By Candice Silsby

We are all overwhelmed by constant advertising. Parents are likely overwhelmed by all the challenges of being parents. I was an early childhood teacher for six years and I have been a children’s entertainer for over eight years. When I browse through K-*rt and the like, I think “landfill waste” and crying children.

I hear over and over again, “she has so many toys” While I love the idea of moderation and know that this culture has way too many possessions, I am concerned about the quality of the toys children have and how carefully they were selected.

A close friend of mine is constantly says “no” to her children when we are shopping- perfect strangers comment to me about how good she is at saying no to her kids as if they have never heard a parent do so. She refuses to buy them cheap junk that they beg for…I suppose they are attracted to the bright colors or the anticipation of the plastic ball coming out of the gum ball machine.

I say value is everything. Selecting a toy should be a careful process- not one motivated by “mommy I want…” Play is so important to child development. Shouldn’t the toys they play with be an educational investment?

These are my personal pointers: 1) What will the toy teach my child? This answer should be obvious and there should be more then one answer.

2) How safe is this toy?

3) *** this one is so very important in the electronic age- Is it an active toy for a passive child or a passive toy for an active child. I am sorry to say that too many are active toys for passive children which is not only lacking in educational benefit, but also encouraging children to be passive therefore uninvolved, anti-social and inactive.

4) How long will this toy last? What is the guaranteed offered by the company selling the toy? Believe it or not Discovery Toys has a lifetime guarantee on all toys.

5) How long will my child make use of and learn from this toy? Does the toy grow with my child or does the child grow out of the toy? Remember if there is a lifetime guarantee younger siblings will also enjoy your toy investment.

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.

by News Canada

(NC)—The first few years of a child’s life are full of new and exciting experiences that are absorbed like a sponge through the five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight and sound. From birth, newborns are bombarded with a busy world that they must learn to master. It is the senses that pave the way for a child’s development throughout his or her life.

“From birth, parents must choose toys and learning tools for their child that are fun and enjoyable to play with and that also foster sensorial growth to ensure a more complete development process,” says Dr. Kathleen Alfano, leading child Researcher and Director of the Fisher-Price Child Research Department.

A baby can start to develop hand-eye coordination, watch moving objects and be able to distinguish color and form within the first few months. Toys that will help develop these skills include the Peek-A-Blocks line from Fisher-Price – a creative and fun alternative to classic building blocks. Different series of these clear, stackable blocks are filled with everything from cute animals to fun shapes and foster the development of different senses. Touch Sensations blocks are made of different textures for baby to explore and Sound Sensations include blocks that ring and squeak.

Finding toys that will stimulate a few senses at a time are also helpful in sensory development, as a child will have to learn that in most situations, combining senses are crucial to perception. The Winnie The Pooh 1, 2, 3 Exploring Tree from Fisher-Price will keep a baby engaged and captivated from the time he/she can sit up to the time he/she can stand. Along the base, basic infant activities nurture hand-eye coordination, while Winnie The Pooh sits atop the tree among a flurry of soft, bright butterflies.

Introducing a baby to sounds, bright colors and action-based toys will make playtime more fun and enjoyable and is a good way to enhance a child’s creative abilities and imagination from an early age, teaching him/her to unlock the wonder and excitement of the world around them by simply making “sense” of it.

- News Canada

About The Author
News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web. News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial “fill” items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

by Bridget Messino

Our children are probably the biggest clutter creators we have in our homes — even more so than the dreaded paper flow. It starts out innocently, when we find out we are expecting; then the purchasing frenzy swings into high gear and does not let up until, well, let’s just say many years down the road.

The clutter begins on the highly anticipated homecoming day when our countertops fill quickly with samples and instructions from the hospital. The bottles of formula, diapers, blankets and wipes all begin to take root on the counters and any and all other flat surfaces. You can kiss that nesting mode goodbye and say hello to survival mode!

Stage 1: Infant Organization

Obviously, organizing for an infant is the sole responsibility of the parent. The main areas for infant organization are:

• the changing table
• the diaper bag

The nursery’s changing table is a great place to start with simple organizing techniques. Divide the shelves below the changing surface with baskets; fill one with diapers and wipes, one with crib bedding and blankets, one with onesies and socks, etc. Baskets are a great accessory for the nursery because they are portable, lightweight and decorative. They are also readily available everywhere from discount stores to high-end decorating stores.

Next, the diaper bag can be your best friend when stocked and organized properly. Take some time before your next outing and take inventory of your contents. Diaper bags today have all these great little dividers and compartments for storing all your stuff. Upon returning from your outing re-stock and refresh your bag, so you will be ready for the next time you go visiting.

