No TV for my baby
My son does not watch TV. He doesn’t own any Baby Einstein DVD’s and he’s only glimpsed a kids show for a total of under five minutes during his whole little life.

When I was pregnant my husband told me about a study he’d read that said if your children watch TV when they’re between 0-2 it can effect their brains negatively. The scariest threat to me was the possibility of developing Attention Deficit Disorder.

After Joshua was born, my doctor made a home visit and reinstilled my decision to turn the TV off when Joshua’s in the room. She said TV was overstimulating for a baby’s brain. And after she said that I started to watch how quickly scenes flash on TV. It’s incredible. One scene rarely holds for more than 3 seconds.

So my mind was made up and I kept the TV off about 90 per cent of the time. As Joshua’s gotten older, the amount of time I allow the TV to be on has increased. I’d say it’s on for at least two hours a day while he’s awake. Mostly just the news, though, because I feel that the news isn’t as fast moving as most shows. Dad likes to watch hockey, so once or twice a week, Joshua catches a period of the very fast moving game. But we still have not allowed him to sit through a show meant for children. That means that although the TV is on, he doesn’t sit and watch it for more that two minutes at a time.

It’s been a struggle, to keep the TV off. Especially since I’ve been at home for the past year. Rather than TV, I play the radio for me, and for the baby I have a variety of kids music CD’s that he just loves.

I think the practice of leaving the TV off has brought our family closer as well. In the evening we all hang out in the living room and play or chat without being distracted by the giant screen. Although the choice to get iPhones has intruded on our play time a bit.

For myself, the decision has been very beneficial. I feel better not watching so much TV, and I like the idea that Joshua’s not used to sitting in front of it.

Sometimes I think I’m a little to fanatic about it, and I wonder if I’m really making that big of a difference. Because, of course, we all grew up watching tones of TV. And I’m also a bit of a hypocrite, because as soon as Joshua’s in bed, the TV turns on and stays on until Rob and I go to bed.

But what I do know is that not watching TV can’t hurt Joshua, so until I find out I’m doing him harm, the TV stays off.

~Michelle

Labels: baby, Michelle, music, parenting, TV

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Sarah's Top 10 Children’s Books
I’m an avid reader and hope to instill this trait in Parker. At 11 months old he seems to enjoy books as much as I do. You can often catch him pulling all his books off his bookshelf, chewing on a board book or just carrying one around the house with him. He is a great help when it comes to page turning and has mastered the art of lifting flaps in flap books. However, I think I still enjoy the stories more than he does.


Here are my top 10 children’s books. I have left out the classics as we all know and love them, so I thought I’d share some of the books that you might not have heard of but should definitely check out.

1. The Eensy-Weensy Spider by Mary Ann Hoberman, Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott (Baby-Preschool). This expanded version of the song takes the Eensy-Weensy Spider on a new adventure with each page. Parker enjoys it when I sing this book to him.

2. Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball by Vicki Churchill and Charles Fuge (Baby - Preschool). The fun images along with the rhyming words make this sweet story of a wombat’s favorite things a delight to read.

3. Who Hops? By Katie Davis (Baby-Preschool). This book answers the question who hops, flies, slithers, swims and crawls? with brightly coloured, illustrations of animals and goofy explanations of who doesn’t hop, etc.

4. Where Is the Green Sheep? By Mem Fox and Judy Horacek (Baby-Preschool). This book introduces new vocabulary with a different sheep on each page. It’s fun, repetitive and the illustrations are super doper cute.

5. Bringing Down the Moon by Jonathan Emmett, Illustrated by Vanessa Cabban (Preschool). A super cute story of a mole that wants the moon for himself and tries different strategies to bring it down from the sky.

6. Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (Preschool). A story of friendship. A boy finds a penguin on his doorstep and during his efforts to help the penguin find his way home realizes the penguin wasn’t lost, he was just lonely.

7. Sneak A Peek; Who am I? Insects by Son Schein Press Editorial. (Baby-Preschool) The pages of this book slide apart to reveal the baby insects. Babies’ will delight in the peek-a-boo insects while older kids will have fun learning about insects and guessing which one is hidden on each page.

8. Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! By Rosetta Stone, Illustrated by Michael Frith (Beginner Readers). This was absolutely my favorite book when I was a kid. The illustrations are magical and the story is hilarious. A bug sneezes, which sets off a silly chain of events.

9. Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt (Ages 5 & up). A story of a squirrel that thinks the world is a scary place. What with the killer bees, green Martians, tarantulas, germs and sharks, who wouldn’t? But after a leap into the great unknown he finds out he’s not just a squirrel – he’s a flying squirrel!

10. City of Beasts by Isabel Allende (Ages 10 & up). This is the adventurous tale of 15-year-old Alexander who joins his eccentric grandmother on a writing assignment in South America. The tale is woven with loads of action, a bit of grotesque and just the right amount of magic. There are two other books in this series.

~Sarah

Labels: books, Children, children's literacy, Sarah

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Family Literacy Day Contest Winner!
Have you ever wanted to travel to a distant world? Go on an adventure? Take a peak into the mind another person?  Well , you, and your children, can do all of this and never leave the comfort of your own home. Books allow people to live out their fantasies, let their imagination run wild and escape from all their worldly troubles, at least for a little while ;-)

By promoting reading you really are giving a wonderful gift to your children. In celebration of that idea and Family Literacy Day we recently ran a contest with our friends and fellow bloggers over at Skratch Publishing. They generously donated a year subscription to their website SkratchTrack.com, which promotes children’s literacy.

The lucky winner of the subscription to SkratchTrack.com is Melissa O.!!!

Congratulations Melissa and thank you to everyone who entered the contest. Now let's all go home and read some books in celebration of Family Literacy Day!


PS  Just as an FYI: The first quote was from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and the second quote was from Green, Eggs and Ham.

Labels: books, contest, Family Literacy Day, reading, Skratch Publishing Inc., SkratchTrack.com

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I’m a Vegetarian…Should my Child be too?
I have a lot of reasons for being a vegetarian, the environmental impact of raising animals for slaughter, health-related reasons, and concern for animal welfare. The truth is I’m not a true vegetarian, I’m a pescatarian and if we wanted to get really label obsessed here I’m a lacto-ovo pescatarian. But that’s a mouthful so I find is just easier to say I’m a veggie.

Anyway, I have often thought about what my plans would be for my children’s diet. My husband isn’t a veggie but at home we pretty much always eat vegetarian meals because I do the cooking so I assume that would continue when we have children. However I have started to wonder if I should force my own personal eating preferences on my children.

I’d like to think I’m a pretty healthy vegetarian (many are not). I make sure I eat a wide variety of foods to ensure I get the vitamins and minerals I require and I am careful to eat a nice mix of soy, nuts, eggs and dairy for my protein needs. The thing is, kids tend to be picky and I am concerned that, if my children were a little finicky at the dinner table, that they might end up missing out on the vital nutrients needed for proper growth and development. I have also heard that it can be difficult to ensure that vegetarian children consume enough calories, as vegetarian diets typically contain a lot of fibre, which fills people up quickly but doesn’t sustain them for long periods.

These concerns are all really for the younger years because as my children get older I’m going to let them make up their own minds about it. If they decide they like meat and want to eat it that’s their prerogative (I just won’t be cooking it for them - much like my husband’s situation). I also won’t be too strict about it for social reasons. When my child goes for a meal at a friend’s house I’m not going question what they are making for dinner.

However, for the early years I’d prefer them to be veggie but only if it’s done right so I’m looking to you guys for a little guidance here. Have any of you raised your children as vegetarians? What challenges have you come across? What are some ways to ensure picky eaters get what nutrients they need?

~Laura

Labels: baby food, Children, diet, Laura, vegetarian, veggies

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Apple Spiced Cake
Last weekend Darren, Parker and I attended a one-year reunion for our prenatal group. Through the encouragement of the midwife and RN that facilitated our weekly group, we decided to meet monthly. The moms and babes have gotten together each month since the babies were born. Each month a different mom hosts at her home and we each try to bring a snack. The babies’ play (or at least they do now, they used to sleep or breastfeed) and the moms share their experiences, ask questions and sometimes complain about their hubby. At six months and one year the dads joined us for our monthly meeting. It has been great! A real source of friendship, laughs, support and a rare chance for Parker to be around kids his own age.

