Parenting Children

These days money is tight all around. Many moms I know are going back to work because they cannot afford not to. If you need to go back to work then you know how hard it is to find a quality day care center.
What do you look for in a good day care center?

Many moms dread day care because they hear about how the kids at day care are sick all of the time. That may be a good thing, because it is building up his immune system being exposed to many more bugs than if he stayed at home. Day care is a great way especially for only children to make some friends. It will teach him about sharing, playing and making friends.
It also stimulates them, there are so many great day cares now with curriculum. They will get lots of play time but will also learn colors, shapes, letters and explore arts and crafts.

When looking for a great center, try and look for one teacher for every three or four babies and a teacher for every 7 toddlers. Make sure the staff is government certified and licensed. Plus, use your mom-tuition. Is the center clean? Can you drop by unannounced? Are the cribs and equipment newer and in good condition?

What problems did you face trying to find a great day care center for your child?

day care, finding day care, going back to work, working moms, babies, toddlers, parenting children, kids, day care centers

I am traveling with my kids by car this weekend. I am going by myself and I have to say I am anxious and nervous. It reminded of me when we flew with our kids for the first time.
We first took our kids on a airplane when they were nine months old. Since then they have been on three other flights. I was always nervous about flying with them, how they would react, how they would deal with sitting for a three + hour flight. I have always been pleasantly surprised.

I had a plan. I would have bottles ready for them during takeoff and landing. I had baby tylenol ready to go in case someone was miserable. I put away some of their toys weeks before our flight so they would be all new to them when we got on the plane.

When they were a little older I worried they would want to get down and walk around, explore. They sure did but I redirected their attention to the new little toys I had bought at the dollar store before our trip like crayons, books, molding clay and toy cars. It worked. Snacks in your carry on or purse are like gold.
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Halloween is today. If that catches you of guard, that may mean you are a procrastinator. I understand, holidays can sneak up on you. I have some last minute costume ideas and fun games and things to do with your kids before it is time to go out and collect all that candy.

Do it yourself last minute costume ideas:

Tourist: Get a hat, sunglasses and hang a camera around your neck

Cookie: Dress in all brown and pin felt colored circles all over to look like M&Ms

Mummy: wrap your self in toilet paper. Enough said!

Athlete: dress up in a old jersey or uniform. Bring along a ball.

If all else fails call up family members, or neighbors and ask if they have a costume that you can borrow.

How about you make masks of everyone in your family and then trade them. Be your husband or daughter for Halloween and have them be you or their brother. This could be fun all year long!

This is a great site for simulating a pumpkin carving. It kept my kids fascinated for hours. Here is another one that is better for older kids.
Ben and Jerry’s has not only recipes and crafts ideas but also print outs and games.

Remember to go over safety tips with your kids and be safe out there!
What is your favorite last minute costume idea?

last minute costume ideas, costume ideas, Halloween crafts, virtual jack o lanterns, kids, parenting, teens, craft ideas, Halloween

Doorknobs, TV remotes, refrigerator handles and other commonly touched household surfaces are hotbeds of cold germs, which can survive on those surfaces for two days or longer, says a University of Virginia study.

The study included adults with cold symptoms who were asked to name 10 places in their homes they had touched in the preceding 18 hours. The researchers then went to the participants’ homes to hunt for cold germs, the Associated Press reported.

“We found that commonly touched areas … were positive (for cold germs) about 40 percent of the time,” said ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Birgit Winther.
So how can you keep your family healthy this cold and flu season? Wash your hands often! Washing your hands often is the best way to prevent a cold.

About 100 different viruses cause infections that lead to the common cold. Colds usually come on gradually, starting with a runny nose or a scratchy throat. Most kids do fine with a common cold but require a little more TLC. Remind them to wash their hands often, keep them hydrated (if they don’t want to drink, try ice pops, juice or soup) and use the nasal aspirator if necessary. Having a humidifier and/or a vaporizer in a child’s room is great for winter too.
If your child has a fever, Call the doctor.
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It is a cold and rainy day her in New Jersey. Whenever we have these kind of days I love to put the kids and I in comfortable sweats, stay in the house and do some baking or crafts. I try and keep our craft box filled with goodies, but there is nothing worse than finding out we don’t have what we need or only enough for one project.

Kid’s Busy Box was created by five entrepreneurial mothers in Rockville, MD who wanted to stimulate their children’s creativity and confidence without spending a lot of time searching for ideas and shopping for materials.
Now you can have a box of crafts and the materials and you no longer have to search for ideas or the stuff to put it together, it is all on one box!

