|
Monday, April 15, 2013 |
|
 I love over the door shoe holders. They are so great for helping to organize your home:
* crafts
* cleaning products in laundry room
* socks
* toys such as legos or plastic animals
* batteries, flashlights, string in a utility closet
* electronics
* shoes!
For the birth, and baby stage, of my twins, I have been using two of these. I put day outfits at the top and nightgowns at the bottom. On my other over the door shoe holder, I put onesies, for everything, washcloths, socks and shoes. After washing the clothes, I can easily sort the clothes, see what I have, and I’m able to gain quick access to outfits without having to think much. With clothes in a drawer or hanging in a closet, you have to take the time to sort through to find the outfits needed.
|
|
|
Wednesday, July 18, 2012 |
|
 Recently, I attended a water safety class through Children’s Medical Center. Having a pool in our backyard, being surrounded by lakes and pools in TX, and that nearly 300 people drown in TX every year, my family takes pool and water safety very seriously. The following are some good drowning prevention ideas which I gathered from this class.
The 3 Essential Rules of Water Safety
- Test & Teach
- Watch & Guard
- Throw, Don’t Go
1) To test and teach, you can have your child’s swimming skills tested at a local YMCA. Click here for a free swimming assessment. This summer, we had a professional swim instructor come to our home and pool for several weeks, not only for swim lessons but to also give us an evaluation of our son’s skills and what we need to worry about regarding his weaknesses in the pool. We have found swimming lessons & assessments very affective and educational.
2) The watch and guard, is a BIG one for my family. While we didn’t add barriers around our pool, and I’ll explain in another post why we decided against this, we are huge believers in watching children when in the pool, teaching our children to respect the water, and putting alarms on doors going outside to the pool. Also, at the class I attended, “water watcher tags” were passed out. They are basically a badge that the supervising adult wears around their neck when at pool parties or any place where confusion often arises as to who is watching what child or distractions can easily take place. Click here to request your free water watcher tags via mail or download and print.
3) Throw, don’t go, was something new taught to me. If my child was to fall in, my first instinct would have been to jump in after him. It turns out, this is not what you should do. You should never jump in to save a child, but instead use a flotation device or pole to reach out and give to the drowning child. Even a young child will grab and hold on. The reason for this is that a child in panic, even a child weighing only 30 pounds, can easily drown an adult in the process of drowning themselves. Our own pool rule is to try and have 1 to 2 flotation devices (noodles, kickboards) in the deep end for every child and parent in our pool. I have to admit that I would still probably jump in if I thought my child was drowning, but now I would make sure we both had floation devices to also hold on to.
|
|
Monday, May 21, 2012 |
 It can be tricky to convince kids that hygiene is important. Kids think in the "now", so a cavity several months, or years, down the road won’t mean anything to them. There are ways to help kids take responsibility for routine cleaning, such as teeth, hair, nails and hands.
To start, try explaining the importance of good grooming in ways little kids can understand. Instead of warning them about cavities, tell them they need to get the "sugar bugs" off their teeth. It also helps to give toddlers some responsibility. Let them pick out their own toothbrush from choices you make. Or let your child test the water temperature while you fill the bathtub.
Try to make hygiene as fun as possible. If the bathtub becomes a battle for your child, pretend that the tub is a boat sailing with "Nemo" for example.
If washing your child's hair becomes unmanageable, tell your child, that you are not just washing his hair, you are turning him into a unicorn.
Making a game out of it, teaches toddlers it´s not so bad and that they can do it.
|
|
Part cheerleader, part coach, here is another tip for boosting your child’s self-esteem |
 |
 |
 |
|
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 |
|
 You as parents, can take a negative situation and turn it around as an opportunity to boost your child’s self-esteem. Here is an example how: In 2nd grade, I remember coming home, upset that my drawing, made at school, was so bad compared to others. My mom asked me why I thought so. I told her because the other kids at school had said. Mom then sat me down and showed me some of her “coffee table” books which were art books by Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci and how “special” some of the most well-known and famous pictures actually looked. She even took my picture and compared it to one of the paintings.
I remember her telling me that no two people see things the same way and that is what makes art, art. Art is to beheld within the eye of the beholder. If I thought my artwork was good, than it was to me and nobody else could say differently. My mom, at that time, was working as an artist and even had talked about famous artists and their work on parent’s day.
That day, she taught me a lot. Even if I couldn’t draw, I always felt more confident about my “creativity” which also made me more comfortable with choices and decisions in other areas of my life.
|
|
Diaper Changing made Easier |
|
|
|
|
Friday, February 10, 2012 |
|
 Babies and especially toddlers don’t always lay still for a diaper change, infact, some have an all out tantrum or wage a refusal war. To fight my son’s diaper changing challenge, I find clever ways to distract him.
Baby: Held or had something above him for distraction such as a music box with pull string, mirror, or pull toy.
Toddler: The best is by asking him where his nose, eyes, teeth, elbows, knees, ears...are located. Concentrating on his facial features, on mommy’s facial features, or even counting how many ears, fingers, noses we have, always stops him from squirming. While I’m changing him, he is learning all his body parts.
|
|
|
