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]]>Many parents worry that travelling might thwart healthy and established sleeping patterns. However, before you swear off travelling, or panic about an upcoming trip, here are some pointers that can help.
Well-rested children cope with jetlag and time differences much better than if they are deprived of sleep. If your baby has had a good sleep schedule prior to leaving, she should be able to fit into a new time zone easily.
About the Author: Good Night is a child and baby sleep consultancy that specialises in helping parents with children who struggle to sleep soundly. For more information, visit: www.goodnightbaby.co.za
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]]>The post Baby proofing 101 appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>With the Safety 1st home safety products you can be at ease that your home is a safe place for your child to grow and develop in.
This child-resistant lock helps keep cabinets secure so little ones don’t get their fingers caught.
Wide grip latches help to keep your little one from accessing off-limit cabinets and drawers. They install easily inside cabinets and drawers, making them invisible to visitors.
Child-resistant outlet plug protectors fit into outlets to help protect curious toddlers.
A multi-purpose strap helps keep curious children out of refrigerators, cabinets, dishwashers, drawers and more. Does not require any special hardware to assemble.
Spring and Release Cabinet & Drawer latches are spring loaded for ease of use. The easy wide grip surface provides easy access for parent and the wide drilling slats provide ease of installation.
Drawer locks keep the little ones out of cabinets and drawers. Spring loaded is best for durability and long lasting use.
A multi-purpose lock has an adjustable length strap for easy positioning. Multi-purpose locks are suitable for all kinds of furniture and appliances.
A Multi-Purpose appliance Lock helps keep children from accessing potentially dangerous appliances.
A Sliding Door Child Lock prevents curious children from gaining access to off-limit areas.
Furniture corner guards are designed with a soft shape which is deal for protecting your child from hitting sharp corners by easily fitting onto table corners.
A Finger Pinch Preventer protects fingers from accidental pinches on both the hinge and knob side of the door.
About the Author: Safety1st has a range of products that keep baby safe. Products are stocked at Baby City and at selected leading mass retail and baby stockists.
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]]>The post A good toddler sleep routine can keep the whole family healthy appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, examined the sleep routines of 337 US preschool children and their families, taking into account socioeconomic characteristics and observing the influence of TV time and meal routines.
Researchers considered four routines protective against childhood obesity including limited TV time, not having a bedroom TV, quality family meal time and adequate sleep.
Yet sleep was the only factor that made a difference in the results.
Children who slept 10 hours per day or more were less likely to suffer obesity than those who did not, regardless of the other protective routines.
Given the importance of sleep, the most likely factor in a child’s risk for obesity was the parental sleep routine.
In a chain reaction, parents who slept inadequately had children who did the same and were therefore more likely to be overweight.
“Parents should make being well rested a family value and a priority,” said Barbara H. Fiese, director of the U of I’s Family Resiliency Center and Pampered Chef Endowed Chair. “We viewed how long parents slept and how long children slept as part of a household routine and found that they really did go together.”
Sufficient sleep has long been linked to healthy weight management and children are hardly new study subjects.
A recent study by the University College London found that 16-month-old toddlers who slept less than 10 hours per day increased their calorie consumption by 10 percent over those who slept 13 hours per day.
A 2009 study by the European Centre of Taste Science in Dijon in central France found participants were likely to consume up to 22 percent more calories than normal after a bad night’s sleep.
(AFP Relaxnews)
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]]>The post Financial ABC’s for toddlers and kids appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Decisions such as purchasing goods, saving and investing can all be executed correctly if there is a sound financial literacy base.
The sooner one acquires these skills the better, so when better to start than when your kids are young. There are a different and appropriate terms and concepts to introduce to children at different ages.
“Sometimes parents are hesitant to talk about money to their kids because they feel that they’re not financial experts, their children are still too young to understand financial concepts or their children might make the same money mistakes as them. However, there are different basic concepts and practices that you can teach your kids at different ages that will equip them with the knowledge to make sound financial decisions in the future,” says Eunice Sibiya, head of FNB Consumer Education.
Children in this age group are too young to understand concepts such as finance, saving, budgeting etc, but there are opportunities to introduce basic financial concepts to little ones.
“Many of us have been out shopping, in a queue and waiting to pay and there’s a child wanting sweets or toys. This is a good time to introduce some basic money concepts,” adds Sibiya.
Children at this age can understand that you need money to buy things such as ice cream or clothes. So if you don’t have money, you can’t buy things. Another good tip is to explain to your little one that the only way to earn money is to work, and encourage them to think of ways to earn money, like helping with chores.
Sibiya says, “Explain the difference between “wants” and “needs”. While you’re shopping, point out needs such as soap, food or toilet paper, and describe “wants” as optional items like biscuits, sweets or chocolate.”
Children in this age group are more aware of money and excited to have it in hand. They might receive money as birthday presents or in the form of pocket money. It is in this age group where parents can teach them the principles of saving and money management. They could even have their own bank account, and manage it, to some extent, but only under the guidance of their parents.
At this age, children can make decisions with money, compare prices and learn how to save.
“Teaching children to save isn’t as hard as you might think. Children have an amazing ability to grasp concepts, especially when you turn a concept into a physical action like having a piggy bank. Taking a coin or two and dropping it into a piggy bank regularly, is the first step to educate your child on the importance of saving a portion of their money instead of spending it all,” says Sibiya.
