Play Is Serious Business For Childrens’ Intelligence
April 25, 2007
Play Is Serious Business For Childrens’ Intelligence
by: Jon Weaver
Too many parents consider play as simply a means of diverting and distracting their children. Playthings are often seen as a means of keeping children happy, rewarding them, keeping them out of mischief, and giving parents free time.
Not often enough do parents think of play and toys as fundamental aspects of a child’s education, as a means through which children learn to understand the world around them, and as the primary method by which children acquire many basic skills.
Parents can help make their children’s play stimulating by doing three things.
First, they can adopt an attitude of conscious, deliberate planning in which play is regarded as one of the most important aspects of their children’s environment.
Second, they can see to it that their children are provided with the kinds of toys and playthings that will help develop the widest possible varieties of skills and abilities.
Third, they can assume a direct, participating role in their children’s play.
Baby Boy Clip Art to liven up your Baby Shower Cards
April 25, 2007
Loads of baby boy clip art images are available, once you click your computer’s mouse and get connected to the Internet. First, you must know what clip art is all about. Clip art is about copying / cutting the pre-existing images. Yes, these images are already mostly in the books that have made their entry into the public domain for that purpose.
You can have your feast of logos, mascots, identity and business cards, invitations, letterheads. In addition, there are no hassles of license terms. The electronic clip art available on the Internet is an extension of this clip-art concept. These images are digitized drawings on low resolution used for decorating Invitations and E-greetings.
Clipart, including Baby Boy Clip art, are meant for defining digitized drawings and not photography. There are many files in many shapes, sizes and formats. Some of the most widespread formats are PICT, Paint, GIF, TIFF, EPS and JPEG. If you are unsure which format to use, just use PICT. This format is compatible with most programs, and can also adjust to another format type easily.
Standard clipart is usually not a very detailed drawing. Mostly they are images that have little detail or are outline drawings. The standard clipart is for use on the web for in documents.
Playing Safe
April 25, 2007
Do you really want your child to enjoy playing with a toy that was made on the other side of the world by people who are no more than children themselves, and paid 30 cents an hour - a paltry sum that can barely sustain them? Unfortunately, all too often, that’s exactly what you’re doing.
I’m not suggesting that anybody who does this is uncaring and selfish - when we buy these toys it’s usually because we don’t know any better. After all, the big toy manufacturers are hardly going to tell us, are they?
Manufacture
So why is this allowed to go on? How can the toy giants get away with it?
Quite easily. Thanks to the way these factories are monitored, owners are warned of inspections beforehand and have time to ‘clean up their act’.
While the Toy Industry Association of America has developed regulations regarding the safety of children’s toys, they’ve done little to improve the situation for the unfortunate children who are forced to make them.
Their website explains that since a large percentage of toys sold in the US are produced in China, as far back as in 1996 the TIA developed a program to teach Chinese toy manufacturers US toy safety standards to ensure that imported toys met US requirements.
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream, But Not For Ice Cream!
April 25, 2007
We all scream for ice cream. Or, we don’t, at least not anymore.
Before moving to this sleepy suburb as kids, we lived in the city. We’d walk to the corner store for an italian ice. I barely kindergarten age when we moved south of Boston, but I remember the cool lemony goodness on a wooden stick like it was yesterday.
When we moved to the ‘burbs, we didn’t have to go to the store anymore for a treat. The ice-cream truck would come to us, (though I seem to remember calling it the slush truck?) Of course, looking back, I see that an ice cream truck was just one more hurdle in my weight gain problems, but this is a happy memory, damnit.
During the summer months, you’d hear the distinct sound of bells, calling to us kids like the Pied Piper of frozen confections. We’d haul up the driveway, down the street, out of the woods, with quarters, dimes and nickels, to buy a “graveyard” slush. Does anybody remember this- getting all those syrupy sweet flavors mixed together to make a greyish-blackish mud of a slush? Maybe it was just my brother who ordered it like that? I used to love watermelon, cotton candy, anything pink.
Encouraging Your Child to Write
April 24, 2007
How in the world do you get your child to write? This is the battle cry of many parents. A lot of imagination, with a little bribery (or praise) is all you need to get your child writing. We’ll supply the imagination. The praise and bribery is all up to you.
Grocery List: Enlist your child’s help in making the grocery list. Walk around the kitchen, naming things you need from the store. Ask your child to write everything down. Your child can also suggest foods you might need from the store and he can add those, too.
Old Checks: If you’ve recently switched banks and have checks that need to be destroyed, first let your child play with them. Give him some envelopes and he can pretend to pay bills — while getting him to do some writing. Of course, destroy the checks afterwards. If you do not have checks available, you can just give your child some blank pieces of paper and he can make his own checks.