Last weekend we celebrated the kids first birthday. It was a little premature as they are all turning one over the next month, but nonetheless it was a birthday bash. We had hats, cupcakes and even presents.

I offered to make mini cupcakes for the kids and one of the ladies offered me a recipe to work from. The cake recipe: Apple Spiced Cake, is egg free, dairy free and sugar free. It was perfect for our group of 11 month olds and turned out to be a big hit with them. So here is the recipe, hope your little one enjoys it as much as mine did.
Apple Spiced Cake

½ cup molasses
1 cup applesauce (I used unsweetened)
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves (I didn’t have cloves so I used nutmeg instead)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 ¾ cup flour
1 tsp ginger

Mix the molasses and applesauce in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in a non-stick 8x8 inch-baking pan (I used Pam and a mini cupcake tray, recipe made18 mini muffins) at 350 for 30-45mins.

~Sarah

Labels: Apple Spice Cake, baby, baby food, birthday, moms group, parents, party, Recipe, Sarah

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What’s in my diaper bag?

Contents of bag on a day when Parker was going to his grandmother’s for about 6 hours:

1 change of clothes
3 cloth diapers
1 dry bag for dirty cloth diapers
1 disposable diaper
2 GDiaper flushable inserts (pointless, since the GDiapers are not in the bag)
1 jar of diaper cream (I don’t know why this is in there, we hardly ever use disposables or diaper cream)
1 pair of mitts (probably not necessary in the 10 degree weather we’ve been having)
1 change pad
1 pack of wipes
1 tube of Hand Sanitizer
1 Baby Einstein DVD
1 re-useable shopping bag
1 cleaned jar of baby food (I often send homemade baby food in these jars. This one must have been cleaned & sent back to me. I must have missed it when I cleaned out my bag last week. Yeap, you read that correctly. I cleaned out the bag last week and somehow thought everything above should stay.)
Cooler bag filled with Snacks & Lunch
Formula
And 1 pen (cause you never know when you are going to need one. Ok, truth be told, I had no idea it was in there.)


My conclusion; there may be one or two things that I could lose but for the most part it is all necessary. I think.

My mother says that eventually I’ll learn to pack lighter but thus far I just don’t see how it’s possible. If you have any tips for this first time mama please do share. My back is getting pretty sore from lugging around my 23 lbs baby and his 10 lbs worth of necessities.

~Sarah

Labels: baby, diaper bag, Lady Mama, Sarah

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Family Literacy Day Contest Part 2
If you read last Wednesday’s post you know that in honor of our new blogger (David) and Family Literacy Day (Jan 27th) Skratch Publishing and More Than a Village are having a little contest. The winner will receive a one-year subscription to SkratchTrack!!

We have posted two quotes from two different popular children's books. All you have to do is click here to enter by telling us what book the quote came from. If you correctly guess the name of the book you will be entered in a draw for the subscription to SkratchTrack.

We posted one quote last Wednesday, one quote today and we’ll announce the winner next Wednesday, Family Literacy Day. If you are able to name the book for BOTH quotes you will be entered into the draw TWICE, so be sure to check back next Wednesday.

Today’s quote is….

“I do not like them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere.”

Good Luck!

Labels: books, children's literacy, contest, Family Literacy Day, giveaway, kids, read, reading, Skratch Publishing Inc., SkratchTrack.com

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Spanking a Benefit to Kids ?
I recently read an article on a controversial study that says that “spanking children up to six years old made them more successful in school, more optimistic about life, more likely to take voluntary work, and more keen to attend university than their never-spanked counterparts.”

It stirred up quite the discussion in the comments section of the article so I thought I should bring it to the blog. So…spanking…an invaluable disciplining tool? Useful but only in certain scenarios? Or the ultimate parenting no-no?

