use your outside chalk and “paint” in the rain.
Here are ideas for fun with water inside or out like making your own little boats.
See who can collect the most worms.

Here are great indoor fun ideas for kids of all ages, and some of these ideas will maybe let you get some things done around the house while the kids are busy too!
Make a tiara

Lastly here are some fun craft ideas for Easter or Spring.

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I believe that education does not only take place in school, but it goes hand in hand with what you teach and foster in your children at home. I do not think the public school system can do it alone, it is proven that it cannot. When I had the chance to review How to Discover and Develop Your Child’s Strengths By Jenifer Fox, I was excited to see what this mother and teacher had to say about our children.

We force our children to excel at school only by memorizing and regurgitating information. The standardized tests are not a fair tool on gauging how much someone knows or understands.
From the book “Children become passionate and interested when they see real life ways that the subjects, topics, lessons are applied. Chidlren, like adults, want to know first why a topic is important to learn and then be shown how to use it.”
In this book the author focuses on identifying children’s strengths based on 3 areas (activity, relationship and learning) and how we can nurture them. Her idea is simple, we must work WITH children instead of ON them. Work with our children’s interests and loves instead of trying to redirect them in the path of where we think they need to go.

She includes a practical workbook to practice these skills. Ending the book is an outline for the Affinities curriculum which she has implemented in her school with positive results. I am encouraged after reading this book that I can implement these ideas into parenting my children better.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I do think it is a great read for all parents and educators.

Do you think you parent your children based on their strengths? Do you even know what your child’s strengths are?

Jenifer Fox, Your Child’s Strengths, parenting, parenting children, public schools, teaching children, book review