Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Ideas to Help Your Child Conserve Water


With Earth Day approaching on April 22nd, it is the perfect time to emphasize to your children the importance of water and responsible conservation techniques. Here are some practical ideas that might help your child be more receptive to conserving water.

Leaks are a major source of lost water. To discover if your toilet is leaking, take the top off a toilet tank and have your child put several drops of food coloring into the tank. Replace the top, wait for fifteen minutes and see if there is any dye in the toilet's bowl. If you see colored water in the bowl, the toilet is leaking. As a bonus if your child used blue or red dye, it will change color when he pees in it. Make sure to flush the dye once you are done testing the toilet, as some can stain the porcelain.

Have your child time his showers to see how long they take, now have him see if he can shave five minutes off his time and still get just as clean. Or introduce the idea of "military showers" where he gets wet, turns off the water, shampoos and soaps himself up, and then turns on the water to rinse. If your child prefers baths, plug the tub before starting the water so you don't waste any. Encourage your child to take showers if they can because a bath uses forty-five to sixty more gallons of water than a shower does.

Even though conserving water is important, so is drinking it. To prevent your child from letting the tap run to get cold water, fill a pitcher with water and keep it in the fridge so they can have a cold drink whenever they wish. Teaching your children to scrape their dirty plates into the trash and then put them in the dishwasher rather than running them under the tap is another easy way for them to learn to conserve more water.

Have your child make a poster or picture to hang in the bathroom reminding your family not to use the toilet as a wastebasket. It wastes three to seven gallons each flush. Another idea is to have your child turn the water off while brushing his teeth. Explain to him that this can save eight gallons of water a day. "That adds up to more than 200 gallons a month, enough to fill a huge fish tank that holds 6 small sharks!"

For more information about water conservation please visit http://www.centralbasin.org/

TO HELP YOUR CHILDREN GET BETTER GRADES CHECK THIS OUT

Monday, March 22, 2010

To Breastfeed or Not To Breastfeed


I have been struggling lately with the decision to switch from breastfeeding to formula. My baby will be 6 months at the end of this month. I breastfed my first child till she was 12 months old and my second till he was 10 and half months. I had to quit early for my second because I had some health issues. I could not bare my headaches any longer and had to get on some meds. This time my struggle is some health issues and the fact that I cannot seem to lose any weight. I know this is a selfish reason for me to quit breastfeeding. But at the same time I’m tired of being fat and not fitting into my clothes. You would think with my stomach problems I would lose weight from just that. I try to exercise when I can squeeze it into life. I do exercises at my desk and even in bed. I try to watch what I eat but I have not lost ANYTHING!!

The benefits of breastfeeding for my child and I definitely out way the benefits of formula feeding. (This is personally my opinion for my child and I. I am not judging any ones else’s choices. The choice to breastfeed or formula feed is a personal decision.)

One benefit I have seen for my kids is their immune system is great. I know of a few friends and family that only formula fed and their kids get sick A LOT.

I found this article on Kidshealth.org that lists the positives and negatives of both breastfeeding and formula feeding.

Did you know that a breastfeeding women decreases her chances of getting breast cancer? And that breast milk has natural anti bodies that fight infection? These anitbodies can reduce the risks of the baby getting ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory infections, meningitis. Other factors help to protect a breastfed baby from infection by contributing to the infant's immune system by increasing the barriers to infection and decreasing the growth of organisms like bacteria and viruses.

Breastfeeding is particularly beneficial for premature babies and also may protect children against: allergies, asthma, diabetes, obesity, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).As a group, breastfed babies have fewer infections and hospitalizations than formula-fed infants.

All of this is in the article.

Here are the links to the article:

What's in this article? (click to view)

A Personal Decision

Breastfeeding: The Advantages

Breastfeeding: The Challenges

Formula Feeding: The Advantages

Formula Feeding: The Challenges


'Breastfeeding Simply'

How to make breastfeeding easy, enjoyable and successful

by Pinky McKay is a complete, easy to follow road map that reveals how you can produce nature's own amazing wonder food for your baby - simply, easily, successfully - RIGHT NOW!


Monday, March 1, 2010

ARRRGG!!!


My 4 year old son can sometimes say the funniest or oddest things. He really does crack me up sometimes. For example, he really hates church. He gets in such a bad mood when we talk about it. When we do go he just really tries to make it miserable for us. He does not care about being punished and getting in trouble. We have tried everything with this child and he just laughs at us. Well one Sunday we were coming home from church and I told him that he was going to have to spend time in Time Out when we got home because of his behavior at church. I told him that he made the choice to not behave at church so he made the choice to be in time out. He comes back at me and says "You made the choice to take me to church."
Honestly this kid can really drive me crazy. He just does not care. I can thump him really hard and he just looks at me and smiles. When he is being bad and I try to punish him he gets the giggles which then makes me even angrier. ARRRGGG!!! So then I sometimes do and say things I regret later. If I tell him I am going to take away toys if he doesn't behave he automatically starts giving me all his toys. I hope this faze ends soon.
His hair was getting really long and my daughter told him his ears were all full of hair. So he tells her "That is why mom has to tell me things a million times."

Any feedback and advice would be great. I have tried so many things from parenting books and websites.


NEED EXTRA CASH