It’s a beautiful sunny day, big marshmallowy clouds are floating by, waves are crashing and my kids are playing happily by the ocean. Sounds like malarky – I know, especially to a Calgarian (what, no snow?, its April!!) but this is how our spring vacation to Orange County California rolled out. We started our Californian adventure with a tour through the small town of Laguna Beach. Staying at the Pacific Edge Hotel, we had an ocean view room that even our kids found more interesting than the tv. With just a few quick steps past the restaurant and outdoor pool, we landed on the famous Laguna Beach – and, no word of a lie – dolphins swam past as if to greet us. My kids went bananas – so did my husband and I.
Eeny-meeny miney mo…which baby names are “best of show”? The names that people choose for their new bundles of joy are based on so many different factors. One of the top reasons that people give their child a particular name is due to the meaning of the name. From connotations like, “full of wisdom” and “strong, firm and impetuous” to meanings like “hollow” and “uncertain”, the name that you give your child carries some kind of significance in one light or another. Some parents feel like if they bestow their baby a name that transmits the implication that their child is “smart” or a “king”, that child will turn out to be what their name signifies and steer away from the names with negative connotations.
Once you have kids, the days of stolen mini-breaks with your honey are pretty much gone, unless you have a great nanny or very forbearing parents nearby! Traveling with a family can be tricky and expensive, but it is possible to enjoy a vacation with the kids; in fact, sometimes it’s even more fun than vacationing alone with your partner…although it is a different kind of “fun!” Here are the top 10 travel destinations for kids.
Some say that children can be the best birth control. Combine a long-term marriage and some kids and most couples hit that impact point when they are wondering exactly what happened to their sex life. Studies show, hands down, that a great sex life improves a relationship – and lack thereof can undermine it. Believe it or not, it really doesn’t take much to get your sex life back on track. Here are a few ideas to get you going in the right direction:
If feeding your children healthy snacks is high on your priority list, it’s time to start reading those labels – and if you haven’t been introduced to glucose, fructose, and the mixture of the two, you’ll definitely want to familiarize yourself. Glucose and fructose are both carbohydrates and simple sugars, AKA monosaccharides, which are found in most foods. They also happen to be the chief source of energy for the human body.
Are you ready to do the “Potty Training Dance”? Or, maybe the question is: is your toddler ready to do the “Potty Dance”? There is controversy on every step of potty training, from whether or not to use pull-ups to when your child is ready to start. Everyone has their own advice on how to potty train your child, however it is you, and essentially your child, who will make the decision on when, where and how the potty training process will happen.
Mass shootings, terror attacks, North Korea…The world is a big, scary place, and as our kids grow up we know that they need to understand that…but we’d really rather protect them from the bad things that happen. Unfortunately, in this information-heavy society it is impossible to hide unpleasant things from kids forever. After all, when Osama bin Laden was killed, Twitter and Facebook lit up with young kids asking, “Who the heck is Osama bin Laden?” If they don’t hear things from you, they will hear things from others, and by controlling the situation you make sure your child gets the right information in the right way. Here are some age-group appropriate tips to watching the news with kids when there’s a world crisis or serious event happening.
Younger kids (8 and under). This age group is very limited in their grasp of the fact that there is a larger world beyond their small orbit. They will hear other adults talking and hear snippets of news, and they will be confused by much of what they hear. They also have a hard time distinguishing what they see on TV and the internet from reality, which is why scary movies and shows bother them so much: they think it’s real! This age group might not benefit from watching a TV news broadcast with you, because the images might frighten them in the case of natural disasters or violence. If they ask questions, explain things to them in simple terms: “Some groups of people are really mad at each other and are fighting each other. But they are very far away, and there is no chance anything they do will hurt us.” Or, “Sometimes big storms and bad things happen in nature, but we are safe here, right now.” Don’t go into too much detail or you risk scaring them; on the other hand, don’t make promises you can’t keep. Unfortunately, things happen when they are least expected.
Tweens. This age group is insatiably curious about everything. They are mentally and emotionally coming into their own, and are really beginning to grasp the enormity of the world—and that bad things do, indeed, happen. They can even be morbid at times, fixating on death and destruction. This is a crucial time for parents to begin connecting with their kids on a mental level, because they need your guidance more than ever. Watch the news with them, and try to explain things as clearly as possible. Use the time as an opportunity to have a discussion, but don’t lecture or you risk boring them. Sometimes TV news may be too graphic, so switch to the newspaper or magazines for lower intensity. If you run across an issue you don’t understand well, take the time to explore the issue together. This cultivates the understanding that parents are humans, too, and that you are approachable and don’t think you are perfect.
Teens. By this age, the child should be well on their way to having their own personal and philosophical beliefs, which you helped to formulate. Discussions about the bad things in the world should come organically, and should be used as chances to firm up your relationship and deepen your understanding about how your child thinks.
For those urban chic mommies who detest the label of “soccer mom,” don’t despair. It isn’t a dirty word, after all. A soccer mom is a mom who is involved in their kids’ lives, and the trademark minivan just makes that easier. There is a bit of a darker connotation to the term, though. It has replaced the term “yuppie” in our cultural vocabulary. There are also a lot of expectations of moms nowadays, and a soccer mom is one who is always on top of everything, supposedly, who makes all the other “normal” moms look bad.
When you move your baby from a crib to a bed it’s official: they’re not a “baby” anymore. When a child gets tall enough that they can actually reach over the crib bars it is time to move them into a bed, or else you risk dangerous accidents. But here comes the fun part: that child is no longer confined to a cage…er, crib, anymore. They can, and will, get up and move around, wander about, and come and find you. Frequently. How do you make the transition easier and faster?
What better time than summer to clean out the bookshelves and get ready to work on some education through the dry spell. Here are our top picks for little ones:
Press Here, by Herve Tullet
We read this with the kids and were commanded to not turn another page while they ran to the potty. Interactive, exciting, and educational, ‘Press Here’ helps kids review colours, counting and actions in a super-fun way. The kids are asked to press, rub, and shake the book to ‘move’ the dots. What a way to develop a love of reading!