Currently the Canadian Children’s Rights Council is advocating to make spanking illegal, as it is in a number of European countries. I got to thinking about what the impact of such legislation would be. I’m not sure how I feel about taking that step and changing the law only because I wonder about the consequences of that much government involvement in the way individuals choose to parent. Would children be removed from their parent’s custody too quickly as a result, or would parents simply adapt and find other disciplining tools?

A question that immediately comes to mind is what we are talking about when we say “spanking”? For some, it may all be the same, but others are quick to differentiate between bending a child over a knee to take their 15 licks and a quick smack on the bum.

Personally, I don’t think either is very effective, despite what the study proclaims. As a teacher I was able to handle classrooms of 35 hyper 2-4 year olds with zero physical punishment and I am hoping that I will find ways to discipline my own children without resorting to anything physical. It seems to me that spanking retains its popularity not because it works necessarily but because parents often just don’t know what else to do. In situations like that people tend to fall back on what they know from their own childhoods, which may have included spanking.

Take a look at the comments from these two news sources to see how divide people are on the issue.

CTV News - Contentious Study Says Spanking May Benefit Children

National Post - A Spanked Child May Be A Better Adult: Study

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Do you think spanking is effective? Do you agree with implementing a law to protect children from spanking? Sound off below.

~Laura

Labels: Canadia Children's Rights Council, disipline, Laura, spanking, study

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The Art of not using the word ‘NO’!
We decided to eliminate the word ‘No’ from our vocabulary. It was mainly a parenting approach decision that Darren and I made together. I had read somewhere that toddler’s use ‘no’ all the time because they hear it so much. I’ve seen toddler’s who only know one or two words; ‘no’ and ‘mommy’ and use them constantly. We thought that we might be able to avoid this by using ‘no’ less.

It hasn’t been easy. ‘No’ is often the first word that comes to mind when you see your baby going for something dangerous; like the electrical cords. Or when your baby is about to put something gross in their mouth; like a piece of cat poo. Or when your baby is about to get their sticky little hands on your favorite scarf. However, ‘no’ doesn’t really tell them what to do, it doesn’t exactly describe the behaviour you are trying to avoid or describe the behaviour you’d rather they do.

So we’ve eliminated it. Instead we say things like, ‘Stop!’ when Parker is about to pull on another electrical cord. Or ‘Danger!’ when he attempts to put his hands into the electric base board heaters again. Or “Icky!” when he tries to suck on the cat’s tail. And we say ‘Please don’t touch’ when he is reaching for the Mosque alarm clock we brought back from Dubai.

As with most 11-month-olds, he knows what each of those statements mean but doesn’t always listen or obey. I know he understands because right before he reaches for my shoe again with his mouth open, he gives me this little look. You know the one that says, “Are you watching? I’m gonna suck on your shoe whether you yell Ick or not!”

What do you expect? He’s just a curious 11-month-old!

~Sarah

Labels: behaviour, No, Sarah, toddler, vocabulary

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Back to the old grind
Well Monday was my first day back to work and it was way better than I had expected! I swear, if I could only see into the future, I would not be so anxious.

For the past three months I have been dreading the day that I would have to leave my baby and go back to the office. I love staying home with my son. It was never my hope to go back to work, but in my family’s circumstances, my going back to work was the best move.

Luckily the pain of heading back to work was eased by the fact that my husband would be at home with the baby. Both myself and my husband don’t feel comfortable leaving Joshua in full-time care, so we decided that one of us would work part-time from home while the other works full time away from home. With his career as a photographer, it’s smarter for him to take on the part-time job.

I was still dreading the day I’d have to trade in my domestic life for a corporate one, though. During the whole christmas season my heart was heavy with the thought of returning to the office.

But something came over me Sunday night, that made me think it would all be okay and Monday morning as I drove to work with all the other working stiffs, I felt empowered. I was happy and thankful to be heading to a great job with great people, while my baby got to stay home with his dad. Definitely the opposite of what I had expected. It was nice to spend the day working on brain challenging tasks, and by the end of the day feel like I had accomplished a lot.

