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Archive for the 'Parenting' Category
A Safer Way To Clean?
Whether they are safer or not, “green” cleaning products are starting to show up on more and more store shelves. These products are becoming mainstream in supermarkets and chain stores such as Target. This has actually been on my mind lately after seeing some of the questions regarding safe cleaning that our users have posted on MothersClick.
According to this interesting article an increasing number of moms are turning to more natural cleaning products. They are hearing the message that some of the toxic ingredients in the cleaners we’ve all used for years could be harmful to our kids. Obviously we all know how dangerous these can potentially be, as we’d never allow our kids to get near the bottles.
But do they work? The article states that many do work just as well. And it also points out that this trend is forcing the larger manufacturers, such as Johnson Wax who makes Windex, to come up with their own alternative products.
Whether or not these newer, greener, products are actually safer for our families, homes or the environment has yet to be proven. Although it seems many believe it just makes sense to use these over the more traditional cleaners.
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.
Where Did the Season Go?
Wow, I can’t believe it’s 2007 already. I truly understand what they say about time flying by faster as you get older - and to top it off, it goes by even faster when you have kids Smile
With a blink of an eye the whole holiday season is over until next year. Someday I’ll actually enjoy the time without panicking about gifts and cooking and everything else that goes into it. It’s amazing how much work it is to pull off a successful celebration!
By the time I could sit down and look at the beautiful tree in our living room, it was time to figure out when I was going to take it all down. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed watching my daughter open her presents (which really meant finding as much tape as possible and seeing how long she could keep it sticky!). And I was absolutely amazed that my husband loved all his gifts - I only had to return 2 things.
I must also mention how awesome those after Christmas sales are. I think next year I’ll wait until then to buy everything, or at least consider more gift cards. I know, if I wasn’t running around shopping all week, I probably could have taken better advantage of the season, and think of some important new years resolutions - but it’s just so tempting.
Hey, it’s only Jan 2 - never too late to make the resolutions, I think I’ll start with better advance planning for Christmas this year.
Afordable Tutoring
Hmmm.. I’m really stumped on this one. I have to admit I was surprised to see parents hiring tutors in India. But then again, as the below article states, these kids are doing amazingly well in school, as oppposed to American’s.
Yes, it is hard to see more jobs go overseas, but in this case I almost see how the benefits outweigh this. How many parents can actually afford $40- $100 an hour to help their kids learn? I get a panic attack everytime I think about my daughter (now 14 months) asking me to help her with her homework! Sure, the first years should be a snap, but Algebra, Physics - SCARY!
Maybe something like this will help motivate American schools, teachers and others to work wtih kids at a bit of a “discounted” rate for the families who really need the help. Otherwise, I don’t see how the rest of us can keep up.
U.S. homework outsourced as “e-tutoring” grows
By Jason Szep Thu Sep 28, 10:43 AM ET
BOSTON (Reuters) - Private tutors are a luxury many American families cannot afford, costing anywhere between $25 to $100 an hour. But California mother Denise Robison found one online for $2.50 an hour — in India.
“It’s made the biggest difference. My daughter is literally at the top of every single one of her classes and she has never done that before,” said Robison, a single mother from Modesto.
Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, is one of 1,100 Americans enrolled in Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched U.S. services last November with a staff of 150 “e-tutors” mostly in India with a fee of $100 a month for unlimited hours.
Taylor took two-hour sessions each day for five days a week in math and English — a cost that tallies to $2.50 an hour, a fraction of the $40 an hour charged by U.S.-based online tutors such as market leader Tutor.com that draw on North American teachers, or the usual $100 an hour for face-to-face sessions.
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.
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 Work (Doesn’t sound as fun as back to school!)
For all of you new moms out there, here are some tips to help make the transition back to work as smooth as possible. This can be quite a traumatic time in your life, but like most moms know, it does (well, kind of) get easier.
Welcome Back: Returning to Work After Your Maternity Leave
By Caroline M. Levchuck
And you thought going back to work after a great vacation was rough…
Planning Your Return
Six weeks? Ten weeks? Twelve weeks? How can a new mom know she’s ready to return to work?
Proper planning can help you choose the best back-to-work date for you and your family. First, try to anticipate how much time you’ll need (and how much time you’ll get) to the best of your ability. Talk to other working mothers. Review your eligibility under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as well as your employer’s maternity leave policy and your personal financial situation to assess not only when but how you’ll return to work.