Stage 2: Toddler-Preschool Organization

Organizing this active group can be a challenge, but there are several organizing exercises in which you can involve your child, including putting away:

• books
• videos
• toys

The clear plastic containers that you can find all over these days are great kid-friendly storage solutions. Try labeling each one with a picture of its contents to make for easy cleanup for those little non-readers (store advertisements and catalogs are a great picture source, as well as printing pictures from internet sites).

Baskets are also great for storing their favorite books and videotapes, though you might want to store them out of reach to prevent them from constantly being dumped out on the floor! Little hands can manipulate a basket with much more confidence than a tightly stuffed bookshelf. Lastly, designate an area in your home for the toys. It is important for your child to understand that their toys have a place and need to make their way back there before bedtime.

Stage 3: School Age Organization

By this time, your kids are busy with many of their own activities and all the required “stuff” that goes with it. As frustrating as it may be the tenth time you have to remind your child to put away their belongings or straighten up their shelves, do not give in to the temptation to just do it yourself. This is a critical time period for developing life-long habit and you will both gain from a little patience and consistency.

Encourage your children to keep a calendar of their activities and after school commitments. Display a master family calendar, so everyone is informed and no one is left ride-less or out of the loop.

Laundry at this stage of parenting can become quite an overwhelming task. Invest in basket-sorter hampers for the kids’ laundry; your kids are quite capable at this age of sorting their dirty clothes by color. The pre-sort saves you time on laundry day.

Stage 4: High School and Beyond
Keep up the encouragement — these young adults have a lot on their minds and schedules. This can be an extremely stressful time with the college applications, spring break plans, graduations, not to mention a full course load and endless extra-curricular activities. Good time management skills are critical to maintaining these over-extended calendars. Paired with time management skills, organizational skills will help create a smooth transition to whatever path your children choose (restocking the diaper bag now seems like a cinch, doesn’t it?).

Rest assured that all your hard work building a good organizing foundation will remain with your children throughout their adult life. Who knows — maybe they will win the lottery one day and know exactly where they filed their winning ticket because they were raised in a home that stressed organization, and to show their gratitude share the prize with mom and dad.

Copyright 2004
Bridget Messino

About the author
Bridget Messino is a Professional Organizer and co-owner of Clutter Free Living, Inc. Her work frequently appears on many Internet sites and on her own organizing site Clutter Free Living as well as in her monthly Home Organizing Newsletter How to Be Clutter Free. Subscribe to the FREE monthly e-newsletter by sending a blank e-mail to cflnews-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com

By Candice Silsby

Children rarely make a conscious decision to play. For a child to play is a natural response to being alive. Children play to explore, learn and understand their place in the world.

Often play is a problem solving task- children don’t set out to conquer tasks and problem solve it occurs as they relate to others, to objects and to their environment. It starts at infancy looking, tasting, touching- experience by observation for the most part. Once an infant can move and grasp objects they begin to experience the world around them through interaction and manipulation objects, the environment and others.

I have observed babies repeated working with cause and effect- they perform the same action to a passive object repeatedly. It is almost as if they are ensuring that the same action creates the same response. Usually outside stimuli will interrupt this repetition sequence and the infant is distracted and on to the next experience. Sometimes the infant will vary the action.

Passive objects are important to learning and have enormous potential for years to come. With a passive toy a child can use and manipulate it in more sophisticated ways as she develops. Typically electronic toys give temporary pleasure- the child will beg for them and initially be very excited about this fancy gadget.

However, once the novelty of what this fancy high tech object can do wears off, the child will loose interest. Why would they stay interested in something that eventually becomes predictable? A non-electronic passive educational toy may not produce the same initial excitement but interest will be sustained indefinitely. The reason for this is that the child has the power to change what the toy can do and their experience continually evolves. The toy thus grows with the child and learning is significantly enhance.

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.

by Rayven Perkins

This horrible, debilitating disease can transform even the kindest, sweetest children into horrible thoughtless monsters!

Has this ever happened to you?