Cards: If your child is interested in Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards, then give him some index cards cut in half and have him design his own cards. Encourage your child to give the characters names and special abilities on their cards.
Pregnancy Sex - Its A Wonderful Thing!
April 24, 2007
Mums to be can often get worried about having sex while pregnant; well there is no medical evidence that having sexual intercourse whilst pregnant does any damage at all.
There are a few cases where your GP may advise you about not having intercourse:
- If you are Prone to miscarriages your GP may advise avoiding intercourse for the first three months or at the times when you would have been having your period when your hormones would be at their lowest.
- You may be advised to avoid intercourse in the later stages of pregnancy if you have a history of premature labour
- Your GP may advise you to avoid intercourse if you have a low lying placenta
There is no need to worry about your baby being harmed by the penetration of the penis as it is well protected. This protection comes from the Muscular wall of the uterus, from the mucus plug that seals the neck of the uterus, and from the bag of waters.
Sexual intercourse will not start labour if the body is not ready. However, if your baby is overdue, arousal of the nipple and intercourse could help in starting labour. The prostaglandins in semen soften the cervix, and hormones released by nipple stimulation encourage the uterus to contract.
When Your Childs Adoption Story Changes: Nothing But the Facts or is It Nothing are the Facts?
April 24, 2007
Elana, born in Russia, was told "We really don’t know why your birth family couldn’t care for you.""
Katie, adopted from China, cherishes an item from a birth parent: a red note that was enclosed with her blanket.
Peter grew up celebrating his birthday on July 7th He believed that the reason for his adoption was due to poverty in Guatemala. .
There is nothing new about finding "new" adoption information-the kind that turns your life upside down and changes basic life facts. Professionally and personally, as adoptee, adoptive mother, social worker I’ve learned a single truth: everything changes in adoption.
Sometimes the changes are in a child’s levels of understanding which evolves with age. For example, the day a child realizes that prior to being adopted he or she lived somewhere else (or many places) and with birth family and caretakers.
But sometimes new information emerges. The new information may be personal and specific for your child. Other times the information affects all the children adopted from an entire country.
How to Save Money on Wedding and Baby Shower Favors
April 24, 2007
Planning on having a wedding or baby shower soon? Getting favors is a nice way of saying thank you to your guests for coming. Here are some tips for saving money when purchasing baby shower or wedding favors.
1) Buy extras off other people - Oftentimes, people get too many favors for their occasion. After all, it is better to be safe than sorry. Once the celebration is over, however, these people may be willing to sell you their leftover favors at a sharp discount. If you don’t know anyone personally, then look in the classifieds in both local and national papers as well as online auction sites like ebay.
2) Buy in bulk and sell the leftovers - Sometimes you will be able to save money by buying in bulk. You can sell the extras to other people. If you know other people that are having weddings or baby showers, then you can combine your orders and benefit from lower costs and possibly bulk purchase incentives like free shipping.
3) Make your own favors - If you are crafty, then you can make your own favors. Purchase all the materials at your local craft shop or online. Since you are making them from scratch, you can customize and personalize as well. People will appreciate the effort that went into making your own favors.
School Holiday Survival Guide
April 23, 2007
The school holidays are a great time for the kids, all those weeks of fun and games, no school, getting up late??but not for their parents! Summer vacation time can be just as much like hard work as the rest of the year. Trying to keep the kids entertained for six whole weeks can seem like a daunting task, so here are ten top tips to help you survive the summer holidays.
1. A little planning goes along way. You don’t have to time everything to the minute, but a plan of the next week’s events will at least mean you make sure you have the food for the picnic on the right day.
2. Don’t over-schedule your children’s time. Remember they need to rest, relax and recuperate so that they are ready to go back to school in September.
3. If you need to buy any items of school uniform, stationary, books or sports equipment, get it done in the first two weeks. If you don’t there will be nothing left in your child’s size and you won’t have enough time to sew in the name tapes.
The 5 Babysitter Commandments
April 23, 2007
Having a babysitter take care of your kids is sometimes a dangerous thing to do because the babysitter is the person that will be alone with your kid. Here are some ideas about your relationship with the babysitter.
1. The babysitter should be encouraged by keeping the favorite foods on hand. That’s because when you find a good babysitter, you should keep them happy, that’s what most experienced parents say. Writing a thank you card once or twice a year would be a good idea too.
2. If you can’t handle daily errands and taking care of your kids you can hire a “mother’s helper” to come play with your kids. Since you’ll be in the house you can hire a less expensive babysitter that has less experience.
3. Any sign that the child has been molested should be taken very seriously, terror of the babysitter or the demonstration of sexual behaivour while playing might be such a sign. Young adolescents might not understand the intensity of their sexual impulses as much as an adult does, that leading to the adolescent being tempt to explore with your child. Even so, child molestors come in every age, size or gender.
