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For many toddlers, eating can be something of a bore. Busy with playing, learning, and generally having a good time, they’re often reluctant to leave all that fun for the radium of the table.

But most will be more willing to sit down for a meal if it’s fun, too. So give joy and merriment on his dish, or perhaps dare to create some merry meals of your own. Read the rest of this entry »

Toddlers love causes, they love to feel helpful and they love doing what’s “right”. So it’s generally easy to recruit them into the environmental crusade. It’s true that many of the concepts are well beyond a toddler’s grasp, but early exposure to its three basic precepts – reduce, reuse, and recycle – can help make environmentally correct behavior second nature. Here are the tips for teaching toddler about environmental friendly:

Always be a model. Setting an exemplary environmental example serves two important purposes; one, it teaches your toddler to care for the earth, two, it helps ensure that there will be an Earth for your toddler.

Recycle. Put your toddler in charge of collecting recyclable plastic or paper supermarket bags and put them in the appropriate bins (not glass bottles and cans until they surely know how to handle them), and stack old magazines and newspapers. Explain that those old products can be made into new ones and they won’t fill up the garbage dumps or dirty the air when they’re burnt. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a long day at the office, the shop, the day-care center, the park, the mall, the market – or any combination of these. You’re too tired to think, never mind cook. Your toddler’s too hungry to wait, and too cranky to sit in a restaurant and be waited on. Those golden arches or that drive-trough window beckon seductively, promising a quick, inexpensive, and virtually effortless family meal. You waver, and then as the pleas (“I wanna kid’s meal! I wanna kid’s meal”) drown out any remnants of your resolve (“No kid of mine is going to eat fast food”) you relent. As you watch your toddler gleefully dunking greasy fries and chicken nuggets into sugary ketchup and barbeque sauce with the kind of appetite that young children seem to reserve for foods their parents don’t want them to eat, you silently vow to be stronger next time – knowing, deep inside, that you’re vowing in vain.

But don’t be too hard on yourself. Fast-food franchises cater to the most basic human needs, and when you’re the harried parent of a toddler, you’re only human for responding. But do keep fast-food excursions from compromising your toddler’s overall diet – and health – by adhering (at least, most of the time) to these caveats: Read the rest of this entry »

As a vital tool for communication, language is absolutely important for a child, not only to communicate with others, but also to think, learn and built creativity to himself.

Babies are born as great communicators, as they should fulfill their basic needs, such as food, sleep and comfort. At first, crying says it all, soon, as the infant begins to seek attention and companionship, too, cooing begins to supplement crying. Thus, two successful ways of communication are used. As the baby’s need of communication becomes much stronger, coos slightly change into sounds, then groups of sound uttered singly.

At the time of second year, a baby’s crying will change into a toddler’s talk (around 200 words – almost half of 500 words used most frequently in typical adult conversation). By the age of three, the average toddler’s vocabulary has swelled five-fold to an average of some 1.000 words. That number more than doubles by the time a child is ready for kindergarten.

This natural change takes place on an individual timetable. From the cradle, some babies spend more time in social exchanges than they do trying to master physical feats, and as result, they’re usually early talkers. For others, physical challenges consume more time and attention. These babies are often too busy with their physical skill development, such as rolling over, pulling up, climbing, running, and tend to take more steps to focus on communicating. Read the rest of this entry »

When is the best time for your child to take plunge and begin formal swimming lessons? According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, not until the age of three. Although splashing in a wading pool (with adult supervision) or in a big pool (in the arms of an adult) can help a toddler gain an important measure of confidence and comfort in the water (a good first step in water safety training), formal swimming instruction can be both unproductive and unsafe.

Not only doesn’t early swim training make children better swimmers, it doesn’t “waterproof” for them, either. In fact, children who’ve had lessons may be at greater risk around water that other children because they feel safe and comfortable in it and because their parents, under the impression their children can “swim”, are often lulled into a false sense of security. But there is an important difference between being able to swim and being safe without adult supervision. Read the rest of this entry »

Going to bed can be a pleasant experience – one that’s looked forward to as day draws to a close – or it can be an unpleasant one – dreaded by child and parent alike. It all depends on the trappings. To make bedtime a highlight of the family day and more conductive to sleep, create a nightly routine. Stick to the routine as closely as you can (the predictability if a routine is very comforting to toddlers, and helps facilitate transitions), straying from it only when you have no option. The routine should be aimed at creating a relaxed and calm atmosphere (relegate tickling and roughhousing to an earlier part of the evening). It may include any of the following, and should be individualized to fit your needs and those of your child and children. Read the rest of this entry »

While it may be too soon to pass the vacuum cleaner to the next generation, it’s just be right time for getting your toddler involved in a few basic chores.

You’d be surprised at how many around-the-house tasks the average two- or three-years-old is completely capable of. Sign your toddler up for any of those listed below, or devise your own (keeping his or her safety and skill level in mind).

Remember that most jobs will require adult supervision and some will need adult assistance. But try to keep interference to a minimum; a chore that’s done “all by myself” is always more satisfying to a toddler. Read the rest of this entry »

When a vitamin comes in its natural package, not only is that vitamins ingested, but so are other nutrients (some of which we aren’t even aware of yet) that work with it for good health. For this reason, orange, papaya, and pineapple juice (rich in vitamin C), apricot nectar, tomato juice (rich in vitamin A), mango juice and vegetable juice (rich in both), and other naturally nutritious juices should be your beverages of choice.

At this point, orange juice has another score that also contains calcium. Apple juice, still a natural beverage, is a distant second best; it’s better choice if it is enriched with vitamin C (but do not serve unpasteurized cider since it could be contaminated with hazardous bacteria). Though it doesn’t naturally contain great quantities of any of the known vitamins, some ingredients in apples are beginning to get scientific attention, and maybe one day soon the reasoning behind proverb “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” will become clear. Read the rest of this entry »

For nine months of facing the new life, the infant has been in an environment of a certain temperature, smell, heartbeat, and rhythm of the mother. After birth, the emergence into a hostile environment may be tempered by the recognition of a familiar smell, heartbeat, and maternal warmth. The infant also needs so much in protection from disease and infection, comfort and joy for his body and brain development.

When he is born, the infant soon perceives his outer boundaries by feeling his skin against his mother’s with its warmth and softness. Learning is taking place as the infant is continually exposed to the mother’s breast, and great pleasure is derived by this first human relationship. This consistent relationship with the mother offers the infant security, encouragement, and love.

Breast milk provides the best nutrients for the human baby that encourages physical development to its greater potential. Since all parents definitely want to have a good looking healthy child that has strong and perfect bone structure. It depend on very largely bone development, which determines facial and body structure, and because calcium is more efficiently absorbed from breast milk than from any type of formula, breast-fed babies usually have much better bone development. Read the rest of this entry »

The hardest part of leaving your toddler with a baby-sitter or a caregiver will always be saying good-bye. To make it little easier, try the following:

Get ready in advance, when possible, so you can spend time together before you separate. If your pass the last half hour before the baby-sitter arrives getting showered and dressed, your toddler may feel neglected while you’re still home, and abandoned once you’ve left. Also try to avoid rushing around frantically at the last minute. This will not only leave you feeling frazzled but could transmit a sense of anxiety and upheaval to your toddler. At least fifteen minutes before you leave, sit down with your child and read a story, so a puzzle, or build a house with blocks. If you simply don’t have the time to get ready in advance, get ready together. Set out some toys or dress-up clothes for your toddler to play while you dry your hair and put on clothes. Read the rest of this entry »