• You walk into the grocery store with your little angel by your side. She asks if she may please have a box of Starry Fish Gummy Fruit Snacks, and when you say, “Not today honey,” your princess transforms into a screaming, raging beast, stomping her foot, shrieking loudly, accompanied by fake sobs. Spectators look on, wondering how you could be so cruel.
• You take your children to visit their 97 year old Great Aunt Thelma. She is bedridden in a nursing home, and just as soon as she appropriately pinches both their cheeks, they simultaneously chime “What’d ya get us?”
• Your teenage daughter has three dressers in her room. Her closet is overflowing and she has overtaken the closet in the guest bedroom. It’s time for school. You ask what is taking so long for her to get ready. She replies “It’s just not fair. I don’t have any clothes.”
• You scour the stores at Christmas looking for a Go-Go Rabbit Power Hero – the toy of the year – for your seven year old son. After waiting in line for eight hours, you are pushed out of the way by a throng of desperate parents. Finally exhausting all other options, you pay $200 for one on eBay. On Christmas morning, your son opens his package and promptly tosses it aside. “I wanted to red one,” he complains.
• Your children have boxes and boxes of toys laying about their room that they don’t play with. Yet every time they find themselves in a store, they whine and moan about how they “Never get anything” and how “We don’t have anything nice to play with”.

Does any of this sound familiar? Your children may be suffering from a common affliction know as: The Gimmes. This disorder is brought on by having Too Much. It rears its ugly head at the most inopportune times, usually in front of family members or the general public, causing a second-hand effect of acute embarrassment for the parent.

Never fear! There is a cure!
The only cure for The Gimmes is Less. Yes, that’s right; in this case, Less is More. Get rid of 75-90% of their toys and clothes. In addition for providing relief to The Gimmes, you will notice a remarkable difference in the cleanliness of said room and your children will experience an increased desire to play with the remaining toys. All this, because they can finally find them!

Don’t Buy Off-Season
Stop purchasing little toys and trinkets for your children between holidays. Give your children a small allowance instead, and make it clear that they are responsible for buying these items. The Gimmes clear up quickly when a child needs to spend his own money!

Purchase Less on Holidays
Keep your holiday gift giving simple. Only purchase 1-3 items per child for each gift giving occasion. Children become over-stimulated when presented with too many options, and receiving gifts is no exception. Between the gifts you give and the ones friends and family members give your child, it is easy for a child to confuse the gift itself with the thrill of getting. This is the root cause of The Gimmes.

Your family can overcome this. Your child can become a respectable, caring individual who doesn’t place his needs above everyone else’s. You can beat this disease. We’re all rooting for you!

About the Author
Rayven Perkins is an expert at saving money at home. She has spent 7 years finding and implementing unique cost-cutting tips that allow her family to live comfortably as a one-income family. Her site http://www.stay-a-stay-at-home-mom.com examines resources and tips on Reducing Expenses, Stretching Your Dollar, and Supplementing Income in order to stay a SAHM

by Agata Langer

It’s 8 o’clock at night, the kids are finally asleep. The floor is covered with toys and the trail of rejected dinner food items that ‘accidentally’ fell off the kids’ dinner trays. The sofa and the walls are sticky with jelly, the TV remotes are gone, the kitchen sink is overfilled with dishes and the laundry basket must be shrinking because it just doesn’t seem to be able to accommodate the 4 changes of kids clothes each of the boys went through today. I finally sit down and then I think to myself that I’m proud. I am not only proud of my 2 active boys, Ryan (3) and Gregory (1) but also of myself and the smart strategies I developed to help me along in the challenge of raising toddlers.

Here are a few of them:

Bring Them Outdoors
Have you noticed that the behavior of kids who stay indoors all day resembles that of a wild animal in captivity? The moods of my children change dramatically the moment they escape from the house and get the chance to roam at large in the wilderness of their back yard. The crankiness and clinginess disappear as soon as they step outside. Their tempers mellow and the pent up aggression fades away once they let off some steam by running wild. Being outdoors gives kids a sense of freedom and independence. Not only do they become more calm and quiet, but their appetites get a big boost as well.

Hide the Toys
We tend to buy more and more toys for our kids hoping each time we will find the one that keeps them occupied long enough for you to cook, clean, go to bathroom or simply relax (Relax? Keep dreaming!) The overabundance of toys actually creates a problem: Too many toys can make your child feel discouraged and less focused. Leave out just a few toys and hide the rest. Rotate them every 2-3 days. Exchange the toys after the kids are in bed and make it a morning surprise for them. You will notice how happy your toddler will be to see and play with the toys he or she had forgotten about.

Serve Fruit Snacks to Boost Their Appetites
One of the rules established in our house is NO SNACKING within 90 minutes of mealtime. Moms know that even a small snack given too close to a meal usually results in a plate full of uneaten food. There is something you can do to to give your child a snack and actually increase their appetite at the same time: Serve fruit snacks between meals. A fruit snack about 90 minutes before a meal will not only help to satisfy the kids’ hunger until mealtime, it will actually stimulate their appetites for dinner and make them anxious to eat. Grapes are the favorite choice for both of my boys but an apple, an orange, a peach or some pineapple works just as well. If your kids are accustomed to non fruit snacks, try to give it to them soon after a main meal and then serve the fruit snack 90 minutes before the next one.

