Psychologists affirm that it is a mother, who determines an age when her child begins to eat with a spoon independently, as all matters of upbringing falls on her shoulders. Some babies could eat with a spoon even before 1 year old, whereas a baby of a too anxious mother could not eat by himself even at 2 years old. The result depends on the fact when parents allow their child to try eating at the table. And the earlier this happens, the better result will be for child.

The parental task is to support their baby’s pleasure while eating. A majority of children show a wish to eat with a spoon at 9-11 months, and, if parents encourage such independence of children, then, by 1,5 years the most persistent ones will be able to ‘wield a spoon’ perfectly without any help.

Training for independent spoon-feeding begins at 6 months, when a child tries to eat by himself, holding a cookie or cracker in his hand. Then at 8 months, when a baby can already sit confidently, you can seat him at the table in a children’s seat and give him a spoon. If you do not do this in time, then sometimes you can see a baby snatching a spoon from a mother’s hand by himself, as he feels a necessity to learn eating by himself. A mother can miss this opportunity in time or treat it as whims during a meal. However, if such thing happens during next spoon-feeding, it is better to give this spoon to a baby, and take another one for yourself. The main is to keep a baby’s pleasure while the process of eating.

Some useful advice

Before each spoon-feeding fulfill a ritual of hand washing. Firstly, like any other adult member of a family, a baby also needs to wash his hands before having a meal. Secondly, this will dispose a baby to the process of eating.

It is better to buy unbreakable crockery with bright colored pictures for your baby. Put your baby’s food in a special plate. On no account put all food at once on the table, as you may distract your baby’s attention and he will begin requiring only what he wants.

Be ready that your baby will smear food firstly, after you give him a spoon, and then he will begin flapping the table and plate with a spoon. So, put a small apron on your baby for sure, and cover the floor with a bog oil-cloth.

A child quickly discovers that it is not enough yet just to pick up a spoon. He will need several weeks more to learn scooping food and other several weeks to bring food to his mouth, not overturning a spoon. It is clear that a baby gets tired of this difficult work, so he begins playing with food. In such case you should put away everything from table, leaving just several bits of meat on a plate, so that he will have something to experiment with.

Even if a child tries hard to eat with a spoon, he will dirty himself and everything around all the same. If you nip all such impulses in the bud, then he will not be able to learn anything for a long. So it is better to provide yourself with unbreakable crockery, patience and sense of humor – and you will be glad seeing your baby’s new skills and abilities every day. Moreover, his intellectual development will be much more successful, if you do not constrain it with endless prohibitions.

Parental practical work

Our son Paul always liked eating properly. But once, before going for a walk in the afternoon, he began playing up, snatching a spoon out of my hands. Firstly, I was even angry with him, but, when I gave a spoon to my sonny and took another one for myself, I discovered that our 1.5 years old Paul tried to scoop a puree with a spoon by himself. Several unsuccessful attempts upset our baby a little, and he allowed us to spoon-feed him again. Since that time we allowed Paul to spoon-feed independently for a while, and then I finished spoon-feeding by myself. Little by little, time of ?freedom while having a meal? increased, and quantity of food left in his plate reduced.

On his second birthday he coped with the holiday dinner by himself!?

Stacey Minsky, New-York

I’m growing my son by myself. Probably, that is why I always try to teach Benny to independence. Since he was 11 months, I seated him in his chair, put a plate with vegetable puree in front of him and gave him a spoon. Of course, little food came to my baby’s mouth, in general, the most part turned to be smeared on a chair, table, cloth.  But later I could spoon-feed him from other plate without any remonstrance.

Three months later, my sister and her 3 year old daughter Michelle came to our place. In the morning, seeing my Benny sitting at children’s table and shoveling up porridge, he shouted: ?What a shame!!! Your one can eat by himself already, and we are still spoon-feeding our Michelle!  But, after she seated her daughter at the table and gave her a spoon, she was surprised even more. Michelle saved her face and, taking a spoon, began eating breakfast, saying: ‘Hum, he can eat by himself? We also eat by ourselves in our kindergarten’.
Melanie Jameson, San-Francisco.

Yana Mikheeva is the creator of the Baby-Health.Net at http://www.baby-health.net
Are you going to get pregnant? Visit our friendly resource and read information on pregnancy and parenting, painless childbirth, growth and development of a baby, baby health, safety, signs of pregnancy.
She also has a blog for women at http://www.womanspassions.com/blog/

When we think of Holiday shopping, we think of all the glowing lights at our area malls and the various eye-catching decorations in shopping centers. Along with distractions with our ‘to do’ list in our heads, we get preoccupied with carrying bags and scoping out gifts. But with all the whirlwinds of diversions, we cannot put our guard down with who is scoping out our own children.