I was definitely thrown in the deep end in terms of work load, but it was like riding a bicycle. It all came back so quickly.

Coming home is still the best part, but heading out the door isn’t the torture I expected it to be. For the month I’m only working two days a week, which I feel is a blessing, so I can ease myself back into it. But I feel so much better now, knowing that it’s all going to be just fine. Phew!

~Michelle

Labels: baby, dad, Michelle, stay-at-home dad, working

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Buried in Books
We lucked out this New Year. Friends of ours now have access to a wonderful little cabin up in the mountains nearby, and we managed to get our invite secured early on. It was off with our little boy Sam last week to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends. This was the first time we've brought our 3 month old so far from home - Add to that we've been introducing a new sleep schedule and that the grownups might be a little loud come midnight - we didn't really know what to expect.

So we packed up half the house for our little one's anticipated needs, and drove the switchbacks to our friends' cabin. Once we arrived we unpacked the car and set Sam up for a good night's sleep. Blankets? Check. Bear? Check. Books? Huge check: After going through all of our baggage I realized that we had one complete bag devoted to nothing but books.

Books have become a ritual for us and Sam, especially at bedtime. Kids pick up habits from their parents, and reading is definitely something we want to encourage in all its forms. It struck me as odd that we brought so many different books with us - Sam can't read, he's really not focusing all that much on the pictures and his 'page turning' abilities might have more to do with help from mom and dad.

But that being said, we couldn't be without his books, even on the road. To help him transition to an unfamiliar location, we used stories he knew and has grown comfortable with. We took our time, did the voices that we always do and used the pictures and textures of the books to entertain him with most of his toys resting safely back home. My wife and I felt that it was time well spent, and reconnecting with his stories really did seem to have a calming effect on Sam.

Who knows? When Sam grows up he might rebel against the printed word and never read another book again, but it won't be from lack of trying on our part. Setting him up with a strong foundation of language and learning will only help our growing boy, and as he grows older and more independent, we know that our early efforts will not have been in vain.

And hopefully he'll eventually learn to turn those pages by himself.

If you're interested, Sam's favourite books at the cabin were My Pirate Papa, The Gruffalo, and The Gruffalo's Child.

~David

Labels: books, children's literacy, David, kids, read, reading, Skratch Publishing Inc., SkratchTrack.com

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Family Literacy Day Contest
We are thrilled to introduce you to a new guest writer for the MTAV blog, David Tilgner. David and his wife Jamie are proud parents of their new baby boy, Sam Barrett. When not changing diapers or reading to Sam they run Skratch Publishing Inc. - A company that promotes children's literacy through SkratchTrack.com, the website that rewards kids for reading more books!! We encourage you to check out their sites and learn more about what they do.




In honor of our new blogger and Family Literacy Day (Jan 27th) Skratch Publishing and More Than a Village are having a little contest. The winner will receive a one-year subscription to SkratchTrack!!

We will be posting two quotes from two different popular children's books. All you have to do is click here to enter by telling us what book the quote came from. If you correctly guess the name of the book you will be entered in a draw for the subscription to SkratchTrack.

We will post one quote today, one quote next Wednesday and announce the winner the following Wednesday, Family Literacy Day. If you are able to name the book for BOTH quotes you will be entered into the draw TWICE, so be sure to check back next Wednesday.

Today's quote is....

"One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down — and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know." 

Enter Here!

Good Luck!

Labels: books, children's literacy, contest, David, family, Family Literacy Day, giveaway, reading, Skratch Publishing Inc., SkratchTrack.com

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The Santa Snafu.
Santa Claus. A magical part of many people’s childhood. A mysterious, jolly fellow that sleigh-rides into millions of people’s lives on a annual basis bringing with him joy, presents, excitement and occasionally some tough questions. This year I had a number of conversations with friends that had me wondering…is Santa really all that?

First all, let’s not sugar coat the thing, Santa makes a liar out of all of us who perpetuate him. Secondly, it seems to me that Santa and consumerism are BFFs these days…kids aren’t asking him for oranges or crayons anymore they’re asking for Xboxes and probably a whole lot more.