Give Them Choices
This is a powerful strategy I began using lately and it works nearly all the time for me.

Give Your Toddler a Choice Within Your Choice
Kids, in general, get frustrated when they feel like they have no control over their little lives. I used to lose my mind trying to win the battle with Ryan. Whenever I would tell him to do something the contest would begin. I could ask politely, I could ask firmly, I could order and I could even yell. Nothing helped. In fact, the more I insisted that he do something the more stubborn and adamant he would be in resisting me. Then, I started giving Ryan choices that each served my disciplinary goal. When Ryan throws his sippy cup on the floor, instead of starting the battle of wills, I give him a choice by politely asking:

by Dana Johnson, MSW

Think back for a moment to your childhood. What was your favorite thing to play? What did you pretend for hours on end? When parents are asked this question, almost without exception we discover that our favorite play scenarios were those we created out of our imaginations. We were mommies feeding babies, superheroes with a towel-turned-cape, explorers of our backyards. Grandparents often say they played with what little play materials they had. A simple cloth was a baby blanket, a parachute flyer, and a costume all in one.

Today’s children have toys far more detailed and sophisticated. However, a growing number of psychologists and child development specialists are advocating for a return to the “natural” play of yesteryear. Why? Because it requires imagination.

In this age of high-tech toys, children frequently push a button and are entertained by watching play happen, not by actively creating it themselves. The toys construction determines how it will be played with. The natural play that is thought to be more appropriate encourages children to create a play scenario out of their own imagination. Play materials are unstructured so the child must creatively “complete” the toy. Play materials are also multi-purpose, meaning that one toy can be turned into lots of different things. For example, blocks made of tree branches can be used to create unique structures not possible with traditional square blocks. Cloths and silks can be turned into capes, aprons, and rivers. Dolls with simple features allow the child to decide if the baby is laughing, crying or sleeping.

Recent research is supporting this more natural approach to play. There is some evidence that children who play with open-ended toys are better at solving divergent problems (problems where there is more than one answer). These children were shown to think beyond the objects in what we call “out-of-the-box” thinking.1

Many parents who practice natural or holistic parenting are taking the lead in bringing back this type of play to childhood. More and more parents are seeing the value of and true developmental need for free creative play. Many parents are now choosing unstructured toys made of natural materials over battery-operated plastic toys. And with new books such as Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, many parents are questioning the push for early academics and are enrolling their children in play-based preschools.

So, again, think about your favorite memories of playing as a child. Who were you? What did you become? The imagination that transformed you into someone else or into another place has proven again to truly be a cornerstone of childhood. It seems that although we have the technology to create high-tech toys, it’s the natural play with natural play things that truly inspires the magic that is childhood.

About the Authors
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD & Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, PhD, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards. (Rodale, 2003) 

Dana Johnson, MSW is a former children’s mental health therapist. She owns Three Sisters Toys specializing in natural, open-ended and Waldorf-inspired toys for children.

By Sherry Frewerd

There is a chore in my home that brings out the procrastinator in me. This particular chore is so big and so difficult, that I create new tasks just to avoid starting the dreaded job. What could be so bad: My toddler’s bedroom – a.k.a. fighting the battle of ‘too many toys!’

The problem doesn’t arrive from a lack of organization or space to put things, but from just too many toys in the first place. His room, when tidy, looks like a little toy store gone mad. My husband built custom shelving just for the toys and books, with varying shelf sizes to accommodate different types of toys and sizes of books. However, when I take a close look at the contents, it’s obvious that there’s lots of ‘stuff’, but little thought went into most of it.

How should you select and organize your child’s toys? Choosing quality kids’ toys, selected by their developmental stage and abilities, is the first step. Most toys have a recommended age on the package to let you know the appropriate age group. Take cues from you own child to guide you in whether he is ready for a certain toy.

Make sure that the toys you’re buying actually “do” what they are supposed to. If puzzle pieces aren’t cut correctly, your child will get angry and frustrated when they play with it. I’ve recently made the mistake of buying a puzzle that was supposed to be appropriate for ages 18 months to 3 years, only to find that the pieces were very difficult to place, and my son became upset every time he played with the puzzle.

Some suggestions for Toddler and Preschool Toys

• Puppets
• Activity tables/centers
• Sorting boxes
• Snap together Blocks – Leggos
• Puzzles – up to 5 wooden pieces
• Figures for dollhouse, farm, etc.
• Dress up clothes
• Trucks and wagons to haul things
• Housekeeping and shopping toys
• Sewing cards
• Buttoning, zipping, snapping dolls or boards
• Preschool age games like Memory and Candy land etc.

