Book Review: Goose’s Story
Aug 28, 2008
Here in an excellent children’s book that I highly recommend. It’s the story of a goose with one leg who struggles to survive and to fit in with the other geese. I love that it’s a true story! This book is inspiring for both children and adults. I even found myself tearing up at the end!
Posted In: Parenting | Book Reviews • Comments (0)
The Importance of Eye Contact
Aug 27, 2008
Life can become so busy sometimes that we mulit-task and tend not to make eye contact when speaking. This can be especially tempting when relating to our children. But the truth is, our children desperately need to make contact with us. This is true right from birth when a baby is able to bond with his parents through their loving gazes. Through our eyes we can convey approval or disapproval. It also gives us the chance to make a connection with our kids. It shows them they’re important and that we value what they have to say. I tend to fall into the trap of multi-tasking often and have to remind myself to stop what I’m doing and give my full attention to my daughter.
This is an important skill between adults as well. It can become easy to neglect sitting down with our spouses and having an eye-to-eye conversation with them. The day gets busy, we concentrate on getting our tasks done and find at the end of the day that we haven’t spent any quality time with them.
May we not neglect this valuable human connection.
Posted In: Parenting • Comments (0)
Veggies for Baby
Jun 10, 2008
While reading the other day I confirmed something I’ve always suspected but never looked into. My assumption was that what I eat while pregnant/nursing will set the stage for what my baby will prefer later. Research at the Monell Chemical Senses Center indicates that babies adjusted to foods quicker when they had been introduced to them before they were born. I guess this gives me one more motivation for eating healthily!
Once baby starts eating you can help them to like veggies by not giving in when they make a face or turn away from them. Research shows that if you keep trying to give it to them they will take it. With our daughter Emma we had her eat whatever we were eating. We would put portions of our dinner into a little hand-cranked baby food grinder. It was convenient to just throw the grinder in the diaper bag when we went out and made eating at home easier too because we didn’t have to warm up something special for her.
Source: Want to Raise a Fruit-and-Veggie Lover? Be Persistent
Posted In: Parenting | Pregnancy • Comments (0)
Time and Energy
Mar 19, 2008
"Housecleaning involves two things. It involves our time and our energy. What do our children crave most: our time and our energy. The American family has a problem when our floors and carpets receive more care and attention than our children.”
-- Brook Noel
Posted In: Parenting | Inspirational Quotes • Comments (0)
Recycled project: Hopscotch rug
Mar 12, 2008
Here’s a green project we did recently. I found several carpet samples for sale at a thrift store and thought they would make a fun carpet for our play area. I originally planned on sewing them together in a rectangle shape but then came up with the idea to make a hopscotch rug. My daughter has been into hopscotch lately so she loves it. This not only added a colorful accent to our floor but is functional too in that Emma can play on it.
At 50 cents a square the rug cost only $5 to make! If you try to make this yourself here is what I recommend: I found it hard to get a needle through the thick carpet (even a thick needle) so I first poked holes in it with an icepick and that did the trick.
Posted In: Green Living | Parenting | Thrifty Chick | Crafts • Comments (7)