This materialistic overture prompted one acquaintance of mine to try and teach her son about those less fortunate over the holiday season. They found a local family who needed a little Christmas cheer and set about buying some toys for the young boy of the family. Her son astutely noted that “If Santa delivers presents to all good boys and girls then this boy will get presents from Santa so we don’t need to buy him any”. How the hell do answer that one? Riddle me that moms and dads.

Another friend told me that when she has children she doesn’t plan on keeping up with the little white lie of a particular jolly old elf. Not only does she not like the idea of lying but all of that “sees you while you’re sleeping” and “knows if you’ve been bad or good” business kinda creeped her out when she was a kid.

So let’s say you opt for the truth. Is your kid going to be missing out on one of the most magical parts of Christmas? Will they be the class whistle blower...telling all the other kids the truth about Santa and ruining the fun? Or will Christmas be just as special, just different?

I still think I will play along when I have kids just because I have such fond memories of my Christmases, which all involved visions of Santa squeezing his rotund body down our chimney to fill our stockings with little treasures and Rudolph waiting patiently on our roof for the carrot we left for him on the hearth. It is just too much fun to give up but it had me wondering how other parents approached the Santa snafu. So sound off here and let us know your opinion on the subject.

~Laura

Labels: Laura, Santa

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Family New Years Resolutions
We often enter the new year reflecting the last and setting new goals or resolutions of the next. We are often focused on ourselves. What we want to do differently as individuals this year. Whether it be eating healthier, exercising more or quitting smoking, out resolutions are usually focused on just us.

This year why not try making a family New Year’s resolution as well?

Setting a family New Year’s resolution is a great way to teach cooperation, team work, build camaraderie, and goal getting. And the great thing about making family resolutions is that by doing it together you can help each other stay on track.

Not sure what your family New Year’s resolution should be? Why not ask your family? Here is a list of New Year’s resolutions some of the families I know have made this year. Maybe one of them will be right for your family or inspire you to find one that is.

• Going (more) green
• Helping your children/child become more charitable
• Speeding up morning routines
• Spending more time together as a family
• Having a regularly scheduled family meeting
• Watching less TV
• Getting outside more
• Exercising more as a family
• Eating dinner together every night
• Cooking dinner and cleaning up afterwards together

Darren and I set a resolution to work together to make the time between dinner & Parker's bedtime less stressful. We turn off the computers and TV and work together to prepare dinner, do clean up and the bedtime routine. It has worked out really well so far. It has given us the added bonus of allowing both of us to sit down with Parker for story time, giving us some lovely quality time together as a family each and every day.

Whatever your family’s New Year’s resolution is, remember it’s about working together to make your family a little bit better than it already is. Good Luck!

~Sarah

Labels: Children, family, New Years, Resolutions, Sarah

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Raising Resilient, Self-Disciplined Children
I usually post a recipe on Fridays, but I recently attend a presentation by Sam Goldstein Ph.D. on Raising Resilient, Self-Disciplined Children and wanted to share what I learned instead.

Sam Goldstein, Ph.D. is a psychologist with areas of study in school psychology, child development and neuropsychology. He was a charismatic speaker and provided the audience with a wealth of information on child development, resiliency and self-discipline. I would highly recommend his most recent book titled “Raising A Self-Disciplined Child” (McGraw-Hill, 2007) if you are interested in more information on the subject.

In our society it really isn’t a matter of ‘if’ our children will encounter adversity and stress, it is a matter of ‘when’. So since we cannot protect our children from stress and adversity we might as well equip them with the skills to overcome it. Resilience is not the ability to recover it is the ability to continue functioning through adversity.

Here are Five Strategies put forth by Goldstein to foster a resilient mindset. I have included some examples that can help us put his strategies into action:

1. Teach empathy by practicing empathy: You can show your children empathy by acknowledging your child’s feelings. Try reflecting their feelings by using ‘It sounds like … or it looks like…’ when they come to you with a problem or concern. For example, your child comes home from school and says, “I hate school, and nobody likes me!”. Instead of responding with “oh honey that’s not true, people like you” you could try saying something like “that must be hard for you, feeling like no one wants to be your friend”. Sometimes, like us, our children just want to be heard.

