Parenting

Making Your Own Baby Food: Tips and Suggestions

Guest post by Andrew B.

Having a baby can be one of the most joyous moments of your life. Alternatively though, a baby can keep you on the edge of your seat with all of the dangers that could potentially harm your baby. From allergies that you did not know your baby had, to poisonous chemicals, everything can be a potential weapon aimed at your baby. For a little piece of mind, why not try making your own baby food? That way you would know exactly who is making it, where it is coming from, and just what exactly is in it.

Naturally, a newborn baby has no teeth to chew up food into safe enough pieces to swallow. Therefore, whenever you make baby food, you will need to make sure that the food is reduced to a texture similar to that of pudding; that way the baby can safely consume the food without choking, providing a sense of relief to the baby, and more importantly, you. Typically organic fruits and vegetables are the best option for making baby food, but a lot of parents will also use various meat and poultry. Whenever using fruit, you want to be sure that you remove the pieces that could cause choking, such as seeds, pits, etc., washing them thoroughly afterwards. As for meat, the key thing you want to remember is to eliminate the extra fat from it.

Top 5 Do’s & Don’ts For First Time Mothers

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Guest Post by Blake.

Becoming a mother for the first time is very likely the most exciting time of a women’s life. It can also be the most overwhelming and nerve-wracking. Here are some tips for getting through the preparation and early months of motherhood.

Top 5 Do’s for First Time Mothers

1. Do prepare as much as you can in advance. Have the nursery ready, diapers stockpiled and bag ready for the hospital. Pack your freezer with casseroles, individual servings of soups and breakfast burritos to heat up for quick meals. Put important papers in a folder, including health insurance information and important phone numbers.

2. Do cherish the time you have before the baby arrives. Relish naps, uninterrupted TV time, date nights with your partner and other activities you enjoy. [Read more…] about Top 5 Do’s & Don’ts For First Time Mothers

Internet Safety Tips: Protecting your Children

by Guest Writer 4 Comments

Guest post.

Protecting your children from inappropriate and harmful content is possibly the hardest of all internet safety precautions, as this kind of content is absolutely insipid online. Inappropriate and harmful content includes images or video of pornography, violence, anti-social behavior and vandalism.

It is the content that we can monitor efficiently offline thanks to censorship, TV listing times and classifications boards. However online content monitoring is still relatively non-existent and classification and blocking content considered the responsibility of individuals and parents not governments. We are however not here to point the finger, as the problems of internet policing are many and not likely to be quickly solved.

With that in mind, however, there are a number of steps you can take as parents to ensure that your children have the maximum amount of protection from inappropriate and harmful content. [Read more…] about Internet Safety Tips: Protecting your Children

Early Education for Children Suffering From Autism

by Guest Writer 3 Comments

Guest Post by Haliyma Barrow.

Autism is a condition that affects children in all social and psychological aspects. Special programs must be designed for the early education of children suffering with this developmental disorder.

About 10 children in every 100,000 are afflicted with this condition and it prevents them from interacting socially with other children their age. There is a 33 percent higher chance of boys being afflicted with autism than girls.

Early education of children with autism is very important, since this condition manifest when the child is young and has not yet started going to school. Autism in young children manifests in a variety of ways, but mainly through the lack of communication and the repeating of actions. [Read more…] about Early Education for Children Suffering From Autism

Cloth Diapers vs. Disposable Diapers – What’s Best?

by Guest Writer 33 Comments

By Guest Blogger, April from Mama on a Green Mission

What’s Better – Cloth Diapers or Disposable Ones?

One of the most exciting times in one’s life is finding out you’re expecting a baby. My husband and I found out in November of 2009 that we were pregnant, and I spent a lot of time researching everything under the sun about pregnancy, baby, baby products, etc. I kept very busy during those nine months and at times it was overwhelming because there was so much information. There were lots of things to read about, to learn and to decide on.

The thing I did the most research and reading about was using cloth diapers versus disposable diapers.

Disposable Diapers Take Between 250 to 500 Years to Decompose

At first, I was disgusted about the thought of using cloth diapers. But the more I read about it, the more these thoughts changed. I think the one thing that made me seriously consider using cloth diapers was the one fact that a disposable diaper can take up to 250 to 500 years to decompose in the landfill. [Read more…] about Cloth Diapers vs. Disposable Diapers – What’s Best?

How to Talk to Your Children about Natural Disasters

by DP Nguyen 19 Comments

Unless you live in a cave or in solitary confinement, you have heard about the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week. The photographs and videos of the destruction are enough to give you nightmares. If this natural disaster has upset you, there’s no doubt that they’ve made your children nervous . . . scared, even.

It’s not just the worldwide natural disasters – like Haiti last year, and Japan this year – that can freak our kids out. In the United States, we experience tornados, floods, and hurricanes every year. The destruction is printed in our newspapers, and they are broadcast on TV, YouTube, and online.

While it would be great if we could completely shield our children from the upsetting photographs and images, this isn’t realistic. We live in a technology-driven world.

So how do you talk to your children about natural disasters? How can you explain that natural disasters – tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis – and other scary events happen, while helping your children feel safe? [Read more…] about How to Talk to Your Children about Natural Disasters