Back To School
I found this great article while perusing one of my most favorite things to read, the Chronicle food section this week. Listed here are plenty of great, and healthy, meals to send your kids off to school with. And best of all, they’ve already been kid tested, and approved!
Send students packing with kid-tested meals
Amanda Gold, Chronicle Staff WriterWednesday, August 30, 2006
Their expressions were pensive, focused. They chewed and swallowed meticulously. Between bites, the only sound was the quick scratch of pencil on paper or the squeak of an eraser.
More silence as forks were put down and pencils abandoned.
“Well?” I asked carefully, holding my breath. “What do you think?”
“Good,” giggled 5-year-old Adam Jones, as he slithered off his chair under the conference room table, any remnant of concentration swallowed with his last bite of pita pizza.
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.
Toys Vs. Love
According to this very scientific article, the kids really need none of it. What they do need is the time and love you put in to participate in activities with them. Really does make sense. But I’m sure this won’t slow down the toymakers any, they’re raking it in!
When it comes to toys vs. love, love wins every time.
Forget the latest toys — All kids really need is love
Authors say public policy should focus on helping children have good experiences in their earliest years
BY AMY ADAMSProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
With flashy toys, expensive classes and music compilations all promising to make your child smarter, it’s hard to sort out the best way to help your child’s brain thrive. A new policy paper helps put those worries to rest. The gist of the paper is this: What kids need is a secure relationship with adults who adore them.
“It’s all about playing with your child,” said Eric Knudsen, PhD, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor in the School of Medicine, succinctly summing up a paper in the June 27 advance online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A child’s eventual ability to learn calculus or a second language, he explained, starts with the neurons that are shaped by positive interactions with nurturing adults.
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.
Step Away From the Computer (at least for a couple of hours)
It really is no surprise. Between the time kids spend on line these days, and the ads they are looking at for all those hours, it’s only natural that childhood obesity would be on the rise.
Although there are many benefits to kids spending time on line (they sure can learn a lot), I think parents need to make sure there is some balance here. Especially with the influential ads they are contsantly viewing. It’s time for us to get the kids off the computer and moving!
With childhood obesity on the rise and policymakers raising questions about the impact of food marketing and advertising to children.
A new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, suggests that online marketing is contributing to the high rates of childhood obesity.
Separation Anxiety
Whenever I think about separation anxiety, I start to get anxious! Although I haven’t really experienced any of this yet with my soon to be 1 year old, I keep thinking it’s going to happen at any minute.
Below is a very helpful article describing what separation anxiety is and why a lot of children go through this phase. And luckily, it is just a phase, as the experts discuss in the article, it’s temporary and we shouldn’t try to get too stressed out by the whole situation!
Good luck!
Unfortunately, teary and tantrum-filled goodbyes are a very common part of a child’s earliest years. Around the first birthday, it is common for kids to develop separation anxiety, getting upset when a parent tries to leave them with someone else. Though separation anxiety is a perfectly normal part of childhood development, it can be unsettling. Understanding what your child is going through and having a few coping strategies in mind can go a long way toward helping both of you get through it.
Road Trips With Kids
It’s officially here! The first day of summer was this week, and now it’s time to find ways to entertain our kids. One true and tested form of fun for families has been the road trip. Be it to Disneyland, or even covering mulitple states, parents have packed up the kids and the car (or these days probably the SUV or minivan) since the invention of the automobile.
Below you will find some tips on how to make your road trip fun for everyone. Happy travels!!
Vacation Plus: On the Road with Children
Unless we enjoy the benefit of living in a walking city or have access to quality mass transit, most of us spend a great deal of time in our cars – commuting, running errands, and transporting our children. A chauffer may be on the wish list of many busy parents. With all the supplies we carry in the car, the snacks we munch, and the quick changes from school clothes to soccer cleats, our cars have become our home away from home. So what about summer vacations on the road? Can traveling in our car for hundreds of miles with our children really be a vacation? Sure, if we’re up for adventure. There are plenty of family destinations in every community, whether for a day trip, a week vacation, or even a cross-country adventure.
How do we fend off boredom, restlessness, and car sickness on the road? Here are a few tips to make the ride a little smoother. So pack up the car and buckle your seat belts. Even car travel can be great family fun.