by Jennifer Gove

I remember when my daughter was born. Visions of her and I dressed in pinks and purples sitting in her lacy pink room playing dolls danced threw my head. A year later my son was born ;My husbands vision of sports and trucks revved around like mad men threw his manly mind.

Those dreams were simply that dreams. Little did I know there are lessons for parents to learn about children’s toys and who are children will be.

My daughter plays with dolls. She plays with clay and gets her hands dirty. She plays in the dirt, climbs trees and races her trucks around ,he plays kick ball , base ball and can run as fast as any boy.

My son plays with trucks and builds with blocks, he colors and plays ps2 and he plays house with my girls rocking babies and feeding them.

There was a time my husband would bark to my son “Put down that doll!” until we came to the realization that play is really a child’s preparation for real life. Our daughter was learning sportsmanship and how to be a team player from all the sports she played. My son was learning compassion and parenting skills from those dolls. It’s amazing to me to watch my son now with his baby brother…I can see the compassion he has learned threw us and his play and I know some day he will be a good father I see my daughter line up her brothers and sister for a game of kick ball. And I see how she has learned to take the lead and take charge. I know some day in what ever she put her mind to see will be a success.

My message to parents is not to limit their child. Toys and sports are learning tools for life and they shouldn’t carry a gender.

By the way…my daughter and I play but its not dolls….many days you can find us all at the beach…covered in muddy sand driving our big Tonka’s™ .

© 2004-2005 Jennifer Gove
www.simplymoms.com

About The Author
Jennifer is a stay at home mother of eight.Living on the coast of Maine. To visit her parenting site that include more aticles, forums and chat go to www.simplymoms.com/forums. zjgim@hotmail.com

By Candice Silsby

I have to admit I am afraid to go to the dentist and for legitimate reasons. It hurts! It even hurts to keep my mouth open- aches all over my jaw, neck, and head. I am learning that to hesitate out of fear is more pain.

How about kids? I was sent to a mean dentist when I was a child- what’s worse is I was left alone. When my friend takes her kids, she supervises and makes sure she knows what’s happening and how her kids are. Her family dentist is kind.

The pediatric dentist has a few tasks. Her first task is to assure the children who may be afraid- what child wants to let you into their mouth. Who would. Once rapport is established the Dentist must do whatever necessary dental work. A simple teeth cleaning or x-rays is not too complicated, but what about a filling or tooth pulling- scary!

The best way to help children with their fears, parents and dentists, is to give them a toy that they can familiarize themselves with the process they fear and that they can manipulate.

There is a new, fun and creative way for dentist to help children (and adults) overcome their fear of dental visits while teaching dental hygiene. They also get to manipulate the toy by molding the teeth and playing dentist with toy dental instruments. Finally there is a doctor’s kit where children can play dentist! The toy is called “Monkey Mouth”

Every dentist and family should have one. What a great gift for your family dentist! High quality educational toys for your family and friends.

About the Author
Candice Silsby has an extensive background in Early Childhood Education and Human Dev elopement. She have six years experience working with young children as a pre-school teacher and caregiver for children under 3. She worked with special ed children for two years. She has eight years experience as a child entertainer and currently has her own business doing puppet shows for children. She is a Discovery Toys Educational Consultant because the toys are educational and developmentally appropriate. These toys meet the high scrutiny of her Developmental Education background. Discovery Toys improve the quality of life for children and families therefore the world.

We will probably take many photographs and snapshots throughout the course of our lifetimes. The most important that we will take however are those that capture those first fleeting smiles of our precious little ones. Having a baby is probably the greatest joy that most of us will experience. As new moms (and sometimes dads), we often find ourselves spending plenty of time on the opposite side of the camera. The problem is that most new moms are not quite professional photographers add to that the fact that those precious baby smiles seem to quickly disappear once mom’s face disappears behind the camera and those rare smiles that capture our hearts flee far too quickly.

The biggest dilemma when photographing our smallest stars is that they do not yet understand that you can still be there even if they cannot see you. I chuckle often at my two year old who will hide her face when caught doing something naughty. Her logic dictates that if she can’t see me I can’t see her. Even at younger ages, babies identify with that sort of logic. It doesn’t matter if you are in the same room, if he or she cannot see you your baby will become agitated to some degree, which makes those smiles far more fleeting.