2. Teach responsibility by encouraging contributions: For example, give your children the opportunity to help others. Ask for their help instead of telling them they have to do something. By helping others they are more likely to help themselves.

3. Teach decision-making and problem solving skills that foster self-discipline: For example, don’t solve all their problems. When they come to you with a problem, take the opportunity to help them decide how to solve it. First help them define the problem, then brainstorm solutions together, evaluate and pick a solution by helping them picture the outcome of each solution. Once you both agreed upon a solution have your child go and try it. Allow your child a few minutes to try out their solution before you check on them. If the solution worked this is a great time to praise your child for finding a solution, but if the solution did not work you are there to start the process over at the beginning again to find a new solution. Obviously, this skill can be time consuming when first introduced, but as you and your child become familiar with the process the benefits are incredible! (source: MR Family ED)

4. Offer encouragement and positive feedback: A few ways to give positive feedback are: a) Be descriptive- by telling children exactly what they are doing well they are better able to repeat the behaviour. Understanding what it is that they do well improves their self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities. Children then become able to give themselves positive feedback. b) Be age appropriate- your praise and encouragement needs to be at a level that your child can understand. c) Describe what you feel- by letting your child know how their actions can positively impact your feelings, children learn how to associate feelings with behaviour. This also teaches children how to identify different feelings. (source: MR Family ED)

5. Help children deal with mistakes: Help them become more comfortable with setbacks and obstacles. Does your disciplinary style help your children learn from their mistakes? And, do you allow your children the opportunity to experience failure? Try to use discipline as a teaching process that helps your child see that mistakes are experiences to learn from rather than experiences where they feel accused or judged.

One of the main things that I took away from the evening was that a connection or positive relationship with an adult is one of the most important protective factors of resilience.

I’d love to hear from you. Was this information useful? How do you maintain your connection with your children? Will you or do you use these strategies in your everyday interactions with your children? I’d love to hear some of your experiences using these strategies.

~Sarah

Reference Note: (MR Family ED)– information provided by Maple Ridge Family Education & Support Centre. Maple Ridge Family Education & Support Centre offers a parent education program called “How to talk so your kids will listen” where you can learn these strategies and more. For more information about their courses and services please contact Maple Ridge Family Education & Support Centre directly.

Labels: Children, Maple Ridge Family Education and Support Centre, Parent Ed, resilience, Sarah, self-disciplined

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Travelling with a baby
I love to travel and I love to visit family. I used to call visits a vacation. But since I’ve had a baby, my visits with family are more like torture than a vacation.

It all begins with the plane ride which used to be exciting. Now that excitement has transformed to apprehension. Fear that Joshua will scream and all of the passengers on the plane will glare at us. Luckily, during all eight of our plane rides since he was born, Joshua has been an awesome passenger, either sleeping, chirping, or flirting with the flight attendants.

In my case, the plane ride is usually the most enjoyable part of the trip. Because once we get to our destination, I’m dying to get home.

Joshua does not sleep well on vacation. It’s either that he hates play pens or I’m just too aware of him in the room, because he wakes up almost every two hours. This means that by the time I hit day three of my visit with family, I’m like a zombie.

I try to stick to a schedule, but when you’re visiting, your days are usually packed and it’s hard to say at 2pm, “I’ve got to get back to the house for the baby’s nap.” So he stays up longer or only has a 30 minute nap in his car seat, and then that night he and I suffer.

Over the Christmas holidays I travelled to my mom’s house for two weeks. The first two nights were torture as I fought with Joshua to make him sleep for longer than two hours. One night we argued for over an hour before I finally gave up and just brought him to bed. Little did I know that that would be my saving grace.

Every night after that, I brought the baby to bed with me and although he woke up every two hours, I only had to roll over, give him the boob and fall back asleep. And on the plus side, he slept in about an hour and a half longer than usual every day.