I was lucky enough to try out the Kid’s Busy Box with my kids and I have to say it is fantastic! It has 20 craft projects with all the craft materials you will need: feathers, yarn, tissue paper, sand, pipe cleaners, beads, glitter & more!
Upgrade to the Deluxe Busy Box and it will also include everything in the basic box plus high-quality art supplies needed for each craft: crayons, markers, glue, glue stick, tape, hole punch, scissors, ruler, paint & brushes!

My kids are having a ball and I will be ordering more for the winter and spring, since these are seasonal crafts. This will also be on my list to give as birthday and Christmas gifts as well as telling the Grandparents this would make a great gift for my kids.
Can you tell I love this product?!

crafts, craft projects, rainy day ideas, toddlers, kids, Kid’s Busy Box, craft box, great gift ideas, product reviews

This time around I plan on teaching my baby to use sign language to communicate before he can talk. There are many benefits of your baby learning to communicate through sign language. Babies are less likey to become frustrated (and parents) and research has showed that by the children who are age four who have been taught sign language, have an larger vocabulary compared with those who did not. Good enough reason for me to try it at home.

Baby signing is using gestures or signs to communicate with your baby. Many moms use American when teaching their babies to sign but it is fine to create your own signs with your baby.
To start I decided to pick a couple of everyday words to teach to my baby: eat, more, cup, help and sleep. You can find the signs on this web site. Here are some of the signs we are working on:

MORE: Tap fingertips from your right hand together with fingertips from your left hand repeatedly.
CUP: Tip an imaginary cup to your mouth.
EAT: Use your hand to bring imaginary food to your mouth.
SLEEP: Tap the side of your head, as if laying down on a pillow.

You can start signing as early as you want but eight to nine months of age is a good age to start. There are various DVDs and books you can buy or rent on the subject, or web sites to help you getting started.

infants, toddlers, baby sign language, teaching baby to sign, parenting, ASL

I have some tips and tricks for Halloween this year with your kids. We also want to keep kids safe this time of year especially those that are old enough to trick or treat alone so lets talk about saety also.

Don’t want to give out candy for Halloween? How about giving out juice boxes or kid sized waters? Try stickers or other craft items and if you have any leftovers, put them into your child’s craft box for a rainy day. The other thing I have seen lately, which I love, is the mini playdoh containers. Although the older kids may rather have candy!
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You think your PMS mood swings are bad, but then you have a baby. Who knew a baby could be so moody? One minute they are sweet as pie, the next a little terror. What happened to my good natured, quiet toddler?

Erratic behavior is common in toddlers. It is a normal part of child development, even though it doesn’t always feel so “normal”. Trying to declare their independence, their will and how to get what they want is a huge part of your child’s development. Every child does not go through every stage of changing moods, because every child develops at their own pace.
Sometimes you can avert a terrible tantrum or a mood swing if you watch out for the signs that there is one coming.
Make sure your child is not hungry. There are many times tantrums are thrown just because the child is hungry and can’t express himself. Make sure you always have healthy snacks around even on the go.
Naps are as important to her as they are to you. A tired toddler, is a cranky toddler and mom.
Over stimulation can happen to even infants. If you are always rushing from one activity to oanother or there are too many people and things going on in front of them, children get overwhelmed.

Your child looks to you to calm him down so talk to him in soft tones and try and remember this is a part of growing up.

What do you do when your child has mood swings or tantrums?

toddlers, parenting, parenting toddlers, toddler mood swings, the terrible twos, children, child development

I know so many parents who procrastinate when it comes to Halloween. I know I am guilty of procrastination too. This year I am safe because my kids already have their costumes as hand me downs from their cousins. Whew. If you are not as lucky or have kids who just can’t come up with a costume, here are some ideas for easy costumes to make at home.

Do it yourself last minute costume ideas:

Tourist: Get a hat, sunglasses and hang a camera around your neck

Cookie: Dress in all brown and pin felt colored circles all over to look like M&Ms

Mummy: wrap your self in toilet paper. Enough said!

Athlete: dress up in a old jersey or uniform. Bring along a ball.

If all else fails call up family members, or neighbors and ask if they have a costume that you can borrow.

How about you make masks of everyone in your family and then trade them. Be your husband or daughter for Halloween and have them be you or their brother. This could be fun all year long!

