Subscribe to RSS
Archive for the 'Announcements' Category
Daddy’s Little Girl
Just in time for Father’s Day!
Want to know who your daughters will end up marrying? Well, if they have a good relationship with their father, it may very well be someone who closely resembles the most important man in their lives.
A new study has just announced that women who were “daddy’s girls” most likely would be attracted to men who really do look like their father! Yes, this was a real scientific study. And a very interesting one at that. The scientists actually asked women about their relationships with their own fathers. Then showed them photos of men who looked like dear old dad and those who didn’t. The women with strong, positive ties to their dads, stated that they found the similar looking men more attractive.
This may be the ultimate tribute to our fathers 
U.S. Lags Way Behind In Family/Work Policies
It’s hard to believe that this country is so far behind others when it comes to taking care of its employees with families! For any of you working moms out there, you know what I’m talking about.
The majority of “wealthy” countries provide guaranteed policies that the US has yet to adopt. Especially when it comes to paternity leave. Dad’s are not guaranteed any time off when their kids are born, it all depends on your company. You could actually lose your job for taking such time off!
There are also no laws ensuring time for a woman to breast feed her baby while she’s at work. You would think with all of the working moms in the US, we would be able to offer fairly good benefits when it comes to families and the people that take care of them.
According to this study, new legislation may be on its way, it just amazes me that it’s taken so long. There are definitely some tips this country can pick up on from others around the world.
How Hip Are You?
I’ll file this under “what will they think of next?”
I’m sure most of us have iPods these day (who doesn’t?). Honestly, if I hadn’t been given one, I probably wouldn’t myself, I still call it my “walkman”. How sad is that?
But, how hip are your babies?? Do you have the new iCrib? That’s right, now you can upload all of your baby’s favorite tunes and play them right there in the crib! Our kids are most likely never going to know what life was like without all of this tech. Yes, it’s great in many ways, but I’m sure some of us would really miss that cute mobile that plays lousy music (but usually works to get the kids to sleep!).
If you’re interested, here’s a brief review of the new device that just hooks up to the crib with a space for your own iPod.
Just beware when the kid gets old enough to figure the thing out and starts blasting Van Halen in the middle of the night .
Oh Really, Not Enough Sleep For Moms?
Find someone else to cook dinner, clean the house, go to work, feed the kids, get them ready for bed. I doubt most moms would want to give up all that - well maybe the cleaning part
I guess for now we’ll just have to on as we have been and try to squeeze in a cat nap every once in a while (literally, my cat sleeps about 20 hours a day! - if only)
Thu Oct 19, 6:27 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Half of U.S. mothers are not getting enough sleep and they believe getting more rest would make them better parents, according to a U.S. study.
A nationwide survey of 500 mothers by research firm Braun Research found 54 percent of respondents said they were not getting enough sleep.
Full-time working mothers were suffering the most with 59 percent saying they were not getting enough sleep. Half of the working mothers said they were getting six or fewer hours sleep a night.
Stay-at-home moms fared better with 48 percent saying they were sleep deficient.
The Banning of Tag
Hard to believe growing up without playing tag. Seem to remember spending lots of time running around chasing my friends (and no one ever got hurt). If they keep cutting back on ways to for kids to have fun and get some exercise, the childhood obesity problem may get even worse.
ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Tag, you’re out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they’ll get hurt and hold the school liable.
Recess is “a time when accidents can happen,” said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.
While there is no districtwide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.
Best Companies for Moms (to work for)
It’a an important decision for many, and not even a thought for others. But these days there are plenty of working moms out there. Might as well pick a company to work for that is “mommy friendly”.
Below is the recent list of companies that get high ratings from their mom employees.
By VINNEE TONG, AP Business Writer Mon Sep 25, 4:47 PM ET
NEW YORK - Working Mother magazine released its annual list of the top 100 places to work, with its chief executive touting an improvement in mother-friendly benefits in corporate America.