To help with this here are the top 7 things parents can do to prevent their young from falling prey to strangers and child kidnappers in the busy hustle and bustle of the season.

1. Stay connected. Make sure you have your children with you whether in a stroller or holding your hand. Even if your child stays next to you other times of the year, all the distractions of toys, decorations, and Santa can make any kid get sidetracked. For older children invest in a family walkie-talkie set. Make sure they know how to use it and check in with them on regular time intervals to know where they are – even if they are right next to you.

2. If your child is lost go right to security. Most malls and shopping centers have security protocol when a child is missing. Don’t try to look for your child alone. Let them help you the second you realize you cannot find your child – every moment counts.

3. Know what your child is wearing that day, and carry a recent picture with you in your wallet. Most moms and dads have lots of pictures of the kids, but baby pics are not helpful if your child is lost and security needs to search for them.

4. Teach your child what to do if a stranger approaches them. First – Run away! Second – Tell somebody!

5. Role play with your child ahead of time. Use tactics that some kidnappers have used in the past and teach your children not to ‘fall for a stranger’s sneaky tricks!’ i.e. stranger favorite lures: candy, video games, comic books, toys, telling them “your mommy told me to bring you home” etc.

6. Do not have your child wear anything with their name on it – i.e. back packs, purses, and jackets. Child offenders with pick up these clues and use the child’s name when speaking with them to gain trust.

7. Practice, Practice, Practice! Reviewing these strategies not only will help your child remember, but keep it on your mind as well. We all want our children safe, happy and well for more holidays to come.

About The Author

Michelle Annese is the author of ‘The Realtor Survival Guide’ and owner of http://www.michelleannese.com, a web site devoted to information for women about self-defense, crime prevention and other personal safety topics.

 

Is your child reaching the age were you are starting to worry about everything he or she might get into? You have all the reason in the world to worry about this because there are more hidden dangers in your house, for your child, than you could ever imagine. Therefore, before your child is even able to move around on its own it would be smart to start securing your home.

Why should you have to child-proof your house, you will teach your child not to get into things? This is a statement you might come to regret dearly if you do not take certain precautions to keep your baby safe. You may think there is nothing to worry about in your house but you will very soon realize what a child can get into and how many dangerous things you actually do have in your home.

You all want what is best for your children and would not want any harm to come to them, right? Well, that is why you need to secure your house, top to bottom. If you haven’t seen it in your own home yet, you have probably seen it on TV, where the kid pulls out all the drawers to get up on the kitchen counter. This actually does happen.

There are so much that needs to be mentioned when it comes to what you need to be aware of in your house like; where do you keep your cleaning supplies, can your child possible get to where you keep all your knives and such, what about electrical outlets, can they get to your stove? All of these, plus many more, are all important questions you need to ask yourself as you are looking around to see what needs to be done.

It is actually quite amazing how fast a little child can be when it comes to getting into stuff like sticking something into a light socket or getting their hands stuck in a door or a drawer. Another good thing to have around the house are gates, the ones you put in the doorway to prevent your child from entering or leaving a room. These alone can help you out a lot but still you need to make sure they are safe in the room they are in.

To have baby monitors placed in each room can also be a very good idea and even though you can’t see your child you will at least be able to hear them to a certain degree. No amount of safety precaution is enough when it comes to your baby but if a person really knew all the hidden dangers in their house they would be amazed and probably quite terrified of what could happen.

Start child proofing your house already today if your child is approaching that age because as you go you are bound to find plenty of things that needs to be done in order for your house to be safe for the little one.

David Crowton is an established expert copywriter.
He is known for doing in-depth research before writing his articles.
http://www.Ispjv.com
http://www.Submitcontent.com

Copyright 2005 BabyContent.com

Sometimes it seems like life is just one big competition: all of us race to be the first to grow up… and then we change our minds and race in reverse to be the last to die. If you view life as a competition, then why not compete to have the first baby born on New Years Day? Why not make birth a competition, as well?

Having the first baby born on New Years Day is harder than it might seem. After all, as with most competitions, there are plenty of other people in the running. And you certainly do not want to let a rookie win!

Wait a minute – why is this a competition that you should strive to win? What are the prizes that you get for having the first baby born on New Years Day?

1.  Alright. Let us just say that the most important prize that you can get, win or lose, is a brand new baby! That is right. Everyone who ‘enters’ this competition gets a consolation prize!

2.  Many local businesses donate prizes like baby blankets, baby formula, diapers, and baby store gift certificates. Sure, all of these items are specifically for the baby more so than directly for you but babies can be expensive, so you still save.

3.  Money. Well, money is not the most likely gift, but we can always cross our fingers and hope, right?

All right, now that we have covered the possible prizes that you could receive simply by being the first to have your baby on New Years Day, let us get straight to the training. Well, you likely already know the general idea about how to ‘train’ for this event, but let us help you with the specifics.