This is a great site for simulating a pumpkin carving. It kept my kids fascinated for hours. Here is another one that is better for older kids.
Ben and Jerry’s has not only recipes and crafts ideas but also print outs and games.

Remember to go over safety tips with your kids and be safe out there!
Here are some infant costume ideas too.
What is your favorite last minute costume idea?

last minute costume ideas, costume ideas, Halloween crafts, virtual jack o lanterns, kids, parenting, teens, craft ideas

Raising children is as hard as I thought it would be. Since I have b/g twins I can see the differences, their struggles and challenges right before my eyes. Right now I find it harder to parent my daughter and I so want to help her grow into a self confident, healthy woman without all of the body issues and wanting to please traps that girls get caught up in. When I had the chance to review The Self Esteem Trap Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance By Polly Young-Eisendrath, I jumped at the chance.

The first thing that struck me when reading this book, was that I recognized from my life, many of the examples given whether it was a helicopter parent or the child who demands everything- and gets it. There are so many people in my workplace that could not handle negative feedback or disappointment on any level, Dr. Young-Eisendrath says that parents are the main cause of this problem.
You have to agree that parenting children thirty years ago is very different from the way we parent today. Everyone gets a trophy on the team, we try to give our children every advantage and we excuse their behaviors.

I thought by telling my children how they are unique and special and making them feel great about themselves it would build their self esteem, this book tells me that this parenting technique is the opposite of what I should be doing because this may be making them expect this type of treatment throughout their lives and setting them up for disappointment.

When I finished reading The Self Esteem Trap I gave it to my husband to read and next up is my sister. I think this was an immensely valuable, and engaging book for guiding my children to be more empathetic, healthy and independent adults.

I think this book is a such an important parenting and self improvement tool that I am giving away FIVE copies courtesy of Hachette Book Group USA!

To enter to win one of the five copies, leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address. If you would like to double your chances, blog about this contest with a link back to this post! The contest will run until Monday October 13th at 11:59 p.m. EST.
This contest is open to the U.S. and Canada only.

parenting, children teens, parenting children, kids, The Parenting Trap, book giveaway, giveaways, children’s self esteem, raising kids

My children are like every other child, they love to learn. They love hands-on learning question asking and doing. What is wrong with that you may ask, you are the parent, you should foster learing in your home and teach them every minute of the day. You are right, I should and I try to, what I do not intend on doing is bringing every living creature into this house to learn about it!

My children love animals- as do I, but I love critters a lot more when they stay outride and never, ever enter my house. I do not want to pet a insect with 8763 legs, I don’t think these ants should be your “pets” and live in your room and I certainly do not love spiders taking up residence in my corners. I like to admire them from afar in their natural habitat, enjoy them whilst not having contact with them in any form.
My children would have ever beetle, worm or chipmunk in this house if they could.
I have to check them when they come inside to make sure they are not smuggling anything in.
Can’t we read about these creatures, we go to the zoo and the museums, can that not be enough?
It is literally like a zoo in here. I really have to start charging admission!

This post was sponsered by iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds who encourages an active interest in readingand by Parent bloggers.

parenting, parenting children, teaching children, iknow animals letters & sounds, kids,

Did you know that most regular oral-hygiene products contain chemicals, artificial dyes, sweeteners or preservatives? I didn’t, but they are all listed on the labels of our oral hygiene products for our kids! I try to stay away from chemical laden foods and topical products but I was putting it in their mouths every day! I just never thought to look at the toothpaste label.
Here are some things you should look for in your toothpastes and mouthwashes:

Try not to buy toothpaste with anything artificial. That includes dyes, sweeteners and preservatives. They are in all the kid’s toothpaste that I looked at.
Try and buy things with essential oils like tea tree oil, and peppermint oil all promote good oral hygiene, along with vitamin C and vitamin E.
Use baking soda, it cleans and polishes your teeth with enough scouring action to help remove plaque. It is not abrasive so it is easy on your teeth.
Alcohol-based mouth rinses actually dries out your mouth, so stay away from those. If your mouth is dry, that can lead to bad breath.

Try Tom’s of Maine, Weleda, and Kiss My Face and check out preserve toothbrushes for the whole family!