Your child can now understand more complex concepts about finance.
“Teach your children that they need to save a portion of any money they get, whether it’s birthday money or money they received for doing chores around the house. When they reach their savings goal, they can be rewarded with accordingly. Show them how their money grows when they save, and think about matching your child’s savings to encourage them to save more,” says Sibiya.
By this stage, it is important for your child to have a firm understanding of how money works. It is in this age group that they would want to take ownership of their money and they would want to transact on their own. It is important to chat to your children about the responsibility of having money. Parental guidance is still needed to prepare your child to become a financially responsible individual.
“At this stage, introduce investment concepts and the importance of financial discipline. Children at this age should also be working according to a budget, and be able to manage it with guidance from parents,” says Sibiya.
Children at this age should be as financially independent as possible.
“If you’ve done your job correctly, your child will be able to manage their finances on a day-to-day basis, have a bank account and be able to use it responsibly, have a savings and use this for basic necessities, not you,” says Sibiya.
“Having a child is a life-long commitment, and avoiding the topic of money and financial management will only do your child and yourself a disservice. The best thing you can do for your child is to raise an independent and confident individual who is financially responsible,” concludes Sibiya.
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]]>When you are still pregnant, put together a little box of age-appropriate wrapped goodies for her (for example a small box of smarties or a toy bottle), and keep this in the baby’s room. When you are busy with the baby and cannot attend to your toddler (such as when you are changing a stinky nappy, or feeding), allow her to go to her ‘special box’ and select a present. The selection and the subsequent unwrapping and exploring will buy you the time you need to finish off your task. This way, she will only associate a positive experience with the fact that you are unable to attend to her immediately.
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]]>The post How does your bilingual toddler learn words? New research sheds light appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Parents raising children to be multilingual often worry about whether the abundance and variety of language can hinder the learning process. But a new study published in the International Journal of Behavioural Development suggests that efficient language learning is just a question of being paired with the right teacher.
Having observed subtle differences between the ways in which monolingual and bilingual infants pick up similar sounding words, Christopher Fennell from the University of Ottawa and Krista Byers-Heinlein from Concordia University, both in Canada, based their study upon the various households in which their infant subjects were being raised.
The parents’ status as mono or multilingual was connected to the infants’ ability to learn.
Adults who grew up speaking more than one language possess a subtle accent in each. Often undetectable by other adults, this accent is more obvious to children.
To answer the question as to whether monolingual children learn best from monolingual parents and the same for bilinguals, Fennel and Byers-Heinlin worked with 61 monolingual anglophone and English-French bilingual 17-month-olds.
It is well known that tots learn words easily, although they often have trouble differentiating between similar-sounding words at this stage, regardless of their mono or multilingual status.
In the study, the children were taught two nonsense words by an adult whose language background matched or opposed their own, depending on the group in which they were placed.
The results of the two groups were compared and tests concluded that monolingual children learn words most efficiently from monolinguals and bilinguals learn best for bilinguals.
“We found that all infants, regardless of whether they are learning one or two languages, learn words best when listening to people who sound like their primary caregivers,” Fennell explains. “Monolingual infants succeeded with a monolingual speaker, bilingual infants with a bilingual speaker, but each group had difficulty with the opposite speaker.”
Earlier this year, Byers-Heinlin was involved in a study that suggests bilingual children prefer native speakers of their respective languages, viewing people who speak with accents as outsiders.
(AFP Relaxnews)
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]]>Try to add variety, and to avoid wastage, take into account birthdays and cake-and-candy days at school.
Invest in a variety of small plastic containers and make the effort to prepare little tubs of various finger food the night before. Some children like to have their various food groups separated, and won’t touch a food if it has been “tainted” by something else in the lunchbox.
Most toddlers balk at the sight of a whole fruit in their lunchbox, but will eat it if is cut up into little pieces.
In summer, freeze water or diluted 100 % pure fruit juice in a plastic bottle, the night before, so that by the time your little one drinks it the following day, it is still cold and refreshing.
Three main meals and three significant snacks are important in every child’s day (quantity may vary from child to child, so don’t panic if your child is a small eater).
This provides regular fuel for their metabolism and prevents low blood sugar and unhealthy snacking. Keep lunchboxes fun and without stress. Good healthy fresh and seasonal food, good tap water, exercise, sunshine and lots of laughter will be a good start in helping your child get the best out of life.
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]]>The post Toddler sleep routine: Establishing a sleep zone appeared first on All4Baby.
]]>Having enough sleep is as important to your toddler as following a healthy diet and providing him with adequate stimulation. A well-rested child is less frustrated, more predictable and happier in his world.
Remember, your toddler may not necessarily develop healthy sleep habits automatically. He may need a little help from you!
Whether you have chosen to sleep with your child in the family bed, or whether your child sleeps on his own is determined by your personal beliefs, cultural views and your ability to separate from your child. Either way, choose a sleep zone that suits you.
It is important to regulate your child’s environment to ensure that his sleep zone supports sleep. I would recommend that by the time your child is two years old, that you try to let him sleep in his own sleep zone.
Children need to have their own space, and sleep space is interconnected with physical and emotional boundaries. Encouraging your child to foster some independence from you in the sleep zone paves the way for a sense of security with his own separateness and provides a sound basis for the development of self esteem and self reliance.
Some ideas of creating a calm and nurturing ‘sleep zone’ include:
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