If you would like to capture those smiles while being able to stay behind the camera there are a few tips, tricks, and techniques that will help you do just that. The simplest solution is for those who have digital cameras with the preview feature that allows you to see on the screen exactly what the lens will capture. This allows you to hold the camera away from your face and lower so that your little one can respond to your smiles and you can still capture the perfect moment on you camera without ever once needing to hide your face from your little one.

If your camera does not have this nifty feature you do not need to despair. You can try using a favorite toy in order to light your baby’s face with smiles and giggles. Music is another great thing to which our babies respond. Hum along to one of his or her favorites or make up a silly song about taking pictures. You can also dance around behind the camera and turn it into a game of peek-a-boo, be careful however that you are standing still when you snap that perfect shot.

Capturing your baby’s smiles for future enjoyment may seem to be a daunting task if you do not go about it with the attitude of having fun and sharing a special moment with your precious little one. The most important thing is that you have fond memories attached to the photographs you take of your baby and his or her beautiful smiles.

By Izzy Flare

Selecting toys for a baby can be quite a task for any parent. Numerous selections line the shelves but we never really know which toy is suitable for our baby. Wouldn’t it be much easier if babies could point out to the toy that tickles their fancy?

Here are some tips that can help you choose a good toy to help with your baby’s growth and development:

Safety First
Whatever babies can get their hands on has a very good chance of ending up in their mouths. Make sure that toys for babies do not have any small parts that can be swallowed accidentally. Also, painted toys should not contain toxic substances. Baby toys should also not be able to break easily. Broken toys can end up leaving sharp edges which can injure your baby – not to mention injure you if you accidentally step on one!

Sight Development
In the beginning, babies have very poor eyesight. You need to be about a foot in front of your baby’s face for him to be able to see your features. Toys with contrasting colours can help develop your baby’s eyesight. Couple contrasting colours with motion and you get a toy that can improve your baby’s vision focus and tracking.

Look At It From A Baby’s Perspective
Since babies have no say as to what toys they enjoy most, they cannot be targeted for sales. So, toy campanies target the parents instead. Take the toy mobile for example. The mobile is designed to be pleasing to look at from a parents point of view. When you walk into a store, the mobile needs to capture your attention to be able to sell. Nothing wrong with buying a mobile that looks nice from your angle – just make sure that it is also interesting from your baby’s point of view. After all, he is lying down on his back and staring at the mobile from the bottom!

Keep it Simple
Various marketing gimmicks are used to sell toys. One that has been around forever is using popular cartoon/TV/movie characters/themes. A child of 2-3 years and older will be able to identify with these characters and can appreciate them. For a baby, they mean nothing. Babies are just interested with the desirability of a toy. If they smack it, it makes a funny noise, they smack it some more. It makes no difference if the toy they just smacked is a generic dinosaur or a popular purple one.

I hope this short article helps to shed some light on baby toys. Good luck on your next purchase!

To read more about toys and children, please visit The World of Toys.

Resources:
babyproducts.about.com/od/sleepbedding/ht/HTcribmattress.htm www.firstbabymall.com/product/mattress.htm

Although we have strived to ensure information in this article is accurate and up-to-date, the information contained therein should be used as general reference only. Use the information in this article at your own risk.

by Jennifer D. Kirkpatrick

Toys do more than just keep babies entertained – they’re extremely important for their mental, physical, intellectual and social development. They are the tools that teach baby about their world and their place in it. They add excitement to learning about life, how things work and how to get along with others. Good toys will give your little one the motivation to play and develop basic skills.

This article provides suggestions on choosing age appropriate toys and activities during baby’s first year. Following these guidelines will help you be continually expanding baby’s horizons and encouraging healthy development.

During the First 3 Months
For the first few months babies do little more than sleep and eat. In fact some sleep as much as 20 hours a day! Make the most of the time they’re awake by choosing toys and nursery accessories that stimulate them and encourage them to use their developing senses.

When playing with a newborn, remember that they see best when objects are about eight inches away from their face. Make sure they can see you by leaning in when talking to them and holding toys close.

At this stage introduce…