Remember that parents should start brushing their children’s teeth as soon as they appear in their mouth. It is also a good idea to use a wash cloth to wipe a child’s gums before teeth even appear. Flossing should be started after two teeth touch each other to prevent cavaties between the teeth.

children’s teeth, parenting, toothpaste, healthy kids, brushing your kids teeth, children’s toothpaste

Lately I have been discussing summer fun ideas, outdoor fun and things to do indoors to beat the heat. Today I want to talk about old school games. I have been recently been teaching my kids these games and they love playing them with us or their older cousins. Here are some “old school” games that are fun for all ages:

Monkey in the middle
Players: 3+
One person is the “monkey” and stands in the middle, while the other players throw a ball over the moneky’s head. The object of the game is for the monkey to catch the ball. Whoever threw the ball then becomes the new monkey.

Kick the can
The player who is “it” kicks a can as far as possible. Once the can starts moving the other players run for hiding spaces. The “it” retrieves the can puts it in the original place and counts to 50. Then she can find the other players, once they are found, it calls out their name and must beat the player to the can. If the it person gets there first the person they found is captured. Captured players can be set free if a hider gets to the can first.

Frisbee golf
Players: 2+
Decide what the “hole” will be, a tree, a fence, any large target. Each player takes a turn throwing a frisbee as many times as it takes to hit the target or the “hole”. The fewer number of throws wins.

Some other great games you can play are tug of war, follow the leader and simon says. What are your favorite old school games to play with your family?

family fun, old school games, games for kids, summer fun, indoor fun, SAHM, parents

The truth is my children really haven’t had many tantrums. I have been lucky, because with twins usually one sets the other off. They have had a couple, in public mostly (of course!) and I thought I have handled it correctly. I have seem some major tantrums in public before and by kids who are old enough not to be throwing tantrums anymore. What sets off a child to get to a tantrum state and how do you diffuse the situation?

Tantrums usually occur when a child wants something and is frustrated because they cannot have it right away. The problem is with each episode the tantrums often get worse in their intensity, duration, and frequency. It is so tempting to just give the child what he wants to stop the behavior, especially if you are in public, but that just teaches the child they will get what they want if they cry long enough or hard enough. Tantrums are a learned behavior.
You need to identify what the triggers are for your child and try and diffuse them before a full out tantrum begins.

If your child throws a fit, then ignore them and even leave the room. Make sure they are safe though, and they are not going to hurt themselves. Make sure they have a safe place to be in while they are having their tantrum. When they are finally calm explain to them why they didn’t get what they wanted, and remind them of a time they did get something they wanted.
Make sure you reinforce their good behaviors throughout the day.

Do you have any tips or tricks for tantrums?

tantrums, parenting, toddlers, terrible twos

How many of us parents remember getting sunburn when we were young? Even though my parents used sunscreen on my sister and I, I still remember getting sunburns. When I was a teenager I actually used oil for tanning!
I lost my father to skin cancer a couple of years ago and I have made it my mission to not lose another family member to melanoma, so protecting myself and my kids is so important to me.
Did you know that:
-Just two or three blistering sunburns during childhood can double the risk of skin cancer
-The majority of lifetime sun damage occurs before age 18
-One in 5 Americans will contract skin cancer in the course of a lifetime
-Nationally, there are more new cases of skin cancer each year than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung, and colon

Have I scared you yet? Good.
The good news is I have an amazing company to share with you that will help protect your kids from the sun’s damaging rays, Cabana Life.

Cabana Life was founded by Melissa Papock, a melanoma survivor who, along with her husband who is also a skin cancer survivor, offers sun protective clothing that is absolutely adorable and hip. While a regular tee shirt has an SPF of 5, cabana life clothing has 50+UV protection through patented High IQ Sun Protection! They have everything you need from hats, cover-ups, tunics, shirts, and pants for boys, girls and women.

I was lucky enough to get to try out some of this clothing for my fair little ones. The clothing was made with amazing quality, it looked great and stood up just fine in the wash. I love the fact that some of the kids bathing suits and cover ups have matching set for adults!

Go and check out Cabana Life’s clothing because I know you will be smitten. Great, quality clothing that protects your skin, is reasonably prices and gives back, what more could you ask for? I know I am a lifelong fan.

Cabana Kids is offering parentingourchildren.com readers an amazing 40% off coupon! Use code MOMBLG when you check out and get 40% off all your entire order!! This coupon is only valid through Friday, July 25th, so hurry!

sun protective clothing, kids, parenting, beach gear, beach gear for kids, sunburns, melanoma, skin cancer, Cabana Life, preventing skin cancer, beach safety