Life Skills at What Age?

Teaching Your Child Life Skills

An Age-by-Age Guide

This article is by Lindsay Hutton, but we thought it was too good to pass up! Please click on the links below to read on!

Are you preparing your child to be independent? Teaching your child life skills is not only important for self-care and sufficiency— it also allows him to feel empowered, works on socialization and reasoning, and helps develop healthy self-esteem. This list of age-appropriate skills will help prepare your child for each stage of his life from preschool until the day he flies the coop.

http://life.familyeducation.com/slideshow/independence/71434.html

Raising Newborn Twins!

If you are about to have twin babies, don’t worry! You aren’t alone and you can handle it. But know this, it won’t be easy and you absolutely should ask for help whenever you need it! We found a few websites with some great tips that we wanted to share. Best to save them on your computer now, before you bring home your bundles of joy! You can thank us later!

Web MD =

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/infant-development-9/raising-twins

Raising Twins =

http://www.raising-twins.com/

Parents.com =

http://www.parents.com/baby/twins/raising/

Nicknames

No matter what your original intentions may be, you will likely end up with a nickname for your child. Why not name your child something short to begin with? Perhaps this line of thinking is why names like Ana and Aiden are chose over Catherine and Christopher these days. From 1990-2010, the average name length fell from 6.2 letters to 5.9 letters, according to the Social Security Administration.

For more ideas, check out www.babynames.com. Consider spelling and pronunciation as well, since your child will not always have you around to explain and could easily be teased, ashamed, or even confused by his own name.

Plastics and Pregnancy: A Bad Mix

At October 25, 2011
By artistbabysitting
In Health, New Ideas, Parenting, Research Journal
0

We all use plastics everyday, they’re convenient, light weight and super cleanable. However, studies are showing that consuming food out of plastic containers could be dangerous to pregnant women.

The new Harvard study shows that children who’s mothers ate from plastic containers while in the womb tend to have behavioral issues. Could this be true, or just coincidence? Either way it’s very thought-provoking. To read the whole article, visit: http://www.parenting.com/blogs/show-and-tell/beth-parenting/bpa-pregnancy

Your Kids’ Money IQ

It’s NEVER too soon to start teaching your kids about money. Let’s keep that ball rolling with our Money IQ series!

“Here’s your first credit card! Congratulations! Now here are the rules and responsibilities!”

Financial experts recommend giving your child a credit card sometime in high school. Chances are that she will need one when she goes off to college, so having a trial period in high school is really important. Sit down with your teen and show her YOUR own credit card bill. Talk to her about grace periods, interest rates and minimum payments. Add her on to your own credit card first, assuming you trust her not to, oh, buy a car without asking you.

Your Kids’ Money IQ

It’s NEVER too soon to start teaching your kids about money. Let’s continue that ball rolling with our Money IQ series!

Plastic. It’s dangerous, as is constantly proven by our on adult spending patterns! Before ever giving your child a credit card, give him a DEBIT card! And be sure that debit card is tied to HIS savings account, NOT yours. You may find that your child is great with money and be pleasantly surprised! OR, he might have to learn the hard way that plastic still ends in cold, hard cash by the time his account is empty. It’s a risk you have to let your child take to figure it out. And better to do now, when his account hopefully is just made up of a some gift money and allowance, than later when there is more college money at risk.

Financial experts recommend giving your child a debit card around the age of 11 or 12. The “tween” years.

You can track your child’s purchases online and steer him back on the right track if need be. And be sure to opt OUT of any automatic overdraft protection programs – turn that into a teachable moment as well. We learn the most from our mistakes, and our kids are no exception!

Your Child’s Temperament

Did you know that nine different temperament traits affect how well your child fits in at school, with peers, and at home?

We found this great read about understanding your child’s temperament. Rather than paraphrase, we thought we’d lead you directly to the source: http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/health/788-temperament-traits.gs

Pre-Natal Vitamins

Taking care of yourself during your pregnancy is important not only for YOU for your baby. Talk to your doctor about what pre-natal vitamins and supplements your individual body needs. The American Pregnancy Association offers some great advice on their website. Check it out at http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/prenatalvitamins.html