Keeping Your Kids Busy in the Vacation
One of the biggest hurdles that any working mother has to face is what to do with the kids during vacation time. Whether you work from home or at an office, your schedule is going to be affected, especially during the very long summer break. If you work at an office, you will need to find somewhere for your children to go, take some leave, or try to work from home during this time. And if you work from home, you are not totally free either, as it is very hard to concentrate on your work when little people are constantly interrupting you and telling you that they are bored. The main advantage here, however, is that at least you are at home.
The other problem with vacation is that there will also be a lot more housework to do, as when your children are at home during the day there is more mess to clear up, whether in the form of toys and games left around, more laundry to do, and general cleaning.
So how do you cope with vacation?
First of all, you can find general tasks for your children that can actually help you with taking care of the house. For example, they could be given the task of decorating and tidying their own bedrooms. Find them some fun stickers to put on the walls, and let them choose nice accessories, such as an area rug. A tropical rug or any other kind of kids’ rug is not too expensive and may fire their imagination. Let them play around with the design of their rooms – they could move the bed to a different place or change the color scheme of the bedding and curtains. You don’t need to repaint the walls, but you could give them a lot of latitude in what they decide to do.
Similarly, how about letting the children set up their own playroom or den? Choose a new toy box and let them sort out their own toys. You would be surprised by the efficiency that even young children may show. This is a task you could either help them with, or they could be trusted to do it themselves. They can choose their own decorations. If you want to be really radical, you could even let them draw their own pictures on the walls. Kids can be really creative, and if you consider your children’s drawings to be a form of art, you may enjoy the results very much.
You can also use the vacation as a time to instill positive organizational habits within your children. When they have finished playing a game, tell them that they can only go on to the next thing once they have picked up of all the pieces and put everything away. If they are doing messy arts and crafts, show them how to clean up as they go. This will give them positive habits that will last them for the rest of their lives.
By doing a few simple activities, vacation does not need to be a drag.
Healthy Eating Strategies: The Five Most Important Things You Can Do for Your Kids
You read every parenting book on the market during pregnancy. During your child’s first year, you devotedly tracked his every developmental milestone. You subscribe to at least one Super-Mom Magazine and here you are online, faithfully checking out what other Moms have to say about their child-rearing experiences. Your desire to do the best for your children is as great as the day is long, but the time you have available for reading is short. So, here in a nutshell, are the five most important things you can do for your children when it comes to healthy eating:
Include whole grain cereals, whole wheat breads, and brown rice as part of healthy diet
Remember the old food pyramid that listed bread, cereal, rice and pasta as the foundation of a nutritious diet and recommended 6-11 servings of these foods each day? Even though the USDA Food Pyramid has changed its layout, keep in mind that whole grains remain a cornerstone of healthy eating.
The current pyramid recommends that parents look for the word “whole” before the name of a grain on a food label and that at least half of the grains children consume each day are whole grains. It is recommended that kids eat at least 3oz. of whole grain cereals, breads, rice and pasta each day.
Consume fruits and veggies each day
Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables each day provides your children with vitamins and nutrients that have significant, long-term health benefits. In fact, this single dietary change of increasing vegetable and fruit consumption can help prevent your child from being a part of the rising trend in chronic disease, including strokes, hypertension, diabetes, obesity and cancer.
Choose lean, low-fat or fat-free meats, poultry, milk and dairy products
Meats, poultry, milk and dairy foods are rich in protein, iron, calcium, and other important nutrients. Calcium is especially important for building bone in little ones. Some of the best sources of calcium include low-fat cheeses and yogurt (as well as spinach!)
For optimal nutrition, be sure to vary your choices among these foods. When it comes to preparation, variety is also the way to go: grill, broil, and bake your meats for great flavor and healthy variety.
Reduce intake of saturated fats, sugar and salt
Nothing beckons kids like an ice cream cone! While sweets and treats are fine in any diet, the key is moderation. Limit your children’s intake of saturated fats and sugar, as well as the salt that sneaks into their diets in seemingly healthy ways (atop vegetables, in dairy products) and in hard-to-resist snack foods such as pretzels, chips, and crackers.
Research suggests that one of the best ways for parents to influence their child’s eating behavior when it comes to junk food is to make healthy foods readily available in the home, while making less healthy ones more difficult to access.
Sitting down with your children tells them they are important
The most important thing you can do for your child with regard to eating behavior is to sit with him at mealtimes. Studies show that children who eat with a parent at least five times per week are significantly less likely to be involved in risky behavior later in life, including smoking, drug and alcohol use, and promiscuous sexual behavior. If there is one change you can make, this is the one to aim for!
Teaching children to make wise and nourishing food choices is one of the most important ways that you can contribute to his healthy development on a daily basis. These five, key strategies for good nutrition and healthy eating are some of the most important steps you can take to help him grow up fit, strong, happy, and healthy.
By Signe Whitson, LSW. She is a mom, therapist, and fabulous blogger. Check out blog chocked full of advice on dealing with passive aggressive people. She contributes her advice to My Baby Clothes Boutique. They have a wide assortment of baby accessories and baby gifts to meet the needs of every baby.
Eating Ice Cream Blindly: A Favorite Family Tradition
Three years ago, I was walking alongside my daughter as she took her first training wheel-free bike ride in a park near our home. Though the 1.25 mile course is fully paved and mostly flat, some small hills and the newness of it all created quite a bit of anxiety for my novice biker. To distract her from fears of falling, I randomly started rambling on about favorite ice cream flavors. Somehow, our joint visions of sugarplums resulted in a fall-free ride for her and a contest that has become one of our family’s favorite annual traditions.
Every year on August 1st, we now hold the Annual Whitson Ice Cream Tasting Contest. Here’s how it goes:
First, I make a solo trip to the grocery store (thrilling!) to pick out wacky ice cream flavors, with crazy names, and unusual combination of ingredients.
Next, I stealthily bring the ice cream home and while no one else is allowed in the kitchen, I spoon out small portions of each contest flavor into numbered paper cups. I take care to make sure that each sample contains at least a little bit of each key ingredient—caramel swirl, peanut butter ripple, fudge chunk, moose track, mint chip, and all.
When the materials are all prepared, we are ready to begin! My contestants each get an answer sheet and are encouraged to take their time, and use all of their senses (my youngest daughter thinks listening to her ice cream is the funniest thing), to write down as many ingredients and flavors as possible.
Each correctly identified recipe item earns valuable points and extra points are awarded for those who guess the correct “official” name of the frozen treat. With flavor names like “Twisted Cactus” and “Praline Pecan Paradise,” it’s sort of like the fair maiden guessing Rumpelstiltskin’s name—only so much funnier! As the contest host, this is clearly my favorite part of the tradition. (Well, except for helping eat the leftovers after the contest. That’s the actual best part!)
The winner of the Ice Cream Tasting Contest each year gets bragging rights, along with a one-year lease on our homemade trophy. The trophy, made of colored tissue paper balled up to look like ice cream scoops, nestled inside of a tall, ice cream sundae glass dish, is a much-coveted, highly-valued item in our household. In case of fire, grab the kids, the pets, and definitely the Ice Cream trophy!
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