1.  Decide if it is more important to win big or to simply win. If you want to win big, then you need to move to a big city. If you simply want to win, living in a smaller town will increase your chances.

2.  Find out which hospitals/towns have had the best prizes over the years, and make sure that that town and that hospital are where you are at!

3.  To have a baby on New Years Day, you are going to need to be in peak physical condition! Make sure that you get a complete physical. Talk to an OB-GYN.

4.  Do not wait. Remember, this race technically begins 9 months or more before New Years Day. Do not delay!

5.  Check your fertility. If your doctor says that you are both very fertile, get right to it! If, on the other hand, your doctor implies that it there is something to be desired, do not simply cross your fingers and hope that it all works out. Get something done! Investigate sperm banks. Go ahead and make an appointment with a vitro specialist or a fertility specialist.

6.  Long before you plan on to conceive, start taking prenatal vitamins. In fact, when you are of child-bearing age, you should start taking folic acid. Folic acid helps prevent birth defects.

7.  Stop smoking! No, this warning is not just for the mothers, it is for the fathers, as well. There are many problems associated with smoking during pregnancy. For one, smoking can increase the risk of stillbirth and miscarriage in women. It can also decrease sperm count in men, lessening the chances of conceiving in the first place.

8.  Oh, and while you are at it, stop drinking alcohol and taking recreational drugs!

9.  Be healthy. Exercise. Eat well.

10. Too much caffeine can increase the chance of a miscarriage.

Alright, let us get straight to the almighty conception. How can you conceive at the right time?

1.  Do the math. If you want to have your baby on New Years Day, you are going to have to get pregnant about 9 months before that.

2.  Check your family histories and see if there are any patterns as to how long family pregnancies lasted. If your family tends to have babies early, then you can get started a little late, etc.

3.  Reduce your stress. If you are stressed out, tired, and not relaxed, you are going to be less likely to conceive.

4.  Use an ovulation predictor kit to find out when you are most susceptible to getting pregnant.

5.  Learn how to track your cycle. There are certain tricks to the trade: take your temperature, pay attention to your discharge levels, etc. You should start tracking your basal body temperature ahead of the time of your ideal conception date. This will help you predict when your ovulation occurs. This is because your temperature increases by .5 degrees as soon as the egg is released.

6.  After you have sex, it is recommended by some for the women to place her hips up on a pillow for nearly 30 minutes to give the sperm a chance to swim upstream.

Following these steps cannot guarantee that you will have a New Years Day baby, but they certainly can help! Good luck, and Happy New Years Day!

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on holidays, please visit Distinct Gift Baskets.

 

Technorati Tags: family relationships baby parenting

Everyone likes to go out and do things. Going out for dinner, movies, plays, and other things is fun. But, not everyone can afford to do these things very often and not everyone likes to spend a lot of money doing these things. The good new is it does not have to cost a lot of money to go out if you are smart about it. Entertainment books are one of the ways you can still go out and save money at the same time.

Entertainment books carry coupons for a wide variety of restaurants, activities, and retailers in your local area. Many of the coupons are for places you would spend your money at anyway. For instance, fast food restaurants are places that most people go to at least once in awhile. You can make you visit even less expensive by using a coupon. You can use it by yourself or share it with a friend and split the costs.Entertainment books also provide coupons for family restaurants and more expensive dining experiences. Some of the more expensive ones you may not normally go to, but with a coupon you can use it on a special occasion or when you have visitors staying with you from out of town.

Restaurants are not the only place that you can use coupons at though. There is such a wide array of activities to choose from. Do you golf? Would you like to save some money on your next game? How about the opera? You’ve never been to the opera? Actually I had never been to the opera, the ballet, or the symphony until I discovered entertainment books. The availability of these coupons allowed me to try things I normally would never have ventured to try because of the cost alone. But the coupons I have used over the years have allowed me to widen my scope of experience, try new things, and find out that some of these experiences I have quite enjoyed.

For a minimal fee you and your family can have access to coupons that can be used locally and can be used while traveling as well. The cost is relatively small and entertainment books are usually sold as some sort of fundraiser so you also have the opportunity to contribute towards a charity you wish to support. You can still participate in all the activities that you normally would and at the same time be saving a little money for the activities that you would like to experience. You no longer need to say, “If only I could afford it!”

Technorati Tags: family relationships baby friends dating romance marriage parenting teens wedding

The Internet has made it easier than ever to find a lost family member. There are times when things happen in a family and people drift apart. Sometimes, the breach was so bad that people don’t speak for years. Other times, people are into genealogy and a lost family member is deceased.

For a family member that is still alive, you can do a search on Google to see if their name pops up. There are many Internet white pages that you can also use to find names, phone numbers, and some offer email addresses.

