Archive for August, 2006
Our four year-old was going through a period of screaming and tantrums. When she couldn’t open a door, it would set off a real siren inside her, and the arms and legs would star kicking and hitting. My tendency was to lose control myself and then discipline the child, but I was not gaining at all in that way. Even after the discipline, the child still had tantrums when she couldn’t open a door or find a book, or other article. Then one day I discovered that a calm conversation opened the way to a simple and lasting solution.
She needed to learn how to control herself, even though she was very young, and she had to begin to ask what she wanted! So I explained to her, “I would be glad to help you open the door, but you need to come and ask for help saying, ‘Please help me open the door, I can’t get it open.’ Otherwise I won’t know what you want.” After this, when a situation arose, I would wait nearby to see what she would do.
The next day I was in the kitchen and heard some crying in the bedroom. Then it quickly stopped! Our four-year-old walked into the kitchen and said, “I can’t get the drawer open, please help me.” What a victory! She had remmebered that it would not help to cry. The answer was to ask for help. That was a victory!
{sc}
August 31st, 2006
Sure, some celebrities have three nannies, fly their families on vacation via priviate jet and never have to change a diaper, but many are “regular moms”, too.
CNN’s morning anchor , Soledad O’Brien has four kids and life is certainly fast paced for her. Yet she manages both a career and a home filled with kids. How does she do this? Her sister, Maria, who has 8 kids, told her that things come in stages and she needed to believe that “this, too will pass.” Its easy to be stressed in the moment, thinking this is what life will be from now on, however, it will pass, and you will be alive after the “terrible two’s” .
Another celebrity, Reese Witherspoon, a young hollywood mom we can admire for keeping herself grounded, takes her kids to school. She plays with them at the beach and jumps waves. She wears Gap clothing. She is a star truly attached to her children and wants to take care of them above all else. Her advise would surely be that its more important to take time with your children then anything the hollywood scene or anything other attractions can offer.
Many celebrity moms feel the importance of teaching their children a second language. Kate Moss, enrolled her three year old daughter in spanish lessons. Madonna’s two kids attend a french teaching school. Gwyenth is teaching her toddler daughter spanish. I suppose their advice would be, that learning another language at such an early age, will help their children be more fluent and capable of speaking that language and enable them to be able to travel without a personal dictionary! In the world we live in today, another language is certainly beneficial!
{sc}
August 30th, 2006
“All over the earth they are swaying, the nests where the little ones lie, and the faces—black, brown, white or yellow, are watched by the Father’s kind eye.”
In addition to a general tiredness that runs through young mothers like a low-grade temperature, there is the subtle and overt pressure to be an achiever. The general idea is for women to excel, to work outside the home, to develop interests in other things, and to get involved in projects.
The suggestion to get out of the house and be fulfilled never comes at a worst time.
A study out says that there is evidence that by the time a child is six or seven months old, they know if they are loved or rejected by the way parents, adults, baby sitters or whoever, changed their diapers, fed, or handled them.
If this study about babies has a shred of truth in it, then I believe that the suggestion to “get out and do something for yourself” is not fulfilling anybody. On the contrary, it loses two people at least, the mother and the child.
So mom or dad, give some thought to what is really important at this time in your babies life.
{sc}
August 21st, 2006
“Why don’t you grow up?” is another of those unanswerable adult questions. For there stands the child, doing exactly that….growing up!
We spend much of our time as mothers shouting, “How may times am I going to have to tell you to pick up your clothes, brush your teeth, feed the cat, turn off the TV, and so forth?” The answer is about 16 years or so, and who could do it with more love than we mothers? No one!
Before you know it, that child of yours will be grown and out the door into a world filled with new questions and new challenges and yes possibly children of their own.
So mom, why are we in such a hurry to see our children grow up…..Let’s enjoy each and every moment of their lives, from the diapers and baby toys scrattered to and fo, to the special times when we hold out our hands to help them take their first steps. When we place those priceless times into a baby memory book!
As the years quickly go by, and they will, we just might find ourselves asking another question, “Why did you grow up so fast?”
{sc}
August 15th, 2006
Sudden infant death syndrome is the death of a baby younger then one year old without a known cause. Typically, a parent or other caregiver puts the baby, who seems healthy, down to sleep and returns later to find the baby has died. No one is at fault when a baby dies of SIDS; it can be neither predicted or completely prevented.
Although SIDS is rare, it is one of the most common causes of death in babies between 1 and 12 months of age. Most babies who die of SIDS are between the ages of 2 and 4 months.
Some risk factors are associated with SIDS, although the relationships are not entirely clear. Risk factors include having a low birth rate or being born prematurely, having been part of a multiple pregnancy, lack of medical care for the mother during pregnancy, having a mother younger then 20, and being exposed to cigarette smoke. More boys then girls die of SIDS. Most SIDS death occur in the winter.
Researchers are currently studying the possibility that SIDS may result with problems with the brain’s ability to control breathing and or temperature during the first months of life. As the baby’s brain matures, this risk is reduced.
Crib bedding is also very important. Blankets and sheets should fit properly to the mattress and crib so that the bedding doesn’t slip and your baby doesn’t become entangled in it.
More research is being done on SIDS and continues to offer more and more information for parents of the newborns.
August 11th, 2006
Perhaps you are pregnant with your first baby. Or maybe you are pregnant and already have one child. Or, worse yet, you are pregnant and already have two babies under four years of age, and the stress of it all is beginning to eat you alive. You are quite ready to shout, “stop, world, i want to get off!”
Being weary emotionally as well as physically seems to be a disease with young mothers. Fatigue is the factor that makes most of us doubt our abilities, our sanity, and even our degree of spirituality.
The emotions and the body go through very radical changes during pregnancy. It is no wonder that immediately after giving birth, when we’ve abruptly lost as much as twenty pounds of baby and fluids, with the hormones at a very low level, and possible thyroid deficiencies, post partum blues really hit us. The apprehensions and responsibility of caring for an infant loom before us, and we’re at a loss to explain our feelings. We are profoundly overcome. One moment we cry, the next , laugh, and then we find ourselves talking gratefully of how glad we’ll be when the baby sleeps through the night.
You are positive this child will never be five years old. Those babies of yours will never toddle off to kindergarden, and you’re sure you’ll be forever knee-deep in diapers and formula, and fatigue.
Take heart dear mom, they grow up way too fast and you will sleep all night once again, but you will also miss the times you were close and needed, so enjoy these times and savor these moments with your babies!
{sc}
August 4th, 2006
Someone has given this definition of a baby:
A baby is a small member of the home that makes love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, the bank roll smaller, the home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.
Our baby gifts, which include diaper bags, baby gift baskets, baby clothes and many other gifts, will make that beautiful baby welcomed!
{sc}
August 2nd, 2006
Dr. James Dobson, a child development specialist, says that “children are sometimes permanently harmed by people’s attitudes towards their looks. Even at age 3 or 4, children can tell if they are beautiful or ugly.”
Unhappily, most people treat children as if they were beauty contest contestants, giving warmth and praise to the goodlooking and ridiculing or neglecting the fat, skinny, or whatever child. The result for the latter is lifelong self-doubt and feelings of worthlessness. Nicknames like “bucky beaver”, “pee wee”, or “birdlegs” can cause harm for life. Instead of exalting beauty, brains or accomplishment, the specialist urges adults to teach children to emphasize virtues such as diligence, patience and honesty.
So when you have that new born baby, and wish to purchase baby gifts, remember along with those the best gift you can give will be that of encouraging self-esteem.
{sc}
August 1st, 2006