I was super paranoid that once we got home Joshua would demand to sleep with us every night, but he was delighted to be back in his crib and two days after we got home he was back to getting up only once or twice a night. I guess the moral of my story is to go with the flow while on vacation and don’t worry about the schedule. Visiting family may not be as relaxing as it used to be but neither is life. Just do what works best for that short amount of time, and go back to the routine once you get home.

~Michelle

Labels: baby, co-sleeping, Michelle, routine, schedule, sleep, travelling

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My Top 10 Kids Books
I was an avid reader when I was a child and I could often be found with the flashlight under the cover’s reading until the wee hours of the morning. I loved being transported to different worlds and living vicariously through the characters I met in books. As a teacher I just loved the look on kids faces when you read them a really great book. They are just completely mesmerized.

So I’ve complied a list of my top ten books for kids. There are so many incredible books that it’s hard to choose but these ones are all pretty awesome.

1. Goodnight Moon
- A great story for little ones and, of course, perfect for bedtime

2. Guess How Much I Love You
- Such a sweet book, just the cover alone gets me

3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
-Eric Carle illustrations are so incredible this book with always be a classic

4. Blueberries for Sal
- I loved this book as a kid, something about the unusual illustrations and the common thread running through the two sets of lives (the humans and the bears) just struck a cord

5. Where the Wild Things Are
- Little justification is needed here. Books aren’t usually turned into movies unless they’re really good and this book is so imaginative and the illustrations of the Wild Things are so great they have been forever imprinted in my memory.

6. Horton Hears a Who
- Like a lot of Dr Seuss books this one has a great lesson. It’s about sticking to your guns and standing up for what you believe. After all “A person’s a person. No matter how small”.

7. James and the Giant Peach
-Ah, Roald Dahl…you gotta love him. Classic.

8. Harry Potter (all of them)
- I remember when Harry Potter first came out and the absolute furor of reading it started. How awesome was that? I read them just for myself and was totally sucked in. Not a lot of kids’ books can bring in adult readers too.

9. A Wrinkle in Time
-This book was so engrossing and so completely captivated my imagination when I read it that I can recall it being one of the first times I was ever really sad a book was over.

10. Where the Red Fern Grows
- Speaking of sad, this one’s a doosey (is that how you spell that word?). First book that ever made me cry out loud. That’s pretty good.

So, if you’ve never read these books, do your kids (and yourself for that matter) a huge favour and pick up a couple because I promise you won’t regret it.

~Laura

Labels: books, Children, kids, Laura, read, reading

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New Years Resolutions
I don’t usually make New Years Resolutions, I’ve always found my birthday to be more of a reflecting time than New Years and I often don’t stick to New Years Resolutions, so why brother.

But this year, my birthday past without much to do or reflection and so I’ve found myself reflecting on this past year now; at New Years. In the past year, I became a mom, bought my first home, started a business, started blogging and forgot all about myself. Go figure!

As a student completing a practicum three days a week (basically working for free), a stay-at-home-mom the rest of the time, an entrepreneur whenever I find the time and a wife attempting to maintain a little romance (or at least connection) with my husband, I find myself pulled in a million directions at once. There is always another load of laundry that needs to be done, floors to clean, toys to pick up, diapers to change, mouths to feed, and so on. And of course the one thing that gets put on the back burner the most is ME!

While I was pregnant, I spent a lot of time focused on myself and doing what was best for me and the baby I was growing inside of me. However, once he arrived I totally forgot about what was best for me and started sleeping less, eating less, exercising less and pretty much eliminated any alone time. I know this is not that uncommon for new mothers. We are completely ruled by this notion that baby must come first. In a lot of ways this is true, we must meet our babies needs but we must be able to meet our own too.

This year I resolve to put myself back into the equation and I challenge you to do the same. Who’s with me?

This is my pledge; I promise to make healthier choices for myself, to practice self-care and self-love, to not put my needs on the back burner any longer. I will make time for myself by (this is the big hurdle) asking for help because I deserve it.

What’s yours?

~Sarah

Labels: choices, healthy, needs, New Years, Resolutions, Sarah, self-care

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