Keep in mind, however, that no matter how unique you may think a name is, when looking for a lost family member, you are bound to run into twenty different people with the same name. This can become a tedious task of weeding through and contacting each person in hopes of finding your lost family member.

Sadly, obituaries are a good way to know you have indeed found the right family member. These often list spouses and children, so you will know if the name you are looking at is indeed the name of your lost family member.

There are also companies online that will find a lost family member for you, but they will charge you a fee. These people often look up social security numbers in order to trace a person and find out where they are. They are often quite effective, and some will tell you that anyone can be found, no matter how hard they are trying not to be found.

If you are doing your family tree and looking for a lost family member, you can also use online searches for their name and where they lived. There are many genealogy sites on the Internet, and you may be surprised what comes up when you search for your lost family member.

Don’t forget to sign up for genealogy newsletters for your family name, and to post on message boards. Your lost family member might be in someone else’s family tree, and they will be able to share their information with you. You may also discover another lost family member or family line you didn?t know about.

It may take you some time to find your lost family member, but the Internet has made the world a smaller place, and chances are, they are hiding somewhere just out of reach. If you don’t find them right away, don’t give up. Search often and your missing family member may just pop out of the woodwork when you least expect it.

Technorati Tags: family relationships baby friends?parenting teens

Baby room decor is a very important consideration for your child’s health and happiness. A lot of concerned parents will spend all kinds of money on making sure that their house is baby safe, while giving no consideration to baby room decorations.

They will make sure to cover up all of the electrical sockets and put away all dangerous chemicals, but they might have no baby room wallpaper to soothe the child’s eyes. As an interior decorator, I think that this is a more serious oversight than it might first appear to be.

Although there are more important things than baby room decor, still a child without a soothing environment will be much less likely to grow up to be a happy and healthy child than one who is surrounded by soothing, comforting children’s wallpaper. It is a simple fact that babies, just as much as everyone else if not more so, are affected by the way that their surroundings look. A well-designed baby nursery will do wonders for your child.

One of the most important factors in planning pleasing baby room decor is the color. Soft, gentle colors will soothe and comfort the baby, while bright or harsh colors may irritate or excite it. Although it is good for babies to have bright toys – many experts believe that young children love anything that shines, glows, or flashes – they should also have walls in a color that relaxes them. You won’t believe the difference that this can make. It will make nap time in particular so much easier if you have the right baby room decor.

Although it might not matter to babies all that much, most adults want to have a theme in each room that is in their house. You should consider the theme of your baby room decor just as much as any other part of your house.

Since babies like animals, a lot of baby room decor includes animal designs. Animal wallpaper, jungle critters on the blanket, and even animal mobiles are all popular baby room decor. They are fun for everyone, and give the babies something for them to look at while they are lying in their beds or cribs.

Many people also like baby room decor with a night sky theme. Deep blues are very soothing, and pictures of stars and planets can give the baby a sense of wonder at the dimensions of the cosmos which will last a lifetime.

Technorati Tags: family parenting

Families can be easily separated by adoption, divorce, separation, or foster care situations. It is not until one of the parties decides to investigate that the family has a chance of getting back together. It is sad that in some situations, family members don?t want to be found and they will do anything in their power to stay anonymous.

Fortunately there are a number of companies that can provide assistance to people who want help finding birth parents, siblings, or other family members by locating adoption records and provide any background information that is available. Adoption records are not required to be of public record in every state, which can make finding a loved one a bit more challenging but not impossible.

To begin the search for adoption records, the requirements of the state in which the adoption occurred must be verified because adoption laws vary depending on the state where the adoption took place.

Before an adoptee can receive any identifying or non-identifying information, he or she must meet the age requirement which also varies from state to state, usually eighteen to twenty-five years.

The adoption records should be requested form the state where the adoption was finalized, which is not necessarily the state in which the birth occurred. There are only a few states that have open adoption records - Alaska, Oregon, Kansas, Alabama, and New Hampshire. This means that an adult adoptee can request the original documentation of his or her adoption simply by completing an application process.

Some people never have the desire to locate their birth parents and vice versa, but just like everything else, situations can change. There are many online resources available to adoptees, birth parents, siblings, and other family members that want to fill the void and reunite with lost loved ones. A good place to start is at http://www.adoption.com/ or http://www.reunite.com/.

Anyone interested can learn about adoption laws, how to obtain adoption records, or conduct a specialized search for more complex cases, for example in the event of a terminal illness or medical emergency. Pertinent information can also be entered into the adoption registry which includes the adoptees birth date, birth place, gender, and first and last names, so that the information can be viewed by anyone looking. Adoption records can also be obtained from a number of other sites that offer background investigational services for a fee, or that will provide access to adoption records directly.