Working Mother CEO Carol Evans, who authored the book “This Is How We Do It: The Working Mothers’ Manifesto,” said that in order to retain female employees, a growing number of companies are offering customized schedules.
“There are some very, very creative ideas, and this is all related to what we saw in the past, with women dropping off the edge of a cliff, when they said it’s either working full time or not at all,” Evans said.
Hope For “Caspers’” Like Me
OK, first things first. It’s kind of sad to see how much time, money and research go into giving people a tan. Of course, many of us believe it makes us look “healthier” and spend way too much time in the sun. I unfortunately learned this lesson a little too late in life, as my crows feet grow deeper and deeper.
But I’ll assume this article relates to research that will help prevent skin cancer, a big problem for a lot of people (all because we want that deep, dark tan). So, it gives people like me hope, the chance to look healthy and to ward off cancer - what more could you ask for? Let’s just hope it smells better than what we have to choose from these days
Tanning cream may ward off skin cancer: study
By Jason Szep Wed Sep 20, 1:17 PM ET
BOSTON (Reuters) - Scientists say they have discovered a cream that may ward off skin cancer by tanning skin a golden bronze without exposure to the sun.
Tests so far have been confined to mice, but researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital in Boston say the findings would mark a seismic shift in the biology of tanning if the cream was determined to be safe for humans.
Unlike sunless tanning lotions that color the skin, the cream alters skin pigmentation much like a suntan. The more days it was applied, the darker the skin became. A heavy application over more than a week left some mice nearly black.
Baby TV?
Announcements, Children's Health, Parenting • 
comment on this post
Talk about a really lousy idea. Do parents need more of an excuse to plop their kids in front of the tube?
With obesity rates as high as they are in this country, it seems to me that starting kids (as young as 6 months) on this sedentary habit is not gonig to help any. Kids will most likely grow up and want to watch something on TV, it’s up to us as parents to limit that time. Whatever happened to going outside and running around, of course, now that can be scary in itself! But, getting babies hooked at such a young age sound dangerous too.
Heed the pediatricians (at least when it comes to this)!
TV channel for babies? Pediatricians say turn it off
Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff WriterMonday, September 11, 2006
In an era of increasing niche programming on TV, women have the Oxygen network, men have Spike TV and some pets are even agog at Animal Planet.
Now, infants can pull up a bouncy chair, grab a bottle and have round-the-clock access to the nation’s first channel for babies, BabyFirstTV, featuring three-minute segments designed for babies as young as 6 months.
Back To School Part II
Here is some great back to school advice from an expert!
Back to School: 2 Essentials for a Smooth Transition
Posted by Robert Needlman, M.D.If you have children heading back to school in the next two weeks, it’s time to get ready. And I’m not talking about ring-binders and lined paper. I’m talking about sleep and reading.
1. Sleep
Sleep is the big one. If you’re like most parents, you let bedtimes slide a bit over the summer. Or, you let them slide a lot. Way back in medical school, I learned that people’s normal biorhythms run on cycles of slightly more than 24 hours. If you put someone in a room without a window, and keep him there for a few days, he’ll start to go to bed a little later every night, and wake up a little later every morning. Eventually he ends up awake at night and asleep during the day. Sound familiar?
Parenting regulations
(08-25) 04:00 PDT Sacramento — Parents will have to strap their kids into backseat car booster seats until they are 8 years old or reach a certain height if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill the Legislature sent to him Thursday.
Another bill that appears headed to the governor’s desk attempts to protect children’s health by making it illegal for adults to smoke in a car with young passengers.
California law now requires children younger than 6 or weighing less than 60 pounds to use booster seats — and sit in the backseat.
“Traffic accidents are the highest cause of fatality for children ages 6 and 7,” said the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa. “This is a serious, serious issue.
