But that doesn’t mean you should neglect yourself or your health. Eat healthy, nutritious foods and get as much sleep as you can. And don’t forget to exercise. We know – easier said than done given the chronic time crunch known as parenthood. Resorting to quick workouts is one alternative to maintain some semblance of your pre-child gym routine. Employ these tips to sneak in some exercise while still donning your Super Mom cape....
Three-Legged Race You’ll need a start and goal line and several pieces of twine for this game. Form teams of partners. Each player must tie one of his or her legs to the other player’s leg so that when they move, they move with three legs. The goal is to race from the start line to the goal line and back again. The first set of partners to reach the start line again is the winner....
All About the Alphabet The ABC’s are the first step to learning how to read and will likely be one of the first skills your child nails down. Help them along by singing the song as often as possible (even if you get sick of it). Reading Readiness Armed with the basics of the alphabet, your kindergartener is now ready to read books. It’s okay if there are very few words in them....
While everyone may have their own motivations for exploring adoption, the core desire for a family to adopt and what propels that family forward to complete an adoption should be based on the right motives as well as a clear understanding of what is entailed. If you find yourself thinking about adoption, there are a number of things to consider. You need to be sure you are adopting for the right reasons and that you are ready for adoption....
Reasons for a BPP Your doctor or midwife will use the numbers given, along with other factors to decide what to do, if anything with your treatment. This may include doing nothing, waiting and repeating the test, inducing labor, or a cesarean. Amniotic fluid levelsBody movementsBreathing movementsHeart rateMuscle tone Here are some reasons that you may have a Biophysical Profile (BPP) ordered for your baby: Other pregnancy complications that your practitioner thinks deserve a better look You are carrying multiples (twins or more) You are experiencing a complication of amniotic fluid (polyhydramnios or oligohydramnios) You have diabetes or gestational diabetes You have had a previous pregnancy loss (stillbirth) You have preeclampsia or other hypertensive disorder in pregnancy Your baby has intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) Your pregnancy has gone past your due date or past 40 weeks gestation...
The tooth fairy’s surprise aside, losing a baby tooth rarely causes any complications. But sometimes a loose tooth refuses to come out on its own. In that case, you can carefully pull it yourself. If a child’s tooth moves back and forth easily without pain, follow these steps to pull it:
Time 20 to 30 minutes Materials PaperWhite glueSand Directions Extensions For variety, use colored sand from a hobby store.Use colored glue that you make yourself by adding food coloring.
These people are wrong, and you can prove it to yourself with the answer to a simple question. What kind of SAT score would you have if you left every question blank? Sorry, but blanks do count. How much? Every time you leave a question blank, you lose 10 points from your 2400 starting score. The cost of each blank varies a bit, but as a rough average, figure 10 points per blank....
Why Setting Ground Rules Is Important When Your Parents or In-Laws Babysit Your Kids Sometimes it’s hard to lay down the law with your own parents. But speaking up at the beginning of a babysitting session or throughout a regular child care arrangement will ensure its success. It’s better to share how you want your child to be cared for than regretting that you didn’t. For instance, if grandparents are always hinting that your kiddo should cut their hair, always say “no haircuts” before you leave kids....
Box lids, no more than 1" deepScraps of paper, different colors, texturesScraps of yarn, string, or ribbon Glue and scissorsPaper doilies
Dinosaurs are always a big hit with kids. Help your child make his very own dino. Materials needed:· Multi-colored construction paper (several sheets)· Scissors· Glue· Pencil· Other decorative materials (broken pieces of pasta, glitter, markers…) What to do: Step One: Let your child choose a color for his dinosaur’s body. Also choose colors for dino’s legs, tail, and spikes (if it has any!). Step Two: Trace your child’s shoe on a piece of construction paper....
When your kids should stay home Although it may seem obvious, children should not go to school when they’re contagious to others or when they’re too sick to learn. More: Fever and Sick Days Most schools will send a child home if they think a child is contagious with: Fever Chicken pox Strep throat Vomiting and/or diarrhea Skin infections Eye infections Parasitic infections such as lice or scabies Planning ahead So, how do you balance work and family responsibilities when your kids need to stay home?...
In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended “urgent action” to increase COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Data collected in the fall of 2021 revealed that only 31% of pregnant people were vaccinated, even though the risk for severe complications from COVID-19 is higher during pregnancy. Between January 2020 and July 2022, 34,693 people were hospitalized while pregnant with COVID-19, and 306 pregnant people died from the disease....
Teenagers who still want to take part in this glorious, sugar-filled Halloween tradition, as well as educators and psychologists, want parents to know that trick-or-treating isn’t just about dressing up and getting piles of candy—it’s also about creativity, autonomy, and respect. Verywell Family had the conversation about letting kids be kids as long as they can, so you as parents can decide what’s best for your own family. Is It OK for Teenagers to Trick-or-Treat?...
There are two schools of thought on the topic of arguing in front of children. One group; don’t do it. The other, how do you not? There are a few things to consider as we open this Pandora’s Box. I have friends that have said, “My parents never argued in front of us”. Still, others who have been traumatized by fights and disagreements have ended with hurt feelings or worse....
Creating completely different behavior plans for each child, however, could be overwhelming. A different set of rules and completely different consequences for each child could lead to complete chaos as you try to remember how to handle each child’s misbehavior. You can, however, tailor your discipline strategies to meet each child’s needs. A slightly different approach to a sensitive child as compared to a fearless child can be instrumental in helping everyone in your family grow together....
Certainly, no parent should force their multiples to dress alike if they don’t want to, especially when the children are old enough to express their dislike about it. But babies and toddlers are another story, and it is the parents of those young twins and triplets who will undoubtedly grapple with this issue at some point. It’s one of the dilemmas faced by parents of twins. Why Parents Dress Their Twins the Same For one thing, it’s just plain easier to dress young children alike; exhausted parents of twinfants don’t have the mental capacity to choose two outfits – much less two outfits in the right size that are gender, temperature, activity, and style-appropriate for the day’s events!...
What to Know While we were absolutely physically safer when following pandemic safety precautions, living in crisis and in quarantine was understandably hard to cope with. For this reason, researchers, doctors, and parents are concerned about the lasting impact living in quarantine had on kids’ sense of well-being, as well as the increased risk this poses for childhood depression, now and later in life. A number of studies done during the pandemic have confirmed that an unfortunate, natural byproduct of living in quarantine for many kids is feeling scared, lonely, anxious, clingy, depressed, and even suicidal....
When these differences become evident, parents naturally worry that their children are not developing at the appropriate rate. If your preschooler’s speech and language development seems to be behind or different from their peers, you may find yourself wondering—and worrying—that they might need speech therapy to catch up. But many times, the differences you are noticing are normal. Remember that a lag in communication skills does not necessarily mean a speech or language disability is inevitable....
What happens if your child gets accepted to more than one college? Dr. Frank Leana, education director at Howard Green & Associates, offers the following suggestions: Avoid forcing your own preferences. Parents tend to push kids to go to the most prestigious school or the one that is closest to home. It’s important for parents to separate their own needs from those of the child. Revisit the schools. Encourage your child to stay overnight, attend classes, and check out the social life....
