Best Parenting World

Is There Any Real Use For A Fun Quiz?
 by: Brian Fong

Q. I don’t like my children spending so much time on the computer and playing video games. Can you help me find or develop a fun quiz to stimulate their thinking?

A. A fun quiz is an excellent way to keep kids occupied especially during the vacation months when learning takes a hiatus.

The key to designing a fun quiz is to keep the subjects relevant to things that interest your children while managing to stretch the limits of their knowledge.

A fun quiz does not have to be so easy that it’s seen as a joke, nor does it have to be boring. Here’s an example:

Let’s say that one of your children enjoys playing with American Girl dolls and her favorite is Kirsten. Now, we all know that Kirsten moved to the United States from Sweden when she was a little girl, right?

Oh, You’re Good For Nothing
 by: Marsha Maung

I don’t believe in good for nothing.

I was walking down the aisle of a large supermarket when I heard a mother hissing to her crying child, “Good for nothing! Nothing! You better stop this now or I will leave you with the police man”. Not that I am angel when it comes to being a parent to my kids. Sometimes, I falter too and I will yell and shout and throw a massive, scary temper and my kids would cower in fright thinking that their mom was going crazy. Hey, I am human, amn’t I?

But I would never call my kids stupid or good for nothing.

For one thing, I sincerely believe that education is important - but it’s not everything. We, as parents, have to carry this grave responsibility of providing our children with education. Not only do we have to fund it, we have to ensure that they learn whatever they can learn from the education system so that they can benefit from it later on in life. Knowledge is a funnel. A funnel whereby information can flow into and train a mind to think and react in a certain knowledgeable way. It’s important.

Unusual baby boy names and finding exotic and unique baby names can be loads of fun! Rather than giving your baby boy a name like Jacob, John or Harry — you’d prefer him have one of the more exotic and unique baby names.

There are several ways to find unusual baby boy names. Here are some suggestions:

1. Start with the most popular names being given to baby boys. For parents living in the USA, you can easily find this kind of information by visiting the Social Security Administration’s website (click on the link at the bottom of this page to go to the direct link to the SSA baby names search). See which names that are popular are also unusual baby boy names. You can view the most popular names for the past year, boy names given since the year 2000 or by decade in the previous century. It may surprise you how many exotic and unique baby names you can find this way.

Spitting Up - And Other Joys Of Motherhood
 by: Sarah Veda

If you have a newborn, he or she is going to spit up. Some babies do it more than others, but they all do it. There are several reasons why, and some things you can do to minimize spitting up.

Newborns spit up more than older babies, in part because their esophagus is not mature yet, and in part because they tend to have a lot of mucous to clear, and when they clear it, the milk comes up, too. Most babies stop spitting up entirely by the time they are six months old, but there are those who continue until about one year old.

Teens and Sleep Needs
 by: Marie Zenack

Sleep is nature’s way of renewing and maintaining balance-physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Teenagers need about 9.5 hours of sleep each night. It is thought that sleep requirements increase for teens because the hormones that are essential for maturing bodies are released mainly during sleep. Yet studies show that most teenagers only get about 7.4 hours of sleep a night. This is not enough for a teen to be healthy.

Lack of sleep leaves us confused and undirected, open to the chaotic influences of others who are also sleep-deprived. Deep and regular sleep keeps us in close contact with our own inner knowing and moves us steadily toward the accomplishment of our own goals.

First Menstruation Ritual
 by: Marie Zenack

A menarche (first menstruation) ritual can make this time easier and more meaningful for both the young woman beginning menstruation, and her mother. Such a ritual comforts the young woman and lets her know that her feelings are natural and have been shared by women throughout time. It focuses the attention of the community on the young women’s needs at this time in her life. And it instructs the young woman about what her family and society expect of her now that she is entering womanhood.

When your daughter’s first menstruation arrives, congratulate her, love her, and make sure you take care of her immediate physical and emotional needs. Then call together your community of women to participate in the ritual you have planned. Let other women support and nurture you both at this time. Don’t worry if some of the women are embarrassed by the idea of a moon-time ritual. Their feelings will be healed as they join in the honoring of your daughter. And please don’t put off your daughter’s ritual because she is shy and doesn’t want to tell anyone “she has started.” This is her moment. I recommend helping her to face it and feel good about it. Surround her with women she loves and who love her. You may be surprised, especially if you have never attended a menarche ritual, at the healing and joy that accompany such a gathering.

Skin Care and pH
 by: Marie Zenack

Whatever we use to wash our bodies should have a ph of 5.5, which is close to the pH of our skin. Alkaline products (above pH 5.5) strip the protective coating from the skin. This invisible coating is made of oil and sweat. The loss of its protective coating can cause the skin to go wild in the production of oil, furiously trying to replace the protective layer that was lost. This excess oil can clog the pores and actually cause skin blemishes.

Alkaline bubble bath products can irritate the tender skin of the urethra and cause pain during urination.

You can check the pH of products if you are interested in doing so. Inexpensive pH testing kits are available at drug stores and pet stores. Soap, whether in liquid form or a bar, is always too alkaline. The liquid washes or gels are usually the correct pH to protect the skin.

It is most unfortunate that many wonderful parents feel that they lack competence in dealing with their autistic child. It can be strange and depressing to feel like your normal maternal or fatherly instincts can be wrong when it comes with interacting with your own child.

But parents usually go too far in the opposite direction and stop having any natural parent child interaction worrying that if they resort to normal parental behavior and maybe just fool around and talk nonsensically with their child, they will lose precious moments of intervention time.

Because children with autism don’t recieve pleasure from simple games such as hiding go seek, peek a boo, or follow the leader and since they probably won’t come running to you when you call out to them, parents need a whole new set of parenting skills which if they are not careful, can add more stress to their already emotional lives.

Have A Holiday Tea Party This Year!
 by: Annette Yen

Teatime! It’s as if it’s just part of being a girl … hats, little teacups, beads and bracelets. Girls of all ages love a fabulous tea party!

There are so many great reasons to join up with our friends across the Atlantic and begin the tradition of afternoon tea EVERY day, but especially at the holidays, creating the tradition of a special holiday tea will provide a fabulous memory for our girls that will last a lifetime! Some of the benefits of planning a holiday tea:

1. It’s fun! As I said above, girls of all ages LOVE the ritual of tea. Picture young ladies dressed in their holiday finery … soft Christmas tunes playing in the background. There is something about pouring the liquid out of the pot into lovely cups… it’s just a little slice of heaven.

2. It’s peaceful. Be honest! This time of the year can be downright nutty at times and throughout most of the holiday season life is anything but peaceful. Provide a respite from the craziness of the holidays around a cup of tea. You’ll see… peaceful…. ahhhhh, this is how the holidays should be!

The American College of Obstetics and Gynecology (ACOG) guidelines are often misquoted or quoted with outdated information. In fact, two of the myths listed in this article were just printed in a current (Spring 2005), large national publication catering to expectant mothers. The latest and correct information on exercise during pregnancy needs to be widely distributed. Hopefully, this article will help to remedy some of the misinformation.

MYTH:

1. You can’t workout during pregnancy if you were not previously engaged in an exercise program prior to becoming pregnant.

ACTUAL: The 1994 ACOG Guidelines for exercise during pregnancy stated:

During pregnancy, women are permitted to continue to exercise. The current 20032 guideline is stated as, "Healthy pregnant women are encouraged to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most, if not all, days of the week." It is important to note that the new recommendation is the same one made to women that are not pregnant.

MYTH:

2. You must keep your HR under 140 bpm.