Kids and Their Parents’ Diets
Announcements, Food, Children's Health, Parenting • comment on this post
I will have to admit here that I think this had some effect on me as a kid, well, more like as a teenager. I remember wanting to try all of my moms diets, and even participating sometimes. Needless to say, I was always a pretty scrawny kid, that didn’t last and I think the whole body image thing can start affecting us at a very young age.
Not that I would ever blame my mother, I’m sure she was doing what she thought was best for me at the time, as always.
ALBANY, N.Y. - Mom’s dieting habits can have a bad influence on the children. Some research indicates youngsters learn attitudes about dieting through observation. For some youngsters, that might mean an unhealthy fixation on body image, experts warn.
“It’s like trying on Mom’s high heels. They’re trying on their diets, too,” said Carolyn Costin, spokeswoman for the National Eating Disorder Association.
As obesity rates climb among children, health officials are warning parents about the dangers of junk food and lack of exercise. Yet few speak about parents who meticulously count every calorie that crosses their lips.
You try shopping without putting the kid in the cart
You may have seen this in today’s Chronicle. I personally have never witnessed a child falling out of a shopping cart or tipping one over. Of course I probably didn’t pay too much attention to such things before becoming a parent.
I’m sure it does happen, and kids get hurt, but honestly, the other option is pretty much hiring a sitter while you go grocery shopping!
Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, August 7, 2006
The nation’s pediatricians are warning parents today against putting children in shopping carts.
“Parents are strongly encouraged to seek alternatives,” says the American Academy of Pediatrics, which reports that shopping carts were involved in injuries to more than 24,000 children last year, mostly when a child fell out or a cart tipped over.
But parents who have tried to pick up a couple things at the store while keeping their children from toppling the displays or playing hide-and-seek in the clothing racks may find the warning hard to accommodate.
Sun Smarts
Since we are actually getting some sun this summer, I thought this article might be helpful. Probably as good for the parents as it is for the kids. We should all practice “safe sunning”.
We all need some sun exposure; it’s our primary source of vitamin D, which helps us absorb calcium for stronger, healthier bones. But it doesn’t take much time in the sun for most people to get the vitamin D they need, and unprotected exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays can cause skin damage, eye damage, immune system suppression, and even cancer. Even people in their 20s can develop skin cancer.
Most children rack up between 50% and 80% of their lifetime sun exposure before age 18, so it’s important that parents teach their children how to enjoy fun in the sun safely. With the right precautions, you can greatly reduce your child’s chance of developing skin cancer.
Happy Father’s Day!
After all the hoopla surrounding Mother’s Day, one of my favorite black intellectuals Chris Rock puts the appreciation of fathers in the proper perspective…
Everybody takes Daddy for granted. Everything’s Mama. Dear Mama. Always loved my Mama. What’s the Daddy song? “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone.” Nobody appreciates Daddy.
Now, Mama’s got the roughest job. l ain’t gonna front. But at least people appreciate Mama. Every time Mama do something right, Mama gets a compliment… ’cause women need to hear compliments all the time.
Women need food, water, and compliments. That’s right. And an occasional pair of shoes. That’s right. Women got to hear it all the time, or they lose their minds.
And get Daddy to make sure you thank your Mama for everything. Tell your Mama how good the food is. Tell her how nice the house looks. Tell your Mama how nice her hair looks.
“Did you tell your Mama? You better go in there and tell your Mama!” That’s right. Tell your Mama! Tell your Mama! Tell your Mama!
Nobody ever tells Daddy sh*t. Read more »
Ladybug Too Preschool — Spots Available
Ladybug Preschool’s second location, Ladybug Too, has some spots available
—
1) Afternoons
2) Mondays
3) Girls
If interested, call Yvonne Hove, the director. We toured their new location and it is amazing! Yvonne’s phone number is 415-776-5054.
Their new school is in Cow Hollow on Greenwich. It is Reggio Emilia-based and the kids are always active, doing artwork, learning cooking, playing, reading, or music. Yvonne has 17 years experience and is fabulous.