Most importantly, choose toys that stimulate your child’s mind and that create learning experiences. Provide an adequate amount of toys for your child. Don’t do as I have and overwhelm your child with too much ‘stuff’ causing both of you to become frustrated. As we all know, most little kids have a more fun playing with the box the toy came in while the new toy sits idly on the floor. Now it’s time for me to stop procrastinating and fight the battle of ‘too many toys.’

About the Author
Sherry Frewerd is a WAHM to three and is a licensed child care provider. Visit her website, ‘Family Play and Learn’ for fun and creative activities and resources for your Toddler and Preschool age child. http://familyplayandlearn.com.

Capturing the personality and spirit of your bright and bouncy baby in photographs is one of the more difficult things you can attempt if you don’t bring your imagination along for the ride. Photographs are rather two-dimensional. They do not allow consideration for personality, sound, and emotion that are always present when you are with your baby. However taking pictures of babies can be done in a manner that allows your baby’s personality to shine through if you are willing to let nature take its course during your ‘photo shoot’ rather than trying to control the situation.

How to “Set the Stage”
The first thing you want to keep in mind is that you want a stage upon which your baby can act not a setting for cameras and camera angles. You will want to include toys that are sure to delight your baby, make sure there is plenty of natural lighting (outdoor settings are great for a project such as this) and that your baby is well rested and in a good temper. If you choose a natural setting you should keep in mind that nature is its own stage to some degree. Capture your baby doing the things he or she loves to do and take plenty of photographs in the moments. Even if your baby is simply throwing sand in the air and running through it you will be amazed at how much his or her personality shines through those moments of glee when captured on film.

As a matter of fact, these moments are the stuff that baby photo contests are made of. When setting a stage upon which to take those perfect baby pictures you will want to make sure that the background doesn’t distract from the object of your affection. The less elaborate the background the better. You want your baby and her personality to shine in these photos. You should also make sure that she is interested in the process and having fun. Her personality will be the star if she is truly having fun.

Interaction and attention are great motivators when it comes to taking pictures of babies. If you want them to react to you and not the camera capture their interest and if at all possible keep the camera away from your face. This allows her to babble and play with you while doing it for the camera. Play with her toys in order to get her to begin playing with them. Once she’s engaged in the activity or the ‘play’ you can snap photos as fast as your fingers and your camera will allow in order to have plenty of selection while showing the most possible personality.

Having a baby can be expensive, but there are ways to cut down on your expenses. When you become overwhelmed, remember this: if you waited until you had enough money, time and energy to have your baby, you would probably never have children. Here are a few ways to ease the strain on your budget, so that you can enjoy your new bundle of joy.

1. Health Insurance. This is one area which is a HUGE concern. Yes, insurance can be expensive, but you will need it. You simply can not afford to cut this cost from your budget. You can reduce insurance costs by checking into HMO policies which have lower premiums and out of pocket expenses. Many states have free shot clinics which can help lower your expenses. If you can’t afford to carry insurance, see if your state has insurance for people in your situation. Many states will cover insurance premium costs if your income is under a certain level.
2. Breastfeed your baby, if possible. If you can’t breastfeed, there are ways to save money on formula. Try to apply for WIC (Women , Infants, and Children), a program designed to help middle and low income families with educational resources and food. You can also save money by buying formula in bulk, clipping coupons, and accepting free samples whenever they are offered. Check with your doctor to see if you can feed your infant a generic formula.
3. Diapers. Store brand disposable diapers can be just as good as the name brand, for several dollars less than their name brand counterparts. Experiment until you find a store brand that works for you and your baby. Clipping coupons also can help to lower diaper expenses.
4. Baby food. You can save a lot of money buy making your own baby food. You can use a blender or a baby food grinder to grind table food for baby. Simply put the puree into an ice cube tray and freeze. Then place the cubes in a labeled freezer bag. When your baby is hungry, you can microwave the food cubes.
5. Clothing. There is no need to buy expensive designer clothing for you little one. You can get most of your baby clothing at yard sales or second-hand stores. If you have a neighbor or friend with slightly older children, ask if she would be willing to send some “hand me downs” your way. Remember that many discount stores also sell inexpensive clothing.
6. Toys. Don’t feel pressured to get the latest and most expensive models. I remember buying expensive toys for my first child one Christmas only to find that she spent the entire day playing with boxes and wrapping paper. Kids don’t need a lot of toys; quality is more important than quantity.

What other suggestions do you have for reducing baby expenses?

Author